Although social media websites are effective tools for helping authors in their writing endeavors and promotional campaigns, it still takes a creative and tech-savvy user to utilize these websites to their maximum potential. Before you start building your Facebook or Twitter profiles, read this post first to learn more about the world of social media.

1. Social media websites are mainly built to connect with other people so make sure that you engage with your readers frequently.

2. Avoid using your book cover as a profile picture. Readers want to connect with real people and not a product.

3. Never pay someone else to manage your accounts. It makes your life easier, but there’s a big chance that fans will not appreciate it. If you cannot handle numerous social media accounts, do not strain yourself and just manage one profile first.

4. Add a short profile or biography to some of your online accounts. People like to know a little bit of your background first before following you.

5. Don’t protect your tweets. Social media is all about showcasing your work and protecting your tweets will defeat the purpose.

6. Take time to comment on others’ posts. Keep in mind that social media is used for communication.

7. Make your followers feel special by sending them thank you notes every once in a while.

8. It’s all right to share a little bit about your personal life. Talking about your holiday activities, the places that you’ve been to, or sharing pictures of your pets will make your followers become more interested in your profile.

9. Use your real name in social media. It makes it easier for people to locate you.

10. Post something positive, exciting, and fun, or just keep quiet and don’t post at all.

11. Frequently post interesting information regarding the niche or literary genre that you are working on.

12. Avoid posting too much about your struggles as a writer because most of your followers won’t understand it. Remember that most of your audience are readers, not writers.

13. Avoid using tweet and message generators. Most followers hate it when their favorite authors become robots.

14. Share your publishing accomplishments. This will make the fans happy.

15. Schedule your posts and avoid flooding your followers' news feed.

16. It’s all right to repost important information every once in a while.

17. Be patient. Building good online relationships takes a lot of time.

18. Avoid unrealistic expectations. You won’t land a publishing deal just by posting one tweet.

19. Your posts should not only focus on your book. Most people will be turned off if they think that you are just selling books.

20. Facebook and Twitter are not the only social media tools that you can use. LinkedIn gives you adequate room to promote your craft in a professional manner and allows you to meet literary agents and publishers. Google+ helps you find people who share similar passions with you, and Pinterest provides visual appeal to your social networks.

21. Host contests. Every once in a while, try holding a social media contest. It will easily make your works viral and keep your followers active.

22. Writing a poem or short story using 140-characters is popular these days. Try doing that to exercise your creativity.

23. Following your favorite authors will help you learn more about your craft.

24. You can link your social media pages together. That way, it will not be too hard to share status updates and events on every single page.

25. Social media is a good place to have fun so relax and enjoy the experience.

To wrap things up

Social media websites are effective tools to help you with your writing and promotional endeavors. However, you need to equip yourself with adequate knowledge in order to use it properly.