Should authors take the time to create an email list?
Yes.
The conventional way to build a list it to give something away. Many authors give away a free chapter. And for many authors this is the best way to build a list. But sometimes you have to think a little outside the box to build an email list. Maybe the best thing to give-away is admission to an event where the author is speaking, or be privilege to a invitation-only webcast.
The way to use social media to build the list, is to state the benefit and give the link to the email capture page.
For authors, there are many ways to give in order to receive. –Phyllis
Use the hashtag #author or #freechapter or #giveaway or use the keywords of the subject of your book #socialmedia #leadership #coaching. Schedule those posts to go out every three hours or so – round the clock – as long as you are also tweeting in between those posts (live and other scheduled). I would also set up a few searches for your keywords and create helpful tweets that lead people to your email capture page.
If you already have a Page with at least 400 Likes, create a post about the cool thing you are giving away including the link to the email capture page and make the post a Promoted Post to put in front of a larger audience. Once that post has some good comments – turn it into a Sponsored Story ad. You realize I could talk about how to do this on Facebook for this entire interview – there’s so much you can do on Facebook.
You can put the text about the gift you are giving away in your profile and in your headline – there are a ton of things you could do on LinkedIn with Groups and posts.
Create a beautiful image (remember that visual marketing strategy?) with a text overlay of the thing you are giving away. In the description area describe the free gift and include the link. The image, btw needs to be ON the website email capture page. In other words, you should Pin the image from your website.
YouTube
If you write novels, have one of your characters narrate over the image you created for Pinterest, to invite people to click through. If you write non-fiction – you can do the same process, only use your own voice.
MORE POSTS FOR AUTHORS
This post is 4th in a series of post focused on helping authors with their social media marketing. You might find these articles helpful:
Thanks for a power-packed blog post, Phyllis. Each piece of advice give me lots of homework to do. You are an endless source of wisdom!
Thanks Lenora! I try!