Many marketers these days are relying on purely online marketing strategies to grow their presence. However, like all marketing tactics, for the message to resonate with an audience it needs teeth. By “teeth,” I mean that there must be something for people to take with them, or bite into. Users must perceive a marketing message to be engaging, relevant or captivating. Online marketing is great if you are a social media/ search engine expert, but if you aren’t, driving online engagement when you aren’t in front of a computer can be even more valuable.
You are “The Brand”
If you are a new author, trying to promote a recently published book on social media, understand that people online want to see you engaging with others. Humanizing your Facebook and Twitter pages give users more to chew on. People are curious by nature; they probably want to know more about your personal life than you are willing to share. If you have a Twitter account (which you should), spice things up every now and then by posting a pretty picture from a jog you went on, or show your audience what you are eating for dinner.
The things you do offline are more captivating to your audience than simply saying “Here is a link to where you can buy my book, [insert your title here].” Social media isn’t for blatant self-promotion; use it to share your life and connect with your community. A simple piece of advice, make sure you bring a camera everywhere you go.
Events
Events can be a great way to bolster your social media page’s engagement. In today’s world of hyper fast information, a simple book signing can attract more users online than it does offline. The reason offline marketing has more clout in the online space, is because marketing success today is about personal relationships. An online relationship will never able to rival personal relationship intricacies; use this to your advantage. Take a friendly sales approach when speaking with others at events. Put your Facebook page, Website and Twitter account on your business card. Driving online marketing success by putting yourself out there, away from your computer, isn’t difficult; it allows a way for you to link the offline and online.
QR Codes
The best way to link online and offline marketing activities is QR codes. These little barcodes have created quite a buzz lately for driving engagement. To use a QR code place a barcode on a flier, banner, or any physical product, the user scans the QR code with his/her smartphone and is redirected to a website or social media page. This may be a bit confusing, but try this QR code generator. Put your Facebook page URL in the box and print it on the back of your book. There may be a small population of people using these actively, but they are a hot new way to link people easily to your online presence.
I’m a strong believer that for marketing to have any teeth there needs to be something to bite into. If you are only trying to market to people online, you may be missing the boat all together. True online marketing success derives from personal relationships created offline, and leveraged online.
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Matt Krautstrunk is a writer, marketer, and social entrepreneur living in San Diego, CA. He writes for Resource Nation, an online resource that provides copier machines purchasing advice for small business owners.
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