Jacqueline Lunger shares her experience in learning about social media
I raised my head to take a fresh breath during the conclusion of my recent eBook and was instantly confounded by the inevitable question of how to market the book. Knowing all that I do now, accepting that one can learn enough in two months to get a good start on the subject, I should have been developing the book’s marketing plan at least three months before its release.
Pop culture buzzes incessantly about social media being the primary avenue to marketing anything and everything. Even the fabulous Shark Tank television show regularly makes reference to marketing being an essential tool to success. When I first heard the question ‘how many followers do you have,’ I did a double take. In my mind, followers were for Guru’s and Rock Stars, not authors. I sighed and accepted my ineptness on the matter, rolling up my sleeves for the steep climb along the learning curve I had to navigate to succeed.
After the first two weeks of trial and error efforts, stumbling around with no plan at all, I woke up to the need to be more methodical and analytical. I wanted to measure what was working and what was not working, especially because I wasn’t enjoying the frustrating experience one bit. I didn’t want to torpedo my book by tossing it into the fray of 3,000 new books per day without a decent effort to help it get some readers attention.
I discussed my dilemma with one of the people in my writer’s critique group who quickly clarified my frustrations for me. He said, marketing is a word for not making sales, and then there is making sales. You don’t want to market your book, you want to sell it.
I approached an on line author’s group to see how the more seasoned writers managed the successful promotion of their books. Immediately, I discovered I was on another avenue of head banging and angst. The successful author’s predominant strategy is to offer one of their books each month for free, or at a very cheap cost, thereby using it to promote the others that are sold at full price. I didn’t have a variety of books to shuffle about to bait readers. My intention was to finish two more books pretty soon, but chances were diminishing that I would suffer through this challenge again.
Quitting isn’t an option but cutting one’s losses is acceptable. Wasting time and resources on a loser of an idea or goal must be eradicated. Why? If I am spending my energy, time, thoughts, passion, money and creativity on something that isn’t right for me to be focused on, I am ignoring something else that likely requires my time and talent at the time. How do I know what is best for me to do in this situation, at this precise time?
I stopped the struggling process, centered myself, quieted my mind and asked for guidance and insight, just the same as I would if I were assisting a client in an uncomfortable or challenging situation. If I was sounding like a whiner in the earlier paragraphs it’s because I am an extrovert and it permits me to continue my learning curve while it feeds my determination to solve the dilemma of sales in this new venue.
Admit that you need help when seeking the best solution to a challenging situation. Try to receive that help from someone who has been there already and passed through the level to a more advanced one. I found a new approach to my struggle and am seeing progress already.
Social Media Marketing works best after you locate your target market. That fact seems to be skipped over, assumed or discounted. If you want to sell non-fiction eBooks, like I do, locate readers who prefer your genre and method of delivery. If you are selling women’s clothing, target groups of women who are apt to purchase your inventory. Time and resources spent in broadcast marketing don’t bring worthwhile results for my products and services because my market is specific. What are you hoping to accomplish via social media? Are you reaching your market?
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