San Francisco Chronicle recently did an article on social advertising. They interviewed several California companies who are currently experimenting with social advertising. On the subject of online video ads, both Wired and Business Week have also discussed the statistics on online video ads. 

Everywhere we turn, there are places to advertise. Every media outlet has a website with ad space for sale, and book trailers are appearing all over YouTube as publishers try to cash in on the social media phenomenon. 

But does anyone even read these ads or watch these videos?

How does the marketing department know how much of its resources to allocate to online advertising when it’s still so experimental?

What makes a great ad? 

We’ll be exploring these questions over the next couple of posts so stay tuned!

Photo Credit: mediaboytodd on Flickr under Attribution 2.0 Generic

1. Companies that spend more money and effort on inbound marketing experience a lower cost per lead.
2. Inbound marketing activities contribute a significant portion of sales leads.

I’m not going to go into too much detail about these findings because you can just hop on over there to read it yourself. It’s great to see some stats on the usefulness of social media as a marketing tool. Everyone agrees that social media is important but there’s no real statistics to back it up. If there’s no evidence that online marketing improves ROI, it’s hard to get the company involved. I’ve always thought companies should think of social marketing like the telephone or email. It doesn’t directly impact the bottom line but try running your business without it.

Note: HubSpot differentiates inbound marketing (blogging, SEO, and pay-per-click) with outbound marketing (direct mail, trade shows).

BookCrossing operates on a “catch and release” system. You have a book, tag it with a number and some instructions, then leave it lying somewhere for someone else to find. Whoever finds it can read it, then register it by posting a new location (or review), then re-release it out into the wild for the next lucky reader to find. Wonderful idea. A quick look through the site shows several titles with astonishingly long legs.

You can also search for any book on their site. Search results include not only color book cover, link to booksellers, and Amazon reviews, it also includes books registered, books in the wild, reviews by those who caught the book, and who would like a copy.

The top 10 list of most registered titles reads like the NY Times bestsellers list: Da Vinci Code, Life of Pi, Five People You Meet in Heaven, etc.

For booksellers and retailers, take a look at their crossing zone program. Designate a section of your store for free bookcrossing books to bring in book lovers and avid readers into your store!

Have you heard of BookCrossing? Would you use this community to help publicize your books?

Now that PoD is almost a month old, you all have a good idea of what this blog is about. I basically plan on keeping an eye on what’s new in the world of online publicity then translating that to the book industry. If I hear of online book campaigns, I’ll write about it. If I try something new as a publicist, I’ll write about it. Eventually, I’d also like to create an active list of bloggers who are interested in hearing from book publicists. I also plan on interviewing bloggers, authors who have written about online publicity, and industry folks. Of course, if you have any suggestions, I’d love to hear about it.

Of course, if you use another Google tool that you find helpful in your job as a publicist, comment below! I’d love to hear about it.

Google Books
http://books.google.com
This one is pretty much a given as everyone in the book industry should be familiar with Google Books. I use to send sample book pdfs (locked and lo-res, of course) to reviewers but find it’s much easier to just include a link to the book’s respective Google Books URL. I don’t need to worry about people not opening my emails because of an attachment, and bloggers typically appreciate having a link to click-thru if they’re interested in finding more. What’s also great is that Google Books provides links to multiple places where people can purchase the books online (not just Amazon), and you can set the % of pages you want to be available online.

Google Reader
http://reader.google.com
If you keep an eye on what’s going on in the world of media (like subscribing to newspapers and dailies), you’ll appreciate Google Reader. Sign-up for an account, then visit your favorite blogs and news site. By adding their RSS feeds, any new content on those blogs and sites will be added to your Google Reader main page. 

Google Maps
http://maps.google.com
Everyone already knows about Google Maps but did you know you can create your own custom map for free? When you visit the Google Maps page, click on ‘My Maps’ to begin creating your own. How about a map showing where all your events are or a map showing the general locations of all your authors? I know media are always interested in local authors. With some programming knowledge and the help of Google Spreadsheets, you can even create a form on your website linking to your map or embed the map directly onto your website.

