A community of more than 200 BEA attendees gathered together in Javits Tuesday to listen to a panel of experts discuss “Building Online Communities With an Eye to ROI.” Moderated by PW contributing editor and digital content strategist Charlotte Abbott, the panel turned into a lively multimedia event, as about 25 audience members joined panelists Kelly Leonard, executive director of online marketing for the Hachette Book Group; Neil Strandberg, the manager of operations for the Tattered Cover Bookstore in Denver; and Richelle Mead, author of the Vampire Academy series, in Tweeting comments and questions during the presentation.
All of the panelists emphasized the importance of using social media to draw in readers – either to authors or into bookstores. It’s about “monetizing” social media networks, Strandberg explained, as well as about branding, Leonard said.
While social media builds community, the conversations begun online inevitably spill over into the bricks-and-mortar bookstores – thus increasing traffic flow and ultimately impacting sales. “It’s an organic process, an extension of the conversation inside the store,” Strandberg explained.”
While Strandberg admitted that building social media networks to promote a bricks-and-mortar store was at first awkward, he insisted that having a staffer dedicated to online marketing is a much more effective use of the store’s marketing budget than buying ads in print media and spending “tens of thousands of dollars” on sending out store newsletters that may “go nowhere.” Mead related that mail-order requests for autographed copies of her books before store events generated through her Web site at her hometown store--University Books in Seattle--are often greater than in-person sales at those events.
“You have to have a social media strategy like any other marketing plan,” Leonard added, explaining that social media can be measured and analyzed through Klout, Tweetreach, and Social Mention.
When the discussion turned to which social media sites are more effective than others, Leonard pointed out that the actual site doesn’t so matter as much as what is posted. “The mother ship is the content,” she pointed out, recommending using large, established sites like Facebook, as well as smaller start-ups like Ning to reach readers. Mead added that it’s imperative to regularly update content, to draw in new visitors, while maintaining return visitors.
While authors and booksellers have long been adept at creating hubs of virtual communities, publishers are only now starting to do so, rather than just using social media to promote their own authors and releases, Abbott added, citing Tor as having created a Web site where conversations about science fiction take place, and Sourcebooks, which created a website where poetry lovers can congregate. “Everyone knows they [publishers] have to do it to build visibility,” Abbott said.
