How to Create a Consistent Brand Identity as an Author

The starting point for understanding and building your online identity is to first under‐ stand its role within social media. The goal of your identity is to appeal to, and attract, like-minded readers. Many writers often approach marketing by believing that they must ‘convert’ read‐ ers. This is not true. There are already more than enough readers out there who will love your book. Your problem is not converting readers, it is finding the ones that already exist but haven’t yet found your book. This means the role of your identity is to attract these like-minded readers. So, with this in mind, what is an identity? In the context of social media marketing, an identity is a makeup of the following:

? Values.

? Messages.

? Missions.

? Roles.

? Fears.

If you can constantly and clearly express these five key elements, then you will start to attract readers that connect and relate to your identity.

VALUES

Everyone has values, even the worst of people. Your values will be in your writing, hidden between the lines, providing an underly‐ ing message. Your views and opinions on the way the world works will be hidden in plain sight. For example, if you believe that gender equality is important, then you’ll create characters that match this world view. The opposite is also true. Study your writing. Think about yourself and what values you want to portray. What are you trying to say to the world? What themes pop up repeatedly in your work? What’s important to you? This is the first important step to using social media to increase book sales. Clear values. Analyze yourself and your books and come up with a list of the things that matter. Don’t create values you won’t stick to; they must be consistent. You only need two or three. The two or three things that set you apart. That defines you and your work. It might be equality, but it might be truthfulness or honesty or bravery or even some‐ thing as simple as being kind. Write them down. These are the cornerstones of everything you will be doing from this point forward. Once you have decided these values, incorporate them into everything you do on social media. I’ll show you how, don’t worry.

MESSAGES

Your message is a combination of your values and missions. Messages should be consistent throughout all your creations, whether it be a simple Twitter post or a 300-page novel. The chances are your message will remain consistent are you grow and develop as a writer. The Internet has changed the world of writing. Gone are the days where readers can’t connect with their authors. Readers have developed an expectation. They can smell liars from a mile away. Create a consistent message and stick to it. This way you will develop a loyal, lifelong readership.

MISSIONS

What’s your mission? Think about what you are trying to achieve as a writer. Are you trying to inspire? Share knowledge? Support someone? Or just be the average, welcoming person? Your mission shouldn’t be world peace or flying to Mars. Your mission must be truthful to you and your book. Your mission must also connect with your values. Whatever it is, be consistent with it. For example, if your values are care and support then one mission would be to support a charity. If your values are spreading knowledge, then perhaps you start a podcast. If your values are to inspire others, then join a mentoring scheme. If you’re a wisdom type figure, one mission could be to create a project with a uni‐ versity or develop free online courses. Think about your purpose as a writer and create missions to achieve this. Your mission should not only match your vision but should also be realistic. It must be something you can work towards and, in the process, discuss with your reader‐ ship. Remember, you are attracting people who think like you, that have the same values as you, they’ll also be supportive of your mission; after all, it will be the kind of thing they’d love to do.

ROLES

The role you play within communities is vital to your identity. A role combines your values, missions, and messages into a persona. Let me explain myself. You may be an advocate, teacher, specialist, carer. These are all roles. Often you may take on a couple, but everyone has a role. Sometimes subconsciously, people adopt roles to fit their values, missions, and messages. Other times it is a conscious effort. Everyone has a role. If your value is kindness, you might take on the role of providing support. A value of spreading knowledge might lead you to being a mentor and offering advice to others. The key to making you stand out is consistency. Make it so obvious what you are that no one dares suggest otherwise.

FEAR

A fear is the opposite of one’s values and messages. If you value consistency your fear would be being inconsistency. If you value kind‐ ness, your fear is unkindness. If you value knowledge your fear is ignorance. Some fears would be seeing your missions fail. Another might be disassociation from your readership. Abandonment. Loss of trust. Your fears and your readers’ fears are often the same. This gives you important insight. If you know your fears, then you will know the fears of your readers. This means that you can avoid doing things that will alienate your readers. If you value kindness and fear unkindness, then getting involved in bullying someone on social media may backfire. In 2020, J.K. Rowling became embroiled in an argument about apparently derogat‐ ory comments she had made about the transgender community. She should have known better. One of the fears of her readers likely was to be isolated and alone. Not surprising when you consider the bases of the Harry Potter series is about a young boy isolated and alone who finds a way to belong. This means when Rowling makes transgender comments, she ignited a nerve within her fans and should not have been surprised by their reaction. Know your fears and act accordingly.

