social media – Page 4 – Self Publishing Advisor

Alternative Marketing Methods, Book Marketing, Book Promotion, Book Promotion Strategy, Kelly Speaks, Marketing Your Self-Published Book, Self-Publishing, Social Media Marketing

An Indie Author’s Social Media Primer | Tumblr

It’s kind of a big deal. Such a big deal, in fact, that even the White House has one, and the President of the United States has done a Q&A on one. What am I talking about? I’m talking about Tumblr, the microblogging platform that quite literally causes and feeds a frenzy of conversations––many of them controversial. And with over 81 million new posts going up every day, spread across more than 243 million individual blogs, the potential heft of any given piece of content is massive––particularly since Tumblr’s graphic-driven interface makes “reblogging” the posts of others so incredibly easy.

So how does Tumblr work? As with its distant cousins, Facebook and Twitter, Tumblr is a hybrid blogging and social networking platform. Its structure is fourfold in that it allows users to:

Post new content, which will then appear on both their blog and in the “feed” of any other user who “follows” that blog;
View the blogs and “reblogs” of others, in a single streamlined and constantly updated feed;
Share or “reblog” the posts of others, all of which will appear––with attribution––in their feeds; and
Discover new content by searching Tumblr’s general database, using hashtags, keyword searches, and a variety of other built-in exploratory features.

In many ways, Tumblr’s user interface feels a great deal like Twitter’s––which we discussed in detail last week––in large part because in both cases the interface places great structural emphasis on the content of each tweet or post. Facebook, which we’ll discuss more in weeks to come, is structured to emphasize the relationships between users themselves; this isn’t to say that Tumblr and Twitter don’t allow for personal connection, or that Facebook doesn’t allow for the production of content, but there is a subtle shift in the warp and weft of each platform which determines what gets seen and what slips under the radar.

On Tumblr, who you are is less important than what you post, and the “best” posts hit a sweet spot in respect to visual appeal, cultural relevance, timeliness, tone, and length. (Don’t worry, I’ll expand on these five points in a moment.) You can easily see which posts are successful; they’re the ones with the most “likes” or “reblogs,” both of which are tabulated as “notes.” For self-published and indie authors looking for a bit of exposure, there’s nothing so handy as a website that is, quite literally, designed to take content viral.

Debunking the Great Tumblr Myth: “Notes are the most important thing.”

I’m not going to lie––notes are important. But they’re not the only important indicator of success on Tumblr, and they’re not even an accurate indicator of a piece of content’s popularity. Because likes and reblogs are conflated together into the note count, it’s impossible to winnow out how many people flat out “liked” a given post, and how many are commenting on it. As you may know from other websites, comments on any given social media platform where anonymity is guaranteed (Tumblr users do not have to divulge their names or personal information to set up accounts) can range from fans going wild over their favorite things to people being downright mean. Most of Tumblr’s many millions of users prefer to reblog content they like rather than content they dislike, but some use the “reblog” feature to elaborate upon, rebut, or otherwise respond to the posts of others. This type of feedback can provide other benefits to you as an author, but it cannot be equated directly to “Yes! My stab at self-promotion is a raging success!” No, notes are not the most important thing. Engagement is.

So how do you get the average Tumblr user to stop scrolling through the hundreds or thousands of blog posts and reblogs in their feed to look at your excerpt, or your book cover, or your “behind-the-scenes” video?

Top 5 Best Practices:

1. Make sure it looks good. Visual appeal cannot be over-trumped as the leading reason why a pair of eyes will fasten onto your post. Many of Tumblr’s most canny users won’t even bother posting any text at all if it isn’t accompanied by a pleasing graphic or photograph of some kind. In fact, most Tumblr users will lead with the picture, rather than slipping it in as an afterthought. Since Tumblr is a medium of fast consumption leading to speedy sharing, the image should be something that is easily comprehended after just a quick glance, so as to keep the reader’s eye moving, roving further into the text that follows. It’s also a good thought to break up dense text posts with a .GIF file or two––the “reaction .GIF” is a Tumblr specialty, and not one to be underestimated. (There’s nothing like a perfectly on-point .GIF to inject a text post with a dose of humor and personality!)

2. Keep it relevant. This should go without saying, but a wise friend once pointed out to me that my own (private) blog was a confusing mish-mash of my interests (which are many) and my own material (which is quite specific in focus). As an indie author looking to create a cohesive, effective methodology in dealing with social media, it’s a good idea to specialize. That is to say, you should keep your posts––both of original content and any reblogged material that might catch your eye––focused on you, your book, and the authorial process. If you become enamored of all of the different features that Tumblr has to offer, and if you enjoy reading an eclectic mix of posts by others, that’s wonderful! … Just make sure that you create a separate blog for your author-related activities so that you don’t accidentally inundate your followers with Shia LaBeouf memes.

