Social Media Marketing for Book Publishers 9781032231563, 9781032231556, 9781003276012

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SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING FOR BOOK PUBLISHERS

Providing a concise toolbox for publishing professionals and students of publishing, this book explores the skills needed to master the key elements of social media marketing and therefore stay relevant in this ever-competitive industry. Taking a hands-on, practical approach, Social Media Marketing for Book Publishers covers topics including researching and identifying actionable insights, developing a strategy, producing content, promotion types, community building, working with influencers, and how to measure success. Pulling from years of industry experience, the authors’ main focus is on adult fiction publishing, but they also address other areas of the industry including children’s, young adult (YA), academic, and non-fiction. The book additionally brings in valuable voices from the wider digital marketing industries, featuring excerpts from interviews with experts across search engine optimisation (SEO), AdWords, social platforms, community management, influencer management, and content strategists. Social Media Marketing for Book Publishers is a key text for any publishing courses covering how to market books, and should find a place on every publishers’ bookshelf. Miriam J. Johnson is a Senior Lecturer in Publishing and Subject Coordinator for the MAs in Publishing Media and Digital Publishing at Oxford International Centre for Publishing, Oxford Brookes University, UK. Helen A. Simpson is a Managing Partner at BADER. A female-led creative shop in Brooklyn, NY.

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SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING FOR BOOK PUBLISHERS

Miriam J. Johnson and Helen A. Simpson

Cover image: © Getty Images First published 2023 by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2023 Miriam J. Johnson and Helen A. Simpson The right of Miriam J. Johnson and Helen A. Simpson to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record has been requested for this book ISBN: 978-1-032-23156-3 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-032-23155-6 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-27601-2 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9781003276012 Typeset in Bembo by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd.

Helen Simpson: This book is dedicated to Ma, Pa + Samwise Simpson for always believing in me. Miriam Johnson: This book is dedicated to those who helped get it off the ground, and to Rosie, who made me get up from my computer from time to time and go outside.

CONTENTS

List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgementsxii Glossaryxiii Introduction: What Is Digital and Social Marketing?

1

1 Author Brands

7

2 Research & Identifying Insights

17

3 Master Social Strategy (MSS)

39

4 Campaign and Evergreen Strategies

75

5 Creative Ideation

83

6 Production

91

7 Paid Media Promotion

105

8 Community Building

133

9 Influencers

148

viii  Contents

10 Reporting/Metrics and Success157 11 TL;DR175 Appendices177 Index179

ILLUSTRATIONS

Figures 1.1 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.10 2.11 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 3.10 8.1

Publishing branding hierarchy (modified from Keller, 2002)10 Instagram search for #RomanceBook21 Related queries to Fantasy. Google Trends23 Google Trend themes24 Pinterest keyword search for “book”27 Timed trend search on Pinterest with different keywords28 Topic rankings on Facebook IQ Hot Topics28 Detailed trend search by age in the United States for June 202129 Detailed trend search by gender in the United States for June 202129 Detailed “across all categories” trend search30 People insights from Facebook IQ32 Results of UK, entertainment, media, and people insight search on Facebook IQ33 Instagram search for #crimefiction59 Instagram Insights page showing hashtag discovery60 TikTok search for fantasy book hashtags61 Trendsmap filtered by hashtag62 Trendsmap showing #FridayFeeling conversation63 Keyword search in Pinterest Ads Manager64 Keyword search for “fantasy book” in Pinterest Trends Tool65 Comparing search volume of different fantasy book keywords in Pinterest Trends Tool65 Instagram search for fantasy book keywords67 Instagram search for fantasy book hashtags68 Example of how a channel strategy could look141

x  Illustrations

8.2 Key roles of the Community Manager141 8.3 Community management opportunities with other teams142 11.1 Smart Social Cycle176

Tables 3.1 How a publisher might condense the insights into manageable action points41 3.2 Overarching objectives and guidelines of the master social strategy (MSS)43 3.3 Promotion/contents from insights43 3.4 Activation pillars44 3.5 Cross-platform posting considerations52 3.6 A one-page strategy54 3.7 Instagram with a small budget55 3.8 TikTok with a small budget55 3.9 Facebook Page with a small budget55 3.10 Facebook Groups with a small budget56 3.11 Full one-page strategy56 4.1 Campaign Insights77 4.2 Tailored creative brief78 4.3 Evergreen content roadmap81 5.1 Structured brainstorming session84 5.2 Brainstorm Example One for a crime book85 5.3 Brainstorm Example Two for a crime book85 5.4 An example of an evergreen content calendar87 6.1 General tips93 6.2 Specific to platform95 7.1 How and when to use the social options available108 7.2 Available ad formats on Facebook and Instagram109 7.3 Building your target audiences on Facebook and Instagram112 7.4 How to use paid ads on TikTok112 7.5 Available ad formats on TikTok113 7.6 Building your target audiences in TikTok115 7.7 Available ad formats on Reddit, part one116 7.8 Available ad formats on Reddit, part two117 7.9 Building your target audiences on Reddit120 7.10 Paid features on Twitter120 7.11 Available ad formats on Twitter121 7.12 Building your target audiences on Twitter123 7.13 Using YouTube for ads123 7.14 Available ad formats on YouTube124 7.15 Building your target audiences on YouTube127 7.16 Available ad formats on Twitch 128

Illustrations xi

8.1 8.2 8.3 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 10.7 10.8

Crisis Management Matrix143 How to engage with fans144 Crisis Management Hierarchy146 Measuring quantitative awareness159 Measuring quantitative consideration160 Measuring quantitative conversion161 Measuring quantitative loyalty162 Measuring a campaign’s qualitative awareness163 Measuring a campaign’s qualitative consideration163 Measuring a campaign’s qualitative conversions164 Measuring a campaign’s qualitative loyalty164

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We’d like to say a special and heartfelt thank you to Blythe Robertson for his continued reading, comments, and patience; he is a hero among men. And, a special thanks to Claire, for walking Rosie when the crunch time came. We’d also like to thank our families for letting us have the time to work on this in the holidays, and our colleagues at BADER and Oxford Brookes who are always supportive and filled with knowledge.

GLOSSARY

a structure that organises research into five insight segments or “truths” that will help inform the five key components of a marketing strategy /r the start of a subreddit (r/books or r/nftlovers) /u username Activation Pillars 3–5 structure points to provide a framework for all creative ideation Allatonceness the state of the digital environment where things happen at the same time, from sales, to links, to shares, and likes, a lack of temporal hierarchy. AMA Ask Me Anything [on Reddit] Amplify Pre-Roll: this means to boost pre-roll adverts with extra budget ASMR autonomous sensory meridian response Boolean queries a search technique using Boolean logic (a system of logic developed by George Boole) to connect keywords and phrases in a single query. So, if you want to find Tweets that contain information about a writer called Gerald Bark and his new book Factums you would search Factums AND (Gerald AND/OR Bark) Borrow equity to borrow the USP of a content creator or partner; their audience, their audience’s attention, and the positive relationship that a content creator or partner has built up over time with that audience 5Cs

xiv  Glossary

cost per click cost per 1,000 impressions cost per result (whether that is clicks, views etc.) CPV cost per view CRM customer relationship management CTA call to action CTR click-through rate CVR conversion rate eCPA cost per action eCPM Effective Cost per Thousand. The average amount of money you’ve spent per thousand impressions Dark posts paid posts that show up across the platform but do not show up on your profile page Duet a feature that allows you to build on another user’s video on TikTok by recording your own video alongside the original as it plays ELI5 explain like I am five Evergreen social campaigns the monthly calendar of organic and/or paid social posts that promote your backlist, book memes/jokes, existing authors, upcoming events, etc. Fanfic written fiction based within the worlds, stories, and characters of published forms of media, borrowing aspects from those media Flight time the duration of a paid campaign FYP for you page in TikTok Hashtag Strategy the strategy concerning how many hashtags to use, when to use which ones, etc. Headliner the headliner underlines everything that is done on social media. It indicates why readers/ users should follow a particular publisher, engage with them, and buy their books over those of a competitor. It is often a single sentence that encompasses the value a publisher is giving back to their customers with their social media presence IGTV Instagram TV Keyword Strategy keyword searches used on Pinterest and Instagram and links in a different way from that of hashtags to aid in discoverability KPIs Key Performance Indicators CPC CPM CPR

Glossary xv

a data connectivity platform whose services include data onboarding, the transfer of offline data online for marketing purposes Lookbook something a company creates that details how their brand is represented visually across all social materials Master social strategy (MSS) a strategy that directs all your social media activity from community management, to posts, to influencer campaigns etc. Native Platform Action a function that the platform provides vs. needing a third-party platform to perform an action NFT non-fungible token OOH out of home. Marketing materials such as billboards, posters etc. PDP a Product Detail Page on Instagram/Facebook Shop Platform Strategy the strategy concerning what platforms a publisher will use, why, and how Pre-Roll adverts that show up before other videos from brands or creators. Usually found in YouTube and Facebook ROI return on investment SEO search engine optimisation Shopping Strategy the publisher’s strategy around ecommerce, and whether they sell via their own platforms, and how to use social media to drive towards conversion Social Audiences who the target audience is across social platforms Social Objectives the key goals of the master social strategy (MSS) Stitch a feature on TikTok that allows users the ability to clip and integrate scenes from another user’s video into their own Swag merchandise given to people from publishers. Should be related to a book/series. Is the prize in competitions or surprise and delight campaign run on social TIL today I learned TOV tone of voice of an organisation’s social media UGC user-generated content White space the company’s position in a crowded playing field, where they can find their own unique location and room to manoeuvre. Similar to their location on a positioning map YA young adult LiveRamp

INTRODUCTION What Is Digital and Social Marketing?

Advertising is a driving force for continuity rather than for change. ( Jones, 1990, p. 49)

In 2020, a large multinational publisher began an influencer campaign on social media. The face of the campaign was an everywoman. The first video that came via the Instagram feed was engaging, and though we were not the target audience for the young adult fantasy series, the post stayed with us. Over the course of that first week, the influencer (via the publisher’s Instagram handle) released several more similar videos. Every time we opened our Instagram feeds, there they were. Same background, same genre of book, same format. We also began to notice that the video itself did not fit the Instagram frame correctly. The large publisher was re-posting content filmed for TikTok on the Instagram channel. Lack of awareness of these factors often encourages users to disengage. We chose to unfollow the large publisher due to the oversaturation of this very similar, very generic content. This is not a trap that publishers have to fall into. They can, and should, be better than this. All publishers, whatever their budget, can make engaging and special social content: smart social. They can use this guide to develop their strategic approach to smart social, whether through the development of their campaign strategies, or through more practical action and creative ideation. This guide will also show publishers how to work with content creators, measure their campaign results, set benchmarks, and best report their outcomes. Throughout this guide, we use different genres of fiction for examples in templates and occasionally include templates in the Appendices for the publisher to use. We do this to indicate how publishers can dive into a genre – even if it is literary fiction – in order to find unique insights, which are much more valuable in DOI: 10.4324/9781003276012-1

2  Introduction: What Is Digital and Social Marketing?

creating unique and tailored social media strategy than ubiquitous research terms such as: book, reading, literature, or fiction. Marketing academic works, and some non-fiction, would require a different strategy completely and is beyond the scope of this guide. The guide is not an exhaustive list of all the free or paid resources that can be utilised, but it does introduce the different types of tools out there and how they can be used to help create smart social. It should inspire social media teams and community managers to believe that they can create in-depth strategies that fuel relevant and engaging creative, within their budget constraints. It is possible; publishers just need to invest time in their people. The guide is grounded in the concepts of strong and weak advertising, where some content can change the behaviours of users to do a specific action, while others simply serve to remind the user that the brand and products exist and that they can join in with those communities. We are all connected via the global village, where we interact with each other, brands, and the content we do and do not want to see every day. The World Economic Forum posits that “[b]y 2025, it’s estimated that 463 exabytes of data will be created each day globally” (Chung & Desjardins, 2019). Back in 2017, Americans were confronted with 4–5,000 ads per day (Simpson, 2017), a number that is estimated to have grown to upwards of 10,000 per day. There are numerous books and articles on how to break through to ensure that one company’s marketing resonates with a viewer, but each social campaign, each post, on each platform will work in slightly different ways depending on the platform, its user base, the publisher’s target audiences, and how well the publisher can tap into their master social strategy (MSS) to develop content that is the most impactful. Much of the content of this guide is practical advice for publishers on how to develop and implement strategies across key social platforms. The decisions on how content is used on different platforms are underpinned by both strong and weak marketing theories. The main tenets of these theories are that with strong theory “advertising is seen as a powerful force in changing people’s attitudes” (Blythe, 2009, p. 182) with “hard selling” ( Jones, 1990, p. 52). Strong advertising can push people to purchase a product, even if they have never interacted with it before. In social media marketing for publishing, this is the case where the publisher is trying to capture a secondary audience to try a debut author’s work, or a new genre, etc. Blythe criticises the strong advertising theory by highlighting that there is little evidence to show that people develop brand affinity before trying a product, and, due to the fact that the model only considers people new to the product, pointing out that “In most markets, advertising is aimed at people who have already bought the product” (Blythe, 2009, p. 182). In marketing in the publishing sector, this is often the case. Readers are reminded of an author, book, or genre they love and are specifically targeted by ads to indicate a similar, or extension of a previous product (a new book in a series, an established author releasing a new work, etc.)

