Using Social Networking to Sell Creative Writing

Can you really do this; use social marketing to sell your creative writing output?

I don’t know for sure yet but I will have an answer in the coming months.

You see, I am about to embark on an exercise using social networking exclusively to supplement the publisher’s launch of the 5th edition of my first bestselling book.

“Starting Your Own Business” (ISBN 9781845283124) first hit the bookshelves way back in 1994. It has had four editions to date and countless reprints. On the age-old concept of, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, the content has remained unchanged over the intervening years save for updating in the shape of additional topical inclusions.

Here is the gist of my plan of implementation to boost sales through social networking:

SOCIAL MARKETING

I will use these core channels deploying events and promotions by way of articles and videos where appropriate.

Facebook
MySpace
Squidoo
Hub Pages
YouTube
Bebo
Daily Motion
Hi5
Gather

Yahoo 360

SOCIAL BOOKMARKING

My social marketing activity will be bounced onto these equally core bookmarking channels.

Propeller
Slashdot
Digg
Technorati
Delicious
StumbleUpon
Twitter
Reddit
Fark
Newsvine
Furl
Swik
Connotea
Sphinn
Blinklist
Faves
Mister-Wong
Spurl
Diigo

This engagement with social networking might be paralleled to acquiring permission to advertise on the BBC - but here’s a better analogy; a strategic social networking campaign in full throttle resembles a motorised fountain whose powerful engine emits jets of cascading water spiralling in every direction.

The comparison ends there though.

The effect of the physical fountain is imprecise and scattergun in delivery; the effect of virtual social networking is precise and objective as its outpouring streams hit multiple pre-determined targets plumb centre; targets from which it enthusiastically bounces onto associated website(s).

How will I know if my engagement with social networking bears fruit?

Here’s how. Because the book has already been through four editions I know what to expect by way of initial uptake from the publisher’s own launch promotion. Anything extra on this occasion will be down to social networking.

I’ll let you know how I go in a subsequent post…

JIM GREEN is a bestselling author in the realms of fiction and non-fiction.

http://ultimate-creative-writing-course.com/

The Social Marketing Nutshell

Everything you need for success in social marketing is summed up in a nutshell; a PDF nutshell containing crisp, bite-size pages that eliminate the fluff and fandango and focus on the essential strategies in progressive order.

Devising a route that meets your specific needs
Why you must never treat social marketing as sales tool
How to make social media work for you spectacularly
Creating a compelling presence in MySpace, Facebook, Squidoo, etc
How to use bookmarking links to your ultimate advantage
How and why you must exploit RSS feeds
How to ensnare friends and colleagues to your social sites
Why adding a forum pays off big time
Why you don’t need a camera for how-to video production
Why sharing your photographs around captures visitors
How to use blogs to drive traffic to your core website
How to ensure that your blogs and websites zoom up the rankings
How social media enhances your reputation as an expert

http://social-marketing-nutshell.com/

Introducing the Social Marketing Nutshell

Social marketing is everywhere these days, spreading like a gargantuan virus that touches everyone online…small wonder...look at the facts:

Social media giant Facebook is currently adding 1,000,000 25+ (non-student) adults per week to their rosters - that's 52 million new users a year...

YouTube.com gets over 50 million unique visitors per month... over half a billion a year...

MySpace.com sees over 49 million unique visitors each month - over 1.6 million a day...

That’s a stack of traffic and the social websites (there are 1500 of them) are currently outstripping Google and Yahoo in visitor attraction.

You can tap into this swarm of ever-growing enthusiasm if you know how but you will flounder and sink if you don’t…

Perhaps you’ve already had a stab at social marketing but gave up because it looks too difficult; perhaps the outrageous price tags scared you off.

You are not alone. Some months ago I chanced upon a social media training site with a discounted price point of $1300 but I lost interest halfway down the page because the gobbledygook sales pitch made it seem like an impossible dream.

I decided there and then to do it the hard way; research social media marketing from A to Z, carve out my own succinct solution, and put it to the test - with spectacular success - as you can witness for yourself by clicking on this link...

http://social-marketing-nutshell.com/