Duke University Press held a 50% off online sale from April 15-May 15, 2013 to drive sales and build their brand. They promoted the sale on their blog, Twitter, Tumblr, and Google+ and engaged followers by posting humorously and playing games. The sale resulted in more reading lists being created during the sale period than the previous three years combined. Top referring sites for the sale were Facebook, Twitter, and Wikipedia. The presentation discussed using social media platforms like Twitter for customer service and engagement during the sale.

1. AAUP Electronic Marketing Workshop
June 20, 2013
Laura Sell
Publicity and Marketing Manager
Duke University Press
Using Social Media to Drive Sales
and Build a Brand

2. Duke University Press Spring Sale
April 15-May 15, 2013

3. • Our first online 50% off
sale launched at 12:01
a.m. April 15, 2013.
• We posted to our blog and
Twitter immediately.

5. We also posted to
Tumblr and
Google +

9. Our fans begin to
retweet, often
quite humorously.

14. Reading Lists
• 26 Reading Lists created by staff or authors
• 30 Reading Lists created by customers
• (124 Reading Lists had been created in total before the
sale, over a 3 year period)
• Reading Lists were among the top 5 item detail pages on
our site 15 days of the sale.

15. Keeping things fresh, we
engaged our followers in
a little game.

17. Help from authors
and a co-publisher

24. Using Twitter for
customer service

28. Top Referring Sites During the Sale
• 1. Facebook
• 2. Twitter
• 3. Wikipedia

31. Duke University Press
http://dukeupress.typepad.com/
https://www.facebook.com/DukeUniversityPress
https://twitter.com/DUKEpress
http://dukeupress.tumblr.com/
http://pinterest.com/dukepress/
http://www.youtube.com/user/DukeUPressPublicity
Duke University Press

32. Questions?
Laura Sell
Publicity and Advertising Manager
lsell@dukeupress.edu
@LauraSell
http://www.facebook.com/laura.sell
Questions?