Tagging people and specific topics online can not only attract more readers to your books, but ALSO increase your chances of selling them! For writers, using tags can help them attract more customers for their writing services.

Tags can appear in two forms: either when you “@” someone (such as @JohnSmith) or when you use the pound symbol (#teenagers). In the first case, you’re reaching out to someone specifically. In the latter case, you’re trying to reach out to a certain group or demographic. Incidentally, tags with the # symbol are called hashtags.

In the Internet world, there are two ways tagging can help you attract more readers for your books. You can either notify them with the “@” symbol, or use the “#” symbol to get your post included in a list of results anyone might search for.

Tagging as a form of notification

Whether for a post or a video, tagging can get a person’s attention. To notify a person, use the @ symbol. When you use this symbol to tag someone on a social media site, like Facebook, the post will normally appear on their profile. (Some users may have this set to where they can review the tagged post first before it goes live on their profile.) When your post appears on their profile, it will catch the notice of the people on their friends list, as well as anyone who visits their page.

In the event they do not allow for this kind of tagging, you can either ask them to share it on their page, or provide them with images they can use for sharing on social media. There’s no guarantee that a person you tag on social media will allow this post to appear on their page but it’s still worth a try.

On the other hand, tagging people on sites such as YouTube, X (Twitter) and Instagram works differently. When you tag them, it just gives them a private heads-up. Anybody else viewing that tag are the people already viewing that post.

Tagging through hashtags

 When you use hashtags (the pound symbol: #) on the Internet, that will make your post part of a list of search results people use for that tag. For example, let’s say your novel is horror. Using the horror hashtag, #horror, will get your post about your novel included among anything else that pops up in the search result for “horror.”

Since you would want to try to leverage as much exposure of your book as possible online, use hashtags if it’s an option.

Because your post with the tag can get buried in search results, you should add other tags to make it stand out. Words such as “#vampires” or “#werewolves,” can help, as can additional information such as “#Halloween” or “#Gothic.” This method works well on TikTok, Instagram, and X.

Besides using tags to get your books noticed, they can help you when promoting your work. Anytime you interview someone and post the link on Facebook or X, tag them. Chances are good they will likewise share your link, which will likely take interested readers to a website address where they can see some of your work, as well as your other links. This is also a good thing to do when reviewing books or sharing a photo of a book you are reading.

Tagging can work well for the author with books to promote, as well as writers promoting their services. The more tagging you do online, the greater your chances of reaching more people. Tagging on social media sites is an easy and fun way to get more of your books into the hands of more readers!

RELATED

• How Freelance Writers Can Survive the Slow Summer Months By Dawn Colclasure
• Never Say Never to Your Dreams! – Dawn Colclasure
• Email Newsletter vs. a Blog. Which Sells More Books? By Dawn Colclasure
• How Open Calls from Publishers Can Inspire You to Finally FINISH THAT MANUSCRIPT by Dawn Colclasure
• 8 Paying Health and Wellness Markets for Writers By Dawn Colclasure

Dawn Colclasure is a writer in Oregon. Her articles, essays, poems and short stories have appeared in several newspapers, anthologies, magazines, newsletters and E-zines. She is also a columnist and book reviewer. She is the author and co-author of over five dozen books, among them BURNING THE MIDNIGHT OIL: How We Survive as Writing Parents; Love is Like a Rainbow: Poems of Love and Devotion; Parenting Pauses: Life as a Deaf Parent; On the Wings of Pink Angels: Triumph, Struggle and Courage Against Breast Cancer; A Ghost on Every Corner; The Yellow Rose and her novel, Imprint. She is also the author of the middle grade paranormal mystery series, The GHOST Group. Her websites:  https://dawnsbooks.com/ and https://www.dmcwriter.com/ She’s on X at @dawnwilson325 and Instagram: dawn10325.