Introduction: What Is Digital and Social Marketing? 3

While strong advertising believes it can create behaviour change with persuasive marketing to a passive consumer who must be pushed towards a product (Neeson, 2014), weak theory operates on the premise that consumers are problem solvers (Neeson, 2014), who can be nudged towards a decision, between one brand and another very similar brand (Blythe, 2009). Though introduced by Jones, Ehrenberg (1992) further developed the concept in 1997 (Barnard & Ehrenberg) with more insight into how nudging a consumer towards a product can remind them of the brand and develop a loyalty to it. Barnard and Ehrenberg found that “advertising for established brands can work by occasionally nudging and mostly reinforcing such split brand choice propensities, rather than by strong persuasion or total conversion” (1997). In the case of this guide, weak theory or nudging would be useful to remind those previous buyers of an author or genre that has a new book/cover/format available so that they are more likely to begin the purchasing journey. It is also valuable in developing the role of the publisher as a community manager in the digitally social communities where their readers, and potential readers, congregate. Here the publisher can drip new, exclusive information, give access to authors or excerpts, and engage with the readers in a way that nudges them towards a particular product. Throughout this guide, strong and weak advertising concepts underpin the strategy at every level. Which form the advertising takes will depend on where the target audience lives within the global village, their demographics, the platform and its opportunities for organic and paid reach, as well as measuring and reporting the metrics post campaign.

The Overview In Chapter 1, we examine the role of branding in the world of social media marketing by exploring the concepts around branding from the perspectives of the publisher, the book/series, and the author. By beginning with the role of the brand, publishers can guide their strategy based on what elements they find will resonate most with the audience they want to reach, keeping in mind that this may change depending on the book, author, and platform. Though the role of branding underlines much of the work the publisher needs to accomplish in order to successfully engage with smart social, the first tangible area they should explore is how they, as a company, plan to develop their research and identify insights that can be utilised. In Chapter 2 we explore each of the following insights: commodity, category, culture, customer, competitor, and company based insights. Commodity insights are those that relate to the book or the author, while the category insights tell us more about the wider genre trends for the product. Culture insights are the cultural trends that relate both to trends in the book industry and those that are culturally relevant and meme-worthy. Looking into what the publisher’s main competitors are doing provides specific insights for positioning, while the company insights refer to those internal considerations that can help to develop the MSS.

4  Introduction: What Is Digital and Social Marketing?

Once the research has been completed and insights across these categories have been collated, we move on to structuring the MSS in Chapter 3. This is the overarching strategy and the goals for the smart social of a particular publisher. These will include specific insights that feed into the MSS and the one-line phrase that encompasses the whole strategy – the headliner. From there, we look at the activation pillars which ensure that the content created adheres to the MSS. These consist of three to five structure points that underpin all creative ideation. Once these elements are set, the publisher must look at how they will develop a platform strategy including what platforms they will use, why, and how. Not all publishers need to be active across all platforms. In fact, it is much wiser to engage with one platform well, than with five on a perfunctory basis. The hashtag and keyword strategies bring to life how the publisher will utilise tags to allow readers and potential readers to locate and engage with their content. How the publisher utilises these should relate back to the activation pillars and the MSS. Finally, this chapter will identify various shopping strategies across available platforms and how a publisher can tap into the outlets available, in order to develop a shopping strategy. Chapter 4 focuses on how publishers can develop specific campaign strategies around a particular product and those that are evergreen. This includes how they can pull together actionable insights that come from both previous research and current cultural trends. It goes on to walk the publishers through how a campaign creative brief should be structured, what it should entail, and how to pull it all together. Chapter 5 is about how the publisher can bring the campaign brief and evergreen content to life. The focus here is to enable the publisher to brainstorm around their product, how to bring in other voices, and widen the net of influence in order to create interesting and engaging ideas that can be whittled down into those that can be taken forward. One area that we consider is how a publisher can create a calendar that will include the evergreen content and any key dates (book launches, events), and mark out seasonality. Within this evergreen calendar, there needs to be room for each individual campaign and, importantly, the space for the publisher to produce and post reactive content. Monitoring of key metrics is vital for understanding what an audience is saying about a particular publisher, brand, or book. It can be time consuming, but knowing what the readers are thinking, saying, and posting can allow the publisher to authentically enter into a conversation with them and help them reach the wider goals of the MSS. Once the creative ideation has taken place, Chapter 6 goes through the process of production of the content by indicating what type of content works best on different platforms, and what sorts of resources the publisher will need in order to effectively engage in that space. This includes showcasing the tools that the platforms supply for publishers to take advantage of, tips on creating event content from still photos, and how to ensure that the host/author is engaging and spontaneous. When the publisher has developed a strategy, come up with the content, and produced it, they may choose to use paid social to promote it. Chapter 7 focuses

Introduction: What Is Digital and Social Marketing? 5

on the area of paid social and how it can fit into an overall campaign strategy. The chapter focuses on the eight steps for developing a paid strategy, including how a publisher can define the campaign objective, choose a platform, decide on a format, identify the best way to measure the campaign’s success, create a targeting approach for a specific audience, ideate and create the content, launch and monitor the campaign, and report on its success. In order to use paid social well, publishers need to make the best use of their resources possible. They can create a paid campaign without a massive budget. In this chapter we look more closely at the areas of paid social that can be used across a variety of key platforms, and how best a publisher can take advantage of them. Finally, we provide a guide to developing a paid social strategy that can incorporate those platforms and formats that work best for publishers’ individual budgets. Chapter 8 focuses on how the publisher should manage and engage with their communities within the global village. It is not enough for a publisher to share social content and consider themselves done. In order to develop loyalty among their readers, they need to engage with the community to continually nudge towards the brand by providing content that makes them want to engage and share. In this chapter we focus on the use of Facebook Groups, and growing communities of readers within Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Reddit, and Twitch. As each platform has different users, tools available, and formats, the publisher should only engage with the ones that they have the time and resources to develop. One way that publishers can grow their communities and drive conversion is by working with influencers. Chapter 9 introduces the role of influencers (content creators) and how they have an impact on loyalty and conversion. Not every publisher needs to work with content creators, and not every publisher will have the budget to work with those that have millions of followers. However, this does not preclude publishers from working with content creators in ways that better suit their budget. There are many ways that they can be used to enhance a campaign. Regardless of the tier of content creator the publisher has the budget to work with, it is advised that they are given a simple brief, a copy of the book, and any other information they need to ideate their own content. By allowing the content creator to do this (and run it by the publisher before it is posted), it gives them the freedom to mould the publisher’s product into something that will work for their audience, ensuring that it feels authentic and real to the potential readers they can reach. Chapter 10 focuses on the role of how the results of a campaign can be measured, and what we mean when we say “success”. In any report on the results of social campaigns, the publisher first must reiterate what the goals of the campaign were, and measure the results against those benchmarks foremost. How the results are measured can vary widely. By considering several ways that success can be measured across a variety of platforms, we hope to give publishers a starting point for creating their own template (which will always vary by campaign). We then shift the focus to how the publisher can report these results for internal

6  Introduction: What Is Digital and Social Marketing?

and external use, including setting their own benchmarks within the company for future campaign strategies. The final area of reporting brings to the fore the role of optimisation. It is fine for publishers to have and share the results of their campaigns, but the key is to understand what went well and what could have been improved in order to take those learning points forward into future campaigns. While the individual elements covered here may change, the overarching principles presented in this guide will provide publishers with the means to develop and enact smart social strategies that will enable them to set and reach their social goals.

References Barnard, N., and Ehrenberg, A., 1997. Advertising: Strongly Persuasive or Nudging? Journal of Advertising Research. Available at: https://www.warc.com/fulltext/jar/6084.htm (Accessed 28 December 2021). Blythe, J., 2009. Key Concepts in Marketing. New York: Sage. Chung, R., and Desjardins, J., 2019. How Much Data Is Generated Each Day? World Economic Forum. Available at: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/04/how-much-data-isgenerated-each-day-cf4bddf29f/ (Accessed 28 December 2021). Ehrenberg, A., 1992. Comments on How Advertising Works. Marketing and Research Today, August: 167–169. Jones, J.P., 1990. Advertising: Strong Force or Weak Force? Two Views an Ocean Apart. International Journal of Advertising, 9(3): 233–246. Neeson, H., 2014. Strong and Week Theories of Advertising. Holly Neeson. Available at: https://hneeson.weebly.com/blog/strong-and-weak-theories-of-advertising (Accessed 27 December 2021). Simpson, J., 2017. Finding Brand Success in the Digital World. Forbes. Available at: https:// www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/08/25/finding-brand-success-inthe-digital-world/?sh=7738524a626e (Accessed 27 December 2021).

1 AUTHOR BRANDS

When a reader visits a bookstore, an online retailer such as Amazon, or publishingspecific shops like Waterstones, Blackwell’s, or Barnes & Noble, do they consider who the publisher is of the book they are looking to buy? In all likelihood, probably not, beyond wanting a Lonely Planet or DK for travel or a Ladybird book for kids.1 A survey by Royle et al. in 2000 came to the conclusion that publishers are faced with the difficulty of branding themselves as houses in a way that is meaningful to the public. They further found that niche publishers and those of genre works tend to do better in brand recognition (Royle et al., 2000). Squires finds much of the same lack of recognition in her 2007 book Marketing Literature, and the studies of the branding of publishing houses and imprints doesn’t move forward much in the following years. Neither does the reader’s awareness of a publisher’s brand. In 2021 The Bookseller ran a series of articles on the broad topic of branding, wherein Fewery said that “[m]ost publishers lack widespread brand recognition beyond the industry, with the obvious exception of Penguin” (2021). The other aspect of brand recognition and recall as related to the publishing industry is that publishers’ brands can be recalled based on negative associations, such as Picador’s role in Kate Clanchy’s memoir being re-written,2 or Simon & Schuster dropping the distribution of Jonathan Mattingly’s book about the raid that killed Breonna Taylor, their calling off publication of Milo Yiannopoulos’s book, and their dropping of Senator Josh Hawley’s book deal after the January 6th riots in Washington. Monga and John paraphrase Eagly and Chaiken (1993) when they state that “individuals place more weight on negative than positive information in forming judgements” (2008, p. 320), even if that negative publicity was not severe (Yu et al., 2018). Furthermore, Kensinger found that negative experiences/items/emotion led to more accurate memories of the cause of the negative affect (2009). All of this taken together could indicate that a DOI: 10.4324/9781003276012-2

8  Author Brands

publisher is better off with their brand not being a focal point of potential readers. However, there are ways that a publisher can develop their brand in digitally social spaces where they can nurture a community of active and engaged readers who will react to their content and calls to action. Davis defines a brand as something that “represents the full ‘personality’ of the company and is the interface between a company and its audience […] and encapsulates both the tangible and the intangible” (2017, p. 12), which in itself is hard to pin down even when looking at household brand names such as Nike and Apple. But in the publishing industry it is increasingly difficult because the publisher, as a brand, is providing and promoting a huge variety of products that are risky purchases as experiential products that the consumer is not entirely sure they will enjoy (Lis & Berz, 2011). Pitsaki discusses this disconnect in the industry in explaining that publishers develop a large array of products, which “allows them to maintain dynamic relations with the public, it also engenders a certain kind of market saturation” (2010, p. 91). It is this market saturation, linked with the buyer’s risk of being uncertain of the content, that inhibits complete buy-in to the brand that is evident in other consumer-facing industries. Pitsaki goes on to say that “brands of a single publishing company act on different levels corporate, product, author or content, and may complement or influence one another” (2010, p. 104), but that “the author’s name represents the most powerful association in the mind of the reader” (2010, p. 93). This leads the publisher to first ask: who/what should we be branding?

