Week 9 - Blogging

Blogging is becoming a powerful way to draw traffic to a business website. The fresh content that appears on the page is identified with online search engines and increases the probability that you will appear on searches. It also provides customers with fresh content and information they can share with others. 

The question posed by the class is how professional does one need to be with a blog and how personal can one get. 

When to be professional

Blogs can take the form of news posts and the reporting of facts. For the Social Publishing House blog, we have a section specifically for press releases and information updating the status of writing contests. In these areas, its important to be very matter of fact and professional. It leaves little room for discussion and personal opinion. 

When to be personal

The use of the first person in a blog post can make it feel very personal to the reader and allow them to connect more to the content. It can be effective, but it has to be used in the right matter. 

For example, blog posts that I write for the company normally are impersonal and do not use the first person. Most of the time I use the second person, addressing the reader directly, which can also be just as personal. In these posts, the topic usually covers ways they can improve their writing or things they have to look out for. 

Audiences respond to different posts, and its a good idea to diversify the posts. So where I am more impersonal and matter of fact, I bring in writers who use more "I" in their posts to draw in attention. One writer give his opinion on books that are read that will eventually turn into movies. Sarcastic as they may be, they appeal to particular kinds of readers that would shy away form the matter of fact posts. 

What Makes Sense

At the end of the day, it matters what you are writing about. If its reporting, be impersonal. If its about a new book or movie coming out, its more opinion and can be more personal to the writer. But as a business owner, its important to have a balance of content that can reach to several different target audiences that you are looking for. 

Week 8 - Businesses Similar to Mine

Major publishing houses of the book publishing industry use very quiet tactics to promote themselves. Their main efforts are in promoting their individual authors and their work, thereby driving interest and revenue into their company.

As these large companies focus on branding themselves quietly through their main authors and stay behind the scenes, we will take a look at social media accounts for two of the largest book producers on the planet: Penguin and Random House.

Penguin

Penguin maintains an active Tumblr account. They focus on displaying the covers of the books that they produce. Although some of the book covers are simple, they actively display the Penguin logo on all covers. Due to the fact that they mostly rely on words for their actual product, displaying the visual part of the covers is essential and is a great way to draw in audiences

Random House

The Titan of the book publishing industry, Random House uses a variety of media that include a very under used social media tactic, GIFs. They also have, dispersed throughout their platform, images of the covers of their books that they sell along with antidotes by the authors. Interlaced with those are promotions and calls to action. 

Visual Social Media for Social Publishing House

The use of visuals for Social Publishing House is very difficult in the beginning. This is a book production company, which focuses on the written word and prose. Photography and visual arts are not my forte. However, in order to draw in attention to the company, we have to have some type of image based content. Therefore, the best of both worlds is to exist on Tumblr, where the target market is most likely to read content as well as engage with visuals. 

Here is the Tumblr Account use for Social Publishing House. It has been connected with the Facebook page. 

Week 8 - The Visual

Images are the most powerful thing you can use to enhance traffic and engagement on social media. As the social media world has evolved, there are four major platforms that focus almost entirely on the visual, and they are now holding most of the sway and power for a business.

Right for my brand

For Social Publishing House, the use of images is difficult. As a book publishing company, the target market is mostly for individuals who take time to read articles and posts. However, the stopping power of an image still appeals to these readers, the fact is that reading mostly takes place in the imagination. 

Despite this case, using visuals to attract readers is still important. And the images could be used as a stopping power to draw in people to read what is posted on social media. Here are the four visual networks and how they relate to the brand of Social Publishing House

YouTube

This is a video based social media network and rely on video production methods. Videos are almost the complete opposite of the production of books, which can pose a problem if I were to use this site mainly to promote the company. There are ways that this platform could be used to draw traffic to the brand, such as the creation of commercials associated with particular books that are produced, or small commercials that talk about the brand. But outside of that, and for the start up phase for my company, it is not the most effective platform. 

Instagram

This social media behemoth is on the rise and is quickly becoming the choice of millennials and generation Z. Due to the younger target market and the fact that this platform is completely photo based, this area would not be an effective area for developing the brand of Social Publishing House. The target market is much older (35 to 45). Additionally, users are going to be more visually based than they are creative based, meaning that people who read are less likely to be on these platforms. 

Pinterest

This platform is more promising due to its target market and sharing ability that focus around products. The clientele is mostly affluent women who are in the target market range for Social Publishing House. They will make boards and pin products that they want in the future. Some of those include the covers of books that they want to read. So, this is an ideal place to start marketing the brand of Social Publishing House and the promotion of its books. 