Google Alert
http://alerts.google.com
Create a free account, and you’ll be able to keep an eye on any new mentions of a preselected search word. On mine, I have my author and book titles inputed as well as “social media” and any trends I want to keep tabs on. Just make sure you use quotations if you want Google Alerts to search for a phrase.

Google Trends
http://trends.google.com 
Google Trends looks at everyone’s search words to see what are the fastest-rising search queries. This one I find useful to keep an eye on major trends but not so much smaller ones. This is mainly because if not enough people are searching for a particular keyword or key phrase, Google Trends won’t register it.

Google Analytics
http://analytics.google.com
Track everything on your website from site visitors and referring sites to referring keywords and click-through rates. There is also a neat overlay program that shows you where people are most likely to click on which could help you experiment with page layout and design to see what appeals the most to your visitors.

Photo Credit: Svadilfari on Flickr under Attribution-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic

Though speaking of interactivity, I do like the idea of having local readers vote on their favorite content to create their own newspaper. This part I can get behind.

This idea is interesting enough that I’ll have to keep an eye on how they do. Goodness knows traditional newspapers and magazines need to be revamped in some way. If you’re in Chicago, San Francisco, or New York, pick up a copy (coming soon!), and let me know what you think!

1. Create a short and entertaining summary in the ‘info’ section, and ask people to comment and rate your video. Always provide an additional incentive to click through to your website. For example, “Get the recipe for the cake seen in the video HERE!”
2. Tags are important. As you watch the finished video, write down keywords that come to your head. In addition, if you know there is a link between your video and a popular search word, add this to your list of tags.
3. Take advantage of the Statistics & Data page and the Insight function by tracking ratings, # of times your video was favorited, where people are coming from, and how people are finding you.
4. Pay particular attention to the Hot Spot functionality to learn where people are leaving your video and where people are re-watching your video for next time.
5. Remember how social media = relationships? Be an active participant in the YouTube community. When someone takes the time to comment on your video, reply back. Comment on other videos that relate to your books or authors but don’t be SPAMMY about it. 
6. If you notice that there is one particular site bringing in tons of viewers, take this opportunity to promote your book by offering that site giveaway copies or author interviews.
7. Do you have a YouTube channel? Create one. Now.
8. Create a playlist to collect videos from all over YouTube on a topic of your choice.
9. Invite people to be your friends and to subscribe. Likewise, develop a community by adding videos that mention your books to your favorite list and by subscribing to authors who also create videos for their books.
10. Turn on Active Sharing and watch related videos created by others.

Photo Credit: iJustine in the YouTube Booth at MacWorld. Taken by adamjackson1984 on Flickr under Attribution-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic

1. Make it entertaining. Whether you’re promoting a book, an author, or your company brand, make full use of this visual medium by capturing viewer’s attention. Create a video that your intended audience will want to see NOT what you think it should be about.
2. Make it viral. Be different. Be quirky. Be the odd duck out. Stand out from the rest of the other online videos.
3. Be prepared. Create a storyboard and plan out everything. Envision the video in your mind and have all materials on hand before you begin filming. This will save you oodles of time.
4. Speaking of time. Give yourself more than you think you will need. Odds are, you’ll need to reshoot certain scenes to make things work. 
5. Prep authors ahead of time! A YouTube video may not be an interview with NBC’s Katie Couric, but most of the rules still apply: Don’t wear red or blue, act natural, make eye contact, sit on the edge of your seat so you don’t appear frumpy, etc. etc.
6. Promote! Promote! Promote! Just because you’ve uploaded your video online doesn’t mean people will come automatically. 
7. You don’t need a lot of money. These days, a simple camera and an iMovie program will produce a great video.
8. Pay attention to lighting! Grab an extra lamp, use flashlights, open the blinds, whatever you can do so your video isn’t drab and dark.
9. And in addition to lighting, make sure the sound is loud and clear.
10. Keep it short. No one wants to watch a 20 minute video of an author talking about his book (unless if the author is J.K. Rowling)

More tips specifically for YouTube will be coming next!