Authors: Hijack The News As A Social Media Strategy

 

Authors could be blogging practically every day. Most would not want to — and don’t. But if they did, they would greatly improve the effectiveness of their social media posting. The end result: more clicks to your site and sales of your book.

Let’s first start with the premise that you need to adopt as your foundation. Social media can drive people to do business with you. By increasing the number of social media platforms that you are consistently active on — and your frequency of posting — and the quality of your posts — you will get an increase in your web site traffic. The more books, events, products, or services you showcase for sale on your site, the more money you will make.

Ok, so we should agree on all of that. Easier said than done, right? So how does the time-constrained, brain-drained, tech-deficient author build up his or her social media?

Once you see positive results, you will feel invigorated and inspired to be more active online. Or you can outsource it. Or, you can stay on the sidelines and whine, lament, or sigh. Which path works for you?

Ok, assuming you are ready, willing, and able to execute a sound social media strategy, here is what to do — and why:

To get people to your site, include links to it in your social media post. This means you need to post interesting content on your site: downloadable stuff, links to videos, your blog, articles or a white paper or essays written by you, your images, or your podcast.

Rule No. 1: Post a link to your site in your social media, rather than simply posting links to articles and videos you found interesting that came from other people. Try to update your site with sharable content.

What you can do is post on your blog the link to someone else’s post, article or video. For instance, let’s say your book is about having a better marriage. Maybe you see an article in a newspaper about a survey on marriage. You might think to tweet out something like: “NYT article indicates 69% of spouses think about cheating. But it doesn’t have to be that way if couples learn to date and fantasize about each other.” (Link to article concludes that post.)

Forget that. All you did was promote the NYT.

Instead, take that post you were going to tweet, insert it into your blog, and maybe add a few more sentences that reflect your teachings on the subject. Now, take a link to this blog post and send as a tweet as follows:

“69% of married couples say they think about cheating. But here are a few solutions to help you avoid that path.” (Include link to your blog post).

You now co-opted other people’s studies, research, or polls and took ownership of them. You didn’t steal their work. You utilized it to give voice to your work.

Similarly, you can hijack the news.

Let’s say you see a news report that some celebrity couple announces they are divorcing. Rumors of star x is sleeping around are pervasive. You otherwise lack any true knowledge or facts about the situation. Don’t let that stop you from playing the expert.

You may normally think to tweet out:

“So surprising to hear x and y are breaking up. I am a big fan of x.” (You include a link to People Magazine story on this).

Instead, the savvier you will post a few sentences on your blog about the break up and then discuss cheating in general and relate it to all couples. You don’t have to know anything else about this couple or what really happened in their marriage. Include a big photo of the couple.

That is it.

 

Your blog posts can be short and frequent. The link you send is to your site, not elsewhere. The SEO improves for your site and visitors to your blog will see that you have a book and possibly other things to sell.

The bottom of every blog post has to have two sentences about you that summarize your credentials, mentions your book, and includes a link to your site. Every new blog post should also, at the end, make readers aware of links to your most recent or best three to five posts.

Okay, that is the strategy.

Is that really so hard to do? Does it really use up a lot of your time?

No! Get to it. Now. Tomorrow. Every day.

 

Please Contact Brian For Marketing Help Now

Brian Feinblum, the founder of this award-winning blog, can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com He is available to help authors promote their story, sell their book, and grow their brand. He has 30 years of experience in helping thousands of authors in all genres.

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About Brian Feinblum

Brian Feinblum should be followed on Twitter @theprexpert. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2021. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent.  This was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby  http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs and recognized by Feedspot in 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” He recently hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America. For more information, please consult: linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum.