Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram announced the layoff of 11,000 employees this week. The massive layoff came after the company announced historic financial losses earlier this year. You’re probably wondering why this matters to you.
Do you remember MySpace, Friendster, or Google+? Maybe you don’t remember them anymore. Then you see where I’m going. If you have all of your author marketing eggs in the Meta basket, what happens if Mark Zuckerberg overplays his virtual reality hand in the Metaverse and Facebook joins the Wikipedia page of former social media platforms?
What’s an author to do?
The truth is you have no control over anything that happens on any social media platform. As soon as you click publish, your assets belong to the platform. Not even your followers are yours; they too belong to the platform. So, what do you own and what can you control?
You still have control of your most important assets: your book(s), website, and email list.
Grow that list.
If you’re not already doing so, it’s time to create a plan to actively grow your email list. Promote your reader magnet, change up your reader magnet, put your opt-in at the end of your book, share your opt-in on social media, create a pop up on your website, hold contests and giveaways, collect opt-ins at signings and events, and so much more. There are books dedicated to just this concept. I’ve written several blog posts you might find helpful. Keep in mind, tactics change over time. If you’re not seeing movement with opt-ins on your website, it might be time to update your freebie. Facebook/Instagram ads might help you promote the offer too. It’s possible, your website isn’t optimized, and readers are struggling to find the opt-in.
It’s not always easy to know what to fix. Don’t panic. Do a quick review of your website and current tactics, then make one change and monitor that change. If that doesn’t work, make another change, and monitor that. Keep tweaking your platform and offers until you start to see that list increase.
Leverage that list for massive growth.
Once you have a list of at least 10K, you can multiple it quickly by leveraging your list. If you’re a non-fiction author, look for opportunities to join forces with complimentary professionals in live events, product launches, and webinars. Combining your lists to announce these events instantly grows your list. Fiction authors can do the same with events and conferences, as well as newsletters. Connect with authors within your genre to promote their work in exchange for promoting yours. Make it a monthly feature in your newsletter and include links to each other’s websites.
Larger list = Larger audience
I hope I’m not overstating the obvious. That growing list provides you an opportunity to reach a growing audience. Make sure you have an email marketing strategy to continue speaking to this audience beyond an event or book launch. Weekly emails are a great start. Don’t let that list grow cold!
Keep your eyes open for more changes
You don’t need to be a business analyst to watch what’s happening on the social realm these days. Now that you know what to look for, you’ll be paying closer attention to these tech giants. You never know who might be next. The shuffle at Twitter has many hoping it’s Elon, but if I were you, I’d keep my eye on TikTok. The growing privacy concerns over this Chinese-owned media giant might cause TikTok to be the next platform to join that Wikipedia page.
Ooh, I love this Lynn, thank you. We are in very interesting times in so many ways right now and I feel a big shift coming for social media. I also love that you have an email sign-up in your blog post—I’m definitely going to use that idea.