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Similar to Eat Your Veggies and Do Social Media: Necessities for Authors in the Digital Age
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Eat Your Veggies and Do Social Media: Necessities for Authors in the Digital Age
- 1. Eat Your Veggies and do Social Media: Necessities for Authors in the Digital Age Ashley M. Biggers Flickr Creative Commons: Willpower Studios
- 2. Drinking the Green Juice Email me for a link or pdf of this presentation: ashley@ashleymbiggers.com For more info: ashleymbiggers.com Flickr Creative Commons: Generation Thrive
- 3. Quick Quiz: Author Website Blog Amazon Author Page Public Figure Facebook Page Goodreads Author Page Twitter Account Pinterest Page LinkedIn Profile Email Newsletter
- 4. Questions Ahead (and the Answers) • Why should I engage in digital andsocial media? • What elements should I include in my author platform? • As an author, in which social mediums should I be involved? • How do I maximize impact and engagement?
- 5. Why should I engage in digital and social media?
- 7. Appeal to Agents and Publishers Blogs TurnedBooks •The Julie/Julia Project Blog •The Pioneer Woman •GeekDad
- 8. Appeal to Agents and Publishers Twitter Turned Books •Shit My Dad Says •Dear Girls Above Me •Twitter Wit: Brilliance in 140 Characters or Less
- 9. Build an Audience Prior to Traditional Publishing • Books are sold by word of mouth • Our in-person reach when promoting is limited; online its global
- 10. Build an Audience for Self-Publishing • Amanda Hocking • E.L. James
- 11. What elements should I include in my author platform?
- 12. Author Website • Status: Essential • Who it Reaches: All Internet users • Why it Works: Establishes professionalism
- 13. • Keys to Success: - A bio and author photo - Samples of your work, links to articles, and/or descriptions of your books - Contact info for you and/or agent - Event page - Links to social media - Blog?
- 14. Blog • Status: Essential • Who it Reaches: All Internet users • Why it Works: Establishes ongoing connection with readers
- 15. • Self-Hosted Blog – How often do I write? – What do I write about? • Guest Blogs – Find those with similar interests • Keys for Success: – Short and sweet – Tips, numbered lists, and short text blocks – Ask a question
- 16. • Status: Essential • Who it Reaches: 78 million Amazon customers per month • Why it Works: Establishes points of connection with potential readers via blogs and book trailers, refers readers to other works
- 17. As an author, in which social mediums should I be involved?
- 18. Who is Your Ideal Reader? • Male/female? • Age? • Level of Education? • Kids? • Income level? • What are his/her interests and hobbies?
- 19. • Status:Phase 1 • Who it Reaches: 1.5 billion active users – – – – Users ages 25 to 34 are most common group Users ages 45 to 54 are fastest growing group 53% female Fairly affluent • Why it Works: You wanna be where the people are
- 20. • Keys to Success – Post at least once a day – Incorporate pictures and videos – Identify your audience and connect with them over shared interests – Keep tone positive
- 21. Authors to Follow • Elizabeth Gilbert • James Patterson
- 22. • Status: Phase 1 • Who it Reaches: 20 million book enthusiasts • Why it Works: Book readers looking for recommendations
- 23. • Keys to Success – Be an active community participant – Use the format • Allow fans to ask questions • Give away books • Ask readers for (honest) reviews and for placement on curated lists
- 24. Authors to Follow • Markus Zusak • Christopher Moore
- 25. • Status: Phase 2 • Who it Reaches: 232 million users – Users ages 18 to 29 are most common group – Gender neutral – Is more ethnically diverse • Why it Works: Connects with mobile, news-oriented users
- 26. • Keys to Success – Multiple posts per day – Engage in conversation (RTs and @ replies) – Incorporate pictures and videos – Be humorous, thought-provoking, and news oriented
- 27. • Status: Phase 2 • Who it Reaches: 70 million users – 84% of users are women • Why it Works: Visually based medium that communicates concisely
- 28. • Keys to Success – Connect with the audience – Repin as often as you pin – Create visual mood boards
- 29. • Status: Phase 2 • Who it Reaches: 259 million users • Why it Works: Forms connections with agents, publishers, and other business people
- 30. • Keys to Success – Complete your profile – Join groups (seven is average) – Build connections, ask for introductions – Post with important, career updates only
- 31. E-Newsletter • Status: Phase 3 • Who it Reaches: Uber-fans • Why it Works: Connects with people who have invited you into their email inboxes
- 32. • Keys to Success – Set a regular schedule – Choose a easy-to-digest format – Include excerpts from current blog posts, updates about appearances, new works in progress, and ways for your fans to engage with you
- 33. How do I maximize impact and engagement?
