Blogger: Mary Keeley
This week socialmediaexaminer.com posted a new report, written by Suzanne Delzio, on the latest trends in social media marketing for small businesses. Because it is based on a recent survey in which almost 25% of respondents were solo entrepreneurs, I read it to glean information that could be useful for authors.
The author identified 12 trends from the survey results, and certain results within those trends translate to usable information for writers.
- Most of the respondents that want to reach consumers still use Facebook for their social media marketing. This makes sense for writers, too, because readers are your consumers. The prerequisite is that you are in fact reaching readers and not only other writers and friends. More than a third of the respondents reported that they don’t know if their Facebook marketing is working in terms of building their brand awareness and customer relationships.
- Ninety percent of respondents opined that social media’s top benefit is increased exposure, although admittedly this is hard to measure. Building loyal fans was rated the third highest benefit by a lesser 69% of respondents. This parallels what agents have known and publishers are beginning to realize, which is that soaring social media numbers alone on a writer’s proposal don’t necessarily result in a similar number of sales of the book.
- Seventy-seven percent of respondents rated increased traffic to their website as the #2 benefit of social media marketing. Clicking from social media to an author’s blog post or landing page might be the top benefit for authors. Don’t we all click to “read more” of a blog post or article almost daily?
- Instagram, Pinterest, and others are developing ad opportunities, but it will take several years of testing to know how effective they are. It will be interesting to see if they provide healthy competition for Facebook in the future.
- Of the respondents seventy and seventy-one percent respectively reported that blogging and visuals, such as photos and collages, were the most effective methods of engaging traffic through the platform that works best for them, while 57% use videos and only 10% use podcasts. Marketers said blogging delivers their most important type of content because it provides more of the information that researching consumers want to know before making a purchase. This reinforces what you have heard us say here before, that your blog posts should always relate to your books and your brand. They convey the information that attracts followers who may become loyal readers of your books via your author voice.
As the report concluded, “When every step you take is informed by research, your chances for success (and your confidence) rise.” You can read the whole report here.
Get in the habit of assessing the effectiveness of your social media marketing for your book. How else will you know if you are getting a return for your time and financial investment? Social media is one of the most cost-efficient marketing options but even so, do you know which one or two platforms are working best for you? Rather than trying to grow followers on multiple channels, focus on growing your following on those.
How often do you assess the effectiveness of your social media efforts? Which platform is working best for you? What types of social media marketing have been most successful for you?
TWEETABLES:
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Respondents to a survey reported that blogging is their best method of delivering important content. Click to Tweet.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Interesting post, and the full report is definitely worth reading. Good thing social media’s cheap; I doubt that anyone in business would be willing to admit he or she doesn’t really know how effective it is if the cost of advertising had to be justified. For what it may be worth, I ran a direct-mail business (slides on architecture and art history, sold to academia) to help fund my return to school…I kept records, and a good ad campaign had a 0.75% return, with an average order of $100. That meant that a typical 12,000-unit mailing (done quarterly) would generate $9000 in sales. Direct advertising costs were around $5000 (I used first-class mail, exclusively – bulk mail was not cost-effective as it lowered the rate of return), and materials, about another $1000. It was home-based, so no rent…that meant $3000 gross profit. Not a get-rich quick scheme…I mean, have YOU ever stuffed 12,000 envelopes in a week? And a 0.5% return would be a disaster, so advertising design was a big and important part of the job…as was taking care not to exhaust the market.
* Some of this might be applicable to social media, particularly the need to keep ad design dynamic (and by ad design I mean the whole panoply, from FB posts to website graphics), and the requirement not to create ‘exposure fatigue’ in potential consumers.
* I do notice the latter in my reaction to blogging…too many author blogs get into drumbeating a new book instead of substantive posts, and usually I’ll stop visiting after a couple of these. It gets old fast, and once I abandon a blog, I’m not likely to go back regularly. I do not think I am particularly strange in this respect. In most other respects, yes, but not this one.
* I concentrate my social media efforts on blogging, and use FB and Twitter to announce posts, and highlight other blogs I think are worthwhile. With the latter, I’m pretty selective, because my readers are taking my advice, when they click through to another blog, and I’m responsible to them, not to waste their time. (Not wasting a potential reader’s time is, I think, the biggest factor in social media publicity.)
* Blogging gives some direct feedback in terms of comments left, and that is one thing I like about it. If people care to comment, I know I’ve reached them, and if my comment-to-visit ratio is high, I take this as a good sign. It’s an easy number to track.
