| Hey, Over the last 3 weeks I've been talking about the fundamentals of marketing – which remain constant in an area which is constantly changing. Lots of you asked where social media fits in, given that I made a strong case for ads being a much better way to generate traffic to your books, and newsletters being a far superior foundation for your author platform. So, let's talk about that today – because I do think social media can play an important role, especially for certain authors. the state of social media I spoke in some detail in last week's podcast about the state of social media right now and argued that it is generally in a funny place in 2026. Simply put: - The popularity of Facebook has plummeted among younger users, and the platform is increasingly plagued by bots and AI slop – something the company seems to be leaning into rather than combating because it has invested billions in a slop machine.
- Instagram was always a tough row to hoe for authors given the hurdles it placed to anyone linking off the platform (link in bio!!) and the natural visual focus there.
- We all know that Twitter was never a great place to sell books, and X certainly is no better.
- The numbers Threads is claiming deserve extreme skepticism as they are artificially boosted by what you could characterize as a shotgun marriage with FB/Insta.
- YouTube – if you even consider it a social network at all – mostly seems to be useful for authors of non-fiction and fiction authors' audiences feel like they are mostly composed of those trying to follow their path.
- And then TikTok has become so popular that it's turning every other platform into a pale imitation… but the very thing that makes it so popular – that preternaturally addictive algorithm – leads to the shallowest engagement possible as each hooky video mindwipes the last, and its users staying firmly on the platform, doing us little good.
All of them are facing the twin headwinds of growing restrictions on younger users and increased regulatory oversight, with TikTok the latest to face an EU investigation and Mark Zuckerberg literally in the dock in California right now defending the charge of deliberately addictive design. Despite these problems, social media remains a seductive option for authors because it remains incredibly popular around the world. Facebook and Instagram have around 3bn monthly active users, YouTube isn't far behind, and TikTok crossed the 2bn mark in 2025 and is the fastest growing by far, especially among younger users, who I'm reliably informed are "the future." X and Threads are far smaller – about half a billion each – having an outsized media footprint due to their popularity with journalists and politicians, presumably. Certainly in X's case, and in Threads case the numbers feel extremely squishy. There is some overlap here, but collectively social media reaches around 5.5bn out of the estimated world population of 8.3bn. For all the (traditional) media talk of platforms being abandoned and digital detoxes and the like, social remains the place where everyone's readers hang out. (And Meta's "family of apps" reaches around 4bn of them – so almost half the world's population, despite the general characterization of them being uncool or dying or whatever.) Using social media to build a platform and post about your books is free, on the face of it at least, which is something that can't be said for ads, promo sites, or even the service you use to send your newsletter, once it grows beyond a certain number of subscribers. There's a more subtle pull towards social media too: it's where success seems to manifest. But it's worth pointing out that sometimes the large social following is a result of success rather than its cause. In other cases, these people achieved huge numbers by being early movers, when the algorithms worked very differently and organic growth was much more achievable. And even where that's not true, it's almost always the case that these people are using social media very strategically. So, let's look at how I think authors can use social media strategically to support their own marketing efforts in 2026. strategically social It might have been possible ten or fifteen years ago to just start posting on social media and gain a following but these days that's like trying to catch lightning in a bottle. With the possible exception of YouTube, platforms generally don't give a lot of organic play to your posts anymore unless you already have a following – and, even then, you must keep them engaged or even your existing followers will stop seeing your posts. There's an increasingly limited space in everyone's feeds, especially with all platforms leaning more heavily towards ads (and in some cases, godawful AI slop). Which means you must bring the audience. Reading that sentence might be incredibly dispiriting to someone who is trying to build their bloody audience – that chicken/egg feeling again – but there's no point in me sugarcoating it. You must accept that building a presence on social media in 2026 generally requires doing at least one of the following: - Posting a lot of content.
- Bringing the audience yourself.
- Accepting it will be a slow build over time.
- Paying for ads to speed up the process.
Given that posting a lot of content can be a full-time job – and indeed you might be competing for attention against people for whom it really is a full-time job – and given that you are probably interested in exploring social media because you don't have an audience already and/or don't have the budget for ads, then you probably have to accept it will be a slow build. I don't want to sound too negative, but I do want to set expectations appropriately. You can get a lot of joy from cross-pollinating – i.e. putting links at the back of your books to your social channels and also linking to them periodically in your newsletters. This will grow your presence over time, along with your organic posting. Eventually you should reach the point where platforms start suggesting your content to new followers as well. And if you engage in advertising on the platform, this will naturally lead to spillover followers from any campaigns you run (something you can also advertise for more directly, when you become more experienced with ads). As your readership grows, and your newsletter subscribers start to climb, you will see increasing synergy between all these things. The tricky part is getting going – and keeping the motivation high enough to keep posting before you start getting visible traction. In things like this – where a critical mass is needed before you start seeing results – it can be tough to build to that point, without that feedback you are on the right path. But you must persist. However, I also think it is important that you avoid cheap wins and share the right kind of content. That means fewer puppies (sorry!), and more of the genre-flavored things your target audience will also enjoy. Otherwise, you build up an audience of people who like puppies rather than readers who enjoy the type of books you write. content marketing 101 I have written about content marketing for authors a few times previously – I recommend heading over to the Email Archive and scrolling down to the section marked This Writing Life for a more in-depth take, and ideas on the type of content you should be sharing (again, genre-flavored things). Non-fiction authors will likely lean on content marketing more heavily – indeed, it is central to my marketing strategy for my own non-fiction – but fiction authors can and should have a strategy here too. Your newsletters are content marketing. Your website is content marketing. Even your social media posts are content marketing. A strategy will help you get more from all those things. The short version here, as we wrap up, is this. You will already be putting out content in your newsletters to readers – hopefully on a regular basis. (And, by that, I mean at least monthly, not just when you launch a book or collapse under the guilt of not sending an email for half a year.) But not every idea or bit of content is newsletter-shaped. Social media is the perfect place to post those little scraps which aren't worth dedicating a newsletter to, along with your newsy bits as they crop up, and of course your launches and discounts and requests for reviews and teasers for upcoming releases and all that stuff. Keep in mind that it's always good to mix in a healthy dose of content which is not always about you and your books. You can talk about other books in the genre you enjoy, TV shows in the same niche your readers also love; it's quite easy to generate this kind of content if you genuinely are a fan of the genre, once you get into the swing of it. Sometimes it can even be something as simple as a post like "I LOVED that episode of X last night," which can be a quick and easy conversation starter – and leans into all the advantages that social media has over anything else, including newsletters, such as immediacy and interactivity. And then you have a more engaged audience for when you post something of more direct importance to your bottom line. This is where social media still excels. Just remember that you are building on land you don't own and the ultimate aim should be to get readers to your site, your book listings at the retailers, or onto your mailing list. Dave P.S. Writing music this week is Novos Baianos with Brasil Pandeiro. | 
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