Tumblr

This last platform is the most effective one to spread the brand of Social Publishing House. Although this is an area where individuals share photos and videos, it is also blog based. Articles and written work permeate through the feed. The target market also excises on this platform, and many of them are also writers as well. Social Publishing House will build the brand in this area and recruit its writers from this platform. 

Week 7 - Twitter

Twitter is a powerful tool for business. Although most would say that Twitter is for people to follow celebrities and post what they had for breakfast, its actually much more than that. 

Finding Connections

I looked for people who are in the publishing industry and write about publishing. Specifically, I look for people who are talking about the Amazon vs Hachette ordeal that is taking place and rocking the price of eBooks. So I searched "Amazon vs Hachette" and found several articles written about the topic. I looked to the authors of those articles then found them on twitter and started to follow them. 

I found about a half dozen authors who write for Digital Book World, Huffington Post Books, and the New York Times. Some of these individuals even started to follow me back. 

Lists

I created two different lists: One for the major ebook distribution companies and publishing companies out there, then one for some of the major writers in the industry that I just described above. This helps me keep things organized in several ways. For example, when I want to see what tactics and books that these publishing industries are doing currently, the list allows me to get a good glance on their activity in the last few hours. With the list for the major writers, this allows me to see what the reaction to these promotions and books is and see how it is shaping the industry. 

Lists for Goals

Creating lists helps to keep things organized by keeping a finger on the pulse of companies, competitors, and trends in the industry you are operating in. This way, you can easily look at what is going on and get the most up to date information you can about what others are doing. This helps you daily gather intelligence to make decisions about your own company. 

Week Five - Post Reach and Engagement

Introduction

Oh the pains and possibilities of Facebook. The company has made a lot of changes to the business features of company pages over the last year. When I started Social Publishing House, it was much easier to engage people and get likes. However the insights were not as good for tracking. Now, things have changed to where insights are excellent, but getting likes and engagement are harder than ever. So, here is the simple difference between reach and engagement. 

Post Reach

Post reach is connected to those who actually saw what you posted. Do not confuse this for people who actually read what you wrote or updated. Post reach simply means that those who follow your page ended up seeing your post in their news feed at some point. Most of the time, people scroll through their news feed like a kid running through the candy isle; they just don't ponder long until they see something more shinny and appealing. 

Normally, your reach will be much higher than those who actually engaged you. So don't get excited when your reach is 1000 people, but only 1 person engaged

So whats the difference between reach and engagement? 

Engagement

What really matters it the engagement. That means they saw what you posted and decided to click on it and interact with it. Be that a like, a share, or that they clicked on the link and took the time to read something you wrote. This would be the equivalent to that small kid in the candy isle picking up that giant 2000 calorie candy bar, ripping off the wrapper and chowing down. 

Now be that as it may, getting people to engage is very difficult. But, with the insights from FaceBook, you can see what works and what does not. 

Insights 

The best way to learn how to engage people is to look at the insights. These insights let you know how many people you reached, and out of those reached how many engaged by either liking the post or clicking on it. 

Flashy and to the point

What I've learned in my time running this page is that people want things that are easy to read, flashy, and are interesting in the sense that they have nothing to do with your business. Most people interact with pictures (the fewer words the better), they don't click on articles unless it has a title that is more shocking, such as "Brook Burk reads her ebook topless on the beach," rather than, "Bowker Research finds kids under 30 read more ebooks." (Yes I know, harsh, but thats what people would rather click on and read)

So when you post things, post lost of pictures and articles that are at least 'somewhat' related to your business. That will give you the most reach and will gain you the most likes. Once you have enough likes, you can start posting things that are relevant to your company and you will start to have some engagement to your actual business. 

The rest will freeload on your posts just looking for more articles about Brook Burk. 

Choose your time wisely 

You will also notice that engagement for your target audience is going to be different depending on the time of the week and when you post. People are more likely to engage on monday mornings and friday mornings (at least for my business). So this is something you need to look at before you plan your posts so you can get the most engagement. 

I use a program called Hoot Suite that lets me auto schedule my posts and time them out. It saves me a lot of time and allows me to keep my page active without constantly having to nurse it like that wining little kid in the candy isle. 

It will take a while to discover this pattern, but watch it closely and start to make adjustments. Experiment and see when things get read the most. 

Don't Spam 

There is nothing I hate more than getting spam email. I do everything I can to unsubscribe from those when I get them. The same goes for Facebook. If you like a company, all of a sudden you start to see your news feed crowded with offers and promotions from a company trying to take your much earned candy money. 