3. Timeliness is key. Tumblr is the home of revolutions. More than half of Tumblr’s active users report being under 25 years of age, and the platform’s format encourages the Millennials’ activist leanings. The Occupy Wall Street crowd? It may have found a second home on Twitter, but its native land is Tumblr. Ever heard of the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag? Or #WeNeedDiverseBooks? One of teenage designer and activist Kyemah McEntyre’s handmade creations walked the red carpet at the BET Awards because of Tumblr. Petitions have been signed, flags taken down, flags proudly shaken, politicians heckled, and, quite possibly, laws passed on the momentum generated by Tumblr’s dedicated, active, and socially-engaged user base. They’re politically and economically diverse, and as feverishly clannish as any other group of Millennials, and if you can make them care about your work, you’ll never want for support. All of this to say, it’s best to keep an ear to the ground. If you’re willing to use Tumblr as a tool, you should “follow” as many other users as you need to in order to stay in touch with current trends, topics, and ongoing conversations. If you know what’s spurring interest, you can reframe your own posts to touch on these hot-button issues, and generate more interest in your work.

4. Watch your tone. I’m kind of holding forth here in this post, which I’d stress can be either the most effective approach, ever to Tumblr, or the most annoying thing, ever. There are four main speeds when it comes to tone on Tumblr: ranting, reflecting, ridiculous self-posturing, and photo essaying. Rants are passionate (and sometimes, though rarely, lengthy) attacks on the various injustices of life, whether humorous or serious in nature. Reflective posts usually consist of brief narrative bursts, retelling past events or unwinding the implications of some thought experiment (Harry Potter and other fictional worlds inspire many of these, I find). A Tumblr user might dip a toe into ridiculous self-posturing when looking to inspire a good laugh or let off some steam, and often these posts are spoken in the coded language of memes. Some users eschew text altogether and simply post photo essays of their adventures; many hikers, climbers, boulderers, runners, and artists of all disciplines use Tumblr as a sort of interactive portfolio or photo album. One of the many quirky realities of Tumblr is that a post which uses only one of these tones is more likely to go viral than another post that tries to use more than one tone. Tumblr users are looking for easily digestible, bite-sized pieces of life.

5. Keep it readable by keeping it brief. As with my last point, length is best viewed through a lens of digestibility. The world of Tumblr moves fast, and sometimes sideways, and content has to be focused, brief, and either hilarious or achingly accurate in order to collect notes. The most successful Tumblr bloggers post nuggets that are quick to read or view, and they post regularly. I find that instead of encouraging simplicity and generalization, Tumblr users’ love of brevity actually encourages complexity and specialization. The more direct the statement, the more likely someone else is to respond––and for a single sentence to provoke a snowball effect of comments and reblogs.

Most Overlooked Feature:

Most Tumblr users either upload text or photographs, but Tumblr actually allows for several other types of posts: videos, quotes, links, and chats. As an author, you should most definitely take advantage of the “quotes” feature to introduce your followers to your voice, characters, and above all––your book!

I hope you’ll join me in building this Social Media Primer! If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or contributions, please use the comment field below or drop us a line at selfpublishingadvice@gmail.com. And remember to check back each Wednesday for your weekly dose of social media know-how. ♠

ABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT: Kelly Schuknecht is the Executive Vice President of Outskirts Press. In addition to her contributions to the Outskirts Press blog at blog.outskirtspress.com, Kelly and a group of talented marketing experts offer book marketing services, support, and products to not only published Outskirts Press authors, but to all authors and professionals who are interested in marketing their books and/or careers. Learn more about Kelly on her blog, kellyschuknecht.com.

Alternative Marketing Methods, Book Marketing, Book Promotion, Book Promotion Strategy, Kelly Speaks, Social Media Marketing, twitter

An Indie Author’s Social Media Primer | Twitter

“There’s a lot more to using social media for book promotion,” I wrote last week, “than simply knowing the names of the most popular sites or even how to set up an account with and update each one.” Twitter is no exception. This social media platform is often described as a “microblogging” website, a descriptor which implies that Twitter users manage their feed and profile content the way they would a blogging website––only in smaller chunks. This is only partially true, in that some Twitter users who also have blogs may use the same parameters to manage both platforms, or in that some Twitter users treat the site as a tool for unspooling narrative.

