Twitter marketing: Using hashtags

by Donna Gunter, The Online Biz Resource Queen (TM)

Twitter, as a popular social networking platform, is a viral marketing strategy all on its own, especially if your followers like your tweets and retweet them to their followers. However, I've recently noticed another trend in Twitter usage that increases its viral marketing capabilities through the use of hashtags.

What's a hashtag, anyway? Also called the pound sign, the hashtag (#) is added to a tweet as a way of creating trackable categories, groups, or topics that others can use to search for info using the Twitter Search feature. One of the most common uses of the hashtag is to tweet what's happening at an event or conference. The event organizer will request all attendees use a specific hashtag, i.e. #yourevent, when tweeting about the event to your followers. So, then, someone who isn't present at the event but wants to follow what's happening there can simply search for #yourevent and see what's going on and what participants are saying and sharing about the event.

Anyone can create a hashtag by putting hashtag (#) in front of anything. If you log into Twitter and look in the right-hand column, you'll see the Trending Topics, many of which can be tracked with a hashtag. How can you use this strategy to create more viral marketing for your business on Twitter? By creating a hashtag Twitter tips campaign.

Here are 6 steps to help you create your own Twitter hashtag campaign:

1. Research. What kinds of tips would be appreciated by your target market? On what topics do you frequently receive questions from your clients? My target market is always asking questions about getting more traffic, so I decided to focus on traffic generation strategies.

2. Choose your name. Choose a short, simple name that reflects your brand and what you're offering. Before making your final decision, you need to check your proposed name on Twitter Search (search by including the #) to ensure that no one else is using that name. Otherwise, your tweeted tips will intermingle with the other hashtag group using that name. I quickly checked and discovered that no one was using #OBUTrafficTip, so that's what I chose.

3. Create your tips. You can easily pick your tips out of an article or blog post you've created. In my case, I had purchased a PLR ebook that I used as a basis for my tips. Remember that your tips need to be less than 140 characters, including the hashtag name you've chosen and any links you include.

4. Link to relevant info. You get the most mileage out of these tips if you link the tips to something relevant to that tip. For example, if you have a bank of articles, each tip might link to an article you've written that has more details about the tip. For maximum exposure, you'll want to link to info on your site or your blog rather than to the posting of an article in an article directory.

5. Upload the tips into TweetLater.com. This type of campaign is easily managed using TweetLater.com. Simply upload your completed tips and set them to distribute once a day (or several times a week) over the upcoming weeks by postdating them into the future. In this way you put these tips on autopilot and they post themselves.

6. Let them begin to work their magic. It may take awhile for them to catch on, but eventually others will begin to retweet your tips as useful information they want their followers to access. As with most marketing strategies, consistency is the key here to your success.

It's pretty easy to begin your own viral marketing tips campaign using the Twitter hashtag. Simply follow the steps as outlined above, and watch as your number of Twitter follows grows each day!

Online Business Coach Donna Gunter helps baby boomers create profitable online retirement businesses by demystifying the steps needed to successfully market a baby boomer business online. Would you like to learn the specific Internet marketing strategies that get results? Discover how to increase your visibility and get found online by claiming your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, at == > http://www.TurbochargeYourOnlineMarketing.com

Using cross promotion in book marketing

Today I want to share a couple of ways I've used cross promotional opportunities to successfully reach new audiences. Hopefully these examples will help you come up with a few cross promotion ideas to help you market your unique book.

Back when my novel was new, I wanted to reach equine enthusiasts as a secondary market because a horse owned by the main character plays a major part in the plotline. After doing a google search, I contacted the Equine Art Guild and asked if anyone would be interested in working with an historical fiction author (a fellow "starving artist") on a promotional project. I received a handful of responses and picked Kristen Queen, who specializes in equine and animal portraiture. Kristen already had a piece of art that resembled the equine character in my book (named Justus) - and I really liked her style.

