How to Use Influencer Marketing To Promote Your Book

#outreachmarketing @chrisabraham

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How to Use Influencer Marketing

To Promote Your Book(Engaging Influencers for my Publishing Clients)

PREPARED FOR GroupHigh Virtual Summit

April 28, 2015

@ChrisAbraham

@GroupHigh

#OutreachMarketing


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Chris Abraham@chrisabraham

@gerrisdigital

[email protected]

slideshare.net/chrisabraham

youtube.com/chrisabraham

#outreachmarketing

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facebook.com/chrisabraham

twitter.com/chrisabraham

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google.com/+gerrisdigital

facebook.com/gerris

twitter.com/gerrisdigital


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• The publishing industry has

changed in the last decade

• With eBooks, self-publishing,

and a decrease in traditional

book reading, the margins on all

but the top-sellers is paper thin

• First-time and niche authors

have much less support and

resources towards book-

promotion

• Marketing budgets have been

slashed or preserved for top

sellers and top earners (that’s

assuming you can even get a

book deal these days)3

GLOCK: THE RISE OF AMERICA’S GUN BY PAUL M. BARRETT


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• Unlike advertising or a book

tour, there is no barrier to entry

to social media

• Social media enables both

intimate one-to-one

relationships with online

influencers

• Social also enables access to

one-to-many and many-to-many

social media shares

• Influencer marketing allows

authors to identify and then

engage topically-relevant online

influencers and bloggers 4

LAW OF THE JUNGLE BY PAUL M. BARRETT


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• Time, talent, and treasure are

all you need to support your

online “shadow” book launch

and book tour

• You can do it on the cheap

using just your time and talent

or you can subscribe to a

dedicated blogger outreach

platform like GroupHigh with a

little bit of treasure

• Or, you can open your wallet

and either collaborate with an

expert or hire a publicist to do

the outreach on your behalf

(I’m always happy to help)5

SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING BY MIKE MORAN & BILL HUNT


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• While social media marketing lacks formal

protocol, there are three essentials:

1. Treat everyone as if they’re a

Kardashian: be excited and grateful and

don’t take anyone for granted – no matter

how little clout (or Klout) -- and be willing

to lavish time & attention on everyone

2. Be responsive and follow up more than

once: “no reply” doesn’t mean “no”

3. Provide an exceptional gift: bloggers love

bound galleys, they love hardcover

copies drop-shipped. They’ll take

paperbacks, some prefer Amazon-

compatible downloads – but nobody at

all loves a PDF attachment6

MINDFUL WORK BY DAVID GELLES


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• In each of the preceding books, each

author was willing to lavish as many

books, at much attention, and as much

time was as required to make a

connection and honor each influencer:

• Paul M. Barrett was willing to brave

the gun message boards for Glock

• Amy Wilkinson hosted a reddit IAmA

question and answer session

• Mike Moran & Bill Hunt never met an

interview they weren’t willing to take

• David Gelles took podcast interviews

as readily as NPR interviews7

THE CREATOR’S CODE BY AMY WILKINSON


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WHY YOU SHOULD REACH FURTHER THAN THE A-LIST

• Top newspapers, journals, celebrity sites,

and high-status A-level blogs are highly

competitive

• Don’t forsake the crème de la crème but

don’t only rely on them to fuel your book’s

promotion – everyone’s fighting to go to

prom with the prom King and prom Queen

• If you don’t already have a brand, it’s

entirely possible to build a powerful brand

from the bottom up: blog by blog, influencer

by influencer

• Social media goes beyond blogs,

Facebook, and Twitter – don’t ignore

message boards and specialty sites


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RULE #34B - IF IT EXISTS THERE IS BLOG OF IT

Internet rule #34 - If it exists there IS porn of it


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THERE’S SO MUCH MORE THAN MOMMY BLOGGERS

• Paul M. Barrett made best mates with both

the pro-gun and anti-gun online – I helped

him connect with shooting sport hobbyists

on both general sports shooting and Glock-

specific message boards for his book Glock

• I found David Gelles hundreds of

influencers connected with the mindfulness

movement, both spiritual and secular

• I helped Amy Wilkinson connect with both

entrepreneurs and women with the goal of

connecting with women entrepreneurs

• Mike Moran tapped me to help him and Bill

Hunt track down everyone outside of their

personal SEO/SEM database of contacts


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AS CHEAPLY OR AS EASILY AS YOU WANT TO SO IT

• For years, I did all of my blogger outreach

campaigns using Excel spreadsheets and

then Google Sheets

• I discovered bloggers using keywords on

Google and blog search engines and tracked

engagements on those blasted spreadsheets

• You can do it cheap and hard or spend a little

money to make it easier

• I currently use a combination of Google, SDL

SM2, InkyBee, and GroupHigh to do my

blog and blogger research

• I use GroupHigh to manage my outreach

campaigns, including contacts & follow-ups


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REACH OUT TO WHEREVER THEY ARE


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REACH OUT TO WHEREVER THEY ARE


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MAKE YOUR PITCH AS PERSONABLE AS POSSIBLE


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MOST OF THE MAGIC HAPPENS IN THE INBOX – MAKE IT

HAPPEN!


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TWO FINAL MANTRAS TO LEAVE YOU WITH (AND

REMEMBER)

“Hugs not horns”– Chris Abraham

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is

fighting a hard battle”

– Philo of Alexandria

(or Plato or Ian MacLaren or John Watson)


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THANK YOU! ANY QUESTIONS? YES, YOU CAN START WITH

ME:

Gerris digital@gerrisdigital

www.gerr.is

[email protected]

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slideshare.net/chrisabraham

linkedin.com/company/gerris

google.com/+gerris

facebook.com/gerris

twitter.com/gerrisdigital

chris-abraham.com

Chris Abraham@chrisabraham

[email protected]

+1 202-352-5051