How Small Publications Can Play A Big Role In Your Publicity Efforts …
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New Year Advice From My Dear Friend Marsha and WHY Video is ‘HOT’ in Marketing Yourself & Your Books…
Since we are starting a fresh New Year, I came across TWO exceptional articles from my friend and PR Expert, Marsha Friedman that shares two vital parts to marketing you, your books, and Brand! We can never have too much advice from a Public Relations firm that Marsha runs and is the founder of. Let’s make 2018 our “Year To Shine!”
“2018 Is Your Time To Shine!”
Marsha Friedman+ by | Jan 3, 2018.| General Marketing, PR Education
The start of a New Year is always a great time to focus on creating a “new you” – or at least an improved version of the old you.
Sometimes we do that through resolutions about dieting and exercise that, sadly, we don’t always keep. Sometimes we enter January vowing that in the next 12 months we will travel more, read more or spend more time with the family.
As you look ahead to all the possibilities that a New Year brings, let me suggest that if you’ve been letting your personal brand languish, 2018 can be your time to shine! It can be the year you rise from obscurity to fame – or at least to recognition as a voice of authority and go-to expert in your field. You just need to be willing and determined to make it happen!
You can bet that if you don’t, someone else – possibly a direct competitor – is going to step into the limelight that you neglected. They will be the ones polishing up their personal brands and, as a result, speaking with journalists, chatting with radio and TV show hosts, and linking to their media success stories on their websites.
Several years ago when I wrote my book Celebritize Yourself, personal branding hadn’t become quite as widespread as it is today. Certainly, some people – Zig Ziglar, Suze Orman and Bob Greene, just to name a few – had become extraordinarily successful at it, but at that time there weren’t always as many ways for people to promote themselves as there are now.
Most of the social media platforms that we have come to take for granted were either in their formative years or were dismissed as being irrelevant or unimportant. How quickly that changed! Now it’s so easy for anyone to create a Facebook, Twitter or other social media account and introduce themselves to the world.
Meanwhile, the old-school ways of promoting yourself via earned media in print, on radio and TV are still around, too. With so many opportunities out there, let me suggest just a few things you can do in 2018 to make this the year you take your personal brand to a new level:
- Maintain a digital presence. Over just the last few years, I’ve seen more and more people who seem to – finally – get this. They understand the need for a website. They know the value of being featured in online publications and showing up in Google searches. They realize they need to be on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram or other social media sites, spreading their message in the places where millions of people check in daily. Still, on occasion, I encounter people who have no digital presence or haven’t posted anything on their social media platforms in months or even years. But in this day and age, an active digital presence is a must!
- Continue to build your credibility. You want to be viewed as someone who provides insight on what’s happening in your field, and who offers helpful tips and interesting observations to people who follow you on social media. You can do that through a blog and through your regular social media posts, as well as through any interviews you can land with the media. By building your credibility you will come to be seen as an authority on your topic.
- Make sure you deliver your best work. If you promote your personal brand, but don’t deliver an excellent service or product, eventually it will catch up with you and all the work you put into creating your personal brand will be meaningless. On the other hand, when your work shows the caring you have for your clients, it reinforces that shine you worked so hard to achieve.
So make a vow that 2018 will be your year! Although it may seem a daunting task, this really can be the year you create a truly authentic personal brand that will positively sparkle by the time 2019 arrives.
That’s a resolution definitely worth keeping…Shine on!
Yes, this is me shining on!! Now to our next article!
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Make Video An Integral Part of Your 2018 Marketing Plan!
“As many of you know, I love brainstorming with my team to distill ideas and tips that not only can be useful in working on behalf of our clients, but also to share with you in the PR Insider.”
This week my creative team and I were in the middle of just such a session when Jay York, our senior social media strategist, intrigued me with his thoughts about current trends in video marketing.
Let’s face it. With today’s technology, combined with the vast reach of social media, it’s easier than ever to create your own video segments that can become an integral part of your overall marketing strategy. You don’t even need a studio worthy of “Good Morning, America” or special effects that would make you the envy of George Lucas. In fact, the less formal the production is the better.
