7 Reasons You Should Not Use Social Media Marketing By Sue Collier

I'm excited to introduce you to our guest today, Sue Collier. Sue is a veteran in the self publishing industry as an author and a top expert. In today's post, Sue will be discussing social media marketing and giving advice on when authors should not be using it.



Before we get to Sue's post, I have a couple of quick in-house announcements to make. First, I completed an audio interview with MaAnna Stephenson of BlogAid this week. You can download the MP3 and listen to us discuss tips and advice for marketing your book. Visit her page, Podcast with Author and Marketing Expert Tony Eldridge, for a complete list of the topics we discussed and a link to download the interview.



Also, we have a few days left for you to win a free copy of our Sunday Kindle Book Giveaways. This week, we are featuring Sea of Shadows By Jeff Edwards and A Heart Held Ransomed by Skotko/Tankersley. Visit their pages to learn about theses books and then leave a comment for your chance to win a copy from the authors.



Now, on to Sue's post...





7 Reasons You Should Not Use Social Media Marketing

By Sue Collier



Most authors constantly hear about why social media marketing is such an important part of building their author platform—and I agree with this. But I don't think social media marketing is the end-all answer for promotions, whether it be for books or another product, or a service such as consulting. One has to participate with the right expectations and for the right reasons. So here are 7 reasons you should not take part in social media marketing.


You are looking for a short-term answer. I have helped countless authors launch their social media platforms, only to have them call me a month later to announce that it is not "working" for them. Tweeting about your new book on Twitter is not going to mean thousands of people are going to instantly purchase it. Social media is an ongoing commitment—for the rest of your life (as an author, at least).




You expect to see a direct impact on book sales. It will impact your book sales--eventually. But social media is first about creating something called "touch points." As an example, let me explain how social media works for my consulting business. Someone sees something of mine that has been retweeted on Twitter. They find it interesting, so they click on my profile and decide to follow me. Maybe they check out my website and sign up for my monthly ezine. Six months later, they hear me speak on a podcast or they read a guest post I've written on another blog. Maybe they've connected with me on Facebook or LinkedIn at this point, as well as continuing to follow me on Twitter. They ask me a question in a direct message or maybe they comment on my blog; we start a dialogue. Perhaps another six months goes by, and they are ready to hire my firm to provide book packaging services or to help promote their book. So yes—social media did impact our bottom line, but not directly. What it did do, though, is create a way for a potential client to stay in touch ("touch points") with us until they were ready to buy.




You have no budget for marketing. Yes, social media marketing is "free," but you need to have a strategy in place first. Social media marketing should be part of an overall plan devised to build your author platform. I read somewhere that social media is like building a shelter, but if the shelter isn't sturdy, it can collapse right on top of you, harming you in the long run.




You don't have time for social media. Yes, social media will take time. If you don't personally have the time, you'll have to hire someone to do it for you, so it will be taking somebody's time. And it has to be done consistently. You can't expect to build an effective following if you only tweet once a week or blog every six months.




You don't want to write content. I hear this over and over: "Who cares what I had for lunch?" Well, probably no one—unless you post a link to a great recipe in your newly published cookbook. Social media provides the medium for communication; you need to direct people to something of value.




You don't believe in sharing information for free. This is one of the most difficult mindsets for some people to overcome: providing valuable information for free. Some are worried that if they give away what they know, no one will ever pay them for it. Look at it as sharing content that will help establish your expertise and build your author platform. The truth is that people are more apt to pay you if you've established yourself as an expert. Social media is all about building relationships and providing useful content to potential buyers is one way to do that.




You don't want to work within a changing technology. Social media is very likely here to stay, though it will look different in two years and five years and ten years. You'll need to make a commitment to keep up.



-----

Self-publishing expert SUE COLLIER is coauthor of The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing, 5th Edition (Writer's Digest Books, 2010) and the forthcoming Jump Start Your Books Sales, 2nd Edition (Communication Creativity, 2011). She has been working with authors and small presses for more than two decades, providing writing, editing, production, and promotions work for hundreds of book projects. Visit her website and blog at Self-Publishing Resources.













---------------



  































-------- Tony Eldridge is the author of The Samson Effect , an action/adventure novel that Clive Cussler calls a "first rate thriller brimming with intrigue and adventure." He is also the author of the Twitter marketing book, Conducting Effective Twitter Contests . His new novel, The Lottery Ticket , was just recently released on Kindle.