Promoting a Blog Book Tour with Social Media

When I'm promoting a blog book tour for myself or another author, my social media procedure goes like this. It's  basically what I teach to my blog book tours classes:

1. First thing in the AM, go to the host blog and leave a comment

2. Click G +1

3. Share on your FB and Twitter (usually there are share buttons right at the blog)

4. Pin to Pinterest (I have the pin bookmarklet on my dash)

5. Go to the host's Twitter account and retweet other relevant tweets

6. At mid-day go to the Twitter account and retweet more

7. Go to host's Facebook account and share the book promotion

8. Rinse and repeat in the evening (by then, you should have a shortened URL from somewhere which is handy)

9. Share on any other social networks you use

A good blog will make this easy for you and you'll notice most of the share buttons I mention in the photo below:

I try to do this at least three times a day because as you know, with as many followers as some of us have, the scrolls roll pretty fast and posts can be easily missed. 

This procedure works very well for anything you're promoting, not just books. The important consideration is frequency over a long period of time - don't post everywhere twelve times in ten minutes! 

End your day by saying thank you to your host blogger! Everyone loves a little appreciation.

Hot Tip of the Day

If you are marketing a book on your blog, and expect comments or questions, turn off your comment moderation and Captcha codes - these only create a hurdle for your customers. They won't jump them, I promise you. One presumes if you are actively marketing a product that you will be monitoring your blog live and in person throughout the day.

Also, if you have requirements for the reader like following your blog to get some benefit, make sure the follow link is clear and up high next to your post where the viewer can easily see it. Don't make them work for the benefit you are offering. It will only drive them away, and worse, it could irritate them to the point they never come back to your blog.

You have seconds, seconds, to make your case. Make friends and customers the first chance you get. It will often be the only chance.

Housekeeping

It's amazing how clutter builds up everywhere, and that includes on your blogs. Have you looked at your blog sidebars lately? Does any of that make sense to your readers? Two of my blogrolls right here are a mess. They don't make a bit of sense. I need to clean that up this week.

What about your blogrolls? Why do they exist? If you're planning a blog book tour, we suggest you have one blogroll for just your possible hosts. These are sites you've reviewed for potential, visit regularly, and post comments on so they get to know you. They're your social blogs, the getting-to-know-you pals who might give your book a boost down the road.

Do you do housekeeping in your virtual world on a regular basis? How often? It might not be a bad idea to consciously and objectively review your sites on a regular basis. Weekly wouldn't be too often with some of my e-Cleaning needs.