If there’s one clear message to come out of my two months of research into the state of today’s publishing world and the best way to take my own newly finished memoir to market, it’s this: If you, as an author, actually want your book to succeed, you better embrace your inner-marketer self – because the job of marketing and promotions is falling on you.
In today’s tumultuous marketplace, even big publishing houses are pushing the job of marketing onto authors. While it can feel daunting, the good news is that the global reach and viral power of the Internet and social media has leveled the playing field for authors, making it easy to launch a broad-reaching marketing program on an author-size budget.
There are five key ingredients to any successful author marketing program – each of which interconnect to maximize success. Taken step by step, the marketing strategy outlined below will ensure that your book gets the exposure it deserves in today’s new world of publishing.
1. Put Up a Web Site: A web site is your window to the world and the foundation of any good online marketing and promotions program. Launching a book/author web site doesn’t have to be expensive. In fact, a customized Word Press powered site can be can be done for as little as a few hundred dollars. Beyond having a professional looking site that shares information on you and your book, make sure you site has these components: a) Blogging capabilities that enable you to continually post new content; b) Content management system that makes it easy to handle your own updates; c) Your own URL. Rather than signing up for a free web site on Word Press or another blogging service, it’s worth spending the $50 to $60 a year for a hosting package and a URL of your own (e.g. www.johndoebook.com vs. www.johndoebook.wordpress.com). Along with being more professional, it helps ensure search engines find your site and push Web traffic back to it.
2. Start Building Social Media Networks: The viral nature of social media, combined with the instant, two-way interaction it affords, makes social media networking a powerful way to build awareness and engage new prospects. If you haven’t already done so, you should immediately set up a presence in any social media network that makes sense for your target audience. Launch a Facebook page for your book. Start a Twitter account. Kick off a group in LinkedIn. Consider posting videos to YouTube. And then get busymaking posts, engaging fans and seeking out new contacts. For more info on how to leverage social media, read: Six Steps for a Successful Social Media Strategy
3. Reach Out to Book Bloggers: The fact that there are now several conferences and conventions devoted to book bloggers should hint to the power book bloggers now wield. There are thousands of book bloggers covering every book genre possible, all reaching audiences interested in learning about new books. One great resource for connecting with book bloggers is bookblogs.ning.com, which hosts numerous groups devoted to book blogging.
4. Send out Press Releases/Story Pitches: Think of your book as a news story – then write a press release with a news hook that will attract the attention of editors and bloggers. A general press release about your book should be sent out over a reputable online distribution service such as PRWeb to generate online pickup. But you should also put together personalized story pitches targeted to local publications and radio stations, and to niche market publications that are interested in the topic your book covers. Doing so will translate into Free Media Exposure, which translates into more book sales.
5. Think Promotion: People like to be engaged. They also like to be rewarded. So when it comes to marketing your book, think about offering a promotion that will get the attention of potential customers and motivate them to act – whether it’s purchasing your book, visiting your Web site, or spreading the word about your book through their own social networks. Don’t think expensive, think creative. To drive sales and awareness for his new book Purchased Power, first-time author Dennis Sheehan recently offered customers a chance to win a signed copy of the yet unpublished manuscript of his next book. Based on the enthusiastic response from his Facebook fans, it sounds like the promotion has been a huge hit. The book, which went on sale June 29, sold out of its first run in two days.
Ingrid Ricks specializes in online marketing. For more information, visit: www.rcstrategiesgroup.com. To learn more about Hippie Boy, her coming of age memoir, visit: www.hippieboybook.com
RC Strategies Groupwas recently invited to speak about social media marketing and the dos and don’ts of what is fast becoming the most important online marketing strategyin the world to a group of marketing professionals for architecture and engineering firms at their January SMPS Roundtable.
Here is a presentation we put together for the meeting. It highlights the importance of incorporating elements of social media into any forward-thinking business strategy and outlines a six-step process for getting started.
Social media marketing has become themust-have marketing strategy for 2010and is― or should be ― at the top of every business’ priority list.
But how do you ensure that your social media marketing efforts make sense for YOUR business, connect you with YOUR target markets, and drive the results YOU need?
Because of the viral power andtwo-way instant interaction that social networks offer, they serve as a powerful vehicle to engage existing customers, build brand awareness and reach new prospects. But the key word is VEHICLE. Like other marketing and advertising mediums, social networks are only as good as the marketing strategy and content behind them.
Whether you are just getting started with social media marketing, or have already jumped into the virtual fray, here are six key steps to ensure a successful social media strategy for your business in 2010.