* Growing a blogging audience is slow, and really requires engagement, and a considerable investment of time, in the blogging world. I had to laugh when I read the stat that respondents to the survey spent 6-10 hours a week on social media. I spent six hours a day working on my own blog, commenting on others (and making substantive comments on others’ blogs seems to be important), and researching linkups that can help. (Had to cut way back recently…too ill.)
* My blogging is aimed at my intended audience, and not at other writers. I love writers’ blogs, and visit as many as I can, but my blog is intended to give potential readers a sample of my writing, both stylistically, and in terms of the passions that inform and drive my work.
* Again, for what it’s worth, I check statistics about every two weeks, and this seems to be right for a 3-4 times a week blog. Checking more often can overshadow genuine trends with transient phenomena. As long as the numbers are gradually going up, I’m happy.
* The process can’t be hurried. Chasing The Viral Post by following trends only takes away from consistency; I believe that readers want a relationship, not to be part of a viral flash mob, and relationships take time to build. How long did you know your spouse before the marriage proposal was made? (Five hours for me…I took it slooowww…well, for me.)
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
And if anyone’s interested in some numbers, writing the comment above took about an hour. It included reading Mary’s original post, reading the report she linked, formulating my response, and editing.
Melinda Ickes
Funny you followed your post up with stats, because I was actually wondering how much time it took you to formulate the response. 🙂 Thanks for sharing that insight, Andrew.
Mary Keeley
Andrew, thanks for sharing what you learned along the way. You have a responsible and intuitive marketing mind, and your points are well-taken.
Regarding the hours per week spent on social media, many of the small businesses that were surveyed are paying someone a salary to manage the social media. These people had to do what they could in the time allotted or the ROI would be greatly diminished. It works the same for most writers too. That balancing act is the core reason authors need to assess their efforts regularly.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Mary, I agree with what you said about time investment…I should have been a bot more clear, and emphasized that the time I spent worked ‘for me’. I was (and am) in the position of building a platform and a following, and there’s no real way to do that – as far as I can see – without a level of personal engagement, which simply takes as long as it takes. And I did this as a part-time job…it was nice, being able to choose which 12 hours of the day I’d work! (Though it ended up to be more like 15 hours a day on the whole writing profession.)
Jenni Brummett
Andrew, I appreciate what you said about the content and audience focus of your blog. How it’s “intended to give potential readers a sample of my writing, both stylistically, and in terms of the passions that inform and drive my work.” I’ve taken a more thematic angle on my blog, and although I know it will take time to establish rapport with those who visit, it’s a subject I’m passionate about so I hope they can sense that.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Your sense of fun, and the joy you get from the subject matter really shine through. Have to say, though, I couldn’t ID any of the houses, except that I’m pretty sure the first one’s in Malibu…
Shirlee Abbott
Managing social media could be a full-time job, and I already have one of those.
I struggle with the balance between “managing” and “relationship-building.” When I think of social media as a tool for building my popularity, my focus shifts to me and away from my mission. I ask, “what would Jesus do?” Would Jesus tweet? Blog? Have His own FB page? Is there a parable for this?
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Interesting question…I think that the small and large group meetings were the social media of Gospel days. The Sermon on the Mount was a blog post, a neatly organized bullet-pointed list, while His parables, pungent and with easily-remembered – and easily-repeated – messages were His tweets. The time He spent teaching His disciples was Facebook; He had face time with them, and knew that His message would be shared.
Mary Keeley
Shirlee, the biblical response that comes to mind is from Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:22-23: “To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.”
I understand where you’re coming from and struggle to keep up with social media myself because it can be such a time drain, but we have good examples of forms of social media in the Old and New Testaments. God sent the prophets to prepare the world for the Savior, and Jesus himself travelled cross-country, working miracles, reaching the lost and then sent his disciples to do the same. And then he left us with the Great Commission. Now that’s viral.
Shirlee Abbott
The Great Commission – the ultimate tweet!
Carol McAdams Moore
There is lots of meat in this post. Thank you, Mary. My initial take-aways are to continue to build relationships through social media, remembering always to reflect my books and my brand. Because social media is so time consuming, it is important to use discretion about just how much time I devote to it, keeping a watchful eye on how sales relate to the time investment.
Mary Keeley
Exactly, Carol. Thanks for boiling it down to a few easy to remember bullet points.
Kristen Joy Wilks
I am starting to enjoy pinterest but am noticing that it eats through a good chunk of our allotted internet. Yikes! Other than that I dabble in blogging and facebook. I try to only spend one writing day a week on this stuff so that I can actually get stuff, you know, written.