If you spend any quality time on Twitter, however, you’ll rapidly discover that terms like “microbloggers” or “microblogs” only describe a small fraction of the feeds out there; some users compile data and statistics while others use their feeds to start conversations, and still others mostly neglect their own feeds while spending their time watching other peoples’. Back in 2013, Steve Faktor deconstructed and described ten types of Twitter users in a 2013 Forbes article that still, for the most part, holds up beautifully. For the indie, hybrid, or self-published author, Twitter can be a minefield––rife with potential rewards for the daring and discerning user, yes, but a minefield nonetheless. This is, in part, because the fundamental operating assumption out there about Twitter––that is actually preached by its own PR team––is that it is awash with activity, engagement, and avid disseminators of information. This is simply untrue.

Debunking the Great Twitter Myth: “If I tweet regularly, followers will appear.”

Twitter, like any other website, has its active users and its passive users. Many people set up Twitter accounts and then forget about them, or never really learn how to use them, or find that the website isn’t as cozy and endearing as it was made out to be. (Lady Gaga doesn’t respond to every tweet her followers tag her in? What?! And your most engaged followers turn out to be spambots? Uh-oh.) It’s actually rather difficult to “break into” the Twitter community, which largely relies on name-recognition and a blend of appealing content, interactivity, and incentives to keep people coming back and checking their feeds. As Faktor writes in his article, “Of the billions of tweets sent, 71% get no response, only 36% are worth reading, and a majority is generated by a tiny fraction of users.” This isn’t to say that it’s pointless to try and become “Twitter Famous,” but it is important not to tie your entire book-promotion strategy back to a mythical welcoming Twitterverse. “Twitter is a personal announcement system,” Faktor tells us, “that captures the collective pulse of a world screaming for attention––or revolution, or discounts, or Kanye.” There will always be an element of unpredictability, as well as social utility, to what “makes it big” on Twitter.

So, how do we ensure that our time on the site isn’t wasted in producing content no one will ever read?

Top 5 Best Practices:

1. Set it up––all of it––correctly. Most Twitter accounts are “dark,” which means they’re either in hibernation––that is, they’re only rarely updated, if ever––or were never set up properly and are therefore the amputated leavings of someone’s digital footprint. Your first task is to make yourself “findable,” which means that you use every detail of your profile––picture, avatar, short biography, and yes, even your Twitter name or “handle”––as a marketing opportunity. A polished photograph of you and/or your book, a tagline that includes keyword-rich phrases that will show up in search engine indexing, and a distinctive yet readable handle (I.E.: neither “jane-doe17” nor “sweetROMANCEauthor4u”) will go a long, long way toward rendering you findable.

2. Set yourself a daily and weekly Twitter task. In addition to being findable you have to be visible. If you are competing with other Twitter users who are selling similar products (READ: books) and therefore producing similar content, then you absolutely must differentiate yourself from these other users. Celebrities can get away with taking a haphazard approach to what material they post and when and how often, but you can’t. Set yourself a routine, and stick to it––and you’ll develop a dedicated group of followers who know they can rely on you to produce, week in and week out, something that they wish to read. Whether this means you post a link to a longer blog post every Monday, a revived “From the Archives” post every Tuesday, a “What I’m watching or reading or listening to now” post every Wednesday, or something else each day of the week is up to you. Make sure you respond to all (legitimate) direct messages and public tags (when someone else uses your Twitter handle to mention you) on a set schedule, also, and that way your followers will know you care!

3. Use a third-party website to schedule your tweets. There are plenty of options out there, these days, and it doesn’t matter which one you use so much as the fact that you are willing to use them. (I personally have used the very simple TwitterFeed website, but I recommend looking at a couple before you decide. Kristi Hines over at KissMetrics has reviewed quite a few of them, and several look like they show promise. But first: What does it mean to “schedule” your tweets? It means that you write them all at once, but spread out when they actually post to your feed so that other people can read and respond to them. You can go on vacation, for example, and rest easy knowing that your Twitter feed will run smoothly in your absence, without interruption. The best part of scheduling your tweets is that you can develop better personal time-management skills––you can write all of your tweets for the week on a Saturday night, and that frees you up to chase as many bunny trails and respond to as many questions and maybe even spend more time offline than you would otherwise.