And once you arrive at your finished product, you can put your video on Youtube, share it on other social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, and post a link to it from your website.
Frankly, you can get a lot of marketing mileage out of just one video – but you shouldn’t stop there because there are so many approaches you can take. You might create a series of short messages filled with insights into your area of expertise.
You might want to show your company culture with glimpses of team-building outings for example. It can show you’re a fun company to work with, or that you’re philosophically aligned and share commonalities with potential clients. These can be deciding factors when choosing a company to work with. At EMSI, we often use videos for those peeks inside the company, sharing them on Instagram!
So, with an assist from Jay, let me offer a few tips on what you should do to get started and get the most out of your video marketing this year:
- Round up the equipment. This shouldn’t take long. After all, you won’t need the 124 cameras that ESPN reportedly used for the college national championship football game. One lone cell phone should serve your needs, although a tripod would be nice in case the person who does the taping lacks a steady hand. You’ll also want to decide on an appropriate setting. This simply could be your office or a backdrop of bookshelves. On occasion, you might even opt for an outdoors shot. Some of this will depend on the type of message you’re sending and just how serious – or light-hearted – your approach is.
- Prepare your message. You don’t want to wing it, so know what you want to say and how you want to say it. In terms of length, although succinct is often better, Jay tells me the game has changed a little on that count. The typical recommendation used to be one to two minutes, but if you’re offering valuable information and are engaging, you can keep an audience interested longer than that, up to perhaps 12 minutes. And if you are making a speech or presentation before a group, don’t be reluctant to tape the whole thing – even if that means 30 minutes to an hour.
- Keep it conversational. It’s best to look into the camera and speak as if you are having a conversation with a friend. The last thing you want to do is keep your head down and read in a monotone from a prepared text.
- Consider going live. Now that you’re no longer jittery about a video (I’m going ahead and taking that leap here!) the next step is to consider going live. How? One opportunity is on Facebook, where there are advantages to a live video presentation. For one thing, Facebook gives precedence to live video so you will pop up at the top of your followers’ feeds. In addition, the live video will be interactive, so viewers can send you questions that you will see on your screen. You can respond immediately or use some of the questions as ideas for future video presentations.
A video is going to be more relevant in marketing in 2018 than ever before, which means you need to give serious consideration to incorporating it into your overall strategy.
Granted, not everyone enjoys going in front of a camera. I get that! But I also know the importance of video, so I’m going to suggest you overcome any camera fright and, if you haven’t already done so, take the video plunge! And yours in high definition!
About Marsha Friedman
Marsha Friedman launched EMS Incorporated in 1990. Her firm represents corporations and experts in a wide array of fields such as business, health, food, lifestyle, politics, finance, law, sports, and entertainment. She consults individuals and businesses on a daily basis and is frequently asked to speak at conferences about how to harness the power of publicity.
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Social Media Still An Exceptional Place To Build Your Brand As An Author…
Hello, and Welcome Everyone!
Today my dear friend and PR expert, Marsha Friedman, CEO of EMSI Public Relations is our Guest and will be sharing why Social Media is still a great place to build your brand as an author. Engaging and interaction with your readers is also a vital part of building a following too!
So let’s see what Marsha has to say.
Why People Share On Social Media And Why That Matters To Brands
Every day people start their day by checking in on social media – and before too long the sharing of memes, posts, videos and cat pictures starts in earnest on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other platforms. What’s driving all that sharing?
Lots of things, probably, but to boil it down to its essence, people share on social media because they come across something that appeals to them and they think it will appeal to like-minded people. They share because they like the feedback they get from sharing. And they share just because it’s fun. So what does that mean to you and why does it matter to your brand? After all, you’re looking for results!
