Using Social Media to Sell To Comic Readers

Like I mentioned in the previous article, using social media to sell to comic readers is probably the quickest and most affordable option available to comic creators today.

I also mentioned how a lot of comic creators have a tough time because they are unsure of how to use social media to talk about themselves, their work, and the fact that they want to sell their comic to their followers.

Well, that’s what I’ll be covering in this article. I’ll share with you some tips and tricks for using social media to sell to comic readers.

This article will not discuss what social media handle you should use, what color pallet you should consider, or even which social media you should use. That will require some additional research and judgment from your end.

Now, one of the first concerns that a lot of comic creators I’ve talked with is that they aren’t sure of what to say or share on social media.

A common mistake that comic creators in this position often make is that they only talk about their comic. Whether it’s about how they’re progressing in its development, where they’re selling it, telling your followers to buy it now, etc.

Now, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t keep your followers posted on your comic and try to sell it to them. What I’m suggesting is that you don’t only use social media for this.

The best advice I ever found on how to properly use social media is BE YOURSELF.

Like things you like, share things you want to share, comment on things you feel compelled to comment on.

Simply do it knowing that you’re not just liking, sharing, and commenting for yourself. But for your brand (the idea, image, or motto that represents you, your comic and other work), your comic, and yourself.

Another big problem that a lot of comic creators have is that they don’t know how frequently they should communicate with their followers on social media.

Now, this is something that typically requires a bit of research. But I can help guide you a little.

I mentioned before that I use a social media scheduling tool called Buffer. Buffer has a blog dedicated to the use of social media for marketing efforts. You can check out this article on their social media posting frequency recommendations for different social media.

You can also do a little look into what Hootsuite (another popular social media scheduling tool) recommends to do by googling it.

You can easily take a look at this article from Buffer which talks about both frequency and times that are best to engage in social media.

You’ll probably end up finding different recommendations that mention different times. This is typically due to Time Zones. Be sure to keep them in mind. If you live in a different time zone than the one mentioned in the article simply adjust it to match your own time.

But remember, if you’re using a social media scheduling tool that offers some form of analytics tracking. You can determine if a time you’re engaging in is working for you, or not. You can even start testing other times of day and week to see if they work better, or not.

Whether it’s Christmas or Halloween. Or if it’s Will Eisner Week or a deadline to a contest you’ve signed up for. How you use social media should change to reflect this in regards to frequency and quantity of time spent on it.

If you’re a comic creator I have some good news for you. You’re in luck!

You have something that I personally have, you have images! Not just any kind either, you have original images (comic panels, covers, pages, and access to artistic talent; your own or other)!

In this day and age, you can’t be using social media effectively if you’re not using images.

Let’s try an example. If you’re trying to promote the order Order Code for your comic, to get your readers to tell their retailers to order your book, you can ask your artist to prepare some illustrations or graphics that include your order code in it. There is a good example here under the heading Marketing To Retailers.

So there you have it, this is a good starting guide for what you can do as a comic creator for using social media to sell to comic readers.

Everything from what you should say, how often and when you should say it, and a reminder that you should really be taking advantage of your original content to use alongside your posts

Use this as a guide on how to set up your social media marketing strategy and don’t forget to revisit it from time to time to make sure that it still makes sense. You can base your decisions on analytics or personal judgment.