Publisher vs. Imprint vs. Author vs. Book Should a publisher brand their house, imprint, author, or book? A secondary question that develops is: what type of accounts should publishers set up and have to run in order to develop the type of brand recognition that will lead to sales? There are a few ways that a publisher can think about this: • • • • • •

•

@publisher – creating social accounts as the publisher, to showcase all books in one place. @imprint – create social accounts as the imprints vs. overall publisher account (start by creating accounts for the most popular imprints). @publishergenre – create a handle for each type of genre the publisher has books for. @book – only create handles for their popular book series. @genre – leave branding out of the handle, and push for a more genrerelated handle. @author – do not have an owned handle (in that the author owns their own brand image on the specified platform), but put time and budget into helping their authors grow their social channels. @influencer – no owned or author handles, all books are promoted through the voices of “trusted” sources.

Author Brands 9

There are a myriad of choices and many factors need to be taken into account. This is not a one-size-fits-all decision. In order to narrow down the scope of the branding, questions about how the reader/customer interacts with the different levels of the publishing branding hierarchy come to the fore, which were mentioned at the beginning of this chapter. For example, how many imprints does the publisher have? How big is the company? In answering these questions, the research portion of your master social strategy (MSS) can help. By conducting brand insights, a publisher will discover what people are saying about their company, which can guide them in how to proceed in a way that makes sense for their brand. If people are talking about their books and authors, but not the publisher or imprint, is it worth putting effort into a publisher handle? One thing to factor into the decision is how disparate the publisher’s list or array of imprints is. It is difficult to maintain an audience on social media and hit the right balance of content for each follower (Bhosale & Phadtare, 2020). If a publisher is not providing them content they can connect with, have a passion for, and/or understand, this makes the task very challenging and can lead to a loss of engagement and followers which “has […] important social connotation and business implications” (Maity et al. 2018., p. 128). For instance, if a publisher publishes crime, romance, and science fiction, the publisher must consider if they can realistically provide readers of only one of those genres with the best experience. While there will be some crossover in readership, the publisher must consider how much there truly is and at what cost to followers who are not invested in genres they do not engage with. Social media is a part of the global village where we have created “a brand-new world of allatonceness [where ‘t]ime’has ceased, ‘space’ has vanished” (McLuhan & Fiore, 1967, p. 63), bringing together a feeling of community of like-minded individuals. The relationships developed in these digital communities should be kept in mind when deciding how a publisher should approach branding. For larger publishers, looking beyond the entry level of the publishing branding hierarchy, to imprint, genre, or author strategy, might be the most valuable, rather than a larger publisher account which can become obsolete.

The Author Brand That the author brand is one of the most important aspects of a published product is well known. Royle et al. suggest that “the author brand is certainly a more viable option for achieving greater recognition for a book” (2000, p. 12). Indeed, it is the author’s name, and perhaps the title and cover design, that encourages a reader to pick up a book and invest their money and time in it. Many do not care who the publisher of a work of fiction is; they will follow their favourite authors through changes of publishers across the years simply because the end item remains much the same, regardless of which publishing house brings it to market. The differences reside in the paratext of the book and leads to a brand hierarchy that includes the overarching corporate brand (publisher), family brands (imprint), family brand

10  Author Brands

(genre), and modifier (the author) (Keller, 2002). We could go further and add another tier: the book. Each element of the hierarchy will influence the final choice, but they feed into each other in ways that start almost invisibly with the brand of the publishing house. This can be imagined in Figure 1.1.

FIGURE 1.1 

Publishing branding hierarchy (modified from Keller, 2002).

The reader consciously interacts with the top three tiers of the hierarchy: book, author, and genre. Some readers will seek out works by a particular author, even across genres, but rarely do they purposefully engage with the bottom two levels of the hierarchy. It is within these two levels that marketing of the product begins. Publishers will often have a format that works across their brand as a publisher, within their imprint, for that genre, with the cultural capital of the author, and the author’s power as a brand, which is an element that can influence the resulting marketing plan for the title.

What Is an Author Brand? At the top of the hierarchy sits the book. Below it is the author. This is one of the “modifiers” or differentiating factors that a reader engages with to make their final decision in purchasing a book. Baverstock and Bowen, in their seminal work How to Market Books, state that: Whereas publishers have long run marketing campaigns for authors, as the market became more difficult to predict, and hence to reach, authors became much more involved in developing their own brands, through websites and through festivals; often presenting a brand that was recognisable and could be identified with. (Baverstock & Bowen, 2019, p. 18) However, guidelines on what an author brand is, or how to create one, often quickly move to the branding of the genre or the publisher more generally.

Author Brands 11

Lis and Berz (2011) paraphrase Meyers’ 2011 work when they consider the steps to be taken to create an author brand in saying, [t]o successfully create an author brand, the writer must be able to elicit emotional attachment in her readers first, then evoke a perception of high quality, and finally offer a USP to the reader – for instance, the author’s voice as a unique feature (p. 200) Borrowing from Hearn’s consideration of the branded self (2008), we can further describe the branding of an author as the construction of the “meta-narrative and meta-image” (p. 194) around the creator of a piece of framed content that has the potential to be shared ( Johnson, 2021). The way the framed content, or book, interacts with the constructed narratives, image of the author, and wider elements of the cultural and socio-economic systems creates an author brand. Not all author brands are the same and the development of each will rely on the weight given to the construction of each of the elements, which do not exist in isolation. For instance, if we consider the construction of an author brand for a writer of literary fiction, we must first understand what the meta-narrative is around the concept of literary fiction, which in itself is highly complex.3 Social constructs around “quality” literature and the cultural capital imbued in the creation and reception of a work are all at play in a reader’s understanding of what is meant by “literary fiction” and what they expect of an author within that genre. Furthermore, the ebb and flow of the elements manufacture the image of the author within themselves and the wider cultural sphere, all of which are subject to continual evolution. One change in the meta-narrative or the cultural or the social-economic balance and the value of the author brand can rise or fall, and these changes can be swift and forceful, as has been seen the cancelling of authors in recent years.4

Does the Author Need a Brand to Be Successful? The key to answering this question is to define what is meant by both brand and success. The previous sections delve into what is meant by brand as it relates to the author, but how does an author, or publisher, define success? In 2011, Weiss noted that “[h]istorically, that yardstick has been hitting the New York Times’s bestsellers list, which is still a worthy accomplishment”. He goes on to discuss the short fallings of Nielsen Bookscan, Amazon figures, and the lack of direct to public sales (Weiss, 2011). In 2018, Charkin defined success when looking at a publisher in five ways: copies sold, net sales value, profit, cash generation, and publishing assets. The definition of success of either publisher or author has not moved on much since these descriptions, but we can now add social metrics into the mix. Those with massive social media followings, those influencers, celebrities, and politicians, can easily get a book deal, often with a large advance. But follower metrics do not guarantee a return on investment. In a New York Times article,

12  Author Brands

Harris looks more closely at the link between the author-brand-as-celebrity and the sales of their book. Billie Eilish has just under 100 million Instagram followers, but sold a disappointing 67,000 hardback copies of her memoir, even though the content was strongly similar to her well-received online posts. This was insufficient in that the publisher paid over $1 million for the rights to it (2021). Harris goes on to say that, [f ]ollowings can affect who gets a book deal and how big an advance that author is paid, especially when it comes to nonfiction. But despite their importance, they are increasingly seen as unpredictable gauges of how well a book is actually going to sell. (2021) The inverse of this is also true. Those authors who eschew social media, and sometimes any media presence, such as Elena Ferrante, Gail Honeyman, or Zadie Smith, are still highly successful. Harris notes that “[s]ocial media is only one part of why a book does or doesn’t work” (2021) and that there could be a myriad of reasons that a book by an author with a branded presence on social media does not sell well in book format. One potential reason is the lack of engagement with their followers. In Johnson’s research on books and social media, it was found that when authors interact with their followers and engage with them authentically, readers are more likely to continue reading their work, share their love of the author, and are more willing to invest when books are published (2021). This is not to say that the author cannot successfully brand themselves on social media as solely an author, but they need to also present content that their followers can connect with in an authentic way.

Authenticity in an Author Brand Perceived authenticity can be considered “a social construction that may change due to different evaluators’ perceptions and interpretations of the place, situation, person, or object” (Grayson & Martinec, 2004, p. 298). The way a user sees an author “performing” their brand in the global village influences the relationship those users develop with that author, in those spaces. This directly relates to the role of interpersonal authenticity, of which “authentic living” is a part (Tang et al., 2020). Authentic living is how users behave in ways that are “true to themselves, in accordance with their beliefs and values” (Tang et al., 2020). In considering authors (or influencers/content creators) it can be used as part of interpersonal authenticity, where it comes to mean a “compatibility between the revealed and expressed self-presentation” (Tang et al., 2020) to their followers. The more the author seems to reveal, the more authentic they will seem and the more relatable they are to a reader or follower. The backdrop of the authenticity of an author’s social media presence is that social media network “interactions are always labor [sic]” (Cirucci, 2018, p. 2948),

Author Brands 13

and this labour is part of what builds the author’s authentic brand and links it to credibility. While credibility remains a “narrow concept” that “confines the functions of mediated communication to information exchange and persuasion” (Lee & Eastin, 2021, p. 825), authenticity can be linked to consistency, spontaneity, and amateurism (Salisbury & Pooley, 2017). To develop the best balance of these three areas of authenticity, the author or brand must work to create and curate posts, across platforms in ways that will grow their brand to develop “intimate, permanent and stable relationship[s] between the consumer and their brands” (Chew, 2017, p. 22). These relationships are formed in the global village where readers have direct access to an author where the social media platform enables the author to share information about upcoming books, workshops, events, etc., as a means of showing what they write and situating themselves in the wider sphere of authors. What helps an author create a brand and an engaged social following is the sharing of content that makes them relatable. They need to be consistent within their brand, across platforms, over time (Salisbury & Pooley, 2017). This is not to say that they can only post certain content related exclusively to their writing, books, or events, but when they are spontaneous they must ensure that the content they post works within the overall brand image and that it feels un-rehearsed or raw. This is especially true with video content on platforms such as Snapchat and TikTok where users are less engaged with slick productions, and video content shared has the air of an amateur with a passion for sharing (Salisbury & Pooley, 2017). It is this amateur or raw and unfiltered version of the author that makes readers perceive that they are authentic, making them more relatable, and therefore more trustworthy and saleable (Kim & Kim, 2020). Regardless of how the author brands themselves, or how the publisher helps to brand them, the role of this branding is to trigger recognition with the expectation that it will lead to some action on the part of the consumer, which eventually should lead to sales. As Hearn states, the goal of branding the author “is to produce profit” (2008, p. 194).