4. Listen to your followers, and don’t overdo it. A lot of people, including myself, are tempted to give up Twitter because it can quickly devolve into a hot mess of confusing data, links, conversations, and other disconnected tidbits. There’s quite literally way too much to keep up with going on at any point in time on Twitter––we live in a restless world, and everyone wants to announce their place in it. Don’t be afraid to trumpet your own fine product (READ: book), but be aware that an effective tweet isn’t always a simple declaration of “here’s a thing you should buy.” An engaged and interested follower will be far more likely to plonk down the money for your book or ebook than someone who just sees that “here’s a thing” tweet without any context. Especially if that tweet is buried amidst a whole bunch of other content that isn’t interactive, and isn’t encouraging them to enter your world in a personal and fun way. Before you know what constitutes “too much” and “just right” for your followers, you have to listen to them. Don’t pile on tweet after tweet without pause, without taking a breath, and without waiting for followers to retweet, reply, or “favorite” your last tweet. Don’t waste your time; time is a precious commodity when it comes to shaping your digital identity. Save it for tweets that matter––and that speak to what your followers actually respond to.

5. Remember to incentivize. Incentives can be tangible (like a giveaway or a discount), or intangible (like special “insider” or “behind-the-scenes” content), but they perform at least two vital functions: they make your followers feel valued, and they keep your followers coming back for more. One of the greatest failings of the “here’s a thing” tweet I mentioned above is that there’s absolutely nothing to it that hooks a follower and reels him in. There’s no privilege or sense of inclusion or outright benefit to someone reading that tweet, much less deciding to follow through and buy your book. Twitter, at its best, is a conversation. At its worst, it is a one-sided conversation.

Most Overlooked Feature:

Twitter’s most overlooked feature is its hashtags. I’m not saying that people don’t use hashtags––believe me, they do, and they do and they do and they do and they do––but they rarely use them effectively. The best hashtags will group related tweets together so that when you click on one (like #weneeddiversebooks), all tweets with that particular hashtag will show up in a separate but continuous feed. If the hashtag is too common (like #love, for example), far too many tweets will show up and it will turn into a big bowl of nonsensical mishmash. If the hashtag is too specific (like #ramennoodlesareforqueens), then it’s unlikely that anyone else will ever tag their tweets with that same hashtag––and while that can definitely be useful, if you are up for the challenge of starting your own hashtag movement, it effectively excludes everyone else from the conversation. (And, well, there goes the “social” part of “social networking.)

The current trend is, of course, over-tagging. (There’s even a hashtag for that!) You can end up with a hilarious Jimmy Fallon & Justin Timberlake skit, but you can also end up with a whole lot of confused or disinterested followers. (In real life. The skit is hilarious.)

Build your own hashtag(s), absolutely. Build them wisely. And shape them, as you do all of your Twitter habits, to structured and intentional ends. I have every confidence you can use Twitter effectively to promote your book(s)––but it’s not the only way to do so, and we’ll be examining many other ways as the Wednesdays roll around!

Uncategorized

An Indie Author’s Social Media Primer | First Thoughts

Everyone’s got an opinion on how best to use social media. These two simple words have become the locus for more blogs, podcasts, and even heated offline debates than any other subject in the last five years––or more. In part we can attribute this pervasive conversation to the fact that the advent of social media has radically altered the average Westerner’s daily routine as well as that person’s basic expectations of relationships, whether we’re talking about relationships with other individuals, or with the companies and other institutions with which you or I might have some connection. These days, for example, it’s entirely reasonable for consumers to expect their favorite companies––whether Nike, or Denny’s––as well as their favorite celebrities––be they Rihanna or Neil Gaiman––to have active and responsive presences on social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. And while Lady Gaga won’t be able to respond to each and every tweet lobbed her way over the course of a day, the fact that she responds to any tweets renders her a more accessible figure to the average Twitter user.

But we’re not just here to gab about the latest and greatest in Facebook updates and how to use the Twitter app––even though, certainly, those two will rank among many other topics we’ll examine over the coming weeks. We’re here, first and foremost, to talk about how to market your self-published book. It’s already hard enough to break into the market when it comes to books, especially self-published books––talk about a daunting proposition!––without a guide or even professional assistance; we exist to make your life a little bit easier. To that end, each and every social networking tool I address will be tied back to this notion of marketing, and marketing specifically as a newly-published or on-the-verge-of-published indie, hybrid, or self-published author.