It all boils down to understanding how and why social media users behave the way they do. This information is valuable because if you understand the needs of your social media audience it will help you make decisions that influence those users to act in a way that benefits you or your brand. Let me share (there’s that word!) just a few key points about sharing on social media:
- They’re building their personal brand. Each time a user shares something on social media they are taking one more step in strengthening their personal brand. Yes, you may be surprised to hear that individuals have their own brands, but it’s true. Think about it, you may have some friends that focus on sharing pictures and updates about their fishing and boating hobby while others may focus on sharing humorous headlines, jokes, etc. While the former is presenting themselves as a fishing enthusiast, the latter is positioning themselves as a source of humor. Each of them has their own “personal brand,” which you come to expect on social media. If you’re a boating or fishing company, our first user would be valuable to you – and finding ways to encourage them to make you part of their personal brand through content would be imperative.
- They gain personal satisfaction. Let’s face it As when your post about your daughter’s graduation gets 100 plus likes on Facebook, you get a big dose of personal satisfaction. That’s because these reactions are a reward and your mind sees it as exactly that. Those likes actually trigger a chemical reaction in the mind causing dopamine to be released. The “reward molecule” makes getting likes feel good, encouraging you to post more in an effort to obtain that same feeling again and again. Users know sharing interesting and valuable content gets them more likes, and that content has to come from somewhere. If you’re a brand, you can capitalize on this by ensuring that you’re sharing the best, most share-worthy stuff.
- They’re building their audiences through sharing. When users are building their personal brand through the content they post and enjoying the euphoria that comes with it, they’re almost definitely going to try to grow their audiences. Just like brands, people also want to have more followers, more friends, etc., but for different reasons. These followers are gained through consistently posting content that represents their personal brand, on the right channels at the right time. Brands like Arby’s have done an excellent job of capitalizing on this desire of users, by sharing content that subtly appeals to many small niches, causing those individuals to them to help them reach more people, like Catherine’s Book Promotion Brand!
Getting into the minds of social media users is an important precedent for ensuring that your brand is doing all it can to attract and convert your target audience to grow your business.
Make sure you aren’t just looking at social media as an advertising avenue, but also a place to share valuable, appropriate, engaging and entertaining content that will get social media users to make you part of their personal brands and share it so they can get the responses from their peers they desire.
Your brand will benefit – and so will your followers who are the recipients (and sharers) of your interesting and relevant content!
Just thought I’d share that!
Marsha Friedman
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About Marsha Friedman
Marsha Friedman launched EMS Incorporated in 1990. Her firm represents corporations and experts in a wide array of fields such as business, health, food, lifestyle, politics, finance, law, sports, and entertainment. She consults individuals and businesses on a daily basis and is frequently asked to speak at conferences about how to harness the power of publicity which includes many authors!
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My PR Insider “Go To Girl!” – Another Helpful Article By, Marsha Friedman Owner of EMSI Public Relations.
How Can I Supercharge My Social Media Efforts?
Now that is a great question author’s ask me all the time. And it is why I have a page here on my blog for author’s to use to know where to be on social media to promote your books effectively. But Marsha is an expert in this area and so I wanted to have her give us all that advice from a more PR perspective. So let’s get right to it!
Why You Should Use Social Media to Build Your Opt-In Email List!
By now, everyone knows that social media is a key component to any marketing campaign. At least if you’ve been reading these newsletters you do. But aside from the obvious benefits of outreach and awareness, there is something else you can be doing with your social networking campaign that can supercharge all of your efforts: build an opt-in email list.
I know from my own experience that social media marketing has enabled me to increase my email list by thousands, with those on the list continuously receiving my newsletters that carry my advice, my tips, and my message.
My newsletter helps my social media contacts remember me and what I do, not because I am actively selling and promoting myself. Like my social media strategy, I use these pieces to add value to the lives of the people on my list. My formula is simple – if some of you like what you read, when you have the need and the resources and are considering using a PR firm, you might consider my company. And that’s it. What’s more, I know it works, because I’ve used this formula to build a thriving 27-year-old business.
Adding value for my clients is the real reward I have enjoyed by combining my email and social media marketing efforts. So how can you do this? Let me share a few actions that we find are successful.