Mary Keeley
Kristen, that definitely is the challenge. I hope you find the best balance for yourself.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Thinking about this through the night, I started wondering whether it might more effectively be thought of as social media branding, and steer away from the ‘marketing’ label and ethos?
* As writers, we are Message, and as Christian writers, that message has to infuse everything we write. We’re not so much asking people to pay for what we have to hear because the product is compelling, but because WE are compelling in our witness.
* Unless we have an extensive backlist, if we are pushing one product – one book – there’s a common-sense limitation on how much exposure we can and should give that offering. But our brand can always be deepened. Look at Beth Vogt’s blog; her books are highlighted in sidebars, but the substance of what she writes, three times a week, is substantive, and identifies her as a woman of faith, optimism, and humour (‘Laughter is music’). Read a few of her blog posts, and I think you’ll want to read her books, because her message is so cheerfully affecting.
* Social media, especially Facebook, is humanizing…it’s .the chance for readers to get to know an author, and see what this exalted figure does on her own time. It’s an invitation, and unless we’re into hosting virtual Tupperware parties, when we invite people into our homes we’re not trying to sell them something. We just want them to want to come back.
Shelli Littleton
Mary, when you are not published yet … is it safe to put your work out there on social media? Your work in progress? Letting people know what you are working on? That always makes me nervous. How much can or should you share? I just put a slice of mine out on FB, and I’ll admit I shed a few tears with prayers over it, just unsure if I should or not. 🙂 I’ve kept it under lock and key since Christmas.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Shelli, it’s GREAT! Just read it on FB, and sent a friend request.
Shelli Littleton
Thank you, Andrew. 🙂 And I didn’t mean to comment under your post … but I feel pretty good about staying there. 🙂 You know, I feel pretty certain God uses people to help provide refuge … “I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed” (Ps 57:1). 🙂 I don’t know where I’d be on this journey without this amazing group of supporters here. I’d be found in a bigger rut, I’m sure. 🙂
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Shelli, with your Texas-sized heart and God-sized faith, you’d never be found in a rut. You are the sort who leaves a path, as described in the carol ‘Good King Wenceslas’…”…mark my footsteps well, my page, and tread thou in them boldly, for thou shalt find the winter’s rage freeze thy blood less coldly…” You provide cheer and inspiration – and the shelter of your faith – for everyone here. Can’t read your comments without a smile.
Mary Keeley
Shelli, you are right to be cautious about how much of your book to put on social media. Once it’s up there, it’s public. Just a sliver of the actual manuscript to show the setting and a glimpse at the main character should be enough to whet your followers’ appetite. Your other posts can highlight interesting historical facts and information surrounding your novel’s setting, which would interest your followers. Or ask your followers what they would want to a protagonist to do in generally described situation you’re planning to include in your book to get them engaged.
Jeanne Takenaka
Mary, this post has me thinking. I admit, I’m terrible about assessing the effectiveness of my social media efforts. I’m not sure exactly how to do this. I think blogging has garnered the most interaction with those who comment on my blog. But I haven’t actively marketing anything because I have nothing (besides me) to market yet. My hope is that as people get to know me, they’ll one day want to read my books. I don’t get much interaction on Facebook or on Twitter, though there are usually likes and Favorites on most of my posts. For whatever that may be worth. 🙂
You’ve got me thinking on this. Thank you . . . I think. 😉
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Uh, Jeanne? How can anyone read your blog and NOT want to read your upcoming books? You have a voice of grace, faith, and elegance that is both inspiring and challenging. Look to the comments you get…you strike sparks, steel on steel, with every paragraph (and every photo!).
Jeanne Takenaka
Andrew, thank you. I guess striking sparks is a good thing, eh? 😉
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
And you’re an award-winner, too! Now, how cool is THAT? 😀
Shelli Littleton
I feel the same, Jeanne. And I think it’s like Andrew pointed out about Beth … people come to love her, the encourager, the woman of faith, and just naturally want to read anything she writes. I know I did. I wanted to read her works, and I’ll be the same with you.
Jeanne Takenaka
Thanks, Shelli. I’m eager to read yours too. 🙂 I get so much out of your blog posts.
Mary Keeley
Jeanne, the survey results that placed blogging clearly at the top of small businesses’ top content delivery methods (along with visuals such as photos) surprised me until it was explained. If blogging is working best for you, definitely continue to focus your efforts on relationship-building with readers there. And perhaps choose one of the other platforms–one that you are most comfortable with and also is where your target readers hang out. Concentrating your efforts to grow followers on those two will be more manageable with likely more effective results.
