Most new businesses fail in the first five years. Let’s beat the odds together.

I usually write about more complex tools and strategies, but in speaking to new entrepreneurs or small business owners this past year, the questions I most often get are:

• How can I add social media to my marketing without adding additional employees?
• How can I do everything you suggest and still have time to work on my products?

Lack of time and money are the #1 and #2 saboteurs of start-ups.  So to everyone who has not yet jumped into the social fray to promote their business or service, here’s my simple beginner’s guide to using social media for business.

I believe most businesses can benefit from a simple, straightforward social media strategy that includes:

• A Facebook profile for the “face” of the business; the owner or spokesperson
• A Facebook fan page for the business itself
• A Twitter Account
• A YouTube Account
• A Blog

With these five social media basics, even the most cash strapped and time deprived entrepreneur can begin to create digital footprints that lead back to their business.

Setting up the accounts is easy and entrepreneurs should not become distracted by the bells and whistles and they wish list that comes with fully tricked out Facebook pages or beautifully designed Twitter accounts.  When you’re swamped, stick to the basics and don’t let “ideal” stop you from starting with “good enough.”

Here’s a simple beginners guide to a social media marketing strategy map anyone can use.

• Blog 2-3 times per week and keep posts to 250-300 words. Make them keyword rich (words you would enter into Google Search to find YOU). Make sure each post gives one interesting or useful piece of information to the reader about your area of expertise.

• The same day you blog, post a link to that blog on your Facebook Fan Page, adding an invitation to join you on the blog for more posts on your subject matter.

• Allow this post to auto-post to your Twitter account by linking your Twitter account to your Facebook fan page through this Facebook app link: http://Facebook.com/Twitter.

• The next day press the share button under your Fan Page post and share it to your personal profile.  Your friends are your closest supporters.  Ask them to share your post with their friends, leave you comments and let you know if you can help them with your area of expertise.

• Two days later, turn your blog post into a simple, how-to video by reading it into your web cam. Put the “script” up on your screen so you can look directly at the camera.  Speak as though you’re explaining the concepts in your blog to just one person.  Post the video to YouTube and tag the video with your keywords.

This is an over simplified map, designed to get you thinking about sharing content throughout social media.  There are many, many subtle and more complicated nuances and strategies to increase your visibility, but this is a start.  If you’re a new business owner or entrepreneur who has not yet begun to use social media in your business marketing, begin here and add new strategies as you get comfortable.

I’d love to see your first efforts and answer your questions.  Feel free to post your links below and I’ll take a look at your new social media platforms.  Here’s to a year of action and success, to us all.

This is the ideal time for entrepreneurs to give themselves a few gifts to start the new fiscal year off right.

Change Your Passwords

Make a new end of year ritual.  Change your passwords.  As a small business or entrepreneur, you’ve no doubt shared your password with designers, virtual assistants, and others during 2011.  Changing your passwords sets up an automatic review of everyone who has access to your accounts.  This can momentarily disrupt the flow of work as you review and reassign passwords and access to trusted contacts, but this is an essential end of year security practice.  Adopt industry best practices for secure passwords by using a combination of capital and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols.  Make sure your new password is at least 10 characters long.  Afraid you won’t remember your new passwords.  Store all your online passwords in a safe, secure site that only you can access, from wherever you are. Roboform is a terrific online resource for securing storing your passwords for easy access (by you only).  This is safer than writing them down and carrying them around with you or entering them into your mobile device.  Theft or loss could be a nightmare for your online security.

Training

Entrepreneurs and business owners need to honestly assess where the weaknesses in their knowledge base exist, seek training programs to resolve those weaknesses and then look for challenge or stretch goals for themselves and their teams.  Training in new technologies, general knowledge base upgrades and software training do not need to be expensive or time consuming.  Many trainings are served up via webinars you can view and absorb on your own schedule.  Some reasonably priced trainings that I can recommend include:

Publicity and promotional training from Ragan Communications online, on-demand courses are priced well and consistently deliver excellent resources and training.