What is the Role of the Publisher in Creating an Author Brand? As a publisher there are a few questions that need to be considered in relation to the author’s brand when they take them on: • • •

Should they help authors grow their presence, and therefore their brand? How much effort should a publisher put into this? How can the publisher help the author?

The first avenue to consider when the question of “who is in charge of the branding” comes into play is one that asks, at what point in the branding hierarchy (Figure 1.1) does the publisher step in? The role of the publisher in branding an author should be less about growing an author’s followers, and more about providing the space and support for the

14  Author Brands

author to develop their meta-narrative and image of self in relation to the current cultural and socio-economic situation. In more simple terms, the publisher’s job is not necessarily to build an author’s following; the symbiotic relationship should be that the author is an influencer, or has the potential to become one, and the publisher uses this branding to market a product (the book). Taking into account the ways that strong and weak marketing theory interact with one another and their role in branding, there is a balance to be struck by the publisher in the resources they put into promoting the author as a brand, instead of the book. Jenn Bader, founder of the independent female-led creative marketing organisation Bader + CO. says that “[i]t isn’t an either/or. Especially if the author has a presence or platform. Utilize both, if and when available” (2021). By leaning into the cognitive aspect of AIDA (awareness, interest, desire, action) (Hassan, et al., 2015), a publisher can both help to increase the reach and cultural capital of the author brand while driving up sales, which is one of the key goals. Each publisher will work differently in their relationship to author brands. Some publishers, such as Unbound, expect the author to come in with a brand that is already strong enough to help the author reach their funding target. Rina Gill, Communications Director at Unbound said, “we really are looking for authors who have a very strong social media following” (2021). She goes on to clarify that “[w]e’re not really building the author’s social media; […] we’re not looking to build an author’s brand [… because] this brand should already exist when they come to us” (2021). While publishers that work on a crowdfunding model, as Unbound does, may have the expectation of an author brand to be in place when they pitch their manuscript, others may assume more of the risk of publishing a debut author and may identify a stronger need to help build the author’s brand. The author and publisher brands can work together in a symbiotic fashion for growth and sales. But, it can be a somewhat short-term commitment unless the publisher has signed the author for multiple books, or they can see a clear path between developing author awareness to the action of purchasing the book. However, this does not mean that the publisher should abandon the author to create their own author brand, or that the publisher should prepare a social campaign without considering the author’s platform. Ideally, the publisher and author will work together on campaigns to grow their communities, engage readers, provide calls to action, and get conversions.

Notes 1 This isn’t necessarily the case for works of non-fiction or academia, where the brand is often intrinsically linked to the quality of the content, with university presses providing cultural capital for the works they publish. 2 There were some terms used in the published edition which were considered insensitive to minority groups. The back and forth over the text with reviewers went viral, pulling in commentary from some famous authors, and authors of colour. Many apologies were made, with Picador being quoted in The Guardian as saying, “We realise our response was too slow” and that they apologised “profoundly for the hurt we have caused” (Campbell, 2021).

Author Brands 15

3 To further understand the act of defining fiction, non-fiction, and the complexities around how a reader interacts with a work of literary fiction, see Literary Fiction:The Way We Read Narrative Literature, by Geir Farner, 2014, Bloomsbury. 4 See Johnson (2021), Bakopoulos (2013), and Bouvier (2020).

References Bader, J., 2021. Interview on Social Media Marketing. Interviewed by Helen Simpson, [email]. Baverstock, A., and Bowen, S., 2019. How to Market Books. London and New York: Routledge. Bhosale, M.J., and Phadtare, R.G., 2020. Usage of Social Media Marketing for Small Business: A Comparative Analysis of Various Actions on Social Media. Annual Research Journal of SCMS, Pune Volume 8, March 2020. Bakopoulos, N., 2013. Particular Ways of Being Wrong. In The Millions. Available at: https://themillions.com/2013/11/particular-ways-of-being-wrong.html (Accessed 12 December 2021). Bouvier, G., 2020. Racist Call-outs and Cancel Culture on Twitter: The Limitations of the Platform’s Ability to Define Issues of Social Justice. Discourse, Context, and Media. doi:10.1016/j.dcm.2020.100431. Campbell, L., 2021. Kate Clanchy to Rewrite Memoir Amid Criticism of “Racist and Ableist Tropes”. The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/ aug/10/kate-clanchy-to-rewrite-memoir-after-criticism-of-racist-and-ableist-tropes (Accessed 23 November 2021). Charkin, R., 2018. Five Measure, All Important. Publishing Perspective. Available at: https:// publishingperspectives.com/2018/10/richard-charkin-how-do-we-measure-commercialsuccess-in-books/ (Accessed 28 December 2021). Chew, D.J., 2017. From Brand Awareness to Brand Love: A Conceptual Discussion of Brand Love Progression. Journal of Arts & Social Sciences, 1(1): 21–29. Cirucci, A.M., 2018. A New Women’s Work: Digital Interactions, Gender, and Social Network Sites. International Journal of Communication, 12(23): 2948–2970. Davis, M., 2017. The Fundamentals of Branding. London: Bloomsbury. Eagly, A., and Chaiken, S. (1993). The Psychology of Attitudes. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Farner, G., 2014. Literary Fiction:The Ways We Read Narrative Literature. London: Bloomsbury. Fewery, J., 2021. Purpose Driven. The Bookseller. Available at: https://www.thebookseller. com/blogs/purpose-driven-1243715 (Accessed 6 December 2021). Gill, R., 2021. Interview on Branding. Interviewed by Miriam Johnson [Zoom]. Grayson, K., and Martinec, R., 2004. Consumer Perceptions of Iconicity and Indexicality and Their Influence on Assessments of Authentic Market Offerings. Journal of Consumer Research, 31(2): 296–312. Harris, E., 2021. Millions of Followers? For Book Sales, “It’s Unreliable.” Social-media Fandom Can Help Authors Score Book Deals and Bigger Advances, But Does It Translate to How a New Title Will Sell? Publishers Are Increasingly Skeptical. The New York Times. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/07/books/social-media-followingbook-publishing.html (Accessed 24 December 2021). Hassan, S., Nadzim, S.Z.A., and Shiratuddin, N., 2015. Strategic Use of Social Media for Small Business Based on the AIDA Model. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 172: 262–269. Hearn, A., 2008. Variations on the Branded Self: Theme, Invention, Improvisation and Inventory, in Hesmondhalgh, D. and Toynbee, J. (eds), The Media and Social Theory. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 208–224.

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Johnson, M.J., 2021. Books and Social Media: How the Digital Age Is Shaping the Printed Word. London and New York: Routledge. Keller, K.L., 2002. Strategic Brand Management. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Kensinger, Elizabeth A., 2009. Remembering the Details: Effects of Emotion. Emotion Review: Journal of the International Society for Research on Emotion, 1(2): 99–113. doi:10.1177/ 1754073908100432. Kim, M., and Kim, J., 2020. The Influence of Authenticity of Online Reviews on Trust Formation Among Travelers. Journal of Travel Research, 59(5): 763–776. Lee, J.A., and Eastin, M.S., 2021. Perceived Authenticity of Social Media Influencers: Scale Development and Validation. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing. doi:10.1108/ jrim-12-2020-0253. Lis, B., and Berz, J., 2011. Using Social Media for Branding in Publishing. Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, 1(4): 193–213. Maity, S.K., Gajula, R., and Mukherjee, A., 2018. Poster: Why Did They #Unfollow Me?: Early Detection of Follower Loss on Twitter. GROUP ’18: Proceedings of the 2018 ACM Conference on Supporting Groupwork. January 2018, pp. 127–131, doi:10.1145/3148330.3154514. McLuhan, M., and Fiore, Q., 1967. The Medium Is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects. New York: Bantam Books. Meyers, T., 2011. The Basics of Author Branding, Blue Moon Communications [Online]. Available at: http://www.bluemooncommunications.com/white_papers/author_branding.htm. Monga, A.B., and John, D.R., 2008. When Does Negative Brand Publicity Hurt? The Moderating Influence of Analytic Versus Holistic Thinking. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 18(4): 320–332. Pitsaki, I., 2010. Brand Concepts in Publishing. The International Journal of the Book. Common Ground, Australia, 7(2): 85–97. Royle, J., Cooper, L., and Stockdale, R., 2000. The Use of Branding by Trade Publishers: An Investigation Into Marketing the Book As a Brand Name Product. Publishing Research Quarterly, 15(4): 313. Salisbury, M., and Pooley, J.D., 2017.The #nofilter Self:The Contest for Authenticity Among Social Networking Sites, 2002–2016. Social Sciences, 6(1): 10. Squires, C., 2007. Marketing Literature: The Making of Contemporary Writing in Britain. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. Tang, N., Chu, J., Leong, K., and Rosenthal, S., 2020. To Thine Communication Partner Be True: The Effect of Presentation Consistency on Perceived Authenticity and Liking After Making a First Impression Online. Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, 14(3). Weiss, K., 2011. PW Select: Book Publishing Success Measured by More than Sales Alone: The Desire to Influence, to Promote a Cause, and Just for Fun Are Among the Standards for Success. In Publishers Weekly. Available at: https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/bytopic/authors/pw-select/article/46622-pw-select-book-publishing-success-measuredby-more-than-sales-alone.html (Accessed 28 December 2021). Yu, M., Liu, F., and Lee, J.A., 2019. Consumers’ Responses to Negative Publicity: The Influence of Culture on Information Search and Negative Word-Of-Mouth. Journal of Brand Management, 26(2): 141–156.

2 RESEARCH & IDENTIFYING INSIGHTS

Research and Insights is one of the most important parts of a master social strategy (MSS), campaign, or editorial strategy. Creating content without first understanding audience behaviour, brand perception, and industry trends fails to put in place the foundations for repeatable success. This can also lead to bandwagoning, where (often) larger publishers set a trend that is followed by other publishers, or where one publisher makes money on a particular title or genre, then others seek to cash in by emulating the successful product (Gaffeo et al., 2006). When working directly with audiences, we find that there are three main reasons why people flock to social media: entertainment (laughing at comedy, gripped by riveting stories), education (improving our knowledge of the world, learning new tips and hacks to use in our daily lives and work), and emotion (connection to friends and family, content that makes us feel). Useful knowledge and information cannot be provided without first identifying what your audience needs and wants, and connections to an audience cannot be made without understanding their needs and preferences. It is worth noting that not all research will provide previously unconsidered insights that will help the publisher craft an out-of-the-box social campaign or piece of content. It may simply confirm what is already known and that the current strategy and creative decisions are going down the correct path. There are six types of insights that can help inform a strategy: 1. Category (genre trends) 2. Customer 3. Culture (general & book industry trends) 4. Competitor 5. Company 6. Commodity (author/book). DOI: 10.4324/9781003276012-3

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It is worth noting that in a company’s particular strategy, they may not need all six. It will depend on the end goal, objectives, and whether the strategy aims to nudge or push the audience messages. Insights can be mixed and matched based on these goals. There is no right or wrong, and as more research is undertaken, publishers will begin to understand what blends work best for what. Some examples of blended insights are as follows: Looking for insights to help with ongoing editorial content for your own publisher channels. • • •

Category Customer Culture

Looking for insights to help create a campaign for a new book from an existing author. • • • • •

Commodity Category Customer Culture Competitor

Looking for insights to help create a campaign for a new book from a new author. • • •

Category Culture Competitor

Creating an Above-The-Line Strategy to underpin all social media work. • • • • •

Category Customer Culture Competitor Company

While these insights may seem intuitive, in the following section we will go into some detail to ensure clarity of purpose.

