Social media really is an excellent way in which to promote any forthcoming events regarding your book or brand as an author. However, how do you go about this? Well, the main thing is to promote on as many social media sites as possible.

Firstly create a Facebook page and pop on information regarding your event. This could be a virtual book tour, a local book signing event or online Q&A session. What you need to ensure is that you add your event to the ‘Event’ tab. Then once set up, remember to interact with your ‘fans’ and answer any questions they may have. Also make sure that you update the page regularly.

You can also use your personal Twitter account or create an account specifically for the event, but this very much depends on what the event is. If it is for an author book tour across the country then a separate account might be best, while an event such as an online Q&A could be advertised through your personal account. A really good marketing strategy is to use the hashtag when promoting your author event, so for example you could use #BookBlog when promoting a book blog tour and in doing so more people will have access to your tweet.

Do not forget the power of your blog in directing people to your social media sites and vice versa. Your blog can post any upcoming events and give details about venue and what the event is about.

What you do not want to do when promoting your event is spam your followers. You are more likely to either get blocked or removed if you do so. Instead link useful articles or posts of interest related to your event and topic of book. Engage with your followers and fans; you really do need to engage with the people who follow you. That is the key to successful social media marketing. You want everyone to know about your upcoming event but you do not want to bore or alienate them in the process.

Another useful device to use through your social media sites is that of the promotional video. You could just simply talk into the camera and show a copy of your book and describe the event or you could make a video slideshow about the event. Either way this is relatively quick, easy and cheap to do. All you have to do once it is made is to upload onto YouTube. You then can simply post the link onto your various social media sites.

If you are a Goodreads member you can also promote your event on your Goodreads author page and interact with your ‘friends’ while doing so, as well as being able to contact people on your friends list to invite them to the event , so this is well worth doing.

Just remember to use as many social media sites as possible and be interesting and informative - that way you will gain people’s attention and interest in return.