Small Business Summit 2012 is a program run by Michael Stelzner, founder of the Social Media Examiner.  His strategy of bringing together multiple top industry resources to cover a wide range of topics and giving entrepreneurs the option of viewing the webinar material live or later on-demand is great.  This year they’ll be covering trends, copywriting, Facebook marketing, LinkedIn, Google+ and much more. I also the fact that Michael allows people to try before they buy and offers a free class to showcase the program.

BookExpo America Webinars are specifically targeted to authors, publishers, booksellers, agents and others in the book publishing industry, however, the information aimed at this audience is particularly valid for entrepreneurs, who are often solo business owners, much like an author.  At just $25 a class, these are a bargain.  NOTE: I am speaking at the next webinar on using Facebook for Business.  I do not receive any compensation for the webinar, nor for telling you about it.

Concept Inventory

Businesses and entrepreneurs need to be thinking about new products or services to add to their offerings, as well as deleting any products or services suffering from fatigue or obsolescence. Now is the time to take an inventory of your intellectual property offerings such as coaching programs, how-to books or trainings, speeches, proprietary software, apps and other products to make sure they’re up to date. For example, if you teach people how to use Facebook and haven’t including training about the new Facebook Timeline, pull that product off the shelf and update it so future customers aren’t disappointed.

What gifts will you be giving yourself and your business this year?  I’d love to hear from you.

Start-up financing is harder to obtain than ever before, money is tight, hurdles to qualifying for financing are higher, and consumer confidence is low.

So I asked several successful entrepreneurs and small business owners to share either one tip for first year business start ups or one daily habit they’ve incorporated into their lives to provide entrepreneurs with some guidance and inspiration.

LENA WEST, Keynote Speaker, Social Media Superstar (my words) at Influence Expansion.

“The best advice I can give to anyone in the startup up phase is this: whatever it is that you do, know it inside and out. Live it, breathe it. This breeds confidence. And when you’re confident, you make money.”

MATT MULLERWEG, Keynote Speaker and founder of WordPress.

“The thing I do every day that helps me the most is reading long-form content, anything from a book to a New Yorker article. Whether it has anything to do with my interests or not, good writing clears my mind and expands my horizons.”

CARRIE WILKERSON. Author of The Barefoot Executive: The Ultimate Guide for Being Your Own Boss and Achieving Financial Freedom, Speaker and founder of The Barefoot Executive.

“My most valuable habit is making a list of crucial to-do tasks the night before I ‘close up shop’ so that I’m not overwhelmed when I start my next workday wondering where I Ieft off.”

MARI SMITH, Author, The New Relationship Marketing: How To Build A Large, Loyal, Profitable Network Using The Social Web and Coauthor Facebook Marketing: An Hour A Day and owner of http://MariSmith.com

“In all your business endeavors, do your best to stay true to your “FOCUS,” which I like to define as Follow One Course Until Successful. Identify your deepest passions and greatest strengths; stay focused on those. Then, delegate and outsource as much as possible–even a small investment in the right part time (virtual) support staff can make all the different in the world. And, any time you bump up against limitations and challenges (which you will!), stay focused on your highest vision, your big “why.”

STEVE BORRELLI, Co-Founder of first year start-up http://WeArePetNation.com, a new company that has gathered more than 40,000 friends, fans, followers and subscribers in just six months.

“Keep track of your metrics. You can’t make informed decisions about spending unless you have the data. Make a list of the important metrics for your business, put them in a spreadsheet and track them. Use that information to inform your future spending decisions.”

JUAN FELIX, Executive Editor at Mirror Yourself and founder of his own new media magazine Nieuwemediagids.nl for the Dutch Market.

“Find your niche first and develop the product next.  One of the most challenging decisions for any business owner is deciding who your customers are. For what audience can you add value? Review what you have done in recent years. What problems can you solve with your knowledge and experience? Translate these problems into challenges. Identify the target audience that faces these challenges. This will take you directly to your niche. Next, you can think about the products or services to meet these challenges.”

I just celebrated the 4-year anniversary of the launch of my own entrepreneurial enterprise, Brand New Brand You Inc. I have made a ton of mistakes and have written about them before.  But here are some of the things I recommend new business owners do without delay.

• Consult an accountant and/or lawyer to make sure you’ve selected the best structure for your new company, albeit an LLC or an S-Corp or simply a single owner consultancy. A consultation with a pro is worth every penny in the long run.

