I’m genuinely kidding.
Did I get ya?
Lately, there’s been a string of posts why Indie Authors need to be friends with people on social media before they push content to buy their book. This might upset some people, but thoughts like that are incredibly naïve. A comment like that is coming from how THEY prefer to be marketed to and no one else. There are different marketing techniques for different buyers. This is something that I’ve recently learned thanks to Hannah Richards over at hannahrichardssocialmedia.com. I took her accelerated Author Branding course and learned A LOT about how to market my book. If you want to know more, you should definitely check out the courses she offers. I’ll give you just a brief glimpse of what I learned.
The Last Minute Shopper
Slow to decide and needs a lot of reminders.
Needs lots of product awareness.
The Contemplating Chekhov
Analytical, skeptical, and the most frugal
Buys off of emotion and analytics.
The Spendthrift
Impulsive and responds to emotion
Aesthetically driven
The Educated Einstein
Educates themselves on the product before buying
Responds to the facts about your book
The Relationshiper (yes, I made up a word...sue me)
Buys off of relationship and how you present yourself
Aesthetically driven
There is a lot more to this, but I don’t want to take away from Hannah’s teachings, so this is all I’ll summarize. Looking at the list, can you guess what type of buyer would make the comment that they’d rather know you the author over having marketing shoved in their face to buy a book? If you guessed The Relationshiper, then you guessed correct! This is why I say that a comment like that from a reader on social media is naïve.
Do I think relationships are important?
ABSOLUTELY
Do I think I should form friendships on social media so that I’m actually being social?
YES
Am I going to stop marketing in different ways just because one person doesn’t like it?
NO
That would be naïve on my part as an Indie Author. One, I don’t have the time to do all the in-depth social marketing that I’m sure a lot of readers would crave. Two, what takes me minutes, hours, days, weeks to write, a reader will devour in no time flat. So, if I aspire to be a successful Indie Author, I have to keep writing.
I’ve already said that I’ll be social on social media. I enjoy being friendly with people, but I have more on my plate than just marketing to a specific set of needs. As Indie Authors, we need to market the hell out of our books because the readers will never find us—we have to find them. We have to make the first jump into telling others about our book(s). Wouldn’t it be nice if it were the opposite?
So, to my fellow authors and creatives. Don’t listen to the one person who’s complaining about being marketed to in a way that annoys them. They are one type of buyer. There is a whole world of other buyers out there that may just be waiting for you to say something, so they take notice and pick up your book. Marketing for an Indie Author is hard, but not impossible. Don’t give up. I believe in you.
You can read more about buyer’s psychology by clicking here to this website. Again, if you want some personalized help with marketing as an author, I highly recommend Hannah’s help. Here’s her website again if you need it.
Until next time, Fictionados!