subject: Increasing Book Sales By Using Social Media [print this page] I've spent hours and hours researching more than 100 book publishing sites, and I'm not surprised to see that less than 20% of book publishers have any type of presence in the social media world. Some of the publishers have Facebook and Twitter icons on their site, but several of the links don't work. Others have opted not to have social media icons but instead use the words "Follow us on Twitter" in such a small font and the very bottom of their page, that it took me some time to find it. Granted, social media is not just about Facebook and Twitter, but that's a good place to start.
I know for the traditional book publisher, social media marketing can be a scary thing but think of the untapped market out there. There are over 80 million blogs, micro blogs and forums. 30,000 online news sources, 100 million + web properties, 300 + search engines. These are sites a publisher can go to and engage in conversations and build valuable relationships to build brand, which will increase book sales. Social media marketing operates on a one-to-one times many relationship basis. In other words, we are creating one-to-one relationships with thousands of people who could become customers and tell all of their friends about a given book. Newspaper, TV and other mass media are a one-to-many relationship, with no relationship to those who see your ads and everyone receives the same message
For the past few days I've been watching a particular well-known author use social media marketing to increase the pre-release of their book. This author will send out tweets like "Pre-order my book and not only get 34% off, but instantly become more awesome." Not only did this tweet promote their book but also by adding some humor to it, gave the follower a sense of connection. After seeing this Tweet I immediately did a Twitter search to see who was re-Tweeting their original Tweet. I was amazed to see 28 followers re-Tweet to their followers about this book. The impact of this one tweet created a one-to-one times-many relationship marketing tool. One Tweet reached out to thousands and thousands of Twitter followers, and this is just one small example of how social media marketing can change book publishing. If this author is also engaging in conversation on blogs, chat room, forum and news sites theyll see a greater increase in their book sales and possibly a #1 best seller.
I think for most publishers the reasons they haven't embraced social media marketing are:
1) Publishers are very used to the traditional method of email blasts, banner ads and newspaper ads.
2) Publishers don't know how to begin and set up social media marketing campaigns.
3) Once a publisher has a great fan base what do they say and where do they go next?
4) Publishers are not sure what technologies and platforms should be used.
5) Publishers do not have the time or the resources and proper social media marketing takes time. It's not about spam or sending out Tweets that say, "buy this book; it's about engaging in conversations and building relationships.
Maybe it is time book publishers review their traditional marketing methods and consider this new way of reaching out via social media to connect with prospects and customers. I find that social media marketing can be a very cost-effective way of generating book sales and overall buzz about a book or an author. Start with a basic social media campaign and build those relationships. You'll be pleasantly surprised at the results and more importantly will have made some great connections.
