There are no hard and fast rules for working out which social media platforms to use. Even so, the fact remains that there are too many to effectively use them all. Which means you have to choose.

Fortunately, it seems that most people use more than one social media platform and so simply picking one or two social media channels to cover very well should net you most of your potential audience demographic.

Here are some guidelines that might help you choose the right social media platform for you.

Pick by the desired readership demographics

If you have some clue as to the demographic most likely to be interested in your book or books, you can then find the social media platforms most popular with your potential readers.

If your writing is best classified as Young Adult, then target social media prefered by young adults such as, say, Tumblr. On the other hand, if your best readership is likely to be professionals target social media that business people use – for example, LinkedIn.

Select social media platform by theme

Some themes have a wider and more active following on a given platform. There is no real way for figuring out which themes fly best on which platform beyond getting int here and seeing what the uptake is like.

You are best off location social media hubs around a fandom that is similar to your own book’s themes. This is especially effective if you can legitimately claim to be a fan yourself.

Is social media right for you at all?

Some books are best targetted at people of an age where social media use is limited at best. In which case you can probably afford to take your foot off the gas when it comes to social media. That’s not to say you should cut it out entirely just maybe focus on a few big platforms.

The advantage of limiting yourself to just one or two platforms is that you can invest more deeply in establishing a presence there. It also means that you are much better placed to target the friends and family of your demographic (those shopping for Christmas and birthdays).

It might even be the case that social media is not for you at all. There is no rule that says you have to use it. Perhaps list building via SEO is a better fit for your brand?

Test, evaluate, and track

Whichever social media platforms you choose to start with, it is important that you track the traffic that they drive back. If a social media site is not sending you traffic, wither you need to work harder or you need to move to a different platform.

A little A/B testing is the only way to know for sure.

How often should I post to social media?

While the answer really does depend on the culture of the platform you are using, as an average, most people check social media about once a day.

While the figures in the above chart are for US adults, it is highly likely that similar values would be found for UK adults. On the whole, it is unlikely that your fans will be able or willing to interact with more than one or two posts a day.

Exceptions exist, as you might expect. Tumblr and Twitter, for example, tend towards posts expiring pretty quickly and a need to refresh your presence more frequently.

On the other hand, Facebook works best with exactly one post a day. This gives your fans enough time to interact with the post without it being cut off by a newer post.