Since we are now less than two months away from the release of The Genesis of Seven, I thought this was the perfect time to explain my hashtag "strategy." (Notice strategy is in quotes because I am not an expert or master of hashtags and will simply be explaining how I approach them).
Hashtags are essentially keywords that are used to tag your social media posts in order for people to discover them. They typically start with the hashtag symbol (#) and are followed by a word or phrase. These words or phrases are based on the content of the post.
For my posts, I try to use hashtags that are based on The Genesis of Seven. Here are some examples:
The abbreviated title of my book.
The full title of my book.
The series name for my book.
A slogan related to The Genesis of Seven that is said by one of the characters at a crucial moment in the book.
Another slogan related to The Genesis of Seven that is said by one of the characters about the fallen (aka the villains).
A keyword that describes the content of my book.
Another keyword that describes the content of my book.
Additionally, I try to use some hashtags that refer to books in general. What I mean by that are things like the book's genre and audience. Sometimes I will even use words that relate to self-publishing. Here are some examples:
A word referring to a self-published author.
The audience (YA = young adult) and genre of my book.
A category of books (young adult books) that target readers who would be interested in my book.
In total, I try to use thirteen hashtags for each post I create, and the only reason why I settled on thirteen is because it was a large enough number with symbolic significance to my book. Sometimes I use more because I can think of lots of keywords that relate to a particular post, or sometimes I use less if the opposite happens and I can't think of too many.
Once I tag my post with some of the hashtags listed above, I usually need about four or five more if I want a total of thirteen. Instead of focusing on The Genesis of Seven or books in general, I start to think about what the post is about. For instance, with my astrology posts I include #astrology, or with my current read posts I include #goodreadschallenge2020. It all really depends on the content or topic.
Overall, my intent with this blog was to be transparent about how I hashtag and what I include in each of my social media posts. I'm sure there are so many ways to use hashtags, and for that reason, I intend to keep learning and improving my skills.