1. Have a Plan: Before setting up social network accounts for your business, identify what it is you want to accomplish with them and how you plan to accomplish that goal. Do you want to drive customers and prospects to an event? Keep them up to date on company news? Launch a virtual customer loyalty program? Generate more Web traffic? How do you plan to build your social networks? Do you have a customer base to start with? Or are you starting from scratch? Understanding what your goals are ahead of time will help you to develop a strategy that drives the results you want.
2. Leverage as Many Social Networks as Make Sense: Facebook and Twitter have emerged as powerful marketing and outreach mediums for businesses, but they aren’t the only social networks to consider. If your business is in the b2b space, setting up a LinkedIn business group and tapping the LinkedIn contacts of you and your colleagues is critical. Want to take your message out visually? If so, posting videos on YouTube is a must. There are numerous other social networks that reach specific target markets. The key is to identify these networks and then utilize as many as possible for your business.
3. Start a Blog: A company blog is its own form of social networking and can serve as a linchpin to your social media marketing efforts. Why? 1) It gives you fresh, relevant content to provide to customers and prospects. 2) It drives search engine traffic – which can significant increase visits to your site (assuming you incorporate your blog into your Web site –which is critical). 3) It allows you to engage in two-way interaction with your audience, which opens the door to fun, interactive promotions.
4.Advertise Your Social Networks: It doesn’t do any good to set up social networks if customers and prospects don’t know they exist. And to fully maximize your social marketing efforts, every person in your company needs to be on board. Along with featuring social network icons prominently on your company Web site, they need to be advertised in every customer touch-point available – including e-mail signatures, e-newsletters, company brochures, and any TV, radio or print advertising.
5.Think Promotion: It only takes looking at the hundreds of promotions being launched through Facebook and Twitter daily to understand that today’s customers like to engage in interactive communication with businesses, and liked to be rewarded for their participation. Though Facebook has recently added some restrictions to promotions offered through its platform, there are still numerous ways to utilize Facebook, Twitter, blogs and other social media outlets to deliver innovative, compelling promotions that build your social network fan base and motivate customers and prospects to act.
6. Stay Engaged: When it comes to social networks, getting the fans is the easy part. It’s keeping them that’s hard. Interesting, relevant content is the glue that keeps you and your network connected. Frequent communication through social network updates, blogs, press releases, discussion and promotions will ensure that you keep your audience members engaged and coming back for more.
Nothing can replace the face-to-face interaction that trade shows provide. But with budgets tight and attendance down, today’s marketers need to ensure that every dollar spent is driving measurable results that add to their company’s bottom line.
Most marketers understand the importance of booth giveaways; they entice people to the table and reinforce a company’s brand. But in today’s economy, spending money on logoed pens or t-shirts that have no measurable ROI attached and no guarantee that they won’t end up in the trash bin makes no sense. So how do you turn that trade show giveaway into a high-performance incentive that captures leads and guarantees customer engagement? Think digital promotions and social media.
The Multi-Pronged Power of Social Media Promotions
In the past two years, digital incentives have emerged as a powerful trade show tool because, in addition to driving booth traffic and reducing shipping and storage costs, their online delivery enables companies to generate post-show Web traffic.
But with the arrival of social media, savvy trade show marketers can accomplish even more by offering a trade show incentive that integrates digital incentives and online promotions with social media networks such as Facebook to build qualified customer and prospect business networks.
And once trade show attendees are part of your businesses’ social media network, you have an instant way to:
Share ongoing information, news about your company
Engage and interact with your customers and prospects
Build an virtual customer loyalty program
Along with building your business’s social media f an base, you can use a social media promotion to capture valuable data through a survey or quiz. And because the trade show prizes aren’t given away until people become a fan of your Facebook page, measuring ROI is easy.
Three Steps to Launching a Social Media Promotion for Your Next Trade Show
If you haven’t already launched a Facebook page for your business, get started now.
Offer a compelling giveaway, such as a large prizes sweepstakes, or an Instant Win promotion that features guaranteed prizes such as music downloads with the chance to win bigger prizes such as a gift card or iPod.
Advertise the promotion via company-branded postcards that are given away at your trade show or event. To find out what they have won, prospects must first become a fan on your Facebook page, giving you a forum to keep them engaged and abreast of your company’s news, promotions and new products and services.