• Apply for and use a business credit card to help you keep your personal purchases and expenses separate from your business expenditures.

• Create a simple, inexpensive blogsite with information about yourself, your business, your product or services and contact information.  This is your cyber business card, a place for people to find you and acts as a virtual yellow pages in terms of SEO. Do not wait until you have the money to make it perfect.  Get it up and perfect it later.

Please share your advice for first year start-ups and entrepreneurs. Let’s create a virtual check list to help new business owners buck the trend and succeed in building a healthy business.

XYDO’s tagline is Social News Evolved and I have to say I think they’ve nailed it.  The individual buckets or lenses through which XYDO filters my news experience has been terrific.  About 80% of the news items served to me have been spot on in my target interest area.  The other 20% have at least been interesting.

After signing up for an account, I was able to choose the topics, areas of interest and daily briefs I was interested in receiving. I receive world news, top social media news, breaking news and other topics that interest me professionally.  I’ve elected to receive a daily brief of these headlines, which I’m able to scan in minutes each morning and share with my network, right from the brief.  XYDO offers me the opportunity to “teach” it what I like so I’ll receive more targeted news in the future.

In a recent call with XYDO co-founder, Eric Roach, I learned that they curate nearly 2,000 topics selected by their users.  What I love about XYDO is the fact that they don’t just serve me stories from trusted sources (which they do) but that they measure and cluster the stories based on the buzz about a topic, measuring social endorsement and applying their own algorithm  that prizes freshness.

Roach pointed out that because of this formula, XYDO often identifies breaking news and serves it to clients before it hits mainstream media like CNN.

So what’s new for XYDO? I told Roach that I use the briefs more often than I visit the website and that’s something that he would like to influence.  They’re working on improving the experience on the website with a major redesign, making it easier to navigate and will be launching an iphone and ipad app shortly that Roach promises will incorporate a “beautiful, elegant user experience.”  I also asked Roach how he plans to monetize XYDO and he mentioned corporate sponsorships are in the works in the near future.

Bottom line?  XYDO saves me time, serves me news I can use and I’m going to continue to use the service.  I recommend you take a look to see if it’s right for you.

What news aggregating site  or curator do you use?

YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world.

10. I can’t afford to invest in expensive equipment

9. I don’t know what to talk about.

8. I don’t have anyone to run the camera.

7. I don’t know how to use the video even if I could create it.

6. I don’t like the way I look on camera.

5. I think people will think I’m boastful or vain.

4. I don’t have time to learn how to edit video.

3. I’m not convinced that video will increase my revenue.

2. I don’t have a tangible product to show on video. I’m a consultant.

1. I’m not comfortable in front of a camera.

According to a January 2010 report by research firm Forrester, optimized video increases the incidence of Google front page search results by a factor of 53x. And, Internet Retailer’s April 2010 report states that e-commerce site visitors are 85% more likely to purchase if they’re presented with a video.

Let’s debunk the top 10 concerns about using video in your brand marketing.

10. You do not need expensive equipment to create video. You can upload still photography and copy to a site called Animoto and create polished 30 second commercial style videos in minutes, free of charge.

9. The How-To category on YouTube is very popular. Any subject related to your business that you can show or tell is perfect for a video. Think about what you offer and add “How To” to any aspect of it and you’ll have your first video.

8. You can use the camera already inside your computer to record yourself. You don’t need a camera operator. You can purchase an inexpensive tripod to mount your video camera, turn it on yourself and walk in front of the camera. YouTube gives you a simple and easy to learn way to clip the unwanted beginning to a homemade video so you can start your video at the beginning of your presentation.

7. Create the video. Save it to your computer hard drive. Upload it to your YouTube Channel. Share the link on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and your website. Put the link into your e-newsletter. These are just a few ways to use the video you create.

6. Get over it. No one likes the way they look on camera. But consumers like to see the face behind the offer. They like to look into your eyes and know that a real person is making the offer. If you truly can’t do it, create a powerpoint and capture your presentation with a program like Camtasia for PC or Screen Flow for Mac and you’ll have a video without ever showing your face.

5. This is old mental programming. We’re marketing in a new very social, very connected world and to succeed, you’ll need to put those feelings behind you and operate from the knowledge that sharing the things you know if actually selfless and generous.

