As I read, I realized that many of the outlined strategies would work for marketing an author and/or a book. The basic ideas are the same, really. Anyone can go on Twitter and constantly tweet, "Buy my book." But that's not going to get us anywhere.
Once you have some idea who your ideal readers are and where you can find them online, you'll want to get them to interact with you. The end goal is for them to buy your book (and hopefully leave a glowing review). You're looking for those who will become your fans.
But this is a process. The idea is to create a relationship. In marketing-speak, the steps for the formation of this relationship are the ABCs. Acquisition. Behavior. Conversion.
Acquisition. You want to find people who may like your book. You want them to follow you.
Behavior. You've got followers, but do they really read your tweets? You want people to engage with you. You want to draw them in and get them to pay attention to you.
You want to get a conversation going. Virtually. Get them to read your blog posts. Comment. Perhaps subscribe to a newsletter. Get them to "know" you, so when you publish a new book, they feel invested.
Conversion. You've drawn them in, and now they want to buy your book. They want to review it for you. They want to tell their friends about you.
These are the steps you take as you build your online presence. Having lots of followers is great, but it's much better to have fewer committed followers than a lot of random "likes" from people who never pay attention to anything you post. It's like making friends in the virtual world.
One of the big things in getting someone from A to B to C is to be a part of the conversation. Social media is about access. You want to get to know your readers. (More on this tomorrow.)
Once you have some idea who your ideal readers are and where you can find them online, you'll want to get them to interact with you. The end goal is for them to buy your book (and hopefully leave a glowing review). You're looking for those who will become your fans.
But this is a process. The idea is to create a relationship. In marketing-speak, the steps for the formation of this relationship are the ABCs. Acquisition. Behavior. Conversion.
Acquisition. You want to find people who may like your book. You want them to follow you.
Behavior. You've got followers, but do they really read your tweets? You want people to engage with you. You want to draw them in and get them to pay attention to you.
You want to get a conversation going. Virtually. Get them to read your blog posts. Comment. Perhaps subscribe to a newsletter. Get them to "know" you, so when you publish a new book, they feel invested.
Conversion. You've drawn them in, and now they want to buy your book. They want to review it for you. They want to tell their friends about you.
These are the steps you take as you build your online presence. Having lots of followers is great, but it's much better to have fewer committed followers than a lot of random "likes" from people who never pay attention to anything you post. It's like making friends in the virtual world.
One of the big things in getting someone from A to B to C is to be a part of the conversation. Social media is about access. You want to get to know your readers. (More on this tomorrow.)
5 comments:
ho boy, do I ever agree.
some people market their books like a perfume lady who sprays you with her product thinking that will entice you to buy it.
Like a drive-by aroma hit.
Yeah, Huntress, scatter-shot marketing turns off more people than entices them to buy. What I liked about this book was how it helped you narrow down your target. Then it gave some good ideas for how to work with them.
I would probly just skim through that book to obtain the most useful tips out of it fast.
You definitely want to get to know your readers, and you want them to get to know you. It's the personal connection that makes the difference.
@John--Most of these kinds of books are like that. They have a lot of stuff you do know with some stuff you weren't aware of before. I'm just sharing some stuff that I thought authors could get some use out of.
@Sherry--Good point.
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