So you've written a new classic— a book that
will change the way society sees the world. One major problem: how are you
supposed to influence anyone if no one even knows of your book's existence?
While "traditional" marketing and a superb book tour manager can get
your name out there, these options can be pretty expensive. So if you have a
small budget—perhaps because your book is self-published or you're an aspiring
"student" author—then social media marketing can be your next best
bet.
While Facebook and Twitter can be just as
effective, my favorite social media site-of-choice is Google+. That said, to
learn some creative marketing techniques you can utilize on Google+ aside from
"sharing" about your upcoming book release, follow these few tips
below.
Hold/Enter
Contests
You may refer to your readers as your fans but
in actuality they're consumers—and just like every consumer, your Google+
friends need to see "what's in for them." There needs to be a reason
why they've added you to their "circle" in the first place. There
needs to be an incentive if you will. There are several ways you can approach
this. The first is to offer exclusive coupons or promotional deals to those
that add you on Google+. This should increase your following so you can reach
out to a larger audience. My favorite promotional technique however is holding
contests and then offering a free signed copy of my book as the prize. Contests
may require some creativity, but it can be something as simple as "who can
help create the most unique character name." Whatever it is, you want to
get your readers involved pre and post production.
While on the topic of contests, remember that
entering your completed book in a few contests is recommended as well. Earning
an award won't only make you a more credible author and give you the right to
call your book "award-winning," but you can also send press releases
announcing your "win" to newspapers and other media outlets who can
help promote your book even further.
Host Video
Chat Sessions
Another great way to get to know your readers as
well as make you seem more personable (which may drive book sales) is to host
video chat sessions with select fans using the Hangout feature. You can
announce that you will go live at a designated time. This is when fans can ask
you questions about parts they might've not understood or just want to get some
insight into your creative process. Or
if you'd like, you could find someone to interview you and host an official
podcast. It's up to you.
Create Book
Trailers
Last but not least you can create a book
trailer. Movies have trailers, why can't books? It will take some creativity in
order to create scenes and music that can properly give your readers a sense of
what your book is going to be about but it can definitely be a fun approach at
using all of the tools you have access to.
Guest post by Aniya Wells, a freelance blogger whose primary
focus is writing about www.onlinedegreeprograms.com.
She also enjoys investigating trends in other niches, notably technology,
traditional higher education, and writing. Aniya welcomes reader questions and
comments at aniyawells@gmail.com.
1 Comments
Hi Jo, great ideas and tips for Google+ users - don't do much Blogging, but starting to look into it a bit more now. Thanks for the tips - going to share this on Twitter :) n x
ReplyDeleteI love to hear from you. So feel free to comment, but keep in mind the basics of blog etiquette — no spam, no profanity, no slander, etc.
Thanks for being an active part of the Writers and Authors community.