Every year, authors publish somewhere between 600,000 and 1,000,000 books. How can you stand out? These 7 pre-launch social media marketing strategies will help you drum up buzz for your latest work long before it’s printed up or posted.
- Build Up Your Build Up
A successful pre-launch social media marketing campaign is like a brilliant concerto: it starts soft, easing in audience in and slowly weaving a captivating spell, then grows in both intensity and volume until everyone within earshot – or, in the case of social media, eyeshot – can’t help but pay attention. Map out your plan of attack and ramp it up the closer you get to your launch.
- Establish a Proprietary Hashtag
Piggy-backing off popular hashtags is a common way to gain traction on social media, but creating unique tags for a new product or upcoming event creates buzz while giving users a way to backtrack and find every relevant post. Red Bull had success with #givesyouwings and Audi promoted their uber-bright headlights with #solongvampires; use the same strategy by tagging updates with your protagonist’s name or the title of your new book, and be consistent.
- Take Advantage of Existing Customer Loyalty
Your current followers are there for a reason. Encourage them to spread the word by offering referral deals, pre-order advantages, and other perks that reward brand fidelity while also encouraging grassroots growth. After all, 51% of Facebook users and 64% of people on Twitter are more likely to buy from the brands they already follow, and if they tell other people that’s even better.
- Engage Each and Every Day
One of the most important social media strategies is also the simplest: just make sure you’re interacting with your audience as much as humanly possible. In addition to posting updates and sharing your own POV with readers you should also reply to their comments and share their posts in a timely and respectful manner. Ignoring comments – even if they’re critical – on your social media page is just like ignoring a ringing phone in your office.
- Stay Positive
It’s a fact: the majority of consumers want nothing to do with negative branding. Of the 63% of consumers who said they had experience negative brand content, 50% said they weren’t likely to read content from that brand in the future. Broadcast the best parts of your project and avoid putting down your competitors to keep your audience happy and hanging around for the long haul.
- Build a Team for Beta Testing
Half of shoppers surveyed say they’ve purchased a product or service because of a recommendation made via social media. Before you launch your book, put out the word on social media that you need a few “average Joe” proofreaders and encourage honest feedback. Your existing audience is already invested in your work and their recommendations to friends, family and their own followers could easily translate into sales.
- Slip in Some Sneak Peeks
The element of surprise can be a valuable thing, but if you continuously talk up your product without releasing any details you run the risk of burning out your buzz before launch day arrives. People love feeling like they have the inside track, so “leak” a screenshot of your eBook cover, put together a preview video discussing the story arc, or profile your main characters in 140 characters or less.
Author Bio:
Sophorn Chhay
Sophorn is an inbound marketer specializing in attracting targeted visitors and generating sales qualified leads. Through Trumpia’s SMS marketing automation solution he helps businesses and organizations communicate effectively with their customers or members. Trumpia is offering a free Mobile Marketing Success Kit so don’t forget to grab your free copy.
