Anyone who sells things online has to be constantly thinking about how to get the best out of social media. And, when you have a day job as well, maximizing return on your effort is important. Most of the “how to” articles you see online encourage you to be on social media 24/7 and to spam the hell out of everyone you can find. Even if I wanted to be that sort of person, I don’t have the time. So I struggle along as best I can.
I must admit that I don’t like Facebook very much, and I certainly don’t trust it. However, it is useful in a couple of ways. Firstly I can cross-post my blogs posts and Twitter comments automatically for the benefit of people who won’t read things any other way. Also there are various LGBT groups who prefer having a Facebook presence to having a real website. It is easier and gives an illusion of privacy. So I’m on Facebook, even though I hardly ever read what other people post there, and resolutely ignore all of the requests to play games, attend book launches in other countries, and connect with people who think Facebook is a place to do business. And I appear to have 1400 “friends”, which is ridiculous but there you go.
Google +, on the hand, is even more crazy. There’s no simple means of automatically cross-posting the way you can on Facebook. (Please don’t recommend Chrome plugins, I want something that will work from any platform.) The only time I ever post there is when I upload photos to Picasa (because that automatically generates a Google + post). And yet I have over 1000 people that I have never heard of who have added me to their circles. Despite all of Google’s much trumpeted efforts to only allow “real people” onto the network, I’m pretty sure that large numbers of these are spam accounts, and there’s no simple way to block them like you can on Twitter. As for the interface, well, the less said the better. I don’t waste my time there, except for the occasional hangout. That’s a fabulous feature, but not one that can really help my business.
The new kid on the block is Pinterest. Lots of people have been raving about it. It doesn’t really appeal to me. I’m a words person, not a pictures person. But the word online is that it is very popular, and very good at driving traffic to stores. So it might be worth a look. And while it might not have any auto-import features, it also looks like it doesn’t take a lot of time to use. Are other people out there using it? If so, what do you think of it. And does anyone have an invitation they can spare? [Update: And by the magic of teh intrawebs I now have an invitation. Thank you!]
I’m haven’t tried Pinterest, but I recently got sucked into Tumblr. So many Avengers GIFs 😮
http://pileogifs.tumblr.com/post/24287681493/mythology-ftw
It seems to be occupying the same niche MySpace did, intense emotional revelations followed by pictures of puppies-who-look-like-celebritites
That doesn’t sound like it will sell many books though.
Oh, I have no idea how anyone manages to sell anything. I have many skillsets, but that isn’t one of them! 😉
Hmm…. *puts on thinking cap* Well, one of the big problems with an ebook store is that the more content you have, the harder it is to “stumble across” a book, right? Tumblr is very visual, so maybe stick up a cover of a book, with a blurb and any prizes it has won and whether it’s part of a series or stand-alone? And Tumblr has a native delayed-posting option, so you could stick a load up at once and let ’em chug along with no further input from you for, like, a month. And in theory Tumblr can auto-crosspost to Twitter and Facebook, so that’s handy.
Now, the question is, would that sell more books? And, as I said, I have no idea 😉
That makes it sound very like Pinterest, which suggests I don’t need both.
Surely as a business, you are not interested in a social network’s actual Unique Selling Point, but rather in its Users? And I think Pinterest and Tumblr have different demographics. And if you could use the same content (cover image+blurb) on both networks that would actually be pretty handy – no need to customise the content.
Good grief, you’d think I was some kind of Tumblr evangelist! I don’t even use it that much 😀 It’s just an interesting idea… I love the idea of whacking up a bunch of posts and having the site just churn them out daily, giving the illusion of consistency…. but I’m lazy that way 😀
Yeah, but Pinterest is the one everyone says is growing like topsy and driving lots of traffic to online store. If it works, I’ll try similar sites as well.
How does Pinterest drive traffic to bookstores? It appears to me to be a random flow of pictures, not unlike tumblr. I can see it driving traffic to clothing and accessory stores through fashion photography, I suppose.
G+ is a bit bizarre. I have a lot of F&SF writers in my G+ circles, and many of them are even active on G+. I have more photographers, and all of them are very active. I do get random adds, and if they don’t appear to be people I block and report them.
Hangouts might be able to help your business. “Hangouts on Air” lets you record Hangouts, so you could do interviews and book chats with authors and then embed the resulting YouTube video on store or blog pages.
Well the whole point in having cover art is to sell books. And a lot of artists are very afraid that with the rise of ebooks there will be no need for cover art. So if it turns out that Pinterest can help sell books by posting pictures of the cover art I shall be very happy.
I don’t need G+ to do recorded hangouts. I’ve been doing stuff on YouTube and Vimeo for years. The point of G+ is to do *live* hangouts. I can’t see me doing that.
Yes, but are you doing multiparty recorded video sessions with remote participants?
I know with the premium Skype service you can do multiparty video conferencing, but I don’t know how good the automatic focus shifting, rich content sharing or even recording compares to Hangouts. I know it doesn’t provide the broadcast function of Hangouts on Air.
I have been working with Webex too. It’s pretty amazing how well (if the 10 active participants limit isn’t too small) Hangouts compare’s with Cisco’s expensive telepresence solution. Their broadcast/publishing system is actually behind Google’s leverage of YouTube for Hangouts on Air.
Oh, now that is interesting. I may have to try that. Thanks!
The one other advantage to Hangouts is that they seem to be more stable than Skype sessions – so “face-to-face” biz sessions are easier to have…
Interesting. My experience is exactly the opposite. I suspect it depends a lot on the people you are talking to and how good their equipment is.
I’m no expert on Tumblr, but I’m on Pinterest and I love it and see lots of potential. I wrote a blog post about it a few weeks back, if you want to know my reasons.
Pinterest seems to be the better site thanks to the way it drives traffic to blogs, shops, etc. When you pin something Pinterest automatically adds a link to the source of the pic. The link can be altered and unfortunately that means it can be hijacked by spammers. Then you have unhelpful people who link to Google Images or Tumblr blogs rather than the original source. I suspect Tumblr doesn’t automatically link an image to a source as when I check the links of pictures I’m repinning I find they often end up at what I call a TDE (Tumblr Dead End) – a Tumblr page with no link to the original picture, which is of no use to anyone but the owner of the Tumblr page.
If a pin links to a original source it drives traffic to a site where the article can be read, more info is available, or the product can be bought. It’s a bit like Twitter in that you can follow people who link to things you might be interested in. I’ve created boards with pins of my books so pinners who follow me have ‘safe’ (correct link) pin to put on their own boards, which is a bit like favouriting someone’s tweet.
Like all social media, it’s a bit puzzling and seems a little silly at first, but once you learn how it works you start to see the potential. If you’d like to know more, feel free to email me.