4. You do not have to edit your video, in the beginning, if you keep it short. Practice making 15-30 second videos where you deliver one tip or strategy or idea at a time. Put it up and repeat after me: “Imperfect action is better than no action.” Your audience will value your authenticity and watching you improve. Later you’ll be able to reference those early videos, laugh and share your journey with your followers. Sales is about storytelling. You’re early efforts become part of your story.

3. If you still don’t believe that video will increase your revenues, you haven’t been paying attention. See the intro paragraph to this article and spend some time on google.

2. Sharing ideas on video is demonstrating authority. If you are a consultant, you’ll want to position yourself as an authority and let people see you in action. Video is ideal for consultants. Consumers buy based on a “know, like and trust” factor and video is the fastest way, aside from in-person presentations, to establish a feeling of relationship.

1. Confidence comes with practice. Talk into the camera as though you are at a cocktail party or networking event. Create a heightened sense of yourself without going over the top. Practice. But above all, to borrow a phrase from Nike, just do it. You can see some of my early work and later work here, which I hope will encourage you. I am not remotely “perfect,” yet I’ve been able to impact people, share knowledge and increase my personal brand awareness.

Have you been using video in your marketing with positive results? Please share your thoughts here to help encourage the entire community.

Bufferapp will suggest a Tweet when you’re feeling uninspired.

1. As soon as you create your free account, Bufferapp recommends the ideal times of day when your followers are most engaged and mostly likely to be paying attention to what you Tweet.  This, of course, increases your chances of being seen, having your brand messages shared and increasing your social influence.
2. As you create Tweets and add them to your Buffer, the program automatically schedules them for those recommended times.  You can override this feature at any time and schedule the tweet to suit your needs or just set it and forget it which is my favorite type of time saving tool.  You can also choose to post the tweet immediately, of course.
3. Bufferapp has a “Suggest an update” feature that I love.  Imagine that you have four core messages you’d like to send to Twitter throughout the day and you know that my recommended strategy is to post five times a day but you are stumped.  Just click the “suggest an update” button and Bufferapp serves up a series of mostly motivational quotes.  Click until you find one that speaks to your audience and send it to your Buffer queue.  Most brands or business can easily tweet one nice motivational quote every day and their followers will enjoy it.  And, if the quotes don’t really speak to your audience, I’ve found that the essential message in the quotes often prompts me to write something that is similar but is in my own voice and is directly related to my own brand.  This is a great feature.

Bufferapp And Other Twitter Tools

Bufferapp is just one of the Twitter tools I use daily, and in an experiment during the past three weeks, I saw a marked increase in follower engagement on a client’s account by incorporating Bufferapp.  I also use Hootsuite to see multiple accounts at a glance and to easily spot and reply to DM’s and @replies, and in fact, Hootsuite Pro is my primary Twitter tool for managing more than 10 accounts, three team members and monitoring multiple competitors.  I use Tweetadder to find and follow Twitter accounts based on my brand’s keywords, and to un-follow accounts who don’t engage with me or reciprocate my follow within a reasonable amount of time.  And, finally, I go on the Twitter platform itself daily because I enjoy seeing the real estate or background designs other Twitter accounts use.  The way they design and display their brands is important to me and helps me decide whether or not I want to converse, engage, and follow their account.

I’m always looking for new, free and easy Twitter tools to enhance both my and my client’s efforts and I give Bufferapp the thumbs up.  Try it and let me know what you think.  Are there other tools I should try?  Let me know and I’ll add them to my review schedule.

Think your Twitter follow needs to be at 1,000,000 or more in order to monetize?  When Sponsored Tweets launched, they created connections between Kim Kardashian and products that wanted to be connected to Kim Kardashian. The idea was that for a price, and I believe Kim’s price per tweet was more than my mortgage payment, Kim would choose to tweet something complimentary about the sponsor. A simple idea and frankly, pretty standard celebrity marketing albeit with a new social twist.

But if you weren’t Ashton Kutcher or Justin Bieber, your sponsored Tweets wasn’t interested in you. That’s changed and I recently did a test drive of as a non-celebrity Twitter for Hire.