READERSHIP IDENTITY

Humans naturally want to connect. It’s instinct. Give them something to bite. Be the role model they are craving. If you are presenting your identity (values, mission, roles, and fears) consistently, then you will start to attract like-minded people that want to connect. But there’s something more. You don’t just want like-minded people; you want likeminded people that also like the books you are writing. This is why clearly defining and expressing your book genre is essential. If you write sci-fi, then make this clear. This way you are saving everyone time. You will be attracting potential readers and putting off people that will never buy your book. You are ONLY trying to connect with potential readers. In the process of defining and fine-tuning your identity, it’s a good idea to look at other successful writers within your genre. Search social media, find people who associate with it. Study them and find out how they identify. There are also databases available of studies online; just ignore the irrelevant stuff. Focus on finding out about their mindset. Their identity. That’s all you care about. That’s all that matters. By understanding your own identity and being consistent with your persona online, you will attract readers naturally. Readers that think and act like you. They will become attached to your books. No matter how niche your book topic is, there will always be a readership. There will always be superfans who crave the engagement. Knowing your readership’s identity is vital, so you don’t lose potential book sales and maintain a following. When creating content or engaging with readers, keep their identity in mind. Don’t talk about topics they find controversial. You can lose a follow‐ ing a lot quicker than you gained one. This is why it is so important to understand your social media followers/potential readers.

USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO PORTRAY AN IDENTITY

Once you have defined your identity you can use social media to portray it perfectly. Everything you do on social media can be used to portray an identity. Engagement. Creating Content. If there is a consistent message throughout everything, then a powerful identity will become apparent. Consistent identity means you don’t have to worry about direct connections. You are presenting an image, values. The followers will find you. Details matter. Colors and Fonts Pick a color scheme that matches who you are. Pick a font and perhaps some symbols or even emojis you use throughout the content. The human brain is pro‐ grammed to associate these with identities, so be consistent. Don’t believe me? The red of Coca Cola, the scripted writing. The orange of easyJet with comic writing. The multi-colored, fun eBay logo. Be consistent. It doesn’t matter how relevant to you your color or font is if you’re not consistent the brain won’t subconsciously link you in the reader’s mind. Profile Picture Make it stand out. Match your identity. If you’re the wisdom sharer, wear a suit or fancy dress. If you’re a supportive role use soft colors with a welcoming, relatable background. These things all matter. It’s how the brain works. It wants to connect visuals with feelings. Consistently allow the readers’ brains to do this. See engage‐ ment increase. Banners Most social media platforms offer some sort of background to the user’s page. Facebook have cover photos, Twitter have headers. Either way, be consistent with your identity. Add images of your books but be subtle and professional; you are advertising a product. Your product. Your book. You are not asking people to buy, just reminding them that you are a writer. Don’t just fling up a picture of your creation on a dusty table. Create an eye-catching display that gets people’s attention, with your masterpiece in the middle. All whist being consistent with your identity, in terms of colors and message. Bio Once you have a solid identity a bio is a great way to showcase it. Don’t make it obvious. Make it human, relatable to your readership. Perhaps address their main fear and how your goal is to overcome it. A simple formula I recommend is one sentence on achievements and roles. Another on your values and missions. It is also essential that you provide a link to your website or, if you don’t have a site, then your Amazon page. This step is vital. You will not be selling directly via social media, but you do want to create breadcrumbs your readers can follow to buy your book. When they are ready to buy, you want to make it as easy as possible. Your bio is the first thing potential readers will see about you. Don’t waste space with links the reader won’t click, just include one to your website or Amazon. If pos‐ sible, shorten it with a service like Bitly, to save space. Fill the bio with meaningful words that the reader wants to hear. Following No matter what your favorite social media platform, be consistent with your identity. Watch who you follow. Don’t contradict. Analyze your readership and make sure to not promote anyone that doesn’t match. Only follow people that suit your identity and goals you are trying to achieve. You might think that users don’t watch this. But if you create a loyal following, they’ll want to know everything about you. They are connecting with you, reaching out to you, and looking for guidance. Make sure who you follow on social media is relevant to you. If your value is for equality, but you follow a celebrity enrolled in a racist scandal, it reflects badly on you. At best it looks inauthentic, at worst you look like a hypocrite. Remember - be consistent. Promotion No, I don’t mean book promotion. What I’m on about is what you are seen to pro‐ mote and support. Promote relevant organizations and people. To create a community of readers you need to be seen as welcoming and support‐ ive. Do this through promotions. But don’t go over the top. With scarcity comes qual‐ ity. The occasional promotion will stand out and give it more of a sense of worth. The temptation may be to share something personal to you: your son’s football team win‐ ning the cup final, your favorite restaurant’s new promotion. Before you do, think ‘is this really relevant? Will this match my identity?'

Try not to tarnish your identity as much as possible. Keep your social media page clean and easy for readers to identify with. Make sure what you promote is consistent with your identity. DON’T CONTRADICT Contradiction can kill your identity. Eat it alive. Make sure your social media is clean. Delete any posts that don’t match your newly defined identity. Change any pictures or banners. Shape-up your bios. Check all your URLs are correct. The small things are the most important when it comes to creating an image. A broken link could result in a loss of trust. Loss of engagement. If there is a function to pin or favorite on your platform, choose your most popular posts. Make sure they are consistent with your identity. Make sure you don’t associate with anything that goes against your missions. One contradiction can lead to confu‐ sion and eventual disassociation in a reader’s brain. To maintain the connection, you must be consistent. Question all your content. All your engagements. Do they match your identity? Am I contradicting?