Can Your Book Sales Benefit from Social Media Postings?

CAN YOUR BOOK SALES BENEFIT from SOCIAL MEDIA POSTINGS? by Kiffer Brown

Social Media takes time and effort to do effectively.

Social Media has a steep learning ramp.

Social Media is a moving target.

Social Media doesn’t get direct one-to-one results.

Social Media can be a pain in the neck and frustrating!

So WHY do it?

Because it does accelerate book sales—if done effectively!

Here are some statistics and opinions from Expert Book Marketers and Publicists regarding Social Media:

Social Media builds Title and Author Brand Awareness
75 percent of Readers who are actively ‘online’ say that Social Media influences their reading habits.
- Keep in mind that 80 percent of Americans are on-line. The higher the education and household income levels, the greater the chance that a person in the U.S.A. will be online. The younger the adult, the more likely that they are on-line and connect to the Internet on a regular basis.
- Internationally, there are more than three billion Internet users (Internet Live Stats).
Social Media is increasingly becoming one of the more effective methods of discovering new titles, book lists, and authors.
Word of Mouth Buzz is still the largest influencing factor in Reader decisions. According to Nielson’s studies, 92 percent of all buying decisions are influenced by Word of Mouth Buzz.
Social Media is increasingly becoming a new method of communicating “Word of Mouth Buzz.”
Focus on connecting with Facebook Friends and Twitter Followers—not just collecting them! Huge numbers of “Likes” and “Followers” do not insure WORD OF MOUTH BUZZ. Instead use effective content to connect with your Readers’ minds, hearts, and passions.
Four out of five marketing experts state that Social Media postings increase website traffic by driving new visitors and re-connecting previous visitors to their websites.

All these points add up to gaining and maintaining Top of Mind Association with Readers! Social Media is an effective way to achieve and maintain ToMA.

And ToMA creates Word of Mouth Buzz!

ToMA is built steadily.
- Your postings should be consistent.
- Your postings should engage your targeted Readers.
- Your postings should help your Readers have something to talk about, to buzz about.
- Your postings should help your Readers with their social media postings. What type of information, visuals, statistics, and buzz is interesting to your targeted Readers that they will find compelling enough to share with others?
Are you having to buy your FB Friends and Twitter Followers with prizes and free giveaways? Instead of that, give them gifts out of appreciation for being part of your “Street Team,” or a loyal fan, or an evangelist about your work. Let potential Readers know how much you value your Readers! Build a following by creating ToMA!
Involve your Readers (and potential Readers) by asking them to share their opinions, and relevant experiences, and photos, etc. Connection is a two way street!
Social Media will become more and more interactive. Word of Mouth is a real and natural conversation even if it using the latest in Internet technology.
- Remember: To be interesting, be interested! Start a conversation, listen to what is being said, and then respond.

The bottom line is that WOM comes back to ToMA. Social Media postings can be an effective means to ToMA, thereby generating WOM. WOM is created by one person telling her friends about something (your book perchance?) and her friends telling their friends, and so on. In today’s digital world, the telling is also being done via the Internet and no longer just at the water cooler or over the backyard fence.

To answer the question: Can Your Book Sales Benefit from Social Media Postings? I’d say, a resounding YES!

Inform, Involve, Engage!