28,000+ followers = $30 per tweet

It was easy to sign up using my Twitter account and a quick click of the mouse analyzed my account to tell me that my tweets were worth about $75 each, IF someone was willing to pay me. Then I was able to peruse the opportunities that Sponsored Tweets calls “Opps.” Nearly all were for $.02-.07 cents, and I wasn’t familiar with any of the products or offerings and so I passed.

About a week later, I received an e-mail telling me a client opp was waiting for me at my account. I logged in and checked out the link that the client wanted me to tweet. It was a television show that I find interesting anyway, so I decided it was a good experiment.

Here’s how it works. Sponsored Tweets gives you the link from the client. You take a look at the offering at the end of the link and decide how to position the tweet. You write the tweet and include the link and the word “sponsored.” The client reviews the tweet and it is auto scheduled to go out from your account. Smooth, easy and you can decline the offer or cancel at any time, if you change your mind.

It was fun. I didn’t feel I was damaging my reputation with this tweet experiment and I made $30. I don’t believe this will become a revenue stream for me, but will I do it again? Maybe. It really depends on the offer, the product and my next experiment. How easy is it to collect this $30? Stay tuned.

Would you “sell your tweets?”

When used strategically and in synergy with a well-rounded marketing campaign, Twitter is the social whipped cream.

Here are five nifty Twitter tools to add to your entrepreneurial arsenal. Each one brings something special to the table and could add just the sparkle you need for your next campaign.

TWEETDOC

Create a document bringing together all the tweets from a particular event or search term. A tweetdoc allows you to keep a record of what happens on Twitter. You can set parameters such as date and time ranges, number of tweets to capture, hashtags and search terms and capture the Twitter conversation. Great for brand monitoring reports, competitor analysis, real time news stories such as the recent Hurricane Irene reports on Twitter, conference chatter to find and follow influencer’s and other attendees or simply to keep your finger on the pulse of an industry or technology.

TWYLAH

Twylah aggregates your tweets and highlights your brand areas of expertise, based on what you tweet about. It serves them back to you in a beautiful SEO optimized webpage that gives readers a clear visual impression of who you are and what you talk about. When you send a “power tweet” from your Twylah page, your Tweets are captured, organized visually and by keywords and your Twitter followers are directed back to you optimized landing page, which is populated with relevant tweets on the same topic. Twylah gives you yet another piece of high style social real estate to reinforce your brand identity. Seeing all your Tweets in one spot, visually and topically aggregated is an eye-opener too and can serve as a brand audit to help you quickly see if you’re hitting your target messaging or going off topic too often.

TWEETGURU

A quirky series of Twitter tools, auto tweeting bots and services that allows you to, among other things, direct message multiple Twitter accounts at once. You might want to use this feature if you’re reaching out to your personal list of press people on Twitter about a launch party or a big brand announcement. The free version has a limit of 12 accounts at one time for your direct message but this can save you time and that’s the point.

HOOTSUITE

Hootsuite’s free tweet scheduling feature is easy to use and with a modestly priced pro account agencies can manage multiple accounts at once, assign individual tweet action items to team members and keep track of which team member answered the Twitter query and their new analytic tools generate custom reports for clients and play nicely with Google analytics. Hootsuite is a timesaving tool, a team tool, a monitoring tool and a scheduling tool all in one.

TWUBS.COM

Twubs are groups built around content aggregated from hashtags. Twubs gives you a live tweet feed of an event, conference or Twitter Chat based on a specific #hashtag and offers tools such as a Tweetup and Events scheduler. You can register your event hashtag at Twubs, embed a Twub widget on your website, and the Twub offers a complete Conference suite of tools like live moderation, conference displays, live event audio and presentation streaming, RSS feeds and more to engage participants who attend in person or those watching remotely. These features could be used by speakers and can even include photos and videos. A moderator can view the stream in a time delay mode and control which tweets are shown to the audience and which should not be.

What other Twitter tools would you add to the list? Let’s share our favorites here.

Many still fear that Twitter is a time rabbit hole and that building a large following on Twitter will unleash a time commitment they can’t accommodate.

Here are eight timesaving tools to help any sized business or individual entrepreneur find, follow, engage or manage their time on Twitter for productive results.