Interested in Experiencing the Power of Social Media Promotions? Demo our Instant Win promotion by becoming a fan at facebook.com/rcstrategiesgroup and clicking on the Instant Win button in the top blue navigation bar. As a thank you, you’ll automatically win music downloads and may even walk away with a $20 Amazon gift card or an iPod Touch. Everyone Wins!
Social media is the new all-purpose online marketing tool. But what many companies don’t realize is that it can also be used to boost face-to-face interactions with customers. Hewlett-Packard recently employed Twitter to significantly increase booth traffic at the spring Interop Show in Las Vegas, just one example of how businesses are using social media to draw crowds at trade show booths and exponentially growing their customer base.
Wondering how social media can boost your trade show performance? Here are three simple steps to get you started:
Step 1: Pre-Show
Start Building Your Social Networks
Launch a Facebook, Twitterand LinkedIn business account and invite colleagues and customers to join
Send invitations to your social media account contacts to your show attendee list, informing them of current promotions and incentives to join in
Generate Pre-Show Buzz
Send out trade show invitations to your social media networks prior to the show
Offer compelling booth incentives that motivate people to stop by at the show
Issue a pre-show press release outlining the promotions and incentives you’ll have on the day for attendees, and post them via social media and PR Weband trade show website.
Step 2: At The Show
Continue to Develop Your Social Media Network
Talkto as many people as you can and collect business cards or attendee information so that you can add attendees to your online network
Employ Trade Show Incentives
Reward loyal customers and social media network members for stopping by your booth with attendance prizes
Turn booth giveawaysinto an interactive Facebook promotions that builds your online fan base, pulls in new members and drives customers loyalty
Step 3: Post-Show
Follow-up on Trade Show Leads and Interact With Them
Go through your trade show prospects andinvite them ALLto join your company on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
Use Facebook promotions (Instant Wins or Sweepstakes) as an incentive to bring in more fans
Keep your brand on your customers’ minds
Generate ongoing post-show content via yourblog,e-newslettersand social networking platforms
Keep your longtime and new customers engaged and informed
Email is out and social media is in. As the Wall Street Journal recently noted, the reign of email is over, while Twitter and Facebook are fast becoming THE platforms for web-based communication. Even Google is trading in email for instant social interactivity.
Social media is the future. And it’s indispensable to businesses, helping them where it counts – the customers – by generating new leads, driving sales, and bringing company and customer closer.
Five simple reasons why EVERY business needs social media:
1. Social Media serves as powerful driver for Web site traffic, e-newsletters, blogs, articles, trade shows and events
Social media status updates are instant, keeping your customers and prospects in the know of everything your business has to offer, whether it’s event updates, or the announcement of a new product or service. Social media is your business’s instant messaging service.
2. It builds organic search engine traffic for your business
The more you promote your business ventures via social media, the more touch-points you have for search engines to pick up. And the more search-able your business, the more traffic you’ll receive.
3. It offers cross-channels for marketing your products & services
By marketing your business for different platforms you’ll unlock a whole new audience base, reaching people where they engage in social media, rather than only on your doorstep.
4. It enables your business to instantly engage with customers & prospects, and gives your customers a way to directly interact with you
Businesses are constantly looking for new ways to know their customers and push out products and services that meet their needs. With social media, you have endless knowledge about your client base at your fingertips, as well as a face for your customers to engage with, opening up a two-way road between business and customer.
5. The viral nature of social media enables you to quickly expand your business reach and grow a customer base faster than ever before
When you give your business a face in social media you gain access to all of your customers and all of their friends. Suddenly you’ll be within reach of an exponentially greater audience, and with ‘refer a friend’ promotions, you’ll build out your customer base while rewarding longtime clients, creating a strong and tightly knit customer network.
Still not convinced? Check out this short video by Socialnomics, a blog on social media by Erik Qualman, the Global Vice President of of Online Marketing for EF Education.
With education funding and endowments at an all time low, competition among colleges to secure attract students in a cost-effective and successful manner is at an all time high.
So how do you connect with you prospective students and keep them engaged? Think promotion and think social media – the two key tools for successful interaction between you and your future student body.
Four Steps for Putting Social Media Marketing to Work for Your College Recruitment:
STEP 1:Build Your Fan Base with Interactive Facebook Promotions:
Turn your college recruiting events into a social media building platform by giving students an Instant Win card good for music downloads, and a chance to win an Amazon Gift card, an iPod, gift certificate to your school store, or other great prizes. To find out what they have won, students must first become a fan on your school’s Facebook page, giving you a direct line to instantly engage and interact with them on an ongoing basis.
