QR Codes for Promo?
As an author, I'm continually looking for new ideas to promote and market my author brand and my books. Whenever I meet readers, new or old, I want to make it super easy for them to look me up or buy my books if they want to.
An idea I was tossing around was the use of QR codes.
In the course of my research, I came across this article:
QR codes on campus: why don't they work?
Some key highlights from the article here:
Many students may own a smartphone, but not all know what a QR code is, or willing to download the software necessary to scan.
Lighting conditions: Depending on what kind of camera phone you have, the quality of light may not be good enough to scan properly.
Time intensive: A common complaint is that it takes too much effort to scan QR codes. Taking out a phone, unlocking, going to an application, then scanning — often resulting in a URL that could have been typed in directly with less effort.
Underwhelming results: QR codes often result in a single line of text or a web link, which don't appeal in relation to the effort required to scan.
Mobile device features: Few mobile devices can be considered QR friendly. If mobile devices included an automatic scanning system within their camera components, then as less effort would be required, scanning frequency may increase.
Note: the article is about college students, but heck, the average college student is probably more tech savy than the average person. So if a college student doesn't know, I'm wondering how many people on average do know? I use QR codes, but my day job has me in a corporate environment where they're used all the time.
Does this mean I won't use QR codes? Not necessarilly. It means if I want to have this option available, I need to address certain considerations.
When would it be super easy option for people who are tech-savvy and are looking for a chance to use this technology?
What would make it worth it to them to scan the QR code immediately rather than nab easily available swag and simply walk away intending to look it up later?
What exactly am I going to generate the QR code for? Link to my website? (It'd be faster just to type it in on a smart phone browser) Buy links to my books? (Maybe) What else?
How can I be sure malware doesn't end up attached? It's a danger and many tech savvy users prefer not to use QR codes simply because they can't verify that the QR code leads to a verified URL and not anyplace with associated malware.
I very well might incorporate QR codes into my promotional kit, but I'm going to think hard about the best way to make them successful.