Commodity Insights Commodity insights are relevant only for established authors or authors who have a large media footprint, such as celebrities and influencers. New authors will probably not have a large enough existing media, or social, footprint to be

Research & Identifying Insights 19

valid as a commodity. Author insights are beneficial to understand the perception of an author/book to be promoted. They reveal the positive and negative perceptions related to an author, and what recurring conversation themes exist around an author and their books. By knowing this information, publishers can create campaigns and content that enhance the positive conversations that already have an engaged audience and therefore increase the chance of success for the campaign or content that the publisher wishes to push. A good place to start is Twitter and Instagram #hashtag search functions. For example, if a search is made on an #AuthorName and on their book titles #BookTitle1 and #BookTitle2, insight can be gained into how people are talking about this author and their books. Findings can start to reveal other hashtags the author’s community are using that will help to uncover even more insights. Perhaps the #BookTitle1 + another key word such as “Inspired” (#BookTitle1Inspired, #BookTitle1Reading, #BookTitle1LOVE, etc.) are related popular hashtags that can lead to more conversations, user-generated content (UGC), and themes that might be useful for the ongoing marketing strategy. Some themes that often come out when undertaking commodity insights can be: 1. Readers have been waiting a long time for the book, and are very excited it is out. 2. Readers hope that this new book is as good as the first one, and they are a little nervous it might not be. 3. Readers love the beauty of the book covers. 4. Readers enjoy getting tattoos inspired by the books. 5. Readers love to create art around the books. 6. Readers are creating unofficial merchandise around the books from mugs, to pins, to corsets. 7. Readers love quoting the books on their own social accounts. Another useful place to locate commodity insights is to do a deep dive into the comments on the author’s own social pages. What are readers saying to the author and how are readers engaging with each other, and is the author engaging with them? If we use the same example and look at an author’s pages we will often find that: 1. Readers listen to an author’s book recommendations, going out to purchase ones promoted on their page. 2. The fanbase is, often, hugely positive with not many trolls or negative comments.1 3. Readers talk about their love of the book covers + a lot talk about owning more than one version of the same book. 4. Readers are possessive over the books, given how beautiful the covers are, and can make comments to the effect of: “the only book I won’t lend out”.

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Groups and communities are also good sources for reader discussions. As social media marketers for a publisher, try joining different Facebook Groups about the author or book series that is being researched. The people in these groups are readers and will enable a publisher to understand the needs and wants of an author/book’s community, such as: new book cover editions, new merchandise, what are their favourite quotes, what are their favourite moments in the books? Did they enjoy seeing the author at the book signing? Did they think the author spoke well about their books and the writing journey? It is also valuable to explore Reddit and determine if there are subreddits for readers of the author or their books, such: as r/bookname or r/authorname. It is on channels such as these that readers are most unguarded. They develop trust in one another by the affordances of interaction, how they socially navigate spaces (Bialski & Batorski, 2010), and the “‘rules of play’ which cement themselves as normative patterns of interaction within the virtual community” (Bialski & Batorski, 2010, p. 181). When readers trust the authenticity of other users, they create an understanding of a “social reality” (Lewis & Weigert, 1985, p. 982) that operates on the implicit understanding of an (often) unspoken set of rules of engagement within these platforms.2 Recognising these communities of trust, and the ways that readers interact within them, will enable the publisher to perceive what people do and do not like about the author or the books. This knowledge of how the digital communities around a particular book/author function is valuable to understand what themes and moments will be welcomed in the content the publisher owns and shares.

Category Insights While author and book insights give knowledge about existing fans, genre insights provide a more general understanding and include insights from existing, and potentially new, fans. They provide ways book and author promotions can be tailored for future fans. Category insights explore what readers like to see in the genre, tropes, certain recurring characters, or plotlines, and allow the publisher to understand which parts of the book or personality traits of the author can be promoted to engage with those specific fans. This type of insight not only helps with social campaigns and content, but it can also feed into the commissioning of future book concepts and/or series. There are many free ways that a publisher without a dedicated social media budget can find these types of insights, although all require at least some time commitment. Publishers should start by utilising the social channels themselves. On Instagram it begins with the hashtags.3 It may take some time to narrow the search down to the most useful hashtags, and clustering hashtags around text-based methodologies, and temporally (Cai et al., 2020), will allow the publisher to gain a wider understanding of how readers are discussing and engaging with a topic over time, including which hashtags are used by different genre

Research & Identifying Insights 21

FIGURE 2.1 

Instagram search for #RomanceBook. Accessed 11 January 2022.

communities. A further step is to search for the name of the genre + book into the search engine on each social platform to discover how readers are categorising different works. An example is to search for #RomanceBook and see what hashtags are most relevant and give a basis from which to glean category insights (Figure 2.1). These search results require analysis to determine how the hashtags are being used by the readers and how that can directly relate to the books a publisher is marketing. The UGC that comes from these hashtags will indicate the types of conversations taking place around the genres and how a publisher’s titles can slot in and reach these large audiences. The sorts of category insights we can gain from digging into the hashtags in this way are: 1. This category of book lovers like to post their shelves to reveal all the different series they follow, and that they enjoy showing images of their collection in a well-considered shelf shot (shelfie). 2. The Instagram book community for this specific category is highly creative with lots of UGC artwork, unofficial merchandise, and tattoos surfacing all over the platform. 3. This community loves a book box that comes with lots of extras, such as: posters, artwork, bookmarks, pins, candles, etc.

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4. They appreciate official merchandise surrounding their favourite books (and sometimes the unofficial merchandise too). 5. There is a lot of interest in LGBTQIA+ literature in this genre. On Twitter, given the wealth of content and the amount of people doing giveaways, it does get difficult to hashtag search for a widely appreciated genre. The recommendation here is to follow book clubs and book influencers, monitor what they post and, importantly, how people react to these posts in order to obtain clues about what is trending in that genre at the moment. TikTok is another platform to utilise for category insights. Searching there enables a publisher to find out what genre trends are popular. A growing number of trends begin on TikTok and spill out into the other social channels and into mainstream media where trends can influence TV advertisements (Burger King “questions I get asked about” advert launched in September 2021), in-store advertising (“#BookTok” and “As Seen on TikTok” sections in Barnes and Noble during 2021). TikTok can also be searched using hashtags to gain insights into what type of content people are producing. A quick search using “yourcategorybooktok” reveals some interesting findings: 1. People love to show off their shelves with all their category book series on them. A particular trend is to pair the video “sexy/romantic” music to give a “booklover” vibe. 2. There is a large volume of content around the “enemy to lover” storyline. 3. There are many in-jokes around being a female book reader, such as: a. No partner will live up to the fictional love, b. People think female book readers are timid, but really they are badass warriors. 4. Noticeably specific book tropes like “knife to throat scenes” or “one bed trope”. 5. Non category readers vs. category readers. 6. Questioning everything the reader thought they knew: Think you know your best friend? a. What dagger would they stab their enemies with? b. What dress would they wear to the ball where they meet their enemy turn lover? On Reddit the publisher can sort through the genre subreddits. A quick and simple search4 provided us with the below communities: • • • • • • •

r/FantasyBooks – 3.9k members r/Fantasy_Bookclub – 14.1k members r/RomanceBooks – 44.3k members r/RomanceAuthors – 6.3k members r/RomanceNovels – 2.6k members r/MysteryFiction – 2k members r/TrueCrimeBooks – 1.2k members

Research & Identifying Insights 23

Delving into these digital communities reveals that readers are looking for: 1. Recommendations. They rely on these communities to recommend new books, based on previously read series that they have loved. (If you liked X, then you will love Y.) 2. There is a trend of people asking the community to “convince me to read it”. 3. Sharing songs or playlists that remind them of books/series they enjoy or to even accompany the reading. Publishers can also make use of the free Google Trends tool to help identify what search terms people are using to search for content around their favourite genre. To begin with, enter a generic search term. Then use the results to drill down to more valuable specifics. Below are five filters a publisher can enter to narrow their search to locate trends. • • •

• •

Keyword. Start with a broad term such as “crime” or “crime books”. Countries. Choose from a range of countries in which they want to work, or choose worldwide, for a global search. Time Period. Limit the search to the last week, or look for the last year or beyond, but be aware that if recent trends are pertinent to your strategy, more recent information is likely the most valuable. Categories. Choose from set categories like “Arts and Entertainment” or “Books and Literature”. Search Type. This allows for the specification of whether the search should be a “web search”, “news search”, “google shopping”, or “YouTube search”.

By searching for “Fantasy”, worldwide, for the last year (2020–2021), in all categories, for web searches. We begin to note some interesting related queries, as seen in Figure 2.2.

FIGURE 2.2 

Related queries to Fantasy. Google Trends. Accessed 29 November 2021.

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1. “Best new fantasy book series”, “Best fantasy books”, and “Best fantasy book series” are top searches, showing people looking for recommendations. 2. “Fantasy book covers” shows people have an interest in the cover art in this genre. Something we have seen in previous research. 3. “Fantasy book name generator” and “fantasy book title generator” also make an appearance and have been rising in popularity throughout the year. We can also gain interesting nuggets from the Google Trends themes section that show popular themes based around your keyword search. If we search for “Young Adult” (YA), United States, in the “Books and Literature” category, we gain some insights into this category (Figure 2.3).

FIGURE 2.3 

Google Trend themes. Accessed 5 December 2021.

1. Top genres in Young Adult search seem to be Romance, Dystopia, Mystery. 2. Topics like ageing, magic, and LGBT rose in popularity throughout 2021. 3. People searching for book covers seems to suggest that the cover of the book is important for people searching the Young Adult category. Desktop research is also a valid use of time in identifying category insights for your book(s). This includes searching through the Internet for papers, academic

Research & Identifying Insights 25

articles, surveys, and any news stories about books, authors, and trends in literature. If the publisher locates a particular website that provides a variety of research avenues and useful information, sign up to receive newsletters or notifications of new publications that could be valuable in future marketing endeavours. This can be time-consuming, but understanding the landscape into which a book/series is being published is invaluable in reaching and engaging with that book’s potential audience. The key to this type of research is to learn and test different search terms, and to make use of other sources, citations, and links to expand the pool of knowledge. Start with search terms like “true crime book trends” or “current anime genre trends”. The search engine will provide interesting articles, surveys, interviews, and blog posts on current trends in specific category worlds. As well as being informative, they provide links to other articles, blogs, and sites of inquiry in the category insights. When all the research is pulled together, patterns emerge that can be developed into insights for further deep study. As a worked example, a search revealed that three current trends are driving discourse in the fantasy YA genre across platforms: 1. Noblebright vs. Grimdark – following the success of Game of Thrones and other “dark fantasy” fiction, there was a spate of “grimdark” works hitting the shelves. This may reflect wider societal factors in 2021, however a competing type of fiction has recently been on the rise. This is “noblebright”, fiction about good people, who do good things, and have good things happen to them. 2. Diversity – people agree, more diversity in the genre is overdue.5 3. Female-led – this can mean female-led worlds, stories, series, authors, and more. In the current socio-political climate, the role of women, and how we define the term woman, has become a wider part of popular discourse and this is reflected in the category trends for fantasy fiction. It is important to have a clear set of questions to drive the knowledge discovery phase and link it to a current book or list. Does the publisher have books that fit these trends that could be pushed into editorial6 calendars? Are there aligned themes in the current frontlist that could be highlighted in the content being used to promote them? It is worth noting that a large portion of these trends are of-the-moment, and may not exist in a year’s time. The publishing industry may have moved on to new types of fiction and the trends that surround those changes. This does not matter for smaller campaign strategies or monthly editorial strategy, but it does impact the MSS. A publisher cannot rely on extending the MSS year on year. It must be re-examined and refreshed to ensure that the publisher is providing content and campaigns that are up-to-date and relevant for the current audience and the climate. It may be that nothing has changed and there is no new information

26  Research & Identifying Insights

to be gained in research, but it is worth taking time to ensure that the insights are still relevant.

