Are You Making It Harder for Your Audience to Engage?
Reposted from the Literary Marketing Newsletter.
As I was scrolling around social media this past week, I came across a post that was a snippet of a video podcast interview. It was on a topic of interest to me, and I wanted to watch the full interview, so I went to look for the link. I couldn't find it. There was no mention in the caption of a link or even what the podcast is called, just that it was on YouTube. Since this post was on Instagram, I went to the links in the account bio: no link to the podcast. Instead, to access the podcast episode, I had to write "PODCAST" in the comments, and then they would send me a message with the link to the podcast. Instead of making it easy for me to engage with their content, they made it hard for me — and I kept scrolling.
I found another post on Instagram about an article I wanted to read. They put the URL to the article in the caption — but URLs in the caption on Instagram aren't clickable, nor are they copy-able on a smartphone. The account didn't put a link in their bio to that article, either. So to read the article, I would have to go to my desktop, highlight the URL, and copy and paste it into a browser — or go to Google and try to find it by searching. Instead of making it easy for me to engage with their content, they made it hard for me — and I kept scrolling.
Over on Threads, I see lots of people sharing their books — great! But too often it's just a cover, which doesn't really tell me anything about your book. If they posted a bit about their story I might be hooked in, and if they posted a link to their website, I could taken action immediately to learn more and buy. But with just a book cover they're expecting that I'm going to be interested enough in learning more to put in effort and research — which is not what most people will do. Instead of making it easy for me to engage with their content, they made it hard for me — and I kept scrolling.
Thinking About Your Audience's Experience
You probably already see the point of the above stories! As you creating content on social media, don't just think about getting content out there, but think about your audience's experience of reading and interacting with that content. In other words, how can you deliver value to them and get them to engage without having to jump hurdles that may cause them to scroll away?
Here are some tips:
In addition to your book cover, add what your book is about! Include your logline or some jacket copy, as plot, character, or stakes get readers to buy. (Then you can add tropes, blurbs, reviews, or other copy.)
Add a link to your website so that with one click, your audience can get to a page where they can learn more about your book and buy it.
For those posting about literary events, include all the details of the event and a link to an event page to learn more and register.
On Threads and Facebook, drop the link into the post. It will come up with a link preview that adds extra graphics and visual appeal (and yes, you can change the link preview pic).
Remember that on Instagram, links in the caption do not hyperlink and are not clickable, nor can someone copy the URL on a smartphone. Instead, add a link in your bio (you can add up to five) and direct people there.
You can add direct links in Stories (tap on the Sticker face, tap on "Link," and add your link), but those only last 24 hours.
Add a summary of content to your posts so no one needs to go anywhere else. For example, I recently saw an Instagram post announcing the longlist for a book award: "Head to our link in bio to read the list." Why didn't they just make a post with the list we could view right there and not have to go through extra clicks? Marketers call this "zero-click content," when you deliver the value in the post without needing the audience to go anywhere else.
Speaking of ease of access, utilize accessibility tools like image descriptions, and think about how captions and other content might be read aloud by a screen reader. If you have text in a graphic, include the text in the caption so it can be read by a screen reader as well.
A Few Other Things to Consider
Hey Jess — can you explain more about that first example above? So there's a trend today of not sharing links but asking your audience to comment on a post, and an automation will then send them a link via DM. It's used to increase post engagement metrics, which the algorithm will see and then put your post in front of more eyeballs. But again, I ask: Are engagement metrics worth the risk of having your audience scroll away because of the hurdle? What is the audience experience like in that situation?
But Jess, I hear that if you add a link, the platform will suppress it, so I don't put links. Ok — again, think about the experience of your audience. My view is I'd rather take the algorithm risk (which I'm not sure is real anyway) and add a link to my content so people can easily learn more. But there are ways around it: Add a link in a comment on your original post and of course direct people to the link in bio on Instagram.
I have one tool cross-post to all my social media for me — do I have to worry about this? Yes, because different platforms require different posting strategies. For example, not all platforms have the same aspect ratio, and I've seen posts I think intended for one social media platform get cropped and content cut off on another. Similarly, you can post clickable links in Threads and Facebook, but not in Instagram's caption — but if you're cross-posting the same for all, you'll end up with unclickable links in Instagram and not know it.
Again, it's a very simple takeaway: As you post to social media, be really thoughtful about your audience's experience, and make whatever you're sharing easy for them to engage with.
