Okay, no huge revelation here, but an example of the power of social media. Yesterday I heard a song that I loved on Sirius Satellite Radio’s “The Spectrum” channel. I rarely listen to broadcast (music) radio anymore because I can’t stand the repetition or the mostly overproduced, heartless crap that passes for popular music today. That effectively cuts me off from a lot of new stuff–some of it probably pretty good. The Spectrum plays adult album rock and is a good place for me to hear the stuff I enjoy with a little of the new sprinkled in.
Well, a cool song I heard on The Spectrum got stuck in my head, so I searched for it on YouTube and found a pretty cool video. I liked it so much, I posted it on my Facebook page. Within a few hours, two of my friends commented that they, too, liked the song. One bought the single, another the entire “LP” (as he called it. Hey, we’re over 40).
Of course this isn’t my incredible power as a tastemaker at work. No–just me telling my circle of friends that I like something. My friends bought it because it’s a good song. However, with the fragmentation of media, they may never have heard it had I not recommended it. There in a nutshell is the power of social media.
* Sell books by converting sample readers into buyers of the entire ebook or paperback
Without repeating the whole blog post, I’ll get to the results, goal by goal, after the three-day contest (which was promoted on Facebook, Twitter and Google Buzz):
Goal: Generate buzz about the book
Results: Well, my Facebook Page Insights showed two new subscribers (far short of my goal of 10 new “fans”) but views and feedback were up approx. 50% and 60%, respectively. Not bad.
Results: Six samples downloaded in three days. Again, not bad!
Goal: Sell books by converting sample readers into buyers of the entire ebook or paperback
Results: Eight ebooks sold! Though I cannot definitively ascribe these sales directly to the contest it’s still very encouraging.
Also, I only had a small number of people enter the contest–and I understand why: it was labor intensive! To enter you had to become a Facebook “fan” of the book, then you had to answer three trivia questions which could only be answered by downloading a free sample of the book and reading it–in less than three days. All that considered, I think this promotion was a qualified success. There was buzz, I sold a few copies–and I certainly look forward to autographing those prize winners’ paperbacks.
Any thoughts? Have you done a similar contest? Any suggestions for doing it better?
Even casual readers of this blog probably know that I’ve written an independently-produced novel (in ebook and paperback form). One of the toughest challenges of any author--indie or traditionally-published–is marketing. Fortunately, Twitter, Facebook and other social media are incredibly easy-to-use, low-cost engines to get your book message out.
However, those channels of distribution are still rife with commercial clutter, distracting chatter and spam. Finding a way to get people’s attention is key. To break through, I wanted to try a tactic to achieve four goals:
Contest entrants have to be a member of the Pilate’s Cross Facebook page community
Members will be given three trivia questions about the book and/or author on Friday, Jan. 7 2011.
To play, entrants must email me (not post on Facebook!) the answers by 6 p.m. CST Sunday Jan. 9, 2011 to author (at) pilatescross.com.
I’ll print out and conduct a drawing from the correct answers received (and cross reference to ensure entrants are a member of the Pilate’s Cross Facebook community) to determine the winners.
To find the answers, entrants simply need to go to http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/6806 and download the first 30% of the book FREE. It takes only a minute to register and get the download–which can be read on any ereader or even the very computer they’re reading this contest rules on–just select the “Online Reading” download option. All trivia questions may be answered by downloading (and yes, reading) the sample.
So if entrants go through all this hullabaloo, besides reading 30% of a fun little thriller novel, here’s what they may win:
Third Prize: Code for HALF OFF Download of the Pilate’s Cross ebook–available from Smashwords in any ereader format!
Second Prize: Download of the Pilate’s Cross ebook–available from Smashwords in any ereader forma
First Prize: Copy of the paperback version of Pilate’s Cross –autographed by the author!
GRAND PRIZE: Copy of the paperback version of Pilate’s Cross autographed by the author AND cover Illustrator David A. Terrill! PLUS a FREE Download of the ebook–available from Smashwords in any ereader format!
I’m using Twitter, Facebook, and Google Buzz to invite people to participate.
At this writing (roughly halfway through the contest), we have a few new Facebook fans, book sample downloads and a couple of entries. I’ll report back to let you know how it goes. Of course, you’re welcome to enter the contest, too!