Cultural Trends There are two types of cultural insights from which useful information can be pulled: trends within the book world, and trends beyond the publishing sector. With wider world insights the key is to find ways to take advantage of a cultural trend and find a way to authentically use that trend for the book community. Book trends or book cultural insights, much like category insights, provide an idea of how a publisher can draw in new readers and engage them with new books and new/existing authors. Book trends are more broad than category insights such as genre, but can still provide a fertile ground for inspiring creation. Tapping into these current book trends and conversations allows publishers to present their authors and books as relevant, creating content that will inspire their target audience. Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram are three key sources to identify different hashtags for researching current cultural trends. For more generic trends, start with the “trending” tab in Twitter #Explore. For more book-related cultural trends, there are a variety of hashtags that can be used. Some examples are: • • •

Instagram: #Bookstagram #Bookstagrammer/s #Booklover/s #Bookloversunite Twitter: #BookLover #Bookworm #BookTwitter #BookAddict TikTok: #BookTok #Bookish #Bookworm

In searching through hashtags, repeated themes will become apparent, such as: •

Book Hangovers: when a reader finishes a book that was so outstanding they find it hard to get pulled into anything else.

On TikTok, inspiration can be found in the section called “Trend Discovery” within their creative centre. Publishers can select either top videos or top hashtags, and can choose a time frame from the last 7 to last 30 days. In selecting the top videos, publishers can then choose content from one of four countries: Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, and the United States.7 From there, content can be sorted by “hot”, “likes”, “comments”, and “shares”. If hashtags is chosen as the search method, then hashtags can be seen from any country that has TikTok, and can be narrowed down to select whether editor picks or popular on for you page (FYP) is most relevant in location cultural book trends. The sort options for hashtag searches are “total video views” or “number of videos”.

Research & Identifying Insights 27

FIGURE 2.4 

Pinterest keyword search for “book”. Accessed 14 January 2022.

Pinterest has a dedicated page to trends – https://trends.pinterest.com/ At the bottom of the page are current trends happening in a variety of different areas. At the top of the page is a graph feature that will help identify more book-related trends. Add a generic keyword such as “book” into the search box and it will populate with some of the most popular phrases of the moment that use your particular keyword (Figure 2.4). Not only do the results reveal popular search trends generally, they also allow the publisher to search more specific trends to see how fashionable they are, and/ or when they are most popular (Figure 2.5). Here we can see that there is a dramatic increase in interest at the end of December and into January from people looking for books to read, and those looking to style their bookshelves. People looking for book tattoo ideas see comparatively smaller increases around May–July. Reddit has a section called “trending today”, which is a carousel found at the top of the home page. To explore more specific cultural trends in the book world on Reddit, join social book clubs and discover the books users are reading, how they talk about them, and what memes, trends, and jokes they are sharing around the topics of books, genres, authors, and reading. These clubs will be memefilled with a variety of relevant insights for developing a social media marketing strategy. Popular Reddit threads we identified included: • • • •

r/bookrecommendations – 5.4k members r/BooksThatFeelLikeThis – 13.7k members r/suggestmeabook – 1.6m members r/books – 19.5m members

28  Research & Identifying Insights

Timed trend search on Pinterest with different keywords. Accessed 14 January 2022. FIGURE 2.5 

Facebook is one of the most mature social platforms and owns both Instagram and WhatsApp. In 2021, Facebook became one of the brands under a wider corporate identity known as Meta. Though it can be hard to manage and develop an organic reach, it does provide some free tools to take advantage of, such as Facebook IQ. Specifically, there are two sections that help gather cultural insights: insights and hot topics. On the Facebook IQ Insights page, publishers can find up-to-date relevant articles around a number of different topics but the three that will be most useful are Moments, Media Behaviour, and Trends. Here publishers can select and read articles about a range of new trends and behaviours from industry experts (https://www.facebook.com/business/insights/ audiences). The second area of interest is the Facebook IQ Hot Topics page where publishers will find a dashboard that provides a quick oversight on which topics have had significant growth across Facebook and Instagram (Figure 2.6). The current

FIGURE 2.6 

Topic rankings on Facebook IQ Hot Topics. Accessed 6 November 2021.

Research & Identifying Insights 29

Detailed trend search by age in the United States for June 2021. Accessed 6 November 2021. FIGURE 2.7 

categories for this tool are limited to: Brands & Products, Entertainment, Food & Drink, Holidays & Events, People & Culture, and Sports. Here, publishers can choose a platform (Facebook or Instagram), country (currently limited to Canada, United States, United Kingdom, Thailand, Mexico, Vietnam, and Brazil), and a month to drill down into. Further insights can be chosen by age (Figure 2.7) and gender (Figure 2.8). For example, if we look at the United States for June 2021 on Instagram we can see trends along with which age groups and genders they were most popular with.

Detailed trend search by gender in the United States for June 2021. Accessed 6 November 2021. FIGURE 2.8 

30  Research & Identifying Insights

Publishers can compare the volume within each category or across all categories. If we use the same search parameters as above (USA, June 2021, by age and gender), but change the search category to “across all categories” we can see that the main bulk of conversations were around Father’s Day ( June 20) and Juneteenth ( June 19) (Figure 2.9).

FIGURE 2.9 

Detailed “across all categories” trend search. Accessed 6 November 2021.

Publishers can go further and conduct additional desktop research for this type of insight within the tools provided by platforms such as Facebook. Start with terms like “book trends [year]” and “current book trends” “literary trends [year]” to get those broad sweep articles, then narrow the scope to learn more about what is popular at the moment. Once publishers understand the current cultural trends around the industry, they can begin to dig further into what the customers want by researching customer insights.

Customer Insights Customer insights are a key component to creating a strategy to engage a target audience. They reveal the habits and behaviours of a particular group of people, and provide insights to enable a publisher to harness that information. The insights can include elements such as: where the readers are on social media (Instagram, Facebook, TikTok etc.), what do they do on those platforms (talk to friends and family, create content, consume news), what people/accounts do they already follow, and what content do they engage with? However, one of the main issues with customer insights is the cost. These insights are harder to find for free. There are many paid platforms that can provide this data, such as the Meltwater Audiense tool and Global Web Index (GWI). But given the budgets in most marketing departments in the publishing industry, spending £1–5,000 a month is not likely a viable option. To help address this, here are some tips and places where publishers can find free resources. It should be noted that these tools and resources will not be as in-depth as paid data, but there will be information that can prove useful to build a picture of your audience.

Research & Identifying Insights 31

GWI is a paid platform, but some of their resources can be retrieved for free. With the free account, publishers can create an audience, although access is provided to only some of the core data points. But, this is still valuable. If a publisher’s primary target audience is females aged 16–24 who enjoy female-led books with strong female characters, they can create this audience to use within the platform. The free account will also allow publishers to add layers to an audience such as: “types of digital content purchased” and/or “attitudinal segmentation”. Once the target audience for the book has been created, publishers can gain insights about them in the “charts” section. The charts section contains a number of topics, separated into categories, from “online activities and behaviours” to “attitudes and lifestyle”. Here publishers can profile their audience against any of the categories to gain information about where they live online, what they do, and how long they are there for, etc. The data from such a search will return five measurement points: 1. Audience % shows how many people in your audience match with the data point. 2. Data Point % shows the contribution that your selected audience makes to the total audience that matches with that data point. 3. The Universe shows GWI’s estimate of how many real-world people are represented by the Audience %. 4. Index compares the input audience with the base audience that has applied, showing how much more or less likely they are to match with a data point. For instance, an index figure above 100 means that a publisher’s audience is more likely than the base audience to match with that datapoint. An index figure below 100 is less likely. The numerical distance shows the percentage difference: a figure of 110 means the publisher’s audience is 10 per cent more likely to match with a data point than the base audience. 5. Responses shows the number of people from the GWI panel who match the data point. In using this data we can start to build an idea of the audience, what they look like, and how to reach and engage with them. GWI can also provide attitudinal statements which give indications of how people feel about privacy, are they informed, cosmopolitan, economical and more. With this information, publishers can begin to build a profile of their target audience(s). GWI also has numerous reports and infographics about audiences, some of which can be retrieved for free in their resources section, enabling publishers to download and keep them for reference. Another free resource is Simon Kemp’s Data Reportal. This contains numerous reports that reveal global digital usage insights. These are broken down per country, and reports are updated annually. The insights here are general but some of the data points are interesting, and will be useful for understanding a target audience and customer insights. For instance, Reportal shows that people spend on average 19.9 hours/month on TikTok, which is more than Facebook,

32  Research & Identifying Insights

FIGURE 2.10 

People insights from Facebook IQ. Accessed 6 November 2021.

and much more than Instagram (2021). This reveals the potential of TikTok for gaining and retaining people’s interest. We can also find information such as social media platform overlap. People who use Instagram are among the most likely to be active on other social networks – especially Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and TikTok. And, we can see that almost half of Instagram users also use TikTok (Data Reportal, 2022). If we return to Facebook IQ, we can make use of their customer insight tools. Insights to Go is a tool to understand insights about people. Here, publishers can search by region, industry, people, moments (calendar-marked holidays, cultural events and seasons), campaigns (creative formats, measurements and data types), and platforms (any Facebook advertising channels) (Figure 2.10). If we look at the UK, entertainment and media, and people insights, we get a number of results, as indicated in Figure 2.11. While this is less specific than other tools, it does provide information that might help steer the direction of a publisher’s strategy, information such as the fact 40 per cent of people who use Stories across the Facebook family of apps surveyed in the UK said that they are interested in seeing Stories from brands that feel real. The takeaway is that in order to engage with those 40 per cent, publishers need to provide content that feels authentic.8 On the Facebook IQ Insights articles page, the publisher can also find specific audience insights. Where before we looked for Moments, Trends, and Media Behaviours, we now explore the Consumer Segments tab, which hosts a variety of articles focussing specifically on how consumers are reacting to the world around them.

Research & Identifying Insights 33

Results of UK, entertainment, media, and people insight search on Facebook IQ. Accessed 6 November 2021. FIGURE 2.11 

Competitor Insights These insights take time, and unfortunately there are few, if any, free tools that can quickly collate this information. Instead, it is a manual task. In order to get started, publishers first need to ensure that they are following their competitors on social platforms. It is important not only to follow other publishers, but also to follow their authors and influencers. Publishers are directly competing against influencers within the attention economy, where “awareness and attention [original emphasis] are not interchangeable” (Nelson-Field, 2020, p. 31). According to Nelson-Field, awareness is a conscious understanding (2020). In the case of this research, that can be seen as knowing and engaging with content from an influencer, such as a new book review. Attention can work at a lower level of engagement and can have an impact even in passing (2020) if a reader sees the image on Instagram and doesn’t stop to engage. Competitor insights, whether involving influencers or other publishers, are best gained over time, by building up a competitor profile. Some of the ways that publishers can begin to harness competitor insights are by: 1. Making notes about the interaction between the company and its followers across platforms. Does the company engage frequently? How do followers respond to their replies? If their community management strategy seems to be working, what insights can be gained from it and used to an advantage?

34  Research & Identifying Insights

2. Which posts seem to perform the best? What creative content are people responding to? Make notes of top-performing content to discover if any patterns emerge. 3. What gets people talking the most? Make notes of these points – whether it is the beauty of the book cover, or they love the quote, or they like an author piece (also pay attention to what readers hate). 4. Conducting hashtag searches to locate people talking about a competitor’s content in other social spaces. An example of how a publisher might want to frame competitor insights is below. These examples are for indicating the kind of information that publishers might find useful when considering competitor insights and how the publisher can work positive findings into their own strategies. Competitor’s Name (Publisher) •

•

•

Engagement Frequency – How often does the competitor engage? Does this increase fan/follower comments? If so, then peppering in more calls to action to encourage people to reply might be a good tactic to take advantage of. Competitor Replies to comments – Are they not engaging unless they are running a campaign? If the competitor does not reply to comments or questions from the readers, this can lead to low comment numbers and a very one-sided community. Reader/Fan comments – If there is low engagement from readers, including commenting on the posts, compared with the amount of followers the competitor has then this is worth noting. And, if the competitor’s post includes a call to action (CTA) (pre-order the book now!, etc.) does engagement with the post rise or fall?

