Where do people do a substantial amount of communicating, finding, comparing and buying? Online. Social media, including Twitter, blogs, Facebook, YouTube and a plethora of additional sites have become communities in which people can share their interests, generating authentic word of mouth promotion in a way money can’t buy. This kind of word of mouth can be critical to success, and social media is clearly the most effective technique.
It’s all in the numbers; consider these social media factoids:
- Image by ciaranj75 via Flickr
Twitter:
* 54% of bloggers post content or tweet on a daily basis
* There have been over 50 million tweets in 2010
* There are more than 110 million Twitter users currently
* More than 600 million searches happen on Twitter every day
Blogging:
* There are over 181 million blogs
* 60% of bloggers are in the 18-44 age range
* 1 in 5 bloggers updates their blog daily
* 15% of bloggers spend 10 hours a week blogging
- Image by Maria Reyes-McDavis via Flickr
Facebook:
* Facebook has over 500 million users
* An average Facebook user spends about 55 minutes per day on the site
* An average Facebook user spends about 6.50 hours a week on the site
* An average Facebook user is connected to 80 community pages, groups and events
Source: Fascinating Social Media Facts of the Year 2010, http://kathyhogeveen.posterous.com/fascinating-social-media-facts-of-year-2010-s
This is why we strongly urge authors to have blogs, and use Facebook and Twitter. We also spend a lot of time writing about social media for this blog, our Book Marketing Expert newsletter and elsewhere.
- Image by Dave Heuts via Flickr
Your blog is your home base, a place readers, prospective readers (and buyers) can find out all about you and your book. You can run your blog feed through both Twitter and Facebook in order to help generate content, and then use both to connect further with your audience. For instance, on Twitter you can join in on Twitter chats (there are many book related chats held each week), connect with book reviewers, other authors and book lovers. On Facebook you can join book and author related groups as well as connect with some of the people you’ve found on Twitter.
When promoting your book, you want to go where the people are, and the statistics clearly show they are online. Be sure to join them!
Related articles
- Top 20 Apps For Managing Social Media (informationweek.com)
- 10 Essential Tips for Social Media Brand Engagement (marketingconversation.com)
- Six years of blogging – perspectives on social media (getgood.com)
Great post. The stats are quite interesting, and telling. It’s a classic example of “marketing diversification.” Don’t put all your marketing eggs in one basket – social media makes it easier than ever.
Sharon Hiebing
Follow Your Dream Compass
Sharon,
That’s very true – don’t rely on just one means to get the word out!
I agree with you, Paula, on the value of social media. Ironically, though, the numbers also highlight the gigantic challenge for anyone establishing a presence: getting any attention at all amid the hundreds of millions of posts and tweets. I’ve seen articles on the various “surefire” strategies for breaking through, but I’d wish they’d acknowledge the sheer mind-blowing nature of the challenge itself.
John,
You are right, it is not easy to be heard through all the chatter. We tell our clients that it’s a gradual process – it requires a firm commitment, setting aside time on a regular basis and a willingness to learn from mistakes (which are inevitable). But we do believe that in the end it’s worthwhile; it’s just not going to happen overnight. Keeping statistics can be helpful; on days when things don’t feel like they’re moving forward you often find that you’ve been making steady progress the entire time.
I must be one of the guilty bloggers between the ages of 18-44 who spends more then 10 hours a week blogging.
Andy –
Based on these numbers, you’re in good company!