Jeanne Takenaka
Thanks for the suggestions, Mary. I spend more time on Facebook, but I’m also on Twitter. Instagram and Pinterest I just do for fun—and inconsistently. I need to figure out how to better interact on other social media, without it eating all of my few spare hours each day.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Absolutely, Jeanne. Unless you’re wearing an old, dry shirt, as I was once while grinding a piece of steel. It lit off, and I danced about, shouting, “Hey! I’m on fire, I’m on FIRE!” while my colleagues laughed. Both the shirt and the front of my pants burned off, which made getting home problematical. But fortunately it happened in California, where, I suppose, they still celebrate Pantless Thursdays.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Jeanne, in regarding time-saving…Barbara has an ape for her phone that allows her to speak the text of an email or text message while her hands are busy…I wonder if something like that exists for Twitter and/or Facebook, for tweets or status updates/replies?
Jeanne Takenaka
Andrew, that’s something to look into. 🙂 And I’m sorry you were on fire. LITERALLY! 🙂
Jennifer Zarifeh Major
For me, Facebook seems to work the best. My blog is on hiatus because there is far too much going on right now, and I posted about the craziness of summer.
Twitter is okay, and the daily email of “this Russian with an unpronounceable name is now (stalking) following you…” is just FABulous.
I do enjoy Facebook, and I even manage to not say what I think. I should totally get points for that. I’m working on builinf the reach of my writer page, that’s been fun. Sorta.
Once I get my website straightened out this summer, I’ll transition over to that, and will link my blog to Jennifer-Is-Awesome dot com.
And once I launch the website, there will be goodies involved.
And NO, that is NOT the actual name.
Jennifer Zarifeh Major
*building…
“builinf” is Canadian for “Why can’t the Canucks make it at least to the finals??”
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
MapleLeafWriter.com? HockeyMomAttitude.com? CanadaRulesButWe’reSorryAboutThatEh.com?
Shelli Littleton
You’re working on a new website/blog? Can’t wait to see it! Or … are you teasing? 🙂
Jennifer Zarifeh Major
MOI?! Tease??? Nooo.
Yes, I am. For real. I mean it.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
If you ever go in for StarTrek fan fiction (and you’d do GREAT), you could use http://www.ResistanceIsFutileWeAreTheB.org
Jennifer Zarifeh Major
hahahahaha!! That is awesome!
Jeanne Takenaka
Laughing OUT LOUD, Andrew. That was a good one!
Mary Keeley
Jennifer, your comment prompts a couple of questions. What do you do to grow your reader following on Facebook? And if you have gone on hiatus form your blog in the past, how long does it take you to draw your followers back after your hiatus? This could be helpful information for others.
Jennifer Zarifeh Major
On my writer page, I’ve been posting sayings I’ve found on Pinterest, whether silly or serious, every few days. Some of the names I’m seeing pop up are total strangers.
I plan to do a blog post soon, and start the lead up to a fairly substantial give-away on the blog. Some of the goodies I collected on my 2 research trips, and a small scrapbook of the trips. I may invest in Rafflecopter,the way the Big Kids do.
Strangely enough, coming back is not as big a problem as I once thought. Especially with my Facebook linked to Twitter, and then blurbing about it for a few days prior..
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Interesting that you can minimize ‘hiatus damage’ with the FB/Twitter combination. That would imply a strong carryover, that your FB and Twitter followers comprise a large part of the blog readership. Do you have any data on that?
Jennifer Zarifeh Major
No data, just experience. The thing is, the vast majority of M&DAHWLK (moms and dads at home with little kids) have a HUGE chunk of their work day disappear over the summer with the 24/7 presence of kids. I’ve seen this consistently over my 14 years of blogging.
In my previous blog, which ran for 13 years, the traffic dropped in June and July, and vapourized in August.
I don’t consider a summer hiatus as damaging to my following. I consider it life in motion.
September always sees a huge uptake in numbers, and I’m fairly confident it’ll happen again at the end of the summer.
Jennifer Zarifeh Major
My previous blog ran from 2001, to 2013. The owner of the site gave very short notice before shuttering the site for good. I was able to download my blog, but many other bloggers weren’t.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Interesting – I would have thought that blog-reading would be an escape, during summer, from the pressures of a child-centered life.
