Writers Tricks of the Trade Issue 1 Volume 8 | Page 36

S MARTER A UTHOR P LATFORM (C ONT ’ D )
awareness that your book (or lead gen content) exists, then are compelled to take action when they
feel like they’re seeing it everywhere. (Remember the old advertising cliche says that your brand
needs to appear in front of your customer seven times to be remembered? Same principle.)
Authors who have multiple ways to make an impression are by default in a stronger position—
they’re both more protected from social media platform changes, and have the ability to get more
touch points out there. This doesn’t mean you have to be active on every social media channel;
however, you do want to build as many impressions in as many places as possible, to break through
the noise. You’re more competitive when you can be creative, experimental, and diverse in the
types of moves available to you.
B ETTER M ARKET I NSIGHTS FOR L ONG -T ERM G ROWTH
What’s often overlooked—in our race to improve our numbers—is that digital media should
make you smarter in identifying how to best grow your platform. Once you’re active on Twitter or
Facebook, or have Google Analytics installed on your website, you have actionable information
about who you’re reaching, where you’re reaching them, and how to reach more and reach be tter.
This allows for more strategic efforts in the future—you can build and place better ads, run more
effective giveaways, and identify the most important influencers for your readership based on past
performance.
Some of the easiest ways to start:
Use your website, Facebook or Twitter analytics to pinpoint geographic locations that would
make the most sense for events or for print retail initiatives.
Use tracking and affiliate links to identify where you reach people who are most likely to take
advantage of an offer (Twitter? Facebook? people who end up at your website through search?).
Use website, Facebook, or Twitter analytics to identify important qualities about your reader-
ship—e.g., what other books, movies, or TV shows they love. Can you create content or advertise in
such a way to reach the audiences of those books, movies, or TV shows?
At the end of this article, you’ll find some nuts-and-bolts advice to help you research your audi-
ence through digital tools.
IRL C ARRIES H IGH V ALUE
Marketing strategies almost always work better when they combine online and offline engage-
ment. One in-real-life event stays with people longer, is more likely to be talked about and shared,
and is the equivalent of dozens (possibly even hundreds!) of online interactions. Professional mar-
keters and publicists still advocate for “in real life” activities to activate and extend the strength of
your platform—everything from traditional book signings to speaking engagements, to any event
that can help lead to word of mouth or anchor a publicity campaign.
Plus, there’s still very little that can replace meeting peers and influencers at events, which in-
creases the likelihood of collaborative action later on. One of the fastest ways to grow your own
platform is to team up with someone (or a group of someones) who reaches the same audience you
want to reach.
S PRING 2018
P AGE 28
W RITERS ’ T RICKS OF THE T RADE