Identifying Themes within the Comments Top themes coming from reader comments on competitor posts and user-generated content can relate to: • • • •

Book Covers – are they attractive? Would readers put them on their own shelf? Do they engage with the artwork? For books that have been adapted into different media, readers often discuss which was better. Readers seeking out and desiring signed copies from the author. Are they using recommendations to keep increasing their ‘library’?

As a publisher, these are all themes that can be tapped into to engage with your own audience and develop a social media strategy.

Research & Identifying Insights 35

Best Performing Posts Indicating which competitor posts performed best and why will give insight into what, on a specific occasion, a shared audience engaged with. Post #1 – This post gained 600 per cent more likes than the usual average. (Note) •

(Insight) This post was about a book that has a popular TV series attached and the publisher harnessed a popular meme using images from the TV show in the creative. The TV show has a lot of fans and a lot of online discussions are currently happening about the new season. By pulling the show into their book content they tapped into the ongoing conversations and made the books relevant.

Post #2 – This post gained over 1,000 per cent more comments than the average. (Note) •

(Insight) This was a competition post giving away free books if people followed certain accounts and tagged two friends in the comments. Competitions are a solid tactic to organically improve awareness about a product and gain more followers.

Hashtag Mentions Often in publishing, as was discussed in Chapter 1, knowledge of the publisher ranks pretty low in reasons why readers pick up a book. When researching competitors, seek out book hashtag mentions, as they are likely to be more used than company or author mentions, regardless of the publisher. Publishers can structure their hashtag searches as below to begin gleaning insights. Company Name •

#CompanyName = 35 avg. mentions/month

Top Author Mentions • • • •

Author 1 = 150 avg. mentions/month Author 2 = 49 avg. mentions/month Author 3 = 200 avg. mentions/month Author 4 = 25 avg. mentions/month

Top Book Mentions • • •

Book/Series 1 = 550 avg. mentions/month Book/Series 2 = 325 avg. mentions/month Book/Series 3 = 1,340 avg. mentions/month

36  Research & Identifying Insights

While competitor insights will give a publisher knowledge about what is working in the current market and what readers are engaging with, it remains necessary to use these insights in conjunction with internal reflection.

Company/Brand Insights Also known as brand insights, company insights are used to discover what people are saying about an owned brand and help to direct a publisher’s MSS. Brands such as Nike, Coke, or Gucci have household brand awareness aligned to specific product formats, which makes it easier than for a book publisher, where the genre, author, and book are more familiar to an audience and each differs with every output. Because people often recall a brand linked to a product with brand recognition, they can recognise elements of their favourite brands (Khurram et al., 2018), such as genre tropes on covers, author names, or series titles. Readers will recall authors and books, but are less likely to have publisher brand recognition, especially among smaller companies and imprints. Therefore, brand insight research may not turn up usable insights if no one is talking about the publisher themselves, but it is worth checking to discover if there are any readers who are attached to a wider imprint, or publishing brand – if so, this can be harnessed. It is worthwhile to conduct brand research at least once a year, or, ideally, monitoring the brand name across social platforms weekly. Conversations can change very quickly in social media, and to tap into those changes, a publisher must know they are taking place. A good place to start is a simple Twitter hashtag search. Search for your publisher’s name or imprint derivatives. For example, if we search under #publishername, we are likely to find multiple influencers who have received free books, posts from the publisher, literary blogs, and bookshops. Outside of this, the main content may revolve around cover design, readers showcasing their collections, and discussing how much they love the different aspects of a book. Following on from the preliminary hashtag search, repeat this process on Instagram and find what type of user-generated content is being shared. Using the same hashtag, #publishername, we are likely to see giveaways from influencers, people posting images showcasing artistically arranged books, and where they are reading. By doing a search on Google trends for “Publisher Name Books” in the “Books and Literature” category, a publisher may find that there is not enough data to locate related queries, but there will be related topics. Then, widen the search a little and try “Publisher Name” (leaving out “books”) in “Book and Literature.” More information will reveal itself, but this search also brings up more unrelated content that must be sifted for value, allowing a publisher to come away with insights into what also comes to mind when readers think of the publisher’s brand.

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Research & Identifying Insights 37

All of the insights gained by following the research methods in this chapter build on one another to bring together a clear picture of what areas the publisher can authentically engage within. Understanding the key commodity, category, and cultural insights leads to looking at the publisher’s competitors, the current and potential customers, and what the company itself can offer in the way of insights into their business goals, audiences, and what has and has not worked well. All of these insights are paramount to have in place before the publisher can consider putting together the master social strategy (MSS), which underlines all social media marketing activities the publisher will undertake.

Notes 1 Please see Barnes, 2018 to better understand how users interact in the comments. And, see Miller et al., 2016, and Shen et al., 2017 to understand more on how the makeup of a digital community influences the way users relate to one another and interact in these online spaces. 2 For more information on how people engage on social platforms, see Grădinaru, 2016 and Mazambani et al., 2015. 3 For more information on hashtag use on Instagram, see Buarki and Alkhateeb, 2018; Alassani and Göretz, 2019. For more information on hashtag use more widely, see Fedushko and Kolos, 2019. 4 Search run in December 2021. 5 The topic of diversity across publishing is not new, but has seen a rise in recent years. For more information on how the publishing industry is diversifying see Saha and Levent, 2020. 6 In this case, we mean “editorial” to refer to the creation of social content, not an editor in the traditional sense of the publishing house. 7 These are arbitrarily chosen by TikTok, possibly due to beta testing. 8 For information on authenticity in influencer marketing see Lee and Eastin, 2021 and Bruns, 2018. For information on authenticity in social media more widely, see Alhouti and Johnson, 2021; Cunningham and Craig, 2017; Duffy and Hund, 2015; Shen et al., 2017; and Lee et al., 2014.

References Alassani, R., and Göretz, J., 2019, July. Product Placements by Micro and Macro Influencers on Instagram. In International Conference on Human-computer Interaction (pp. 251–267). Cham: Springer. Alhouti, S., and Johnson, C.M., 2021. Web of Lies: Drivers and Consequences of Social Media (In)Authenticity. Journal of Promotion Management, 1–36. doi:10.1080/10496491. 2021.1955077 Barnes, R., 2018. Uncovering Online Commenting Culture:Trolls, Fanboys and Lurkers. Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. Bialski, P., and Batorski, D., 2010. From Online Familiarity to Offline Trust: How a Virtual Community Creates Familiarity and Trust between Strangers, in Zaphiris, P., & Ang, C.S. (eds), Social Computing and Virtual Communities. Florida: Chapman & Hall/CRC, pp. 179–204. Bruns, I., 2018. “Trust” and “Perceived Authenticity” in Social Media Driven Influencer Marketing and Their Influence on Intentions-To-Buy of 18-24-Year-Olds in Ireland (Doctoral dissertation, Dublin Business School).

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Buarki, H., and Alkhateeb, B., 2018. Use of Hashtags to Retrieve Information on the Web. The Electronic Library, 36(2): 286–304. Cai, B., Huang, G., Yang, S., Xiang, Y., and Chi, C.H., 2020, October. Clustering Hashtags Using Temporal Patterns. In International Conference on Web Information Systems Engineering (pp. 183–195). Cham: Springer. Cunningham, S., and Craig, D., 2017. Being “Really Real” on YouTube: Authenticity, Community and Brand Culture in Social Media Entertainment. Media International Australia, 164(1): 71–81. Data Reportal, 2022. Digital 2022: TikTok’s Rapid Rise Continues. Available at: https:// datareportal.com/reports/digital-2022-tiktok-headlines (Accessed 12 January 2022). Duffy, B., and Hund, E., 2015. “Having it All” on Social Media: Entrepreneurial Femininity and Self-Branding Among Fashion Bloggers. Social Media + Society, 1(2): 1–11. Facebook IQ, 2021. About [Facebook]. Available at: https://www.facebook.com/facebookiq/ about/?ref=page_internal (Accessed 3 December 2021). Fedushko, S., and Kolos, S., 2019. Effective Strategies for Using Hashtags in Online Communication. arXiv preprint arXiv:1909.01474. Gaffeo, E., Scorcu, A., and Vici, L., 2006. Demand Distribution Dynamics in the Book Publishing Industry. Paper prepared for the WEHIA 2006 Conference Bologna, 15–17 June 2006. Grădinaru, C., 2016. The Technological Expansion of Sociability: Virtual Communities and Imagined Communities. Academicus: International Scientific Journal, 1 July, 2016(14): 181–190. doi:10.7336/academicus.2016.14.13. GWI, 2021. Female Audience Between 16-24. Available at: https://alpha.globalwebindex. com/chart-builder/chart (Accessed 3 July 2021). Khurram, M., Qadeer, F., and Sheeraz, M., 2018. The Role of Brand Recall, Brand Recognition and Price Consciousness in Understanding Actual Purchase. Journal of Research in Social Sciences, 6(2): 219–241. Lee, J.A., and Eastin, M.S., 2021. Perceived Authenticity of Social Media Influencers: Scale Development and Validation. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, 15: 822–841. Lee, J., Nass, C., and Bailenson, J., 2014. Does the Mask Govern the Mind? Effects of Arbitrary Gender Representation of Quantitative Task Performance in Avatar-Represented Virtual Groups. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 17: 248–254. Lewis, D., and Weigert, A., 1985, June. Trust As a Social Reality. Social Forces, 63(4): 967–985. Mazambani, G., Carlson, M., Reysen, S., and Hempelmann, C., 2015. Impact of Status and Meme Content on the Spread of Memes in Virtual Communities. Human Technology, 11(2): 148–164. Miller, D., Costa, E., Haynes, N., McDonald, T., Nicolescu, R., Sinanan, J., Spyer, J., Venkatraman, S., and Wang, X., 2016. Gender. How the World Changed Social Media (pp. 114–127), 1st ed., vol. 1. London: UCL Press. Available at: www.jstor.org/stable/ j.ctt1g69z35.15 (Accessed 15 June 2020). Nelson-Field, K., 2020. The Attention Economy and How Media Works: Simple Truths for Marketers. London: Springer Nature. Saha, A., and Levent, S., 2020. Rethinking Diversity in Publishing; the Publishers Association, 2021, UK Publishing Workforce 2020: Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging. Available at: https://www.spreadtheword.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Rethinking_diversity_ in-publishing_WEB.pdf (Accessed 21 December 2021). Shen, K., Zhao, F., and Kalifa, M., 2017. Dural Identity Process for Virtual Community Participation and Impact of Gender Composition. In Internet Research [e-journal], 27(2): 182–198. doi:10.1108/IntR-06-2015-0166/full/html.

3 MASTER SOCIAL STRATEGY (MSS)

Insights relating to book launches, author promotions, events, or social campaigns need to be given direction and coordination as part of a master social strategy (MSS). In wider media marketing, an MSS includes things like “major media (television, newspapers, radio) and responsible for creating a suitable advertising campaign” (Ross, 2017, p. 7) with a paid account. The below the line strategies consist of the other types of marketing (flyers, posters, emails, etc.). However, in the case of social media marketing, and in this guide, the focus is on the strategy for social media. The MSS is key to providing cohesiveness throughout a publisher’s social ecosystem, and to ensuring that they are creating smart social content. Each move on social media, from a text Tweet to a full blown TikTok influencer campaign, needs to emerge from the same strategy, created to ensure that a publisher’s business goals are met, and the messages are delivered in clear and effective ways. Rebecca Finn, the Research and Insights Director of We Are Social, notes that “[a] good social strategy doesn’t rely solely on tactics, [… it is] rooted in a social positioning that works best for the brand and audience” (2022). As a starting point, a good master social strategy (MSS) framework will include: • • • • • • • • •

Business Objectives Social Objectives Social Audiences Headliner Activation Pillars Platform Strategy Hashtag Strategy Keyword Strategy Shopping Strategy DOI: 10.4324/9781003276012-4

40  Master Social Strategy (MSS)

Once this strategy is in place, it can be used to fuel smaller, hyperlocal strategies for campaigns around new book or author launches.

