When an author is looking to increase the numbers of his fans and readers, he should set himself up with a social network, such as Twitter.
But why?
Twitter COO *** Costolo has shown that Twitter has over 190 million users, tweeting more than 65 million times a day. Factor in the consideration that over 34 million, of the consumers using Twitter, review and recommend products to their friends and family on a daily basis. These referrals are trusted nearly 12 times more than any mass-produced or artificial descriptions put out by spam marketers.
So, if you plan correctly, you can get yourself into a lot of traffic and be 12 times more effective than by way of traditional marketing methods.
One of the best uses of this type of social networking is to run special “viral” contests.
In a “viral” contest, you create a giveaway, such as a free copy of your new book or an e-book from WordClay.com. The contest is open to anyone who “re-tweets” a specific message you post. (“Re-tweeting” is the act of forwarding someone else's tweet to a different set of followers.) To be eligible for the giveaway, all a participant needs to do is follow you and re-tweet your specific message to his own “followers.”
Example: “enter contest for FREE copy of the new zombie book, “The Deadz,” when you follow @The Deadz and re-tweet this. Just message me for code.”
For every person that re-tweets the message you get a new follower. In addition, that same message goes out into each re-tweeter’s sphere of influence, and so on and so forth. A “viral” contest message ends up piggybacking through follower after follower.
The end result is a growing list of followers that will have expressed an interest in getting a copy of your book. Now you can pick one of them at random and message them directly with details on how to receive their free copy of your paperback. You can then message everyone else with some sort of special offer. Better yet, increase your social standing by sending them all a coupon code enabling them to download a free copy of your e-book as a consolation prize. Watch your e-book fly off the virtual shelf.
This idea can be customized in a number of ways. Perhaps you want to offer a free copy to anyone willing to write a review for your blog or product page. You can set up a t-shirt giveaway by using an online design studio to design something cool with your book’s title on it. The applications of this marketing technique are endless.
Now put it to work for you today.