Now that you understand the ability to accurately spread information lightning-fast to many people at one time, how can you get more exposure and publicity for your business, get more people to talk about your book, product, service or brand and sell more of what you are offering? Here’s how: It’s not enough to get mentioned in the news. While it’s great, that alone won’t sell your stuff. You have to get in front of enough people in a very interesting and unique way. You have to get them to fall in love with your message so much that they’ll talk about you, tweet about you, Like you on Facebook and tell all their friends to go buy whatever it is that you’re selling.
The new world of publicity is really about the consumers and the message. How will you get your community so enamored with your message that you turn contacts into evangelists? That’s the new PR (Public Relations, in this case—not Page Rank). And I will cover everything you need to know about Facebook, Twitter and StumbleUpon in this chapter. These three social media sites will provide an excellent foundation for your Internet publicity strategy. First up is the big daddy of them all: Facebook.
The Facebook Factor
Facebook has a great feature that most users don’t even think about. Remember when I talked about the first websites and how hard they were for a non-techie to change? Even today they are not simple. If it’s hard to change, then you won’t likely change it. This means it won’t have fresh content or news. Not with Facebook. You can change it in seconds by posting a status update. That’s the point I want to make: Stay current with your product. If you have a book you are promoting and you have a book signing coming up, bingo! Add updates letting everyone know where it will be. When it’s over, post photos of the event.
Be Good or Be Gone
For lack of a better term, there’s a lot of junk online. A lot of people ramble on about things that only they care about. We currently run a program that gets a lot of “Likes” to a client’s Facebook Page. We’re such a numbers-driven society that people love this program. Here’s the kicker though: You can get Facebook “Likes,” but that doesn’t mean they will keep on liking you. You have to post good, interesting, unique and compelling content. If you ramble on about the flight you missed or the bad day you’re having, I can guarantee that people will turn the virtual channel. There is so much information out there, you must be good or be gone. You won’t even have to leave the virtual party, because if you keep posting self-absorbing, look-at-me posts, no one will listen anyway.
No One Cares What You Say
Truth be told, no one cares what you tell them. A survey done by Edelman Digital noted that fewer than one in three people trust marketing messages.
Scary, isn’t it? People only care about what their friends say, who their friends recommend and how their peers see them. You must be so compelling, interesting, funny, helpful—or whatever—that people will start to evangelize your work. That’s when it happens: When you become interesting enough that people want to tell other people about you.
Numbers Matter
Let’s face it; we’re a society that pays attention to the numbers we see on Twitter and Facebook. If you are promoting yourself and have ten followers on Twitter and sixteen “Likes” on Facebook, you might want to think about paying more attention to these sites. Consumers like what other consumers like, and the numbers associated with these sites often determine how “likable” you are. Bigger numbers get consumer (and media) interest.
Do Stuff People Will Love
Getting people to love you is easy: Do stuff they’ll love. This is why I talk so much about giving away information, being helpful and being on top of your industry. I am always stunned when people come up to me at conferences to tell me how much they love our newsletter (The Book Marketing Expert) or how much they love the information we share on Huffington Post. Give people what they want and they will give you what you want: Love (and, hopefully, sales).
Do Stuff People Will Hate
Not everyone will love what you say, and that’s okay. When I wrote “Why Some Authors Fail” (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/penny-c-sansevieri/why-some-authors-fail_b_534629.html) I thought everyone would hate that piece. It turns out some people did, and that’s okay. I once had a good friend and business coach tell me: “If everyone loves you, you’re doing something wrong. Embrace it.”
Facebook Pages
Pages were launched by Facebook in November 2007 as a way for businesses to establish a brand presence on the site. Pages are a lot like Groups, with some important differences:
- Pages are more customizable than Groups. You can add HTML, Flash or even Facebook applications to your pages to extend their functionality and the depth of experience users can have with your brand.
- Pages get more prominent “branding” real estate than Groups on the Profile pages of your fans.
- There is no limitation to the number of fans in your group that you can message.
- “Fans” who join your group are not able to invite their friends to be fans of your Page. Fans must either “Share” your Page with their friends or their friends must observe that they “are a fan” of your Page either via their Profile Page or News Feed.
- Facebook has taken an active role in cracking down on Pages not created by authorized agents. Pages are a good option for small or local businesses that want to establish a presence on Facebook. Like Groups, they’re another free and easy way to do viral marketing.
Excerpt from Red Hot Internet Publicity: An Insider’s Guide to Marketing Online by Penny Sansevieri, available now on Amazon.com:http://www.amazon.com/Red-Hot-Internet-Publicity-Marketing/dp/1480224952/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1367371151&sr=1-1&keywords=Red+Hot+Internet+Publicity
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Very informative post. Thanks! Will make sure to use social media to my advantage!