Biz Tips Blog: Online Marketing, Visibility and Business Blogging Tips

How Social Media Can Turn Your Book into a Bestseller

A quick post here to direct you to a post by David Meerman Scott with a case study about how a self-published author created a powerful platform for her book using social media tactics.

If you believe the only way to get published and known is by being connected with a traditional publishing house, think again. Lisa Genova created enormous success for her book (a novel!) using free and low cost social marketing tools. Her efforts lead to a book deal with Simon & Schuster and it hit the New York Times Bestseller list.  Read the case study and prepared to be inspired about what you can do to build massive visibility for your book or product.

Social Marketing Books: Which Ones are Must-Reads?

Today I was checking out a book about YouTube (YouTube: An Insider's Guide to Climbing the Charts) recommended by Chris Brogan. As usual when I hit the Amazon site, one thing lead to another and I was following all kinds of paths to more books on social marketing. Which got me thinking.

There are SO MANY books on social marketing. How do you know which are the best...which are worth the investment..which ones are really must-reads and will provide the best,usable information for you to build your business?

Here's a sampling of what I found on Amazon and kept getting "recommended" to me:

• Facebook Marketing
• Social Media Marketing
• Plug Your Business with Web 2.0
• MySpace Marketing
• YouTube for Business
• Twitter Revolution (I own this - highly recommended!)
• World Wide Rave (I was lucky enough to get a review copy from David Meerman Scott; in my opinion anything DSM writes is worth your time to read and study)
• Tribes (I own this too; anything by Seth Godin is worth reading IMHO)

This is a tiny, tiny list of what I saw available on Amazon. I'd love to know from you which social marketing books you've found to be useful-absolutely-must-read books.

Please share your faves in the comments and let me know why you think your recommended book is worth the investment of time and money. I'd like to know what books I need to add to my library and study. Thanks! 

Smart Business Folks Are Thriving...You Can Too

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That doesn't usually work out so well.

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Lou Bortone Shares Tips about Using Online Video

Are you attending the Social Media Telesummit (going on daily through January 30)? Last week, I listened to a few of the programs as time permitted. One of my favorite video guys, Lou Bortone, was the featured speaker right before The Blog Squad.

Instead of taking notes the traditional way with pen and paper, I used twitter to report out to my followers some of the nuggets Lou shared.  Here are a sample of a few video tips from Lou Bortone. These are quotes and abbreviated notes.

Online video rocks! It's time to jump on the video bandwagon to build your brand.

Video helps build rapport & immediate connection and makes you memorable.

[There's a] low barrier to entry for using video. Use webcam or Flip camera:

Video helps you get known online very quickly

Add a welcome video to website; create live video on ustream.tv, send video postcards, use Flip to get testimonials

Use http://www.tubemogel.com to upload your videos to multiple video sites

[Example of a] video squeeze page: http://www.stand4yourbrand.com

 Use blip.tv instead of youtube.com for video distribution; blip.tv looks better.

I've been asking around on Facebook and Twitter to find out who the best video bloggers are. Do you have a favorite vlogger? If you know of a blog that uses video really well, please post the link in the comments below. Thanks!

Related Posts:
Video: Engage Your Blog Readers in Multiple Ways
What's Stopping You From Using Video to Promote Your Business?

Can Twitter Really Help Fill Your Groups?

Re: Social Media TeleSummit Starts on Wednesday

My friend, Leesa Barnes, first signed up for Twitter in February 2007. She had no clue what to do next.

So, on March 27, 2007 at 12:51pm, she posted her first tweet:

lamenting over how i'm going to generate 88% more content for my book in under 21-days

Fast forward 2 years later and Leesa can't live without Twitter.

WendyY Bailey, a speaker at the 2009 Social Media Telesummit, is also a Twitter-addict. She recently **oversold** a virtual event using her best Twitter tips.

She's also been invited to Las Vegas in February to not only lead a panel at a high profile event, but also present a session.

Do you want to find out how WendyY uses Twitter to achieve these results?