- 34. Don’t Do This Buy my book!
- 35. Buy my book!
- 36. Look puppies! Even puppies love my book!
- 37. Social media is not about you.
- 40. Don’t ask what social media connections can do for you. Ask what you can do for them.
- 41. 70-20-10 Rule
- 42. Set up an Editorial Calendar
- 43. Schedule Posts
- 44. Social Media Dashboards • • • • • • Hootsuite Tweetdeck Cyfe Sprout Social Buffer Crowdbooster
- 45. Optimize for Your Audience • Use Facebook Insights • Use analytics provided by social media dashboards
- 46. Action Plan What three things you are going to dofirst in respect to digital and social media?
- 47. Questions?
- 48. Additional Resources • Books – The Wuffie Factor by Tara Hunt – Likeable Social Media by Dave Kerpen – Youtility: Why Smart Marketing is About Help Not Hype by Jay Baer
- 49. Additional Resources • Websites and Blogs – Convince and Convert by Jay Baer – Chris Brogan’s blog – Jane Friedman’s blog – Social Media Examiner – And…my blog!
Editor's Notes
- Agents and publishers want to know about your social media presence prior to signing you. If you already have an audience established, they are more likely to see you as a known quantity.
- Promotion is about building relationships
- Amanda Hocking wrote 17 paranormal romance e-books, then sold a trilogy to St. Martin’s. Promoted by her own, and viral social media. E.L. James began writing fan fiction on her own site and built a following there before self-publishing and of course went on to sell 70 million copies and turn into a movie franchise.
- Both the physical means in which you reach your audience, as well as less tangible factors such as your visibility, your authority, and your ability to reach your target audience.
- Doesn’t have to be elaborate, but must be professional
- Social networking reached 72% of U.S. adult web users from Pew Internet & American Life Project.
- Suggest a public figure profile pageExplain the difference73% of people earning 75,000 or more a year use Facebook, only 17% in same financial bracket use TwitterYoung people are involved in Twitter, Instagram, and even SnapChat, Kick, etc.
- Elizabeth Gilbert:Travels, involves the fans in the process of choosing author photos and covers, posts photos fans share with herJames Patterson: - Incorporates non-profit work, events (Halloween), trivia for fans, flowers for his wife, movie reviews, etc.
- 5,700 tweets sent every second75% of users are mobile users (using smart phones)
- Women are five times more likely than men to use Pinterest
- No where else is this as important as on Pinterest. Aim for home, family, recipes, health, shopping and cute animal pics topics. Less successful are travel oriented topics. Choose lovely photos. Don’t just post book covers, although you can do that too. And don’t forget to post book covers of other people too.
- With social media so prevalent, the issue becomes not just being on social media but breaking through the data storm. Debate: How to I maximize engagement with the least amount of time and money?
- Turn the bullhorn around. If you’re constantly shouting at people. They’ll stop listening. If you engage in a meaningful conversation that involves equal parts listening and response, they’ll continue to engage. People want to know what you can do for them—even if what you’re doing for them is transporting them away through a beautifully written literary novel or an intense thriller and what you’re doing via social media is reminding them of that relationship—and what you’ve done for them in the past and will do in the future.
- 70 percent of your page’s content should be info that’s valuable and relevant to your fans20 percent should be content that comes from other people (blog posts, news articles etc.)10 percent should be promotional
- Steps:Identify the mediums through which you’re going to communicate. Identify the topics you’re going to touch on. For example, people love when I tell them about my writing process, or share quotes from my books, or have them take photos with the books during their travels.Map out when you’re going to post certain types of content. This will ensure that you’re - hitting on all successful topic areas and not overdoing in any one area-regularly posting-reduce the thinking time needed about what you’re going to post on a certain day
- Even with scheduled posts, I like to plan a portion of each day to check in with social media. The best times of day tend to be the transitional times (coming back from lunch, before you sign off for the end of the day). Set a time limit so it’s not a time suck. And be sure to devote a portion of each day to responding to fans, liking and commenting on other posts, etc. Not just about you.
- Post reach = number of people who saw that post (may be more than number of fans) in News Feed over course of 28 daysPost engagement = Likes, comments, and shares People hiding posts or unliking your pageDemographics = who likes your page in terms of age, sex, etc. and how it compares to Facebook as a whole.
- Google+300 million active users 70% of users are maleTechnology thought leadersWhy it might help: having a google+ page helps boost search rankingsInstagram:68% women TumblrTeens and young adults, only 8% incomes more than 75,000 per year