You can also build in data capture capabilities that will gather valuable market information that will help you better cater to students in the future, giving you an ever-expanding captive audience that is always just one mouse click away!
To demo our Facebook promotion, join us at RC Strategies Group and click on the “Instant Win” button in the blue navigation bar.
STEP 2: Tap into Viral Marketing Power of Social Media with Refer-a-Friend Promotion:
Once students are in, get them to help further your following with a refer-a-friend promotion that gives both them and their friends a chance to win an exciting prize, like an iPod, laptop or other school-related gift. Instant Win giveaways are a great way to get the attention of the masses, especially when offering something students want, need and use on a daily basis like music, electronics and custom school paraphernalia.
STEP 3: Engage Students, Promote School with Interactive Quizzes/Contests.
Keep prospective students engaged with your school through fun interactive quizzes that test their knowledge about the school’s programs, history and community. These quizzes will give students a short and fun way to interact with the school, keeping them not only abreast, but interested in the programs and activities you have to offer. Draw in the online crowds by offering participation incentives, such as sought-after seats to a school sporting event, tickets to an on-campus play or visiting lecture series, or even a custom branded laptop skin, which will promote campus affiliated events and promote the school brand.
Utilize your potential to get in on the social media revolution by socializing with your students! By keeping your social media involvement interesting, fun and interactive, you will keep your fans engaged and listening — or reading, rather – building long-standing relationships with students and prospectives.
STEP 4: Keep Students Informed with Important Status Updates:
Now that you’ve developed a loyal fan base, maintain that relationship for the future by continuing the conversation. Keep your students and followers connected with frequent status updates via Facebook and Twitter that keep them informed about important dates such as registration deadlines, finals schedules; departmental news such as updated class offerings, faculty profiles and students groups; on campus happenings such as visiting lecturers, events put on by student organizations, school sports scores, and more!
And most importantly, keep it social. There is tremendous power behind social media, but it is only as valuable as it is used. Instead of throwing information at your readers, remember to continue to engage them in a fun and interactive way that helps promote your school and develop ongoing relationships with students. Social media is all about creating relationships. And by utilizing all that social media has to offer, you’ll build relationships that last long past graduation!
Social media is a hugely powerful – and highly untapped – marketing tool that could propel your company into the digital age! Why? Because it has the ability to reach a greater number of people faster and more organically than any other marketing strategy.
Social media sites are some of the most powerful drivers of online traffic for businesses, blogs and e-newsletters. By utilizing this market, you could build organic search engine traffic for your business and cross-market your products and services to reach an exponentially greater customer base.
Simply put, social media offers you and your company a marketing platform unmatched by any other.
ENGAGE YOUR CUSTOMERS WITH THE CLICK OF A MOUSE:
Social media allows you to engage your customers and prospects on a more personal level, an interaction that helps the viral growth of your prospective base. Today’s consumers have a choice of when, where and how they will engage with a brand – and they increasingly choose to do so online. So how do you entertain your customers easily and effectively with the simple click of a mouse? Draw them in through their interests, engage them as participants and then reward them for their contribution!
WHY SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING WORKS & WHERE IT’S GOING
A 2008 study by Borrell Associates estimates that online promotions will triple from $8 billion to $22 billion by 2012, outpacing all other forms of online advertising.
Get an edge up on the competition by engaging your clientele via social networking. Use Facebook and Twitter to incentivize customers to join, follow and interact with your company!
To reward existing Facebook fans and continue to build its Facebook fan base, Bud Light Lime Canada launched an interactive Facebook campaign this summer, giving away 1,000 10-song playlists every week for four weeks. The only requirement to enter was that participants became Facebook fans. The promotion, a big hit with fans, is one of a several interactive Facebook promotions Bud Light Lime has featured to continue expanding its brand, drive product sales and keep fans engaged.
GET STARTED WITH OUR FACEBOOK PROMOTION PACKAGE
We have devised an all-in-one turnkey Facebook Promotion Packagethat will handle your campaign from start to finish. We will set up your business Facebook page and Instant Win Engine, design your custom graphics and promotional survey/quiz, handle the prize delivery to your customers and deliver a comprehensive customer data captured through the promotion straight to you.
It’s easy as pie! Simply invite customers and potentials to join your Facebook Fan page, and as a thank you, offer them a chance to win music downloads with a few larger prizes tossed in. Once a customer becomes a fan, they can click on the promotion to see what they’ve won. And voila, you have yourself a satisfied and loyal customer!
GIVE IT A TRY!
