From FYP to Bestseller: Leveraging TikTok for Book Sales

Jess Beltran
2024-04-19T09:00:01-04:00

Using TikTok for book sales has proven to work. We're going to dive into some FYP strategies you can use to leverage TikTok for books. Here's your guide to TikTok bestseller strategies.

Why TikTok?

Social media, in general, has become an ever-present part of marketing. If you want to promote something, you need the right type of content for the right social media platform. Different platforms have their strengths and core audiences, and TikTok for book sales is a huge market.

The hashtag BookTok gets a huge amount of usage daily. TikTok is particularly popular with young people, and there is a market there for avid readers. With the right TikTok bestseller strategies, you can find yourself with lots of new readers and a big online following.

Leveraging TikTok for books is possible when you understand that the algorithm makes recommendations to its users based on what they interact with. So, since there's so much content revolving around books and writers, your content will get recommended if you use the right hashtags.

TikTok is great for authors because it will recommend your work with similar works. If you are writing in a specific genre of fiction, your book will show up on the FYP of people who interact with similar books.

This is why the right FYP strategies are important.

What Is FYP?

FYP stands for For Your Page. This is basically a custom page designed for each TikTok user based on the algorithm.

How this works is TikTok looks at the content you have viewed and interacted with previously and suggests similar content. You can implement FYP strategies to appear on people's pages.

Leveraging TikTok for Book Sales

So TikTok works for book sales, and with the right TikTok bestseller strategies and FYP strategies, you'll be able to ensure you increase your book sales through TikTok.

Here are six steps to mastering TikTok.

1. Prepare plenty of content in advance. You want to make sure you have enough content to post regularly. But you can't post substandard content; it needs to be captivating and entertaining. Before you start posting on TikTok, start brainstorming ideas for content. And keep an eye on other authors' content for inspiration.

2. Prepare good imagery to use with your content. Things like cover designs are a valuable marketing tool for authors on social media. You can't have your imagery look cheap or poorly made, so make sure everything looks professional. Think about what you would want to see in a video.

3. Be consistent with your posting. So often, aspiring content creators fall into the trap of posting a few things and then disappearing. This won't favor you over the algorithm, and it will make you lose followers and struggle to find new ones. Think about what you can manage; one post a day is better than randomly switching between loads of posts or no posts at all.

4. Build your audience before you start trying to sell anything. The general rule for content on social media is that 80% should be for engagement, and 20% should be for promotion. So, take the time to show your audience who you are before trying to sell them anything.

5. While you are posting content about your life as a writer, start posting updates on your latest writing projects. Whether it's a blog, a book, or a series of books, start filling in what your followers can expect.

6. Promote where to buy your book when it's close to being published. When you have your book finished, you can start plugging in how people can buy it and where people can find it. This is important because it's not enough to just let people know you wrote a book; they need to know where they can get it!

TikTok Bestseller FYP Strategies

Here are 4 FYP strategies to keep in mind that will help you leverage TikTok for books.

Hashtags Are Your Friends: On social media, hashtags are super important. Like how the tags on a YouTube video or on a blog post give you a general idea of the subject matter of the content, a hashtag will tell your followers what they need to know before they've even watched your video. The great thing about hashtags is that they are clickable. Look into what hashtags similar authors are using and put them on your posts. Hashtags help your target audience find you. You should aim to use at least four hashtags in each post and don't forget to include #BookTok.

Schedule Your Posts: You won't always be free to post at the best times, so scheduling your posts is a good compromise. Space out your posts so you aren't flooding the timeline one minute and being inactive the best.

Look at the Data: The great thing about using social media as a marketing tool is that you can see how well your posts are doing. By looking at the data analytics, you will be able to see how many views and how much interaction each of your posts have gotten. This will help you figure out what kinds of posts are effective among your fanbase and how you should market yourself going forward.

The Magic Words: Your readers will like being thanked for following you and interacting. Your followers want to feel like they are a part of your community of literary enthusiasts. Show your gratitude by thanking your followers for interacting with your content.

Final Words

Using TikTok for book sales has proven to be very effective. If you're an author looking to increase your social media following, you should get started putting in place FYP strategies on TikTok.