MIchelle Ule
Interesting for me, because I do not know how to measure the ROI and like others seem to spend an inordinate of time on social media.
However, I must say that because I’ve been blogging for more than four years, I have a large backlist of blog posts. I’ve learned to use Hootsuite in the last few months and I mine that backlist of posts that I can then schedule to run on Twitter.
That has pushed my numbers up in a surprising way to me.
As many of you know, I’ve written a novel that includes Oswald Chambers as a character, and I’ve been writing blog posts about him and also about World War I, the setting of my stories, for two years. With 20 OC posts under my belt, I’ve become something of an authority and my blog posts turn up on the first pages of Google when you check on his wife and daughter. Sometimes even him.
So my numbers up are on the blog as a result of that as well.
Interesting to me that Andrew doesn’t want to read about book selling . . . but my blog is also used to highlight the work I’ve done on a variety of collections which means I have to use it as part of the marketing strategy of my sales.
But, in working with other writers, who then tweet those same blog posts, my blog numbers also go up.
I think all writers need to have a blog as both an opportunity to demonstrate your writing skill for prospective editors, but also as a way of building your brand and “owning” a spot on the web that is uniquely yours.
A blog also can highlight interesting things about your projects and give readers a glimpse into how your mind works–if you can write in an interesting manner about things as mundane as sunbonnets. It’s your calling card to the world and an ability to be informative, interesting and knowledgeable, to me, would indicate a writer I can trust with my time.
Facebook and Twitter, for me, are the most useful invitations to my blog.
So, for me social media provides the ROI I can use now.
I think.
I hope.
Fortunately, I like to write blogs! 🙂
Novelist might find this blog post interesting: https://booksandsuch.com/blog/fiction-writer-blog/
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
I think your blog works so well, Michelle, because your content is very well-established, and the promotional work never seems to take over. You’re also modest and low-key. I like your blog, a lot.
Mary Keeley
Michelle, this is great fodder for ideas others can use. Your comment that you’ve been blogging for more than four years also is a factor according to the survey results, which showed that it takes time to build a following that provides a return on one’s time and dollar investment.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Mary, I have a question…based on the survey results, and the importance of bloggers in product reviews and evaluation, do you feel that bloggers are becoming a fairly powerful Fifth Estate, and that the blogging community is positioning itself as an arbiter of taste and values, moving into a void left be failures in the established media?
An example comes to mind – the film “God’s Not Dead” was panned by the ‘normal’ media, but it did quite well during its release. I think the critics simply hated the Christian worldview. I’m pretty hard on movies, and “God’s Not Dead” was well made, and had quality acting and writing. I suspect that word of mouth, or word of blog, provided an environment that allowed it to thrive, and served to further discredit the establishment critics, at least among GND putative audience, and those who were willing to give a Christian film the benefit of the doubt.
Mary Keeley
Andrew, I wouldn’t go so far as to say bloggers are that powerful. The millions of bloggers have an almost equal number of competing products, POVs, agendas and messages. It’s unlikely they could unite to form a powerful social force. However, Christian bloggers can continue to be salt and light to their followers, and let’s pray that God will multiply our influence.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Amen, Mary. Prayers – and blogs – up!
Norma Brumbaugh
Social media is at times my friend and at other times my foe. I’ve not quite found my groove yet (for successful networking) but I have found my authentic voice and a way to share tools that help. I often write blog book reviews of books that have influenced my life in a positive way, even children’s books. Next I post a modified version as a review on Amazon. I love sharing little known books with my reading audience such as a book authored by an eighty-nine year old monk who I met while writing my current in-process book. He doesn’t refer to himself by name, but calls himself a hermit monk. In sharing his book, I am sharing something that brings me joy. Mine is his only Amazon review. We all have a unique journey.
‘Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.’ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Mary Keeley
Norma, it sounds like you have found your comfortable blogging niche, and you will attract the followers who appreciate what your have to offer.
Davalynn Spencer
My favorite point you made, Mary: “This parallels what agents have known and publishers are beginning to realize, which is that soaring social media numbers alone on a writer’s proposal don’t necessarily result in a similar number of sales of the book.” When I curl up with a get-away book in the evenings, I couldn’t care less about the author’s social media numbers. I read the books I read because they are well written and “take me away.” (Yes, yes, I continue to blog and build platform – but isn’t it really about the book?)
Mary Keeley
Davalynn, absolutely it’s about the book. Social media works alongside as the vehicle for making the book’s presence known among readers.
لباس مجلسی
nice
بازسازی ساختمان
Thank you, Andrew:)