How to Market You or Your Product Using Social Media

How to Market You or Your Product Using Social Media

Today’s Ask Dr. Diane: I just wrote a book that is available through Amazon.  I’m just not sure about the best way to market it?  Any suggestions?
 
That is a good question.  The tips I’m about to give can also be used to market things other than a book. 
 
You could market it through several ways.  I would create a link to it on your site like I have links on my main website to Amazon.  If you don’t want to do that, you could offer it directly from you as a PDF through your site and charge them using PayPal. 
 
You might want to make a video (3-4 minutes at most) and put it on Youtube.  At the end of the video make mention of a free offer or newsletter and where to go for more information.  If they go to that site, it should be a capture page to get people signed up  to receive free newsletters (through a site like aweber.com) to get them interested in you and your book. 
 
You definitely need to be on Facebook and create fan pages like the ones I have for each of my books there.  See:
 
 
I would be on Twitter as well.  You can tie all of your Facebook, Twitter, WordPress, etc. accounts into one area on sites like Hootsuite . . . but I like to use Posterous a lot. It is like a blog but it has a great share information toolbar that you can get that and it also allows you to share your updates on multiple sites like Hootsuite does. 
 
If you want to learn about social networking and “how to do it” . . .for a reasonable price you can go to  Letsgetsocial and sign up to get their videos.  I watched them and they are really very informative.  They are designed to teach people how to be media managers but people who don’t want to do the job of media management can learn how to do their own media management from them. 
 
I gave a presentation yesterday to a local group here where others were presenting to career-seekers … they all agreed that Youtube is one of the biggest things you can do to get noticed. 
 
I watched a video a while back on Pitchengine.com about videos and they had some good information.  They are more costly though. You might watch their video for information.  If you are going to spend that kind of money, you need to have a major product to promote.  Books probably won’t have the return to support that. 
 
Talks are another great way to promote your book . . . so are radio interviews.   You can go to radioguestlist.com or other sites like that to find people looking to interview you.
 
Blogging is one of the best ways to get your name out there.   I like to use WordPress because it is free and uncomplicated. 
 
You can also release press releases on prweb or other such sites.  I am on wooeb who also has press releases that are not as expensive.  You can send out free releases on pitchengine.
 
You might check out some books . . . .I liked a book called Career Renegade . . . had some good ideas.  (on a different side topic . . .I liked the book The Happiness Advantage written by ex Harvard professor – very entertaining)
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Help for Online Students at Changing Hands Bookstore and Amazon

My latest book: The Online Student User Manual is now available at Changing Hands Bookstore

They are located at:

Changing Hands Bookstore
6428 S McClintock Dr
Tempe, AZ 85283

The book is also available directly through Amazon by clicking here.

If you are interested in signing up for a free newsletter that contains a lot of tips and helpful advice from the book, please click here.

Thinking of Taking Online Classes? What to Know Before You Start

My new book is now available . . . to see full press release, click here.
“Here’s something you should know – Dr. Hamilton has provided the most comprehensive “soup to nuts” book about online education on the planet. It’s a real hand-holder to get you started, guide you to a degree and beyond into the workforce.” Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant “Stuff You Should Know” Podcast

“Here’s something you should know – Dr. Hamilton has provided the most comprehensive “soup to nuts” book about online education on the planet. It’s a real hand-holder to get you started, guide you to a degree and beyond into the workforce.” Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant “Stuff You Should Know” Podcast

Quote start“Nearly 12 million post-secondary students in the United States take some or all of their classes online right now. But this will skyrocket to more than 22 million in the next five years.(Campustechnology.com, 2010)Quote end

Tempe, AZ (PRWEB) August 17, 2010

College and university fall-semester classes will be starting soon. With the popularity of online education, many courses are now being presented in an online format. This has left students looking for answers for how to be successful in the online classroom. Are they getting the help they need? According to Dr. Diane Hamilton, author of The Online Student’s User Manual, many students could use more helpful advice.

There is no mistaking the popularity of online education. Even Bill Gates praised online learning in his 2010 Annual Letter stating, “A lot of people, including me, think this is the next place where the internet will surprise people in how it can improve things.” With a predicted 22 million students taking some form of online courses, are students getting the help they need to understand this new form of learning? Apparently they are not, if the dropout rate is any indication. Karen Frankola with BNET (2010) reported, “Chronicle of Higher Education found that institutions are seeing dropout rates that range from 20 to 50 percent for distance learners. And administrators of online courses concur that dropout rates are often 10 to 20 percentage points higher than in their face-to-face counterparts.”

As online learning becomes the future of education, more and more students are finding they have plenty of questions about online learning but many are not receiving the answers. There is no shortage of books that explain the value of an online education. However, the typical book about online learning leaves out helpful advice about how to be a successful online student. This has left learners floundering in their first year of college.

“Other books for the online college student have failed to explain some of the most important skills that the new learner will have to possess once they enter the online classroom” explained Dr. Hamilton, who has also written books about understanding personalities in the workforce and how to reinvent your career. “I have taken my many years of experience teaching first time students and compiled what I’ve learned into The Online Student’s User Manual. This book is designed for those who are looking to understand key terminology and want answers to questions that other books about online learning have neglected to answer. For the first-time online college student, this book contains all they need for optimal success. For the experienced online student and online professor, this book is also an excellent resource, with tips on time management, goal planning, test preparation, writing guidelines, and document preparation techniques.”

There are plenty of books that will help you decide on the right school or find the money you need to finance your higher education. But if you want answers to all your other questions as well, The Online Student User’s Manual takes you where no other manual has gone before—deeply into the online learning experience. Not sure if you have enough computer skills or know how to navigate in cyberspace? Intimidated by all the new terminology? The Online Student User’s Manual will allay your fears and frustrations, as it provides you with information that will make you able to successfully traverse the online halls of learning.

About the Author
Diane Hamilton currently teaches bachelor-, master-, and doctoral-level courses for six online universities. Along with her teaching experience, she has a Doctorate Degree in Business Management and more than twenty-five years of business and management-related experience. To find out more about her writing or to schedule an interview, visit her website at https://drdianehamilton.com or her blog at http://drdianehamilton.wordpress.com/. Review copies are available.

The Online Student’s User Manual–August, 2010 ($14.95/Amazon). ISBN: 0982742800/9780982742808 Approximately –184 pages

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