How Audible Turns Audiobooks Into Compelling Social Media Content

Audible is leaning into social media and communities like #BookTok to get people to read and connect with fans.

Rosina Shiliwala, global head of social media at Audible, outlined the brand’s social media strategy at ADWEEK’s Social Media Week.

Building brand affinity—or something that stirs up positive emotions associated with Audible—is core to the company’s presence on platforms like TikTok and Instagram.

“We’re not just in the business of audiobooks, we’re in the business of immersive audio storytelling,” Shiliwala said. That requires connecting with book lovers through authenticity, humor, and irreverence.

Part of that focus comes from how long people spend with Audible’s content. Audible listeners spend more than a hour at a time listening to its content, according to Shiliwala. All told, Audible’s content was listened to for 5.4 billion hours in 2024.

Nearly three-quarters (74%) of Gen Z finds content—including their next audiobook—through social media, according to eMarketer.

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Finding book fans

#BookTok is a natural place for Audible to find book lovers, which requires the brand’s team to dig through Reddit threads and TikTok videos.

“We study where fans congregate, what excites them, and how they engage,” Shiliwala said. 

For example, Audible created social content around creators Oliver Mills, Yuval Ben-Hayun, and Ayamé Ponder. When the creators started posting content about each other while shooting content for Audible, fans theorized that the three were in a love triangle.

“It was authentic, it was unplanned, and it was driven by real fan engagement,” Shiliwala said. Moreover, the creators’ followers amplified the content, leading to press coverage by publications including Time.

Audible also likes to step into the comments of creators’ videos. When comedian and creator Jake Cornell posted a video about someone drinking a bottle of cold brew concentrate, Audible chimed in with a comment about listening to audiobooks at a fast pace.

“Comments like these are not just throwaway jokes for us—they’re really like tiny love letters to our community,” Shiliwala said.

In another example, Audible built a campaign around Yung Gravy narrating an audiobook after fans asked for audio content from the rapper.

“This wasn’t a meticulously planned campaign months and months in advance—this was pure social-first storytelling,” Shiliwala explained.

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