Still not convinced? Try out our own Instant Win Facebook Promo and see how it works! Everyone’s a winner, and you could walk away with anything from Music Downloads, to a $20 Amazon Gift Card or even an iPod Touch!
For more information see RC Strategies Group, or email us at info@rcstrategiesgroup.com.
Aeronautics star Lockheed Martin wanted a compelling trade show campaign that would drive booth traffic at its trade show exhibits. The company needed a solution that was easy, inexpensive, portable and required minimal storage space. The answer? Custom-branded music download cards.
Now three years in the running, Lockheed Martin has been using music download cards as an incentive to get people to its trade show booths and to build its customer database. 500 card packs take up almost no space, and weight only 6 lbs, making them easy to move from one trade room floor to the next.
Beyond convenience, digital music download cards can also build a database of valuable customer information by creating a custom online registration form that captures the prospect’s name, mailing address and email address, and also features an opt-in to receive product information from the company. It’s simple: To redeem their music downloads, trade show attendees were required to first fill out a short registration form that gave Lockheed all the information needed to build a powerful ongoing marketing tool.
Zion Bank in Salt Lake City was looking for a way to drastically expand its client base. Their target audience? College students. And what better way to reach technically savvy undergraduates than through a digital promotion offering free music downloads and a chance to win prizes, including an iPod?
To entice students to open up checking accounts with their bank, Zion offered 5-track music download cards as a free incentive for every new account opened. Each student who opened a new account was also entered into a giveaway drawing for a new iPod, generating excitement and buzz between coeds. Within three weeks Zion Bank had opened 25,000 new checking accounts!
Turn your college recruiting events into a social media building platform by giving students an Instant Win card good for music downloads, and a chance to win an Amazon Gift card, an iPod, gift certificate to your school store, or other great prizes. To find out what they have won, students must first become a fan on your school’s Facebook page, giving you a direct line to instantly engage and interact with them on an ongoing basis.
You can also build in data capture capabilities that will gather valuable market information that will help you better cater to students in the future, giving you an ever-expanding captive audience that is always just one mouse click away!
Once students are in, get them to help further your following with a refer-a-friend promotion that gives both them and their friends a chance to win an exciting prize, like an iPod, laptop or other school-related gift. Instant Win giveaways are a great way to get the attention of the masses, especially when offering something students want, need and use on a daily basis like music, electronics and custom school paraphernalia.
Keep prospective students engaged with your school through fun interactive quizzes that test their knowledge about the school’s programs, history and community. These quizzes will give students a short and fun way to interact with the school, keeping them not only abreast, but interested in the programs and activities you have to offer. Draw in the online crowds by offering participation incentives, such as sought-after seats to a school sporting event, tickets to an on-campus play or visiting lecture series, or even a custom branded laptop skin, which will promote campus affiliated events and promote the school brand.
Now that you’ve developed a loyal fan base, maintain that relationship for the future by continuing the conversation. Keep your students and followers connected with frequent status updates via Facebook and Twitter that keep them informed about important dates such as registration deadlines, finals schedules; departmental news such as updated class offerings, faculty profiles and students groups; on campus happenings such as visiting lecturers, events put on by student organizations, school sports scores, and more!
Social media is a hugely powerful – and highly untapped – marketing tool that could propel your company into the digital age! Why? Because it has the ability to reach a greater number of people faster and more organically than any other marketing strategy.
Social media allows you to engage your customers and prospects on a more personal level, an interaction that helps the viral growth of your prospective base. Today’s consumers have a choice of when, where and how they will engage with a brand – and they increasingly choose to do so online. So how do you entertain your customers easily and effectively with the simple click of a mouse? Draw them in through their interests, engage them as participants and then reward them for their contribution!
A 2008 study by 
It’s easy as pie! Simply invite customers and potentials to join your Facebook Fan page, and as a thank you, offer them a chance to win music downloads with a few larger prizes tossed in. Once a customer becomes a fan, they can click on the promotion to see what they’ve won. And voila, you have yourself a satisfied and loyal customer!
Aeronautics star Lockheed Martin wanted a compelling trade show campaign that would drive booth traffic at its trade show exhibits. The company needed a solution that was easy, inexpensive, portable and required minimal storage space. The answer? Custom-branded music download cards.
Zion Bank in Salt Lake City was looking for a way to drastically expand its client base. Their target audience? College students. And what better way to reach technically savvy undergraduates than through a digital promotion offering free music downloads and a chance to win prizes, including an iPod?
