Social Networking = Social Marketing?

It gets a bit confusing when things get made easier. That sentence is a bit confusing in itself. What I mean is, we have the opportunity to reach so many from right behind our desks, the very desk where we often create the "product" we're trying to pitch. For me, it's my books and in all my research on marketing, social network marketing seems to be the "biggie" right now. With the increased popularity of FaceBook, Twitter, MySpace and the likes, people are connecting like never before. I come from a big family and had a big family. My personal FaceBook is filled with daily comments from those family members as well as old friends and many new friends I have made along the way. I enjoy these little blips of connection on a personal level.

However, as a writer I've begun to see these social networking machines as a tool, thanks to several great newsletters and articles I have read. In fact, I spent the morning yesterday updating several sites and set up a FaceBook Page for myself as an author. I then became my own Fan! Felt a bit stalkerish and freaky but, thanks to my friend Denise, I now have a new story idea running through my head. That's just the way it works. The page? The Shelf Life of Linda Boulanger.

I publish a quarterly eZine called Get Noticed that you can link to through the Awesome Messages site. I talk quite a bit about Marketing on both the Marketing Your Book page as well as articles in the Archives. According to information I pulled for those articles, Twitter, FaceBook, Linked In…social networking sites keep your book before the public eye. Seeing your willingness to help market yourself or your book is also considered a plus to publishers who might consider picking you up. So, get blogging and set up your social connecting because it really is considered the way of the future (right now at least). I don't want to simply repeat what I wrote there so make sure you follow the links above and hop over to those marketing pages if that's of interest to you. There's some really great info and links in there!

The bottom line, these sites are a great way to connect but remember it takes time to build your following. Don't get frustrated if you don't have 300 fans your first day. Post relevant comments, learn about keyword usage, learn about submitting your posts to article directories, and so on. I'm still learning so stay with me and perhaps we can climb that social marketing ladder together. I welcome your tips and comments as well.

Sidenote: For those who don't know, I live in Northern Oklahoma. Yesterday it was 59 degrees. Today we are due for an ice and snow storm that will most likely close our schools this afternoon and tomorrow. If you don't hear from me for a couple of days....you'll know why. I'm buried!