E-Marketing Strategy: Find Online Book Buyers Fast
In the January/February issue of Book Business, this column explored how to redesign your website for maximum effectiveness. Assuming that your website is now redesigned, poised and ready for an influx of customers, the next step is to build a strong Web marketing foundation.
As exciting as it is for you, a website redesign will not double or triple your site's traffic on its own—unless, of course, you're checking it 3,000 times a day to see how pretty it is … which I'd understand. Rather, your website traffic will only grow when the crowds of would-be-interested Internet browsers begin to learn about your site, your books and your amazing content.
We know people discuss and recommend books online. We also know people buy books online. The key to Web marketing success is finding the best ways to get people to discuss, recommend and buy your books online. The first step is to find these folks.
Begin by narrowing your search. You're not looking for all book buyers online. Instead, search only for the people who would be interested in buying, discussing and recommending your books online. So, what do you publish? What's your niche? Focus there.
Let's say, for example, that you publish cookbooks. And, in fact, your company publishes books by some of the leading chefs in the world—but your online presence is nonexistent. This may sound discouraging at first, but it is an enviable position: You and your expert content are poised for an online explosion.
Begin your search with the "Big Three" social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter and the blogosphere.
Searching for your audience on Facebook is easy. Log in to your account and type "cooking" into the site's top search bar. (Searching on Google for Facebook audiences can sometime be more effective than Facebook's own search tool.) You're looking for results marked "Group" or "Page." You'll notice that more than 5.7 million people have indicated that they "Like" cooking as an "Interest," but since Facebook does not allow you to contact people through an "Interest," it's better to look for cooking-related Pages or Groups since you are able to send content to all of the folks who "Like" those.
