Becky Robinson: Social Media Tips for a Book Launch

Dear Whitney,

Spring is almost here, and soon after, the launch of your first book, Dare, Dream, Do.

In our garden, we’re enjoying a patch of crocuses, glorious in purple and white. Our daffodils and tulips will soon bloom, while the other perennial flowers each unfurl in turn.  Just as the hard work of planting and tending perennials happens long before spring, you did the most important work to prepare for your book launch before we met.  In fact, you started preparing for this launch the day you typed your first tentative words into a blog post, the day you opened a Twitter account, the first time you posted on Facebook, and when you completed your LinkedIn profile and began making connections.

Since you decided to engage online, you have been building a valuable presence and brand.  You’ve been planting seeds, one by one, hiding away bulbs of promise by carefully cultivating strong relationships, connecting others, and sharing valuable content.

The past few months, we’ve worked together to extend your influence for the purpose of the book launch:

1. We set up a unique social media presence for Dare, Dream, Do, adding a Twitter account and Facebook page. Both platforms have given us a place to regularly share content and build excitement for the launch. Facebook is a perfect place to share about your book and extend your influence because the people in your target demographic (women ages 30-60) enjoy and use Facebook. (A side note – your page is reaching the right people. More than ¼ of the likes have come from women aged 35-44; more than ¾ of the likes are from women. We’re clearly sharing content that resonates with our core audience.)
2. We’ve gathered a wealth of content from your book to share on the Dare, Dream, Do accounts. We started with quotes, concepts, and ideas from the book and expanded to include other quotes about dreams and dreaming. This content has fueled your social media accounts, and inspired our idea to create dream quote images to share on Pinterest and compile into an ebook. It’s been so exciting and fun to see people share and repin the images. Even before your book is released, we are inviting people to think about, talk about, and pursue their dreams.

As we move into the final weeks before your launch, I know it feels overwhelming to you. Because of that, I want to ask you to do remember a few important ideas:

1. Your online friends, followers, and fans will count it a privilege to help with your launch. I’ve noticed that some authors (including you…) are reluctant to ask for help. Yet in my work launching a book with Kevin Eikenberry, and helping my friends Jesse Lyn Stoner and Chris Edmonds launch their books, I’ve discovered, again and again, that people are honored when you involve them in your launch. Pitching in with a book launch is exciting! People enjoy sharing good content and being a part of something big and important.
2. Automation can be a helpful tool. Used strategically and carefully, automation can free you up to do important connecting and engaging with others. In our work together, I know you’ve been slightly uncomfortable using Mail Chimp to contact your friends and contributing authors. While I agree with the importance of staying true to who you are, the reality is that the time demands of your book launch require that you make friends with automation. The key is to find other ways to personally connect with people and to automate routine communication and tasks.
3. There is power in an email list. In upcoming weeks, we’re going to initiate two exciting ways to add people to your email list. First, we’re using technology through Push 44 to help people share the book launch with their friends. As people participate in our Push 44 promotion, we’ll gain email addresses and Facebook fans to extend our online platform for the book. Next, we’ll offer a free chapter of the book, another way to help share the message of the book and gather email addresses, allowing us to communicate with people and share the excitement of the launch.

And…

You can’t do it all. Whitney, while you are busy now, as the launch approaches, you will become even busier. You won’t be able to say yes to every opportunity and you don’t want to, anyway. You will need to make strategic choices about what you choose to pursue. And, you’ll need to get better at delegating tasks to others. 

But…

Keep sharing content. It might be tempting, during the last push toward the launch and the busy days afterward, to neglect your blog and Twitter account. Don’t! Follow your friend Annie's advice to gather extra blog posts in advance. Use content from book that didn’t make the cut, and share new guest posts. Also, share about your experiences throughout the launch… we all want to read them!

Whitney, have I told you lately that I am honored and privileged to be a part of your launch? (I am). I am so excited to see your book succeed. I am (beyond confident that it will.

Your online network is like a beautiful garden waiting to burst into bloom. Your kindness, encouragement, and support of others have been fertilizer and spring rains. Soon, what you have given will return and rain down on you. You’ll be surrounded by flowers: stunning, bright, vibrant, and fragrant.

Warmly,

Becky

***

Becky Robinson is the owner of Weaving Influence, a social media consulting and implementation business. She is thrilled to support authors and thought leaders, including Kevin Eikenberry, Jason Womack,Wendy Appel and me, as they seek to grow their influence online. She is also a mom to three daughters. Follow her on twitter at @beckyrbnsn or visit her blog at weavinginfluence.com.

Comments

[Jason W. Womack, MEd, MA]

Becky,

The takeaways from this post are significant. As I re-read it (yes, I needed to go through twice...) I realized the absolute truth to what you say about authors "not being able to do it all."

For many of us, that's a tough nut to crack; we're used to doing... and doing a lot! Thank you for the insight, information and swift kick in the rear to build the team and the structure to engage a larger audience with the work we have finished.

Oh, one more thing to add from here at Cleveland Hopkins Airport: The Hudson's Bookseller store manager loved it when I went in and offered to sign all the books she had in stock this morning.

:)

[Jason W. Womack, MEd, MA]

Whitney,

Thanks for sharing this with your community (and me too!) here on your blog. Good stuff!

[Maria]

I love that you shared this with us! Thank you, just marvelous. Wishing you the very best!

[JesseLynStoner]

Great post, Becky. Beautifully written (you are a talented writer in your own right) and excellent advice. Most authors learn as they go and I'm so happy that Whitney has connected with you early enough to take advantage of what you have to offer. It was too late for me to do it "right" with the release of the 2nd edition of Full Steam Ahead last spring. But I'm lucky that I did connect with you several weeks before the launch and that I was able to do a partial campaign. Your advice and support were invaluable. I remember getting a tweet from Whitney "Your campaign is so clever," however by that point, it wasn't "my campaign" anymore because it had taken on a life of it's own. It took two blog posts to share my experience, what I had learned and express my gratitude. One of the most amazing lessons was taking your advice and asking for help. (The Real Success Was Something I Hadn't Anticipated http://seapointcenter.com/the-real-success/ ) Even today I am filled with gratitude as I recall how many people came forward to offer support in their own unique, and sometimes creative, way. I am smarter now and for my next book, I will call you as I begin to write. Love your analogy about planting the bulbs in the fall.

And please do call on me to help out - it would be a pleasure!

[Joe Passkiewicz]

Thanks for sharing Becky! The post reveals your expertise as well as your heart in what you do. You are sensitive to the feelings that are experienced during an important launch and provide encouragement at the moments of inadequacy that seems to hit all of us. Thank for your post. I enjoyed it!

[Amy]

Whitney,

I just want you to know, that even before your book launch, I have followed your advice. I have done the things that you have suggested. I have disrupted myself, I have dared, I have dreamed, and I'm doing what I wanted to do. All thanks to you and the wonderful ideas that you made available to go inside my head.

Within the last 6 months I have changed my job and was fortunate enough to get my dream job. But you know what I realized once I reached this goal? I haven't stopped dreaming. My dream isn't over and there is so much more to do.

I love this blog and I read it frequently. Honestly, I wish there was more of it on a daily basis. I believe in myself in a different way now and I believe in new possibilities that I had not considered before.

I will buy your book when it comes out and you better believe I will be sharing this information with my friends - I already have.

Thank you. Thank you for being you and following your dreams and helping mine along. You are a wonderful example to me and I'm so grateful!

Sincerely,

A loyal dreamer