Social Media is Word of Mouth on Networking Steroids

Social Media is Word of Mouth on Networking Steroids

This past Saturday was the first meeting of the season for the New Hampshire Romance Writers of America NHRWA. Laurie Storey-Manseau was our guest speaker. Laurie is a marketing maven, agency owner of www.storeymanseau.com, and a working woman. You go Laurie!

The topic of Laurie’s presentation and discussion to NHRWA was Social Media. Hallelujah, someone to pull or is it push us into the next generation of marketing!
In her presentation, Laurie covered blogging, Twitter, Facebook, etc., and how to use these social media tools and technologies in marketing.

Here is where I receive vindication for my nagging of other NHRWA members for almost a year about getting into social media and marketing. :-) “Thanks, Laurie!”

One of the key points to Laurie’s presentation to a room full of writers that would be applicable to everyone is this: “Do not wait until you are published to start using social media.”

You see, I was behind the 8-ball when it came to marketing and social media. I waited until a publisher gave me a contract for my first book to start a blog. BAD! I did not use Facebook until a friend of mine twisted my arm and nagged me into it. I’m not even sure how or why I began using Twitter, although now, it is my lifeline as my blog and Twitter are the only things I can access while at my day job.

While the end goal of marketing as a writer may appear to be selling your book that will not occur unless people know you exist. Social media and marketing are not just about inundating people with information on your book, but is viral marketing with the real end goal of people, a lot more people knowing who you are, what your brand is, and why they should want to know more about you, and pass it on.

High-level social media/viral marketing example: You find someone who has a great blog on a particular topic of interest to you, you post a comment on the blog, and you pass the word on so others visit the blog post. Someone else who visits that same blog sees your comment, clicks your profile link, visits your blog, leaves a comment, and passes your site on.

Real-world example that happened to me: One day I started a blog post on Book-A-Week Challenge, where I encourage people to read a new book each week. I picked a book, posted information about it, read it, and then posted an interview with the author on the blog at the end of the week. Both the author of the book and me, the author of the blog, use social media to spread the word and tell everyone about the Book-A-Week Challenge, the authors’ book, and the interview. Guess what happens?

People I know read the book
People I know visit the author’s website/blog
People I know leave a comment on the posted interview
People the authors knows leave a comment on the posted interview
All those people now check each other’s profiles and visit their blogs or sites and pass the word on
If you’re a featured romance author in the Book-A-Week Challenge, chances are a reported from Examiner.com (Stephanie Giancola), contacts me or you so she can interview the romance author for her column (because Stephanie knows me and I now know this author)
Terry Kate from www.romanceinthebackseat.com sees the blog, contacts me, says she is going to be in New England, and wants to interview me as well as other authors that I may know
I introduce Terry to other authors and after her video interview sessions with us, we go out to dinner afterwards where I introduce her to future authors, Stephanie Giancola who does an on-the-spot interview with Terry for her online Examiner column.
Debbie from www.youdontsaynotogirls.com meets Terry that night with us and finds out that Terry knows someone on the West coast that Debbie could possibly hookup with to promote and move forward her business

See how all this works?

Remember the old adage that most business occurs through word of mouth? Well, social media is word of mouth on networking steroids. The amount of people you can reach is innumerable.