The first social network that everyone thinks of is still, by and large, Facebook. And don’t worry, we’ll absolutely talk about how to use Facebook effectively. It is important to note, however, that the bigger a platform is in terms of user base, the more “crowded” the market will seem to a reader seeking new material. It is vital that an indie author knows the ins and outs of Facebook updates and feeds and public profiles and so on and so forth, because the vast majority of any author’s potential readers will have Facebook accounts; however, it’s just as vital for a self-published author to establish a certain degree of comfort with at least a couple of the lesser-used platforms, because they will be both more “discoverable” and more visible without the throng of other authors competing for attention. To that end, I will take a stroll through each of the quote-on-quote “major” social networking sites, including:

Twitter
Tumblr
Instagram
Snapchat
YouTube
Pinterest

… but I will also examine lesser-known or more specialized platforms, such as:

Goodreads
Etsy
LinkedIn
Flickr

… because, ultimately, it’s the tools we’ve neglected that end up most surprising us with their unexplored possibilities.

There’s a lot more to using social media for book promotion, however, than simply knowing the names of the most popular sites or even how to set up an account with and update each one. There are a whole host of other behaviors to discover, observe, and adopt––”best practices,” so to speak––than just generating content. Authors have to know, for example, the inside tricks. They have to know the whys as well as the wherefores: why does engaging your readers on multiple platforms translate to better book sales? Why is it important to track your social media efficacy using analytics? And most importantly of all, why is it necessary to create a strategy, a plan for your social media campaign? I’ll walk with you through the theory––and together, we’ll peel back some of the layers that lie between us and a social media repertoire that actually makes a difference. We’ll debunk some myths, learn some new things, and slowly work our way through.

Together.

(Since that’s kind of the point, in the end, of social networking.)

Kelly Speaks, Self-Publishing Week in Review

Self-Publishing Week in Review: 9/02/14

As a self-publishing author, you may find it helpful to stay up-to-date on the trends and news related to the self-publishing industry. This will help you make informed decisions before, during and after the self-publishing process, which will lead to a greater self-publishing experience. To help you stay current on self-publishing topics, simply visit our blog every Tuesday to find out the hottest news.

Why This Bestselling Author Decided To Start Self-Publishing

Author Karen Traviss has published a slew of successful books, from her own Wess’har Wars series to a number of Star Wars, Halo and Gears of War novels. But for her new techno-thriller Going Grey, she decided to walk away from a mainstream publishing contract and self-publish. She explains why in this article.

Advanced Marketing Tactics for Indie Authors

These best practices give self-published books maximum exposure and provide authors the best opportunities for their work to be discovered. This is a must read.

Social Sophistication

This article talks about how successfully use social media to market your book. It talks about various social media platforms. All authors should read this.

If you have other big news to share, please comment below.

ABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT: Kelly Schuknecht is the Executive Vice President of Outskirts Press. In addition to her contributions to the Outskirts Press blog at blog.outskirtspress.com, Kelly and a group of talented marketing experts offer book marketing services, support, and products to not only published Outskirts Press authors, but to all authors and professionals who are interested in marketing their books and/or careers. Learn more about Kelly on her blog at http://kellyschuknecht.com.

Kelly Speaks, Uncategorized

Use Social Media to Promote Your Book

Social media is one of the best marketing tools available to self publishing authors. It is the digital era’s version of word of mouth marketing, and it is free, easy to use, and effective. Some of the most popular sites include Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Regardless of which sites you decide to use, there are a few tips to maximize your marketing efforts. Here is what you need to know about using social media to promote your self published book.

Always include a cover photo. Ideally, this photo should be the cover of your book. You could also use a picture of yourself if you plan to promote yourself as an author, but make sure the pictures are professional and appropriate.
Invite all of your friends and contacts to “like” or “follow” you. The more people see your postings, the more effective your marketing will be.
Post regularly. Social media is not effective if you never post once you create the page. Fans expect frequent (but not excessive) postings. If updating regularly is a challenge, you can use programs such as HootSuite to schedule your posts.
Include a link on your website. For every social media site you use, make sure there is a link on your website so readers can easily find your social media profiles.
Check your page regularly. Social media is about conversation. You want people to comment on your posts, so you need to make sure you are responding to the conversations.

I’d love to know, how are you using social media to promote your book?

ABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT: Kelly Schuknecht is the Vice President of Outskirts Press. In addition to her contributions to the Outskirts Press blog at blog.outskirtspress.com, Kelly and a group of talented marketing experts offer book marketing services, support, and products to not only published Outskirts Press authors, but to all authors and professionals who are interested in marketing their books and/or careers. Learn more about Kelly on her blog at http://kellyschuknecht.com.

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