AtlasBooks Distribution Blog

Part six of your social media strategy? How.

Remember the first five elements:

1. Who are your readers? — narrowing down their demographics as finely as possible.
2. What are you selling? Features vs. benefits content development. What action do you want your audience to take? Have you made it easy for them?
3. When will you contact your readers and how often? What is your social media schedule?
4. Where will you reach your readers? Where are they on the social media landscape?
5. Why should customers buy your book versus your competition? What’s in it for them?

Once you’ve identified these five strategies, you’re ready to dive into the final element, #6: How?

How will you reach readers? What tactics will you use? How will you incorporate the previous 5 W’s into your strategy? Here are several best practices for how to reach your customers via social media:

• No amount of outstanding social media will overcome poor quality products. Before you invest in online promotion, ensure you’ve invested in the best editing, graphic design, book layout, and printing. Don’t skimp or use your brother-in-law. Social sharing makes it simple to spread the word, and you want positive news being shared about your company.
• Educate instead of resorting to the hard sell. Once readers feel you are talented, interesting, and a book lover yourself, they want to buy from you. Let them.
• Give people a sample of your book by offering a chapter for free. I offered a free first chapter of my book, Color Mastery, and at the time I was the only one in my industry doing it. Readers could figure out whether my book was for them and where they could buy it.
• Make it easy to contact you and buy your book. Put your telephone number on every page of your website, along with all of your social network links. If you make it difficult to get in touch with you, people won’t, period.
• Incorporate your social media into every aspect of your business. Put your social network information on your business cards, invoices, and every printed marketing material you use.
• Give people an incentive to join your social network. Offer coupons, discounts, or other special promotions exclusively for your email newsletter subscribers, Facebook fans, and Twitter followers.

Maria Peagler is the author of Color Mastery, a Benjamin Franklin award-winning Best Craft Book of 2010, and the founder of SocialMediaOnlineClasses.com, where she teaches small business owners, solopreneurs, and freelancers how to spread the word about their products online.