Social media serves a purpose, and books serve a purpose. But it’s important to recognize that these two purposes are different.
Each plays an important role. In fact, social media is a powerful way to promote your book, and a book is a great tool to build your brand presence.
Social media is a low-hanging fruit. It’s accessible to everyone and easy to post on. But sometimes expanding our leadership and brand requires expanding to the next level. A book is that next level.
It creates the space for you to deep dive into the topics that make you an expert and thought leader in your field, while providing a profound service to your audience by teaching them through your experiences.
Let’s dive further into taking this next step.
What’s the Difference?
Social media is a powerful tool that allows us to connect with incredible people, create visibility for ourselves, share quick stories, and talk about topics that are quickly evolving. But books allow us to go deeper.
Books share more in-depth stories. They allow us to more robustly cover the topic at hand. They allow you to establish yourself as an expert and thought leader in your field. Anyone who can fill a whole, high-quality book certainly knows what they’re talking about.
Writing a book isn’t an act of ego; it’s an act of service. It’s creating an asset that contains some of your most valuable knowledge in one cohesive place for your readers to absorb and act upon. They don’t need to go searching to put pieces together. You’ve done that for them.
In the process, they also get to know and trust you even more than they would on social media. Everyone is sharing their stories on social media (which is great, by the way), but a book allows your readers to get to know you even more deeply after they spend several hours with you throughout the course of reading your book.
How Do You Know When You’re Ready?
Most people doubt if they’re really ready to write their first book. Even after a moment of certainty, they may question it. This is totally normal (which is why a ghostwriter is super helpful, by the way). So, how do you know if writing a book makes sense?
You may find yourself continually advocating for a certain approach, a certain philosophy, sharing certain knowledge, etc. That’s a good sign that you’re headed down the right path. If you’re that passionate about something, you’ve probably invested a lot of time and energy into learning about it or going through the experience yourself.
You probably also talk about these things a lot. If you’re on social media, you probably post about this topic a lot and have various content pillars that revolve around it. If social media isn’t your jam, you probably often talk, teach, or write about these things in short-form.
You may find yourself constantly trying to explain nuances of the topic that can’t be captured in just a few minutes. You probably also find yourself getting really excited to tell stories about this topic. These may be personal stories, success stories, or stories that demonstrate why what you’re advocating for is so important.
Books allow for a depth of storytelling that just doesn’t lend itself to short-form content.
Why Storytelling Is So Important
Think back to some of the best books you’ve read. I bet they were filled with stories. At times, you were probably absorbing the teachings and morals without even realizing it.
Stories are great for several reasons. The first is that they engage the reader. Nobody seeks out a textbook to read for fun (okay… most people don’t do this). The difference between a textbook and the non-fiction books you get at the bookstore? Stories. They draw people in in a way that content alone cannot.
Stories are how we’ve learned throughout time. They’re how we best absorb information. No matter how we adapt our storytelling, whether it’s speaking, writing, or art, it’s the method that has carried on throughout human history for us to pass information to each other.
Finally, stories are a great demonstration of what you’re trying to teach. They bring abstract ideas into a format that is relatable. They allow readers to see how the concepts you’re teaching about can be applied to their own lives (which is the most important part of a book).
While all of this can take place over a series of posts, there’s something different about bringing the reader into your stories without having to worry about the length of it, making it into a multiple-part series, or making sure it’s eye-catching on a news feed.
Books allow for more depth, vulnerability, and relatability.
If you’re looking to share your thought leadership on a deeper level, let’s connect! Book a free strategy session using the button below.
Disclaimer: This blog should not be construed as providing, or intending to provide professional financial, legal, psychological, or other professional advice. It is simply meant to share my experiences with those who may find them relatable and helpful.