1. Twellow: This site is the Yellow Pages of Twitter.  This free site allows you to register your Twitter account under three different keywords such as marketing, branding, social media or whatever keywords a potential client might enter to find your business.  Listing your Twitter account here will help others to find you when searching for the service or product you provide. Therefore, leads or followers coming from Twellow are more likely than average to be seeking what you have to offer. It’s fast and easy to register and worth your time.  Additionally, if you use Twellow while logged into your Twitter account and Twellow, you can search, find and follow others directly from the platform.
2. Twitter App for Facebook: The Twitter stream is a fast moving conversation and therefore, your tweets once out of sight are out of mind.  Making any content you create do double duty is a good timesaving strategy.  Using this app to cause Facebook to auto-post from Facebook to your Twitter account makes your daily Facebook post work harder by also speaking to your Twitter followers. And, the added benefit is the way this app creates a truncated link to bring people back to your Facebook page to read a post that is longer.  This is a subtle invitation for Twitter followers interested enough to click the link to continue reading to “like” your Facebook page.  Again, always ask your content to work in multiple ways.
3. SocialToo: Auto follow everyone who follows you. I’m a believer in auto following everyone who follows me on Twitter. It’s an easy way to build your following and allows people who find you to DM or Direct Message you on Twitter. I’ve been interviewed by national newspapers and contacted by future clients this way and had I not employed a policy of auto following, they would not have been able to reach me as easily and quickly.  I upgraded from a free account at SocialToo to a one-time $10 fee to use their set it and forget it auto follow tool. I love this feature and cannot recommend it enough.
4. Hootsuite: In my opinion, Hootsuite is one of the best social media dashboards for managing Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin accounts at a glance and pre-scheduling tweets. I use it regularly manage 10 or more Twitter accounts alone, using Hootsuite and their newly enhanced metrics are terrific for creating client reports and for insight into which marketing messages are working and which are falling on deaf ears and may need tweaking.
5. Tweetbeep: Google for Twitter. Set alerts for your keywords, your business name and your competitors to keep yourself in the loop and to find good information to tweet to your followers.
6. Tweepi: This handy site allows you to weed out the accounts that don’t follow you back, to reciprocate those that follow you first and to clean out inactive accounts from your Twitter tribe.  A free version is suitable for smaller accounts and a paid version adds significantly more functionality for larger accounts or agencies.
7. Tweetchat: Follow hashtag conversations in real time without distractions.  By doing so, you can quickly and easily find people talking about keywords and topics that interest you or your potential customer. Use hashtag conversations to bring yourself and your brand to the attention of others by participating in interesting, on-point twitter conversations.
8. Timely: Analyze your Twitter patterns and get recommendations on times of day when your followers are most likely see, read and respond to your posts.

What other tools are in your Twitter toolkit?  If you have tools and strategies for maximizing your time on Twitter, I’d love to hear about them.  Let’s share with one another.

Using digital marketing tools can help authors and publishers by-pass the network television gatekeeper and take book messages directly to the reader.  Digital tools help authors connect with potential readers wherever they spend time online, be it Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, blogs or search engines. And, it is essential to remember that nearly half of all web users are accessing the web throughout the day via their mobile devices so creating digital content that plays nicely in mobile formats is key.

I recently spoke on the topic of digital tool kits at BookExpo America 2011 on the Digital Marketing Panel with Sally Dedecker, Fauzia Burke and Kathleen Schmidt. The panel consensus was that authors and publishers need to consider utilizing a wide variety of digital strategies to reach new readers. You can view my powerpoint presentation here. But many digital tools are expensive to create and not every author or publisher has the budget to develop and implement the more complicated and costly digital strategies used by major brands.

Here’s a list of my favorite low-cost digital tools authors and publishers can their book campaigns.

Blogsite or Website with a blog

This is the author’s home base.  Readers should be able to read more about the author, find  links to the current and previous works of the author, view a personal appearance schedule and read the author’s blog.  Readers should also be able to sign up for a continued relationship with the author, perhaps through a newsletter or to receive a sample chapter of a new book.  Whatever the offer, the author needs to capture the e-mail addresses of people who express an interest in hearing from them. Authors can create a free blog using WordPress or Blogger and an e-mail management system like MailChimp is free until the author has attracted 2,000 fans.  MailChimp automatically generates the HTML code needed for an Opt-in box, which the author can place on his or her blog.  By working with the publisher to offer a sample chapter as a digital download, authors can offer a sneak peek for new books for fans who sign up for the mailing list.