Social media has created a fantastic world of opportunities for networking, interaction and sharing. It has also created a whole new set of consequences for people who don’t fully think-through their actions.
My colleague Shelly Kramer and I were interviewed over a dust-up here in Kansas City (which has gone national) over Facebook photos featuring a medical student and a placenta. Bad judgment on the part of the students and an unclear social media policy (see Shelly’s comments on that serious issue) at Johnson County Community College have culminated in a PR mess.
We were asked to weigh in about the potentially negative consequences of social media as well as corporate and personal crisis communications:
Shelly Kramer, founder of v3 Integrated Marketing says that a social media policy should be a part of the employee handbook, much like a company dress code.
“If its not appropriate for us to take pictures while we’re at work, if its not appropriate for us to be on Facebook while we’re at work, we need to spell those things out for people,” said Kramer, who says that such a policy is for any type of business or school. “Young people go everywhere with these devices in their hands, and everything they do they document.”
Kramer says a company’s legal team can find a balance between broad and specific guidelines for the social media policy. And it should be updated or revisited every six months as technology changes.
Public relations expert Alex Greenwood agrees with setting a policy because Tweeting and status updates are now such common practices.
“Nine times out of 10, I think folks who do that are completely oblivious to any consequences whatsoever, because nine times out of 10 there are no consequences,” said Greenwood of Alexander G. Public Relations.
Greenwood says that the Johnson County Community College nursing student who posted a picture of herself and a placenta from a class is a perfect example of someone who didn’t realize the possible consequences.
“This is going to be with these young ladies,” said Greenwood.
As I said, most of the time actions made in bad judgment on Facebook, Twitter or anywhere else online goes virtually unnoticed. But there’s always the chance that something that seemed harmless (or was given less thought than what you’d order at Burger King) at the time will become fodder for an incident that could ruin a career or even a life.
What didn’t make it to the broadcast was my assertion that though this would indeed “be with these young ladies” for a long time, I believe a proper amount of contrition, time and perspective could leaven its effects. Examples of this include Tiger Woods, Gov. Mark Sanford, Toyota and just about any tabloid-addled celeb you can name.
However, this takes a concerted effort on both sides to get past this as soon as possible. If the college and the students can agree that there were mistakes made on both sides–and if the students can be allowed to complete their educations–this can be overcome. However, if it becomes a damaging, drawn-out legal battle played out in the media, it can become a scarlet letter for the students and a black eye for the school.
The public attention span can be mercifully short. This episode is clearly damaging to these students and the school, but it’s not insurmountable. Reasonable efforts to make amends on both sides will make it go away. Further acrimony will create sensationalism and it will soon be out of their control.
A friend of ours in the broadcasting biz shared this data with us. Check it out!
The Bandwidth Music & Technology Conference in San Francisco last month featured discussions where attendees shared some incredible data points. Take a look:
The latest on Twitter…
# of tweets, daily: 70 million
# of tweets, monthly: 2 billion
# of registered users: 145 million
# of account sign-ups, daily: 300,000
(Source: Matt Graves, Communications Director @ Twitter.)
The latest on photos…
# of photos uploaded onto Facebook, monthly: 2.5 billion # of photos uploaded to Facebook, annually: 30 billion # of approved photos typically needed by a band, 2000: 6-9 # of approved photos typically needed by a band, 2010: 300-400.
The latest on YouTube:
#2 search engine in the world (of all engines, separated from Google) # of videos rotated by MTV, during its 80s prime: 30-40 per week # of views for Tyler Hilton’s cover of “Use Somebody” by Kings of Leon: 748,099
The latest on Apps:
# of downloaded apps, App Store: > 5 billion (as of June)
# of artist apps typically downloaded (per artist): < 100,000
(Source on YouTube, photo and apps data: Jeremy Welt, SVP of New Media, Warner Bros. Records. Total downloaded app statistic from Apple.)
Acclaimed singer/songwriter Dan Coyle takes a break between sets at KCRiverFest in Kansas City to talk about his use of social networking and PR to market his music. More about Dan’s music and touring schedule at www.DanCoyle.com
If you read my last post, you know I instituted a Trivia Contest on my novel’s Facebook page to:
A friend of ours in the broadcasting biz shared this data with us. Check it out!
