Someone
asked me how one measures their social media efforts. The bottom line is you measure it by the
ultimate payoff: book sales. But there
are other things to measure, some quantifiable such as hits to a blog or unique
Web site visitors, and others are not measureable such as your ability to
create a positive image for yourself.
The
key with social media is not to get caught up in the doing (posting stuff all
over the place), or the measuring (clicks per hour), but in the big
picture. Social media can help position
you for success in many ways but by itself is rarely the end game.
Authors want to:
·
Improve
their branding
·
Create
a platform and online media resume
·
Get
their message out
·
Lead
people to buy their book
·
Get
others to sign up for something, hire them for a presentation, or purchase
other services or products
·
Voice
opinions and influence others
·
Experiment
and test their ideas or writings
·
Move
up the food chain and become best-sellers
Which social media should authors
utilize?
·
The
one that they are comfortable using
·
The
one they make time for
·
The
one they see leading to reaching their goals
·
The
one they can see direct results from
You
can live on Facebook and ignore other social media. Same with Twitter. You can explore and experiment and find the
tool that you like best. Some may love
YouTube while others prefer to blog and guest blog. Ideally, if you can mix it up and have a foot
in a few doors, you’ll be poised for accelerating because you give yourself a
greater chance for something to catch on somewhere, as opposed to putting your
eggs in one basket.
Social
media takes time to build up. It has
taken me several years to build up my 10,000+ connections on LinkedIn. But I only have about 1,400 followers on
Twitter, and maybe 350 Facebook friends. I spend more time building up my LI
following and downplay the others. I’m not on YouTube, Pinterest, or some
other leading sites. Nothing wrong with
them, I just haven’t taken time to delve into
them. But I blog daily and network
through social media. For me, I am
satisfied with my efforts and results, but for others, they need to do more.
You can measure results best by first
measuring your efforts. Take an
assessment right now and see:
·
How
many social media sites do you participate in?
Can you increase the number of sites?
·
How
many minutes per day do you use social media? Can you increase your total?
·
How
many people do you connect with daily? Can you expand that number?
·
How
many Web clicks are you getting daily as a result of your social media? Can you
increase it?
·
How
many comments or emails are your blog posts or social media placements
generating? Can you get that total to rise?
·
How
many hits is your blog or video getting each day? What can you do to generate
more views?
·
Don’t get caught up on bullshit such as the number of people who like or endorse you. Instead, look at more important things, such as:
Don’t get caught up on bullshit such as the number of people who like or endorse you. Instead, look at more important things, such as:
·
Are
high-profile people retweeting your tweets?
·
Are
other bloggers asking to repost your links?
·
Is
mainstream media looking to interview you as a result of your social media
communications?
·
Are
you getting invitations to speak or join a group?
·
Are
people ordering your book?
It’s
easy to say one should be on social media, non-stop, as it’s a free means to
reach the masses, with few filters or restraints. There are no gatekeepers, no excuses. You can find anyone and everyone and seek to
impress them with your content, creativity, or images. On the other hand, it’s tempting to dismiss
the social media obsession because who has time to spend all day online where
content is free and people just want to escape their lives?
The
truth is somewhere in the middle.
So how do you measure your efforts and
results? You can employ any number of
free and paid resources, including:
·
Postrank.com
·
Jitterjam.com
·
Radian6.com
·
Facebook.com/insights
·
Klout.com
·
Google.com/analytics
·
Google.feedburner.com
·
Wordpress.org/extend/plugins/stats
·
Deltina Hay, the author of Social Media Survival Guide, has recommended a number of sources to track social media trends, including:
Deltina Hay, the author of Social Media Survival Guide, has recommended a number of sources to track social media trends, including:
·
Mashable.com
·
Readewriteweb.com
·
Socialmedia.biz
·
Socialmediatoday.com
For
those who have not really ventured into social media or resist expanding their
efforts in this area, I advise that you revisit this and see how you can make
improvements without letting it consume you, compromise your values, or turn
you into a slave to what should be an asset.
As
you get going you’ll see you don’t have to measure your efforts. You’ll see the fruits of them and then you’ll
know you have made a dent.
Interview With Author Merry Jones
What type of books do you
write? I've written non-fiction
and humor, but for the last several years, I've been writing suspense and
thrillers.
Currently, I have two series going--THE TROUBLE WITH CHARLIE is the first Elle Harrison novel. It features Elle, a soon-to-be-divorced woman, who finds her soon-to-be-ex-husband murdered in her house. In proving her innocence, she discovers secrets dark about him and herself and becomes the target of those who don't want those secrets revealed. At the same time, her husband's spirit seems to blame her for his murder, and he's not willing to leave his death unavenged.
The other series stars Harper Jennings, a female Iraq war vet. The fourth book in that series comes out in July. Harper is on a dig (she's studied archeology) in the Middle East where she encounters a charismatic religious leader who has discovered secret Bible codes and terrorists trying to force a water shortage.
What inspired you to write it? I guess I'll talk about The Trouble with Charlie--I wanted to write about the shadowy part of life, the part where perception and reality become confusing. By creating Elle and having her struggle to sort out what's real and separate it from what she's perceiving as real was the challenge. Is Charlie's ghost actually haunting her? Or is she mourning his death so much that she's imagining him? This borderline territory is central to the book. It was a ball to write it.
What is the writing process like for you? I try to write daily, but let's face it, that's just not going to happen. So almost daily. I need to wear comfy loose clothes. No music, food or beverages around. The dog sits on my feet. I like to write in the mornings or early afternoon. I need long stretches of time--at least 3 hours; I can't write for a half hour at a time. I start by reading what I wrote the day before, tightening it, then proceeding for 3-5 pages.
What did you do before you became an author? I was in kindergarten, learning to play well with other children. Because really, I've been writing ever since. But books began twenty-ish years ago. Before that I was an independent video writer/director, working mostly for industrial clients.
How does it feel to be a published author? I don't think about it. I'm always worrying about the next book, or promoting the last--Writing is an ongoing process, never finished.
Any advice for struggling writers? Keep writing. Hear your own voice. Tell your stories. Don't give up.
Where do you see book publishing heading? Oy. I guess self-publishing is skyrocketing. And the traditional publishers still seem to favor finding a few big bestsellers over many mid-list books. Because the big houses are doing that, I think small quality publishers will grow and do well, providing both ebooks and paper books by the mid-list authors no longer being published by the big guys. Self-publishing will need support (distribution, publicity, etc) to really succeed, unless it's being done by people who already have a following (like Stephen King,etc.)
Don’t Miss These Recent Posts
25 Ways For Authors To Break Through & Establish A Legacy
Can You Market & Promote Books Like TV’s Dexter?
Evolving As A book Marketer
& Publicist
Winning The Battle Over Internet Book Piracy
26 Ways To Save Barnes & Noble
12
Hot Topics For Authors, Bloggers, Journalists
The
Bestseller That Never Was
Do You
Market Your Books Doggy Style?
Does Your Book Blog Do These 16 Things?
Why Bestseller Cap Doesn’t
Deter Authors http://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2013/05/bestseller-cap-doesnt-stop-authors.html
Will Social Media Save
Your Book? http://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2013/05/how-big-is-your-social-media-following.html
Writers Read This: You Are
Marketers
Why Authors – and
Publicists & Publishers Need A Therapist
Brian Feinblum’s
views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of
his employer, the nation’s largest book promoter. You can follow him on Twitter
@theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This
is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2013
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.