Social Media

Social media amplifies the authors website and blog messages and creates a connection to help readers feel as though they’re involved in the author’s world.  Authors can share tour information, preview books, give fans special content such as original stories on their website or blog and spread the word via social media. It’s easier and faster to amass a large following on Twitter and Facebook than to acquire a large subscription base on a website because millions of people are already gathered on social media sites.  Go to where the readers are already gathered.  Bring the author’s message to those readers instead of waiting for them to stumble upon that message on a website.  It’s free to sign up for accounts on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube.  There is no cost to use them.  However, investing a few hundred dollars in design and custom tabs will allow authors to sell books directly from their Facebook Fan page, offer that sneak peek free chapter through an opt in box right from Facebook, create the look and feel of their own television channel on YouTube and give readers a sense of their personality on Twitter.  For under $500, each of the author’s social media sites can be design to promote the others and ultimately to drive fans back to the author’s blog or home base.

Opt in

The theme for an author’s digital tool kit is “make it easy for the reader to find, follow, friend and like you.”  By developing an e-mail database of readers who have expressed an interest in what an author writes, authors and publishers will be able to easily and efficiently push updates and marketing messages to potential book buyers who have already identified themselves as being interested.  This permission based digital marketing is cost effective and can have a higher ROI than nearly any other book marketing.  Adding an Opt in box and an enticing sign up offer on both the author website and their Facebook Fan page is an easy, inexpensive digital marketing strategy.

Video

We’re living in a social world where Facebook is the Wal-Mart of digital platforms.  With nearly 700 million users now conditioned to expect to see a face attached to every brand, authors who use video effectively will have a competitive advantage in reaching readers.  Readers like seeing and hearing from the artists they admire.  In the past, meeting a favorite author or even a new author, was relegated to book signings and perhaps major events.  Now authors can create short home videos and talk directly to their potential readers, sharing their tour experiences, their creative process and even concepts from their books.  Readers enjoy authors who share a bit of their personality and their time by creating short video messages.  This, too, is an easy and inexpensive digital marketing concept.

Digital Assets

Authors can now  create digital badges, original digital content like blogs or articles, downloadable author photos and bios, digital press releases, quizzes, games and contests.  All of these digital assets can be used to create visibility for the author and his or her books online.  The more interesting and compelling the digital assets are, the more likely they will be referenced, shared and valued by potential readers.  Creating 5-10 original essays or blog posts that can be used as guest blogs on sites visited by an author’s ideal reader is a free way to use these digital assets to promote an author’s books.  The topic of the posts could be related to the topic of the new book and the author by-line can reference his or her latest work.  By providing desirable content to other websites, the author extends his or her own visibility and attracts new readers.  Sharing charts, graphs, photos, videos, quizzes or other interesting and relevant content on these high traffic websites is another strategic use of an author’s digital assets. Think about what digital assets you can create to support the launch of your books and prepare those assets so they’re ready and available at launch time.

Online Advertising

Facebook advertising campaigns can fit any budget.  Authors and publishers can set a daily or a lifetime cap to the dollar amount of the campaign. If an author already has several thousand fans, Facebook’s sponsored stories ads display an image of the author’s fan page to friends of that author’s fans with a subtle visual that implies “Your friends like this page.  You should too.”  Authors and publishers can try different types of ads, different images and different creative messages until they find one that drives new fans to press “like.”  Facebook ads can also be created to redirect Facebook users to the author’s blog or website.  Again, even a budget of $100 to $200 can have an impact, not just in new fans or readers, but in author and book visibility.  Hundreds of thousands of impressions can be achieved for a very modest budget.  This is a digital marketing strategy that is often overlooked because publishers and authors think advertising is expensive or that it’s difficult to measure the ROI.  With Facebook advertising, daily metrics will tell the tale of these ad campaign affects.

These are just a few of the digital marketing strategies authors and publishers can implement for little or no monetary outlay.  Are you using digital marketing strategies effectively?  We’d love to hear your ideas and success stories.