In addition to placing information on her website about my book (and me doing the same for her), Kristen also created an entire Justus store on Cafepress which helps get the word out about her art and helps me by showcasing a character in my book. We also incorporated each other's contact information on all our promotional material, including "Justus" greeting cards that I had printed to give out at book signings.

The great thing about cross promotion is it doesn't have to cost anything to reach a new audience. Kristen's art is now being seen at the festivals and book signings I attend, and my book is being seen at art shows and horse events that she attends.

My latest cross promotional project involves the trailer for the Civil War novel Shades of Gray. Since authentic-looking Civil War stock art is a little hard to come by, I requested permission to use the artwork of renowned artist Dale Gallon (never really thinking I would get it). Mr. Gallon not only gave me permission, he is linking his website to mine, helping me to reach Civil War enthusiasts in a whole new way.

No author has the time or money to reach all their potential audiences. Concentrate your energy on a small, defined group, and then think of ways to reach secondary and related audiences without expending a lot of time.

10 mistakes first-time authors make

Finding that promoting your book is even harder than writing it? I certainly have. But luckily for me, my earlier career was in a newsroom where I learned the ins and outs of getting past the editor's desk and into print. As a result, I was able promote my historical fiction novel into the #1 spot on Amazon in the romance/historical/U.S. category.

There is more to book marketing than just press releases, so here are some of the mistakes I often see first-time authors make in book promotion.

1. They spend too much time chatting with other authors. Author groups are great for networking and commiserating, but you’re not selling books by chatting with other authors about how you’re not selling books.

2. They assume the store where they are signing books will advertise the event. Do your own publicity for every event. That could mean press releases to local papers, sending calendar items to publications, posters, postcards, radio interviews, etc.

3. They spend too much time on social networking sights that don’t produce results. It's easy to spend the better part of a day between twitter, facebook, linkedin and ning groups. They are an important part of marketing, but you should be wise with your time.

4. They don’t realize the power of the press release. You have a local paper, right? And there are tons of free Internet distribution sites out there. If you've sent less than four press releases in the last six months, you’re not effectively marketing your book.

5. They're not using key words and SEO effectively (which is why press releases and articles are so important). There is a learning curve to all this technology, but it’s necessary to know.

6. Back to the basics: They think their target market is "everybody."

7. They start trying to get reviews AFTER their book has been published. The big reviewers need the manuscript four to five months before the pub date. If you want the review to coincide with the launch, obviously you are going to have to get the book into reviewers hands early.

8. They rush their book to print before it's ready. It's hard to be patient, but hurrying the book into print will only cause headaches later.

9. They think they are going to be a guest on Oprah before they've even received an interview from their local paper. Start small, build buzz.

10. They're marketing plan (if they have one) is not multi-faceted. You can't rely on one type of marketing. Your plan should include print media, radio, blogs, websites and ezines, to name a few.

Good luck!

Downhill race against a killer

Killer Bunny Hill
By Denise Robbins

A killer is on her bunny trail. Shot while snowboarding, Samantha Spenser lands on a stranger’s doorstep without her memory, but with a shooter on her tail. Even after the stranger saves her from the gunman and offers her refuge, Sam begins to fear for her life when Max, holding a gun to her head, demands to know the location of his abducted brother. Is the man with the whiskey-colored eyes her savior who will protect her, or the shooter who wants her dead? If Samantha trusts the sexy man to unravel the mystery of her amnesia, will he discover she is an innocent bystander or a deceitful criminal?

The last thing he wants or needs is the complication of a gorgeous snow bunny half dead from bullet wounds on his doorstep. Frustrated by the lack of clues and even more discouraged by the lack of help from his agency and his brother’s, special agent Maximilian Stone sets out in search for his kidnapped brother. First, he must solve the mystery of Samantha, the intriguing woman sleeping in his bed.

Is there a connection between Snow Bunny and his missing FBI brother? Or was she brought in by a darker enemy to destroy Max before he can find them?


