maraha friedman | Cat Lyon's Reading Den ~ Where Readers & Authors Gather

How Can I Supercharge My Social Media Efforts?

Image result for copyright free image of social media

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

How Social Media Turns You Into A Valuable Media Commodity Marsha Friedman + by

All I can say is I just love Marsha Friedman from The PR Insider! I have learned SO much from her through the years about PR, Social Media, Branding, and Book Marketing. She is well respected and very inspiring to many . . . .

If you’re savvy enough to be using social media as part of your branding efforts – and I know that you are – then you’re also savvy enough to want to get the most out of those efforts.

After all, when you’re using social media for personal or business branding, you’re not out to learn how many of your high school classmates have grandchildren, or “like” the photos of your niece’s wedding.

Instead, your goal – or at least one of your goals – is to build a loyal following and then leverage that following to enhance your marketing and branding efforts as an authority in your field.

Because here’s the thing: the greater your following, the more intriguing you’ll appear to the media gatekeepers you’re trying to attract to spread your message.

Let’s face it, most people in the media are inundated with requests from people who have a story to tell, a product to sell or a service to promote. If you manage to cut through all that clutter and get on the media’s radar, one of the first things they will do is Google your name or your company’s name and check out your presence on social media.

It gives your credibility a strong boost if the media find that you are widely followed on social media sites. Here are just a few ways your social media following can pay marketing dividends for you:

A large, built-in following makes you an asset to the media. The bigger your following the more impressive you’ll look when the media take a peek into your online world. As a result, a journalist will be more inclined to interview you, and a TV show or radio show host more likely to want to talk with you on the air. Simply put, the more popular you are, the more valuable you are as a guest or interview subject.

Once you’ve achieved some media coverage, your social media following is your doorway to sharing that coverage with an even wider audience. There is so much information on the internet competing for attention that it’s a challenge for any one article or interview to achieve much notice. That’s why you have to give any coverage you receive a little nudge – or maybe even a big shove!
Let’s say, for example, that you’re interviewed for an article that appears in a national publication. If you share a link to the article on your social media sites, you have immediately broadened the potential audience for that article. But it doesn’t stop there. Many of your followers may share it with their followers, widening the reach even more. If you’re lucky, it could even lead to the article or interview with you going viral! You’ll like that and so will the media outlet you helped shine the spotlight on.

If you’re looking for a book deal, that social media following will be influential. Traditional publishers who are mulling the risk of taking you on will be more inclined to do so if you have a large number of people following you.

A large social media audience can attract sponsors interested in tapping into your audience because they’re after the same demographics. That could be a deep well of revenue for you.

Building an extensive social media following and making the best use of it is not only smart, it’s essential if you want to take advantage of the marketing and branding opportunities that social media present.

When the media start checking you out, you want them to be impressed with what they find. And at that point, the whole situation could become almost self-perpetuating. A growing audience can help lead to media attention. Media attention can help grow your audience.

What an extraordinary development that would be!

Perpetually yours,

Marsha

(P.S. If you need professional help with your branding and social media efforts, give us a call at 727-443-7115 ext. 215.)

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.

Facebook • Twitter • Linkedin • Google •