Self-publishing an ebook can be a daunting task, but the potential reward of avoiding official publishers and maintaining complete creative control over your work is great enough that many writers are doing just that.

Unfortunately, maintaining that creative control means doing away with the publicists and marketers that a publishing house has to offer, leaving you to take care of everything from start to finish; a little know-how is definitely in order!

Whether you write compelling fiction, informative non-fiction, or anything in between, use these five helpful tips for effective social media promotion of your ebook if you really want to get it off of the ground:

1. Start With Effective Accounts

Building effective social media accounts also means thinking outside of the box. While the benefit that you can get from huge platforms like Facebook and Twitter is undeniable, there is something to be said for the lesser known social platforms that offer equal – and sometimes incredibly unique – promotional opportunities. Whether you use common internet forums to make connections, or you use the sharing network at MyBlogGuest to spread the word about your book, you can bet that the dark corners of the internet have lots to offer, making them just as valuable as well-stocked Facebook pages and Twitter accounts.

2. Build Excitement as You Approach Your Launch Date

With full, well-connected social accounts comes the ability to speak to a large audience that is focused on you and your work, making it much easier to begin building excitement about your book leading up to the launch date. When it comes to fans familiar with what you plan to present, you can achieve this easily by detailing and highlighting characters, offering up some of the better quotes that the book has to offer, and otherwise giving people tantalizing glimpses of what’s to come if they decide to purchase when you launch.

Like a trailer to an upcoming film, this dangling of the carrot will help you to build hype and give your readers time to plan to spend money on your book; as any avid reader knows, almost no amount is too high when it comes to establishing hours and hours of what promises to be highly enjoyable consumption!

3. Host a Social Media Launch Party

With all of that excitement built, you’ll now find yourself with a large group of people who are genuinely looking forward to your launch – all you’ve got to do is give them a time and place to celebrate! With that in mind, consider hosting a social media launch party that brings your readers together the day that you release your book, providing a platform from which fans can discuss what they’ve read so far, and being always present in order to personally engage them.

Remember, while your work will speak for itself, there is something very important to be said for the power of allowing people to get to know the scribe behind the words; while social media gives you the opportunity to do that every day – and you should be – taking part in a specially planned event will help you to improve both the excitement and the turnout, making it that much more fun for your audience, and that much more effective for you as an impromptu marketer.

4. Use Keywords and Hashtags

Whether you’re idly discussing your book, before or after its release, or you’re in the midst of hosting the most enjoyable social media hangout of the year, be sure to incorporate all-important keywords and hashtags every time that you do. Besides making it easier for your fans to follow and join in on discussion of your book, you’ll also allow yourself to nab new people as they stumble upon you, enlarging your core group of fans over time.

Alongside helping you to achieve better sales of this book, you’ll also give yourself the kind of fanbase that will almost certainly demand – and be happy to pay for – a sequel or follow-up. And there’s always room for a sequel or follow-up!

5. Connect One-on-One with Your Readers Every Day

While parties and other one-time tactics can be very effective, the smartest way to leverage social media to your advantage in promoting your ebook is to be active and available to your fans every single day. By being approachable via social media, you’ll quickly garner a reputation for being a very particular kind of author – the kind that people most want to read, so long as the book’s quality matches your positive attitude.

With that point in mind, never allow your daily activities, whether that involves writing or not, to make you too busy to say “hello” or to answer a question. Even when interacting with fans feels like the last thing that you want to be spending your time doing, taking those few precious minutes out of your schedule promises to be not only effective from a marketing standpoint, but ultimately very fulfilling for you as a creative artist.

Image Credits: hashtag, social media.

About the author: Anna Fox is the writer addicted to productivity and self-improvement. She is running a blog where she shares her experience with readers. For spreading the word about her ideas she is using Viral Content Buzz – free social media platform for content promotion.