Author Name: Jay Thomas Willis
Book Title(s): Implications For Effective Psychotherapy With African-Americans; As Soon as the Weather Breaks; The Cotton is High; Born to be Destroyed; Paranoid but not Stupid; Why Black Americans Behave as They Do; Hard Luck; When the Village Idiot Get Started; Educated Misunderstanding; The Devil in Angelica.
Marketing Subject: Marketing Through Twitter
Some people still don’t believe Social Networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace can help to market their book. It seems these sites are good sources for doing just that. Twitter is a way for authors to connect with their audience, build a following, and make sales. The potential for reaching people is unlimited. You can even be selective about targeting your chosen market. I will in this blog consider Twitter as a marketing tool.
Both my sons, one is in college and the other is a Web site designer, cautioned me against trying to use Twitter to market my books. Also, my wife cautioned me about giving out personal information about myself. But without knowing much about these sights, wanted to form my own opinion about them.
I am seriously considering using Twitter to help market my books, after studying it as a source of marketing very carefully. I have heard some good things about it, and personally believe it to be a good marketing tool.
You can set up a profile and send tweets to people to get them to buy your book. The idea is to connect with people, and then get them to buy your book. Most people will feel better about the sale if they have a connection to you. You can send out tweets to all of your followers. The rule is don’t keep sending out the same tweets too often or it can be regarded as spam, in addition to annoying to people.
When considering signing on to Twitter, it would be good to set up a blog. You can do a link from your profile in Twitter to your blog. (1). Create a profile. This is where you give information about yourself. The tweet itself should be limited to 140 characters. Try to be original. You can either use your last name or the name of your book. You can add information about your book to your profile space, telling people what it’s about. You can also place a link from your profile to your Web site. (2). Once you sign on to the sight search for people who tweet in your area of interest, and strive to get them to follow you, and you follow them. These kinds of people might be interested in reading your book. You can always follow or un-follow someone. (3).Build trust by tweeting and get sales.
Don’t be too blatant about your intent to sell something, people log on for a social experience, but it’s OK to throw in a promotional link now and then. Concentrate on being someone interesting people want to read about and follow.
Follow others and get them to reciprocate. Start with friends, family, and relatives, and build a following. Your goal is to build followers that appreciate your work and want to pass it on.
Let followers know of your local and national activities. Build a following with very little effort. If you want to connect with others you must convince them to sign up with Twitter. You can drive people to Your Web site, and potentially sell copies of your book. You can build awareness of your book. Twitter has grown phenomenally, and has become potentially useful to those who wish to market their books. It’s the fastest growing Social Networking site on the Internet. It makes people feel connected and part of your life. By using Twitter you can grow a following for yourself and your book. It can at least help you to spread the word about your book. The only drawback is not using it well.