- Join Targeted Discussions and Post Valuable Content. Within your social networks, stay abreast of trending topics and discussions that your target audience will find relevant. Become part of these discussions using valuable content, making use of trending hashtags when possible to demonstrate your professional expertise and drive people to your website. Take care to make your posts short and interesting. Making the headline a question can encourage responses, or use words that contain phrases like “tips for” or “strategies for.” If your content links back to your website, tease the information that will be available once they click through to encourage better click-through rates.
- Make Sure Your Website is “Opt-in” Friendly. Make sure your opt-in form is prominent throughout your website, with a message telling visitors that when they sign up for your list, they will receive helpful information as opposed to junk mail. You can also include incentives to help encourage people to opt-in. E-books or whitepapers work nicely.
- Invite Everyone – But Don’t Pester! On some networks – like Twitter and LinkedIn – you can directly message new followers or connections and invite them to become part of your newsletter. Make these messages short, but friendly and try to maintain a tone that doesn’t seem one-size-fits-all. This can help increase your signup rate significantly. On networks that don’t offer the same level of access, weave signup call-to-actions in your content calendar. Try to limit this activity, and be sure to avoid being overly promotional. Again, ensuring your site is opt-in friendly will allow you to encourage signups just by sending followers to content on your site.
- Be Consistent in Your Social Networking! The key to making points 1 – 3 above really work is to stay active in your networks. If you are only an occasional visitor, you might as well “stay home.” In order to reap the rewards of these strategies, post often and wisely, and pay attention to your group members.
That’s how it all fits together. Social media is not the next big “thing.” It’s now part of the foundation of a good marketing campaign, as intractable as advertising and public relations.
Hope this helps!
Marsha
P.S. If you’d like professional help getting interviews with the media, we’ve been arranging interviews for our clients on radio and TV, and obtaining editorial coverage in newspapers and magazines for more than 26 years. We also offer a comprehensive social media marketing program for select clients, where we do it all for you. If you’re interested in our help, please call us at 727-443-7115 Ext. 231 or (800) 881-7342 or send me an Email: info@emsincorporated.com We’d love to hear from you!
Please take a visit to my friends and see how they can supercharge your Public Image at EMSI Public Relations Firm!
Author, Catherine Townsend-Lyon
New Featured Article & Guest on ‘Book Marketing Tools’… Best Place for Authors.
I am always honored to be asked by my good friends over at Book Marketing Tools. It is the best place to be if you are an author. They have many tools to help self-published authors learn to book promote and advertise with them as well. So I was invited to write and share MY opinion on the best places for a “New Indie Author” to learn How and Where to promote their books throughout social media. Here we go!! *Author, Catherine Townsend-Lyon* :-)
( Courtesy of Book Marketing Tools )
How and Where to Promote Your New Book
Authors, you just published your first book. Congratulations!
Now your publisher tells you they only will send out a press release announcing your new book and that’s it for book promoting.
So, now what? How and Where do you promote your book?
You could hire a book promoter like me but you have no money left after paying for publishing costs.
I am here to help you learn.
Where and How to Promote
Many authors can’t afford to pay big bucks for mainstream media advertising. And quite frankly, my book promotions business is booming all through social media! Promoting throughout social media sells books, and you receive book reviews in return. Social media has changed the landscape of promoting one’s book through places like Facebook and Twitter as they have enhanced their services for authors to promote books with cost effective ad’s. Here are my social media picks I use to promote my author client’s books with impressive results.
Goodreads
Goodreads is known for bringing authors and readers together to benefit them both! Readers can find good books, follow their favorite artists, even ask authors questions in real time! The Goodreads Author Program is a completely free feature designed to help authors reach their target audience — passionate readers. This is the perfect place for new and established authors to promote their books. Authors get a host of tools to use for promoting your books, do giveaways or promos, and you get a free blog too on Goodreads Author Program.
Here are some of the benefits that come with being in ‘The Goodreads Author Program’:
- Add a picture and bio. Share your list of favorite books and recent reads with your fans! Write a blog and generate a band of followers.
- Publicize upcoming events, such as book signings and speaking engagements. Share book excerpts and other writing.
- Write a quiz about your book or a related topic. Post videos.
- Add the Goodreads Author widget to your personal website or blog to show off reviews of your books.
