What I Learned about Marketing from Tiktok
I have not made a single book sale from Tiktok. Is Tiktok marketing just a manufactured lie or is there something in it?
First, it seems that writers who sell on Tiktok are those writing what people consume as they consume Tiktok, fantasy bordering on fanfiction, promising fairy kings, forests, dragons. They sell beautiful covers, collectible editions, and merch. Agents seen to be acquiring the same kind of books.
And the best performing videos are the ones talking about how to market. But here is what I learned from listening to endless marketing tiktoks.
1 . Talk about the book, share scenes, instead of saying buy my book.
Make videos of value. For me, that would be how I write, how yo get published, how much coffee provides a writing brain, etc.
But recently, I made a post that had 22 likes, a first, although no sales. Likes and comments mean more than views, because that is engagement. A like or a comment means someone gained something from the video. So my video that received 22 likes, even with low views, 220 at the moment, performed better than when I paid for a promotion abd received 1000s of views. https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTjYnBTne/
Follow parties are useless because those followers are only trying to increase their own following. They do not care for your content.
I think followers still matter, but a tiktok post can go viral without followers.
Many marketing tips videos suggest leaving the app after you post. Don't stay on tiktok. Tiktokwants you to come back. So they will show your post to more people.
Action matters. When I posted my husband cutting down a tree, I had 1000 views. But I got flagged for using booktok hashtags while showing an unrelated scene. Maybe next time I could show the book or talk about writing. https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTjYnbFXg/
So move, cook, walk, wash clothes while talking.
Hashtags matter, in the video, in caption, in description. You can hide the hashtags but they will still pull viewers. Relevant hashtags matter, not trending hashtags.
Do not follow trends. Yours will be one of 1000s. And it does you no good because you are not talking about what will pull in your readers.
I like to follow author accounts abd booktok accounts for tips, about what I like, what people post.
I like videos that are fast and efficient, no preamble. So now I just talk about the book, describe the story. Read.
A post that does really well is a string of slides, like 35, with one sentence per slide, from a scene in your book. I saw a post like that that went viral.
Join 20booksto50k on Facebook. They have lots of tips. I don't like tiktok for authors as much.
People in the group above advertise on Facebook, but I think on tiktok they do free book giveaways to influencers.
I think if more of us literary authors and friends were on Tiktok, that is, if we found each other and engaged on Tiktok literary presence on Tiktok would grow. Having friends on tiktok is helpful.
Marketing on Tiktok, as unsuccessful as it was, taught me about value, though. Why is Tiktok successful? Why is Facebook successful? Because they created spaces, games, quizzes, communities where people want to participate. I think struggling magazines could learn from this, by becoming sites where people come of their own interest.
I dislike Tiktok in the same way I dislike malls and markets. It's a dizzying spell of people trying to make money, promising others they can make money, where books become products, where people buy things in a frenzy of desire or because these things promise them something, subscriptionsto apps that will make you go viral, a new device so you broadcast outside, skincare to make you beautiful. But big publishing, agents, bookstores, all work in a similar way. It's capitalist.
Trends do matter if you can connect your topic to the trend, just as you would pitch an article on a trendy topic to a magazine.
I am trying to forget the noise and just talk about what I want to talk about.
People read, watch, engage with what interests them. Have genuine conversations. Give back. Share. This is a marketing coach I like. https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTjYKrdH6/