Don't be that business. 

Instead, thing of what your target market wants to see and stick to one very important rule: the 9 to 1. Post 9 things that are interesting for other people and add to their lives. Then, for every 9 posts for others, you can post one for yourself. This way, you won't seem spammy and you won't get unlikes. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, you are going to get frustrated with all those little candy starved kids running around the isle not picking your product. Just remember: more calories, more color, and a bigger bar is the only way to get their attention and get them crying to their moms to buy it for them. Just make sure to write down how many temper tantrums you get per day and take note when they walk in the door. 

Target Market for Project

Using My Own Business

I will be using my own business for the project for the class. My company is Social Publishing House, an ebook publishing that uses the group collaborative approach to creating novels that benefits the author and the team producing it. The company is entering is second year and I am working very hard on establishing my first few authors.

Target Market

I have a very specific target market for what a book buyer is. In terms of writers, this demographic is very hard to pin down. But, it is assumed that those who read often are more likely to be writers (good writers that is). Thus, I have priced together some information from various consumer reports and articles from reputable sources. This is what I found: 

-          Gender: Female

-        Age: Between 36 and 45 (average age 42)

-        Income: $50,000/ year

-        Ethnicity: White/Caucasian

-        Location: North eastern United States or areas with inclement weather

-        Family: Married with two to three kids. Recent empty nester or kids of high school age.

-        Interests: Romance, Memoirs, children’s books

-        Writes: Romance and memoir books.

-        Occupation: Homemaker/Teacher

-        Education: College Degree

         Additional Information: 

Republican/Conservative

Wants to be the next E.L. James

Most likely to self-publish

Most likely started writing seriously within the last two years

Reads 10 to 20 books a year

 Probably overweight/non athletic

Week 3 - Website I Use Frequently

Common Use Websites

As many of you, I am addicted to the internet. But its not by choice. Everything I do for work, school, and relaxation is now based on the internet. There are several website that I use on a daily basis that I could go into. Many of those are well known websites, but I am going to use two that I read daily for research purposes to keep pace with the book industry. No smock needed for this one, these website are alright. 

Digital Book World 

Effectiveness

DBW is a site that focuses on the change of ebooks and electronic publishing and monitors different high level trends in the industry. This site is affective due to its professional outlay and consistency across all of its posts. Although its a little cluttered with text, there is a proper balance of photos and links that capture the eye and encourage the reader to explore. 

Specifics of Design and Principle

The page is set to allow the visitor to browse easily and find what they are interested in. The page is also set to highlight features and posts they want you to focus on. Additionally, they have professional bloggers that feature articles and opinions, and they do well to feature pictures of the authors to make it personal and identifiable. Lastly, their menu options and selection for browsing are intuitive for the user. 

Coming Back Again

I come back to this website because they constantly post new information and keep their page fresh. They also keep the synopsis of each story short and to the punch to make it easier for readers to find an article they are interested in. Basically, I can go to their website and quickly get up to speed in the industry without wasting anytime trying to navigate. 

What Could Be Improved

Although this is basically a newspaper online, they could do a little better job with laying out where their articles are and reducing the amount of text. They have a Book wire feed on the right that pops up with every page and I don't think its very useful. And they do keep things consistent across every page, but I think they need to differentiate their pages slightly to know that you are looking at a Podcast page vs. their regular news articles. 

The Passive Voice

Effectiveness

This is a blog that functions mostly as a launch pad to other articles and blogs that are relevant to the publishing industry. They do not create any original content, but they do an excellent job with summarizing articles and providing links to them so I can get information at a glance in a very quick way. Their content updates constantly and is a great reflection of what is going on in the industry at that very moment. 

Principles of Design

The page has a great overall theme with a simple feed. Its straight forward and easy to browse. Its not too cluttered with advertisements and they keep their navigation bar fairly simple. This is an extremely clean and simple website that serves a single purpose and doesn't try to do more. Although they could do a little more if they wanted (specifically making their own original content), but they choose not to. 

Coming Back Again

I return to this site for the same reason that I return to DBW in that their content is fresh and its easy to navigate. This site does better than DBW in navigation and simplicity of information. They also keep things updated with new information constantly and create the right kind of balance by offering around 5 to 6 new articles each day. 

What Could Be Improved

When you click on a link, it takes you to a separate page that displays more or less the same information. Its mostly to see the comments that are placed on the page from others. I think this is their way to keep traffic on their site, however I think that they could eliminate this page and simply encourage people to leave comments on the actual blog instead of their own.