How does a social media network help in marketing a book?
If you become part of the LinkedIn community, you will have access to a variety of useful tools that can help you market your books. In addition to making your complete profile available to millions, LinkedIn lets you showcase your experience and viewpoints.
First, LinkedIn enables searches by keyword for any one of their thousands of groups that include people like you, people you'd like to know, and people you need to know. The great benefit to joining their groups is access to the groups’ members. Once part of a group, you will be able to communicate with its other members. In a sense, these members will become your captive audience. But they should perceive you quite differently from a salesman or an outsider. Instead, you share something in common with them: the group and its interests.
In addition, LinkedIn provides a given group the opportunity both to ask questions and to post answers to questions from the group. So not only will you have access to a pool of information, but communications within a group will serve to start the process of building your credibility within it.
Moreover, LinkedIn gives you have the ability to “post” any of your upcoming events. You will have the opportunity to “pin up” an invitation to an event, and also be able to send out “virtual notifications” to the groups you are part of. Events you might want to announce include book signings, sales, and anything else you can dream up to bring the local members of your groups to bond-building, face-to-face meetings.
Finally, show your commitment to the writing profession in your professional persona. Post some of your favorite books on your LinkedIn profile, either titles of books you are reading or one you have read. Someone “new” to you will appreciate such information. It will enhance your human side, as well as display your tastes. In addition, you can post notes about your travels and experiences to reflect aspects of your personality. Such touches are not tantamount to dragging out a slide projector and inflicting the family photos on a captive audience, but they will express something about you to your potential readers and allow others to gauge how they relate to you on a variety of different levels.
All these LinkedIn avenues can help promote you, the author, and your work.