Here are some of the promotional tools available on Goodreads for Authors:
- Sign up to advertise your book to the Goodreads Community—50 million readers! List a book giveaway to generate pre-launch buzz.
- Participate in discussions on your profile, in groups, and in the book group forums for your books.
So all you do is go join free and follow the instructions for ‘The Goodreads Author Program.’ You can add friends and readers by using your Facebook account or even your Email list. So make sure you explore thoroughly.
My next pick is Twitter. I love Twitter for book promoting. It can be a challenge as they only give you 140 characters to work with, so you have to be more creative and learn quickly on how to abbreviate. For book promoting or promoting your brand as an author, Twitter has come a long way! You can share your books, and the book covers with a tweet by using your Amazon or Barnes and Noble links to post and share. Twitter has enhanced their services to help you reach more readers. Start by opening a free account, then build a following by interacting and engaging with readers.
They follow you, and you follow back. Look for book and reader groups and book clubs, other authors and writers as they will be helpful by retweeting what you post. Your followers will retweet what you share about your book, and you get the benefit of reaching ALL their followers. “Word of mouth” promoting by one little retweet.
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Here are some new tools Twitter has rolled out to help get your new book in front of readers. Yes, some cost money, but you can set a low budget limit to try it out to see if you get good results.
How Twitter Ads Work:
Choose your target audience:
Reach the right audience by targeting based on interests, geography, gender, device, or users similar to your followers. Also, maximize the relevancy of your message by targeting by keywords in people’s Tweets.
Amplify your message and get discovered:
Get your Tweets and your account in front of more people who are interested in you.
Set a budget and pay for what works:
Only pay when users follow your account or retweet, like, reply, or click on your Promoted Tweet. You’re in complete control. There’s no minimum spend, and you can start and stop at any time. So open a free Twitter account to started. Then visit their Twitter Ads advertising to see what works best for your book promotion budget.
Facebook for Book Promoting
My last pick on social media is Facebook. Again, I read my several email newsletters from Professional PR firms, and they all say that having a social media presence is a crucial to all authors in promoting their books. I have been promoting my books since 2012, and I am a firm believer that social media is where your readers are. But engagement and interaction are what makes the “magic” happen between readers and authors. And that is how you sell books and gain book reviews.
Facebook is another fantastic place to promote your books, authors. Here you are not limited to how you can post all about your new book. I like being creative when sharing my client’s books on Facebook. I produce fun book cover photos to share; I can share book reviews of their books right from Amazon or Barnes & Noble and so much more. And just like Twitter? Facebook has rolled out some new advertising tools authors can use to help promote your book or brand as an author. And yes, you can join Facebook for free. Here are things you can do to enhance your book promoting through Facebook.
Create an Author page separate from your home Facebook page here: Facebook Advertising
Creating a separate ‘like page’ for yourself as an author allows you to use that space to promoting your book. You can schedule events—giveaways, book tours, book trailers and release dates—connect to your readers in a professional space, and use the page to link to your website or blog. If you gain enough “likes,” you can also use Facebooks ads.
Facebook Ads:
Facebook has a whole host of new advertising methods to help you promote your books or brand. You can visit Facebook Ad Products for Business to explore all your paid or free options of advertising through Facebook. And like Twitter, they have a “pay as you go” option to see if you get results before spending a lot of money for ads. They even have tips on how to write your ads and proper images to go along with them. So join today and get started.
If you need more helpful advice, tips, and some good listing book sites to share your book through just like here on “Book Marketing Tools,” then come to Lyon Book & Social Media Promotions tips and advice page today. I got authors covered!
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Catherine is a best-selling TKG author of “Addicted to Dimes”, available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. She is a freelance recovery writer/columnist for “In Recovery Magazine, and “Keys to Recovery newspaper,” and an ‘Expert blogger of Gambling Addiction Recovery on Addictionland’ recovery.
Another passion is her Book Promotions business called, “Lyon Book and Social Media Promotions.” Catherine has fast become well known in many addictions and recovery communities and book promotion & reader communities. She has a large following on social media. You connect with Catherine onTwitter, Facebook, and Goodreads. She lives in Phoenix, Arizona with her husband and 3 cats.
