Why Book Publishers Should Twitter
Erin, a book publishing student, went to a job interview and the hiring manager told her, after she mentioned it, that Twitter was a ridiculous waste of time. That was a month ago. At the time, I shrugged. It’s a shame I thought. Today, after some consideration, I find that manager’s response to be simply mindboggling.
Twitter is great at driving attention. The end.
For a minimal investment of time, you can ping a heap of people. Why wouldn’t a book publisher want to do that? Truth is, most already do. Email newsletters blast-out to book readers from all over. Publishers’ feeds and podcasts do the same. Twitter is yet another great way to keep people engaged. The difference? It is two-way, but it is two-way with a twist — Twitter scales (at least on the user side it does :)).
Publishers (and retailers) are simply insane if they don’t want 100’s or 1000’s of readers following their brand. Oh yeah I forgot, book publishers tend towards the schizophrenic when it comes to branding, but come on! Keeping readers in the loop is marketing 101.
So if you are a publisher and you are not Twittering here is what I would say…
- Sign up. Start following authors, readers, and other publishers. Just check it out.
- Post once a day. Lots of publisher accounts go months without updating. If you have lost interest or are just experimenting than delete your account.
- Don’t just post from a faceless logo. Identify the Twitterer in the bio section. Example: “Sandra, online marketing manager, is the official spokesman for company x”
- Don’t be afraid of talking back to your base. Two-way communication may be new but it isn’t going to kill you.
- If you don’t want to talk back (CNN style) keep your following count at zero. Make it clear in the bio section that the account is news only and you won’t be following anyone. Stick to that.
- Keep it interesting. Spam is boring. Talk about your brand intermittently. One in five posts is a good guideline for marketing messages. See HarperCollins Canada for a great example of how to finesse this.
- Keep it current. Twitter is a time sensitive (and often location sensitive) platform. Tweet in context when you can. Example.
- Twitter is where people are. Go there. If people leave and go to another platform don’t be afraid to daisy chain services together. Facebook can be used to update Twitter and vice versa.
Just a quick note – I have never met Erin. We follow each other on Twitter. But if you are publisher looking to get started with this I think you should hire her ;).