Crafting Social Media Posts: How to Create a Compelling Narrative

Social media is a great way to get out the word about your book. Even if you haven't finished your manuscript or started the publishing process. It's never too early to start finding your future readers.

The key to creating a strong following of dedicated readers is through storytelling! You're already familiar with storytelling, so applying this skill to a new format (i.e. social media) is simple. Here are some tips to get started.   

Understand Your Audience

Identify your target audience and what they find interesting. This is easy because it's the theme or vibe of your story! Is your story humorous, romantic, action packed, or edgy? This will point you in the direction of your content's tone. 

Next is related content. We want them to be interested in your story but what is your story closely related to? That's where you find your audience! 

For example, suppose a story takes place in a cyberpunk future and features an underground resistance. The potential audience can be found watching sci-fi content, cyberpunk fashion, alternative music, and even LARPing. These are all aspects you can bring into your own content when creating videos and photo sets. 

Start with a Hook

Just like how your story should have a hook that grabs reader attention, so should your posts! Use opening lines, questions, and visuals that are attention grabbing. Create a balance between unique and creative hooks and trendy gimmicky hooks. 

Examples: “What if I told you…?” or “You won’t believe what happened next…”  

Create a Relatable Protagonist

This step depends on your content style and can absolutely be a mix of the two. On one hand your protagonist is you! You're the star of your account so you will share behind the scenes, your process, learning opportunities, your challenges and successes.

On the other hand your page can star the protagonist in your story. You might reenact scenes from your story or recreate video trends with your character's unique personality.   

Incorporate Emotion

Every post should highlight an emotion. This doesn't mean you start out every post “today we're talking about x emotion…”. Rather use the emotion as a prompt or template as you write your post.

Maybe this week you were frustrated with your writing progress. Your emotion can be frustration and your post is intended to relate to others that get that feeling or your emotion could be an accomplishment as you learned a new way to get out of writer's block.

Now your post is inspiring for others. Pair the visuals of your post with the emotion you're highlighting. Your followers will easily connect through shared understanding.   

Keep It Concise

Caption length depends on the platform you're posting on. No matter where you upload there will always be people that don't bother reading captions. However on Instagram it's more common for people to read long captions than on Tiktok.

Consider your platform and your audience. It may be better to tell a story without words using visual elements of narrate with voiceover. You can easily add text to photo sets in Canva or another photo editing system. This gives your posts a real story book feel.   

Include a Call-to-Action (CTA)

Your account has a purpose. This would either be to invite people to buy your book, subscribe to your email newsletter, read your story on StoryForge and leave feedback, or like, share, and comment on your posts.

Every post you make should end with a CTA because new people are finding your posts all the time. Even if you invited people to join your email list yesterday the new people haven't seen that. Every post can begin or end with something like “Tell us about your experience in the comments” or “Follow the link to read Every Code now!” 

Be Authentic

Balance casual behind the scenes content with scripted creative videos. In everything you post, be authentic. You may not know if you dislike a type of content until you have tried creating it. But, once you know a content style isn't for you don't force yourself to continue making those kinds of posts. 

Experiment and Analyze

Test different types of content, tones, and themes to see what resonates with your audience.  Get familiar with analytics to measure engagement and refine your approach.  

Content creation doesn't have to be tedious or overwhelming. Focus on the kind of story you want to tell and create content that matches that feels natural and accessible to your skill set. Your next post tomorrow could connect you with your next readers!