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John White Is Back! CMO & Founder of Social Marketing Solutions Guest Post.
Is Your Company’s Social Media Expert Really an Expert? Here’s How to Know? By John White
( Credit Image: Getty)
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“So, You hired a social media expert for your business. But how do you know you hired the right one?”It would seem that there are a lot of “social media experts” out there today.Social media arose quickly as a prominent way for businesses to showcase their brand. Anytime, a product or service enters into the marketplace quickly there are opportunists that move into space and become largely self-proclaimed experts. Hence, the rise of the social media expert.Just last week I had a college senior reach out to me over email about working at my social media marketing agency, Social Marketing Solutions. When I checked this person’s LinkedIn profile, there was no profile picture and it looked like it had been pieced together in between games of beer pong. Yet, when I scrolled down there it was, social media was listed as a skill.
Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of true experts within social media marketing. Many of whom I’ve met, been mentored by, and had the pleasure of seeing their work up close. These are the true experts that let their work speak for itself and their reputation as a guru spreads organically.
I’ve also come across my fair share of pretenders or self-proclaimed social media experts. These people talk a big game about their social media prowess but don’t back it up with results.
The problem is many entrepreneurs are unfamiliar with using social media as a marketing tool for their business. So, they may not be able to tell the difference between a true social media expert and someone who is hoping to fake it until they make it.
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Can’t we just hire an intern for that?
Whether your company is going to hire someone or bring on an agency to do your social media, there are specific things to consider to make sure your social media expert is indeed an expert that can deliver results for your business.
What were they doing before becoming a “social media expert?”
It has been my experience that the best social media marketers have a background in something related to marketing or business development. People without it, have a harder time understanding ROI. They may not have the analytical skills needed to monitor the metrics that directly affect the company’s bottom line.
If you’re hiring them to support social media campaigns in a B2B environment and they don’t have B2B experience, it should raise a concern no matter how great that person claims to be at social media.
Check their personal pages for signs of influence
I’m always surprised by how many companies don’t actually do research into the person or agency’s social media pages. If your company is hiring someone to manage your Twitter account, and that person hasn’t tweeted in a month and only has 200 followers. Here are some red flags:
- Their posts have low engagement levels. If they have low engagement on their posts, how will it be different for the posts they do for your company?
- They don’t have many followers. If you are hiring them to grow your community and they don’t have one themselves, it should be a big warning sign.
- They don’t have any recommendations on LinkedIn from clients for the services you are hiring them for.
- They have a ton of Twitter followers but when you click on to see who is following them, they have a lot followers that are egg heads (no profile pic). This is a sign that they have bought their followers. They may lack the skills needed to create an authentic online community.
What do their client’s pages look like?
Also, ask to see examples of their client’s social pages. If they have examples of clients either in your industry or a parallel industry it is even better.
Read Their blog:
“Chances are if you are hiring a social media manager, they will also be doing some content creation for your company as well. Make sure to read their blog posts and get examples of content they’ve written for clients. Ask about where they’ve been published beyond their personal blog and where their clients have been published.”
Content marketing is not a fad and has disrupted the advertising world in a big way over the past few years. Your social media expert must be able to create compelling content that gets read.
Companies know that they must have a social media expert on hand within their marketing department to compete in today’s market. However, clearly, not all social media experts are created the same. The person or vendor you hire will make or break your company’s online presence . . .
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John White is the CMO and founder of Social Marketing Solutions. He is also a brand ambassador for Bebee (a startup social media site based on affinity networking with 10.5 million global users). White writes at the crossroads of social media, entrepreneurialism, startups, and marketing. Last year, he completed his MBA in marketing. White lives with his wife and two daughters in Fort Collins, Colorado.
PUBLISHED ON: June 23, 2016, Written by John White of Social Marketing Solutions … Follow John on Twitter @juanblanco76
Presented By “Lyon Book & Social Media Promotions”
"CAT'S BOOK LIBRARY 4 READERS" 