I've spent hours and hours researching much more than 100 book publishing sites, and I'm not surprised to see that much less than 20% of book publishers have any type of presence in the social media world. Some of the publishers have Facebook and Twitter icons on their site, but several of the links don't work. Other people have opted not to have social media icons but instead use the words "Follow us on Twitter" in such a small font and the extremely bottom of their page, that it took me some time to find it. Granted, social media is not just about Facebook and Twitter, but that's a good location to begin.

I know for the traditional book publisher, social media marketing can be a scary thing but think of the untapped marketplace out there. There are over 80 million blogs, micro blogs and forums. 30,000 online news sources, 100 million + web properties, 300 + search engines. These are sites a publisher can go to and engage in conversations and develop valuable relationships to develop brand, which will increase book sales. Social media marketing operates on a one-to-one times many relationship basis. In other words, we are creating one-to-one relationships with thousands of people who could become clients and tell all of their friends about a given book. Newspaper, Tv and other mass media are a one-to-many relationship, with no relationship to those who see your ads and everyone receives the same message

For the past couple of days I've been watching a specific well-known author use social media marketing to increase the pre-release of their book. This author will send out tweets like "Pre-order my book and not only get 34% off, but instantly become much more awesome." Not only did this tweet promote their book but also by adding some humor to it, gave the follower a sense of connection. Following seeing this Tweet I instantly did a Twitter search to see who was re-Tweeting their original Tweet. I was amazed to see 28 followers re-Tweet to their followers about this book. The impact of this one tweet created a one-to-one times-many relationship marketing tool. 1 Tweet reached out to thousands and thousands of Twitter followers, and this is just one small example of how social media marketing can alter book publishing. If this author is also engaging in conversation on blogs, chat room, forum and news sites theyll see a greater increase in their book sales and possibly a #1 greatest seller.

I think for most publishers the reasons they haven't embraced social media marketing are:
1) Publishers are extremely used to the traditional technique of email blasts, banner ads and newspaper ads.
2) Publishers don't know how to start and set up social media marketing campaigns.
three) Once a publisher has a fantastic fan base what do they say and where do they go next?
four) Publishers are not sure what technologies and platforms should be used.
5) Publishers do not have the time or the resources and correct social media marketing takes time. It's not about spam or sending out Tweets that say, "buy this book it's about engaging in conversations and building relationships.

Maybe it is time book publishers review their traditional marketing techniques and consider this new way of reaching out via social media to connect with prospects and clients. I find that social media marketing can be a extremely cost-effective way of generating book sales and overall buzz about a book or an author. Begin with a fundamental social media campaign and develop those relationships. You'll be pleasantly surprised at the results and much more importantly will have made some fantastic connections.

About the Author:
Sherrie Slopianka is the Founder/Partner of Cadyn Development a social media marketing firm for book publishers. Link text

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