Read about author Denise Robbins' other computer/crime/romance thrillers.

Welcome authors!

If you are a new published author - or any author who is struggling with getting your book noticed, you've come to the right place!

I started this blog as a way to help other authors get a little more exposure, and think I've come up with a pretty good package for those who need help with their book marketing.

As a way of introduction, I was a newspaper editor for 18 years before publishing my first novel in 2008. Thanks, I believe, to my newspaper experience, my expertise in writing press releases, and my diverse marketing plan, my Civil War novel climbed to #1 on Amazon's Best Seller list in the romance/historical category, beating the clasic Gone with the Wind.

After hearing from other authors who are fumbling around (like I did at first), I've decided to offer my marketing plan as a basic guide. I wish I could afford to offer it for free, but I think I'm making it affordable at $39.95. The plan took me two years to write and includes different facets of marketing like: PR/Publicity (press kits, reviews, endorsements, newspaper articles); Internet (social networking, web site, blogging); Joint Ventures/Cross Promotions; Special Promotions; Selling; Electronic Media; Paid Advertising: Other Promotional Events: and Msc.

As a bonus, I will include:

• A list of Internet services that will distribute your press releases.

As a thank-you I will throw in:

• A 94-page pdf called 154 Power-Packed PR and Marketing Tips by Gail Martin of Dreamspinner Communications.

And finally:

• Space and time permitting, I will spotlight the books/authors of those who participate in this offer on BookExposure.

Note: The marketing plan is written to promote my historical fiction book, but I believe the general components are fairly universal. If you have any questions, please email me at bookexposure(at) yahoo.com

Purchases may be made through Paypal at the above email address.

A Bloody Good Cruise

A Bloody Good Cruise
By Diana Rubino

A Bloody Good Cruise is a humorous story about how romance author Mona Rossi and her on and off again main squeeze, Fausto Silvius, a full blooded vampire, narrowly escape a lunatic fringe group of vampire hunters they call the Vampire Ball Busters.

It's set on The Romanza, a cruise ship on a Mediterranean voyage. Fausto, the ship's doctor, can never be one of Mona's kind and she's afraid to become one of his. As they sail the Mediterranean on a writers' cruise, the couple is stalked by vampire hunters, and by Fausto's notorious ex-wife, Lucrezia Borgia.

Events force Mona and Fausto team up with the hunters to capture Lucrezia, but where can they go from here? With Fausto's friend and Mona's editor vamping it up and a hunter on the loose, can this bloody good cruise have a happy ending?

Visit author Diana Rubino's website.

Purchase A Bloody Good Cruise on Amazon or through the publisher Eternal Press.

237 Pages
Print ISBN: 978-192664-7593
E-book ISBN: 978-1-926647-51-7

Suspense and history in "Afternoon Tea"

Afternoon Tea
By J. R. LeGreca

Enter the fascinating Victorian Age in New England and witness a saga of forbidden love, the standards of high society and their paradox unfold in Afternoon Tea, an engaging tale.

Get a glimpse of a glittering, yet cruel world where image and status are everything. With a bundle of roses in one hand and a walking cane in the other, Lawrence Gray, an elderly gentleman, braves the cold Northeastern winter as he makes his way to Saint James Cemetery.

There, he offers the flowers to his wife who passed away forty years ago. Lawrence ’s devotion to his long-dead wife elicits curiosity from Meg Bailey, a neighbor who spies on him from her kitchen window every morning. Meg’s curiosity hits a peak when town historian, Fanny Brund, invites her for afternoon tea and reveals the mystery surrounding the Grays.

In a bid to uncover the truth behind Lawrence Gray’s guilt over his wife’s untimely death, Fanny warps back to the year 1895 — only to unravel a secret that will change Meg’s life forever. . .

Visit the author at her website J. R. LaGreca and read more about the book Afternoon Tea.

You can purchase Afternoon Tea on Amazon.