How to make money using (insert any social media site here).
Yes, we've all seen them.
To me, the fun of social media dissipates once sales banners enter the arena.
Yes, I write books. Yes, those books are for sale. But pushing for those sales isn't the point of social media.
Social media, the way I see it, is the opportunity to connect with like-minded people. To me, social media is a virtual water cooler, cocktail party, or coffee shop. It's chatting about interesting, inspiring, or informative topics.
And the person introducing or commenting on the topics just so happens to write and sell books.
That doesn't mean social media can't be used for updating readers about current projects or items for sale as long as it's part of the conversation. I think it's okay to ask readers to review a book or serve as a beta reader, since it can start a conversation.
With this perspective, social media is a useful part of marketing.
Because "marketing" simply means letting the universe know you do this stuff and are selling this stuff. It's not a hard push for sales, which I find obnoxious.
I think good books are meant to be discovered. I think good marketing allows that discovery to happen.
It's definitely a slower, softer approach with no guarantee of sales. But being annoyingly in-your-face doesn't guarantee sales either. Even if it did, such an approach doesn't guarantee readers loyal to one's brand.
For me, this is the goal of marketing: finding those readers who love to read what I write. I'm really not interested in sales for the sake of sales.
And thus my the marketing journey continues...
Yes, we've all seen them.
To me, the fun of social media dissipates once sales banners enter the arena.
Yes, I write books. Yes, those books are for sale. But pushing for those sales isn't the point of social media.
Social media, the way I see it, is the opportunity to connect with like-minded people. To me, social media is a virtual water cooler, cocktail party, or coffee shop. It's chatting about interesting, inspiring, or informative topics.
And the person introducing or commenting on the topics just so happens to write and sell books.
That doesn't mean social media can't be used for updating readers about current projects or items for sale as long as it's part of the conversation. I think it's okay to ask readers to review a book or serve as a beta reader, since it can start a conversation.
With this perspective, social media is a useful part of marketing.
Because "marketing" simply means letting the universe know you do this stuff and are selling this stuff. It's not a hard push for sales, which I find obnoxious.
I think good books are meant to be discovered. I think good marketing allows that discovery to happen.
It's definitely a slower, softer approach with no guarantee of sales. But being annoyingly in-your-face doesn't guarantee sales either. Even if it did, such an approach doesn't guarantee readers loyal to one's brand.
For me, this is the goal of marketing: finding those readers who love to read what I write. I'm really not interested in sales for the sake of sales.
And thus my the marketing journey continues...
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