Developing the Strategy In the marketing and advertising world, people talk about the 5Cs; a structure that organises research into five insight segments or “truths” that will help inform the 5 key components of their strategy. The 5Cs is a way of structuring and utilising the insights from Chapter 2 and should be read as a continuation of how to begin to pull together all the elements of research into a feasible plan. A way to apply this thinking to a publisher’s MSS is: •

•

•

• •

Culture – what actionable insights can be gained from research about the current culture and/or book culture that could be relevant to the brand? This is where cultural trends research comes into play. Customer – what actionable insights can be obtained from the target audience? Can we identify wants and needs that can be fulfilled? How can a publisher accomplish this? This is where customer insights research is most useful. Competitor – what are they doing that can be learned from? What differentiates one publisher from another? What is the white space? Competitor insights research is valid for competitor MSS strategy. Category – what actionable insights can be found in genre trends? Here category insights research comes into its own. Company – what actionable insights come from seeing how people perceive a publisher’s own company/brand? What are the benefits of your list and why are they your benefits? Here is where we use the company insights research.

How can these 5Cs turn research into actionable insights that provide the information needed to create an effective strategy? As an example, we can consider a small publisher focussed on the YA crime genre, or a larger publishing company who has decided to create an @publishername_crime community. Regardless of the size of the publisher, they must compile the research they acquire into easyto-digest segments for each of the 5Cs. Doing so will require knowledge of the industry to sort through pieces of research that may not be relevant to creating their MSS. However, these pieces of research that are not directly relevant to the current strategy are not invalid and will indicate the overall field of marketing and should be logged and dated for future reference. A sample output can be seen in Table 3.1.1 Each section has a number of insights that can be distilled to 2–6 key points per area. This can then be distilled even further into 1–2 key actionable insights. It is important to note that not all research will provide actionable insights. In order to know what is most valuable to a particular publisher, they will need to utilise their understanding and expertise in the field to know which are relevant.

Master Social Strategy (MSS) 41 TABLE 3.1  How a publisher might condense the insights into manageable action points

Culture Insights • Book community trends and in-jokes are a thriving → Harness their pride in being a book lover trend in the social book communities through content that • Book hangovers highlights memes, • Smashing female reader stereotypes trends, and in-jokes only • Book men. readers will understand and provide them with a • #BookTok is a very female-led community.2 platform to “brag”. • They are proud of their reading spaces (nooks, shelves, rooms). Customer Insights • They are on social to keep in touch with friends and → Provide readers with the latest gossip, news, and family. trends of the specific • They are on social media to find content. genre, to ensure that • They are more likely to follow celebrities and influencers. they are always • They use social for inspiration for things (new purin-the-know, and inspire chases, places to visit). them through yours and • They are on social media to avoid missing out. other “influential” • UK users spend on average 19.9 hours a month on voices. TikTok, US users spend 21.5 (App Annie Intelligence, 2021), more than Instagram and Facebook. Competitor Insights • Engaging with the community provides more → Focus on growing a community through interactions. conversations with • Competitions that need comments, shares, and likes readers and providing increase engagement and organic reach. them with relevant • People love discussing book cover art. conversation topics and • Content that harnesses relevant trending conversations recommendations. performs well. • People like getting recommendations from the publisher. • Calls to action increase engagement. Category Insights • Readers rely on recommendations to find new books. → Provide readers with a community that gives • They are collectors and like to show off their collections. recommendations, and • They are creative and love to create from their favourthe feeling of belonging ite books (tattoos, artwork, fan fiction, etc.). to something special • Keen on merchandise. through in-jokes, trends, • In-jokes comparing non-category readers with category rewards, and memes that readers. they will understand. Company Insights • People do not talk about the company unless they are → Push brand recall through popular authors and in the industry or are an influencer who has been sent books on the list. promotional items, free merch, and content from the OR only promote books publisher. and authors, and leave • People only recognise the brand when it comes to company branding as a the classic titles, new titles are not associated with the by-product of this. brand. Harness power of classic “reader love” to promote new titles.

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Strategy Headliner Once these insights are completed they can be used to form the “headliner”.3 The headliner underlines everything that is done on social media, from simple Tweets, to influencer campaigns, to event coverage, to book launches. It helps highlight what a particular brand can do for existing and potential customers. It indicates why readers/users should follow a particular publisher, engage with them, and buy their books over those of a competitor. It is often a single sentence that encompasses the value a publisher is giving back to their customers with their social media presence “in a way that doesn’t feel self-serving” (Bader, 2022). Begin the process of creating a headliner by creating a list of words that can be pulled from the insights. • • • • • • • • •

Fans’ in-jokes Community Collectors Book lovers Pride/Brag rights Content only they understand Keeping up to date/news Creativity Relevant

Consider how to craft these ideas into a sentence that indicates what value a publisher is bringing to the table for consumers, keeping in mind the role of the connectivity in digital spaces, the value of both strong and weak advertising methods, how customers are viewed as passive or proactive problem solvers, and whether the goal is to be persuasive or informative. Choose the keywords that make the most sense for a particular audience to the publisher. A potential headliner for a publisher is: Bringing books to life through the eye of a fan. • • •

Mentions books as the product. Speaks to the idea of “in-jokes”, “content only they understand”, and being part of a community through the idea of being “fan-led”. Takes into account the “creativity” of the audience, implying a use of their content.

Taken all together, the overarching objectives and guidelines of the master social strategy (MSS) will be similar to Table 3.2.

Activation Pillars Once a headliner has been created, the next step is to enhance the strategy by identifying activation pillars.4 They consist of a series of 3–5 structure points to provide

Master Social Strategy (MSS) 43 TABLE 3.2  Overarching objectives and guidelines of the master social strategy (MSS)

Brand Objective Social Objective Social Audience Creative Headliner

Increase sales of both new books and backlist. Drive awareness and sales of popular authors and books series and create a community of readers that love our books. Book lovers aged 14–25. Bringing books to life through the eyes of a fan.

a framework for all creative ideation. The insights found in research, along with an understanding of what products need to be promoted on social, will help to develop an understanding of what these pillars should consist of. One approach is to start by creating a table. In one column list the items that will be promoted across social platforms. As a publisher, these will be books, backlist, authors, and events, etc. In the second column add a summary of the key content insights (Table 3.3). From here, publishers can begin to consider where these lists can merge by pulling out items with strong connections. For example, there is a natural fit between promoting new books, events, and authors, and keeping followers up to date with gossip and news. There is also a strong connection between UGC, memes, trends, in-jokes, recommendations from the community, and events and backlist. Once a publisher starts making these connections, they will begin to see pillars slowly beginning to form. The three pillars that have started to take shape in this example are in the news, fanzine, and book art.

In The News This pillar provides the audience with up-to-date gossip, news, and trends from the publisher, including new books, exciting events, and incorporating other interesting updates in the wider genre. (new books, author, events, latest gossip, and news)

Fanzine Ideas under this pillar can traverse the range of reader topics. Book memes, in-jokes, recommendations, and any other fun trends will be given free reign under this pillar. This could be owned content or UGC, and will be a way to TABLE 3.3  Promotion/contents from insights

Necessary Promotion Products New books Backlist Author Events

Content from Insights Memes, trends and in-jokes only readers will understand. Latest gossip, news and trends of the genre to keep them up to date. Recommendations from community. User-generated content (UGC) – Encourage, reward, and highlight their creativity. Collector content. Pretty pictures of book covers and books.

44  Master Social Strategy (MSS)

promote backlist titles in a relevant way, which, if done well, can revive them. Recommendations will be in fun book speak (reverse haram [RH], paranormal [PNR], to be read [TBR], book with happy for now endings [HFN]) to help promote those “in-joke” moments. (backlist, memes, trends and in-jokes, UCG, recommendations from community)

Book Art Consideration should be given to the role that using the books being promoted to speak to bookworms aesthetically can play. This can be ideas that use beautiful covers, books displayed in fun structures and interesting backgrounds, the perfect shot of an entire collection, or even people making art from books. However, simply joining the tropes of what the competition is doing will not set one publisher apart from another. (new books, backlist, collector content, pretty pictures of book covers and books, UGC) It is worth noting that ideas can cross pillars; an idea for content can fall into all of them, or a couple. The key is that they must be part of at least one pillar in order to be used. Activation pillars underpin and guide everything creative moving forward. The activation pillars sit below the creative headliner and can look like this (Table 3.4). TABLE 3.4  Activation pillars

Activation Pillars In The News This pillar will help to keep the audience up to date with all the latest gossip, news, and trends from new books, to exciting events, to any other updates in the world of books or the book category.

Fanzine

Book Art

Ideas can traverse the range of fan topics. Book memes, in-jokes, recommendations and any other fun trends will be given free reign under this pillar and will be a way to promote backlist titles in a relevant way.

Sometimes words are unnecessary. Let’s use books to speak to our bookworms aesthetically. This can be ideas that use beautiful covers, books displayed in fun structures and interesting backgrounds, the perfect shot or an entire collection, or even people making art from books.

Platform Strategy The next step is platform strategy, which will identify on which platforms a brand should concentrate their efforts. It can be remarkably tempting to want a brand presence on every platform, but this will spread your marketing, and budget, thin, and as Prunty states for the Digital Institute of Marketing, “time would be better spent focussing on the sites that help you reach your goals” (2021).

Master Social Strategy (MSS) 45

A publisher must be strategic and take into account not just the research that has been undertaken, but also their own resources and available budget. It is not enough to share the exact same content across all social channels. The channels are too different, they have different personalities and behaviours, and what works for one is not likely to work well for another. Readers, users, and their communities are savvy. Seeing brands not taking the effort to understand the platforms they use alienates them. It is important to have a separate strategy for each platform that works together within the strategy framework. When considering the platforms on which content might be best suited, publishers can start by thinking about two types of questions: operational and research. Operational questions deal with budget and resources. Research questions revolve around the previous research discussed in Chapter 2.

Operational Questions Budget: What is the budget for content creation? Is there budget for external creatives, or does it need to be done by an in-house team? Time/People Resource: How many people/man hours are dedicated to social media? Equipment Resource: What equipment is available to create content and what set-ups can be created?

Research Questions Who is the target audience? What are their behaviours and which platforms do they align to? What platforms are the competitors using? If the publisher does not have an extensive resource and budget, it is better to concentrate on 1–2 platforms. It is more valuable to do an outstanding job on one platform, rather than a poor job across five. The underlying message is that social media is about carving out a community in the global village around a brand and linked products. A community cannot be developed if a publisher does not have time to grow and nurture it. And, in order to do so, knowledge of the platforms and their value to a publisher need to be understood.

Instagram One of the most versatile and popular platforms, Instagram has been a social staple since being founded in 2010 and provides multiple options and features for a variety of content. Instagram is the world’s fourth most-used platform (We Are Social, 2021, slide 75) with a gender split of more male-identifying users from ages 13–34 and more female-identifying users from 35 up (slide 111) for an overall gender split of 51.4 per cent female and 48.6 per cent male (slide 110).

46  Master Social Strategy (MSS)

Knowing how the demographics of platform users as a whole coincide with a target audience will enable a publisher to better place content to build a brand and sell titles. On Instagram, there is the traditional feed where a user can add photos, videos, and carousels. There are Stories where a brand/publisher can be more authentic with their content, which relates to Pooley’s notion of “calculated authenticity” (2010), which shows a more “authentic” side of the brand and makes it more relatable. Duffy and Hund point out that these “[a]ppeals to authenticity are deeply structured into the ethos of Silicon Valley” (2019, p. 4988) and are rooted in the Instagram community and the way users and brands communicate on that platform and which features they take advantage of. With Stories, a brand has the added benefit of including a link sticker that can serve as a CTA, sending users to a further site. Publishers can also take advantage of Polls, Questions, and Stickers to help engage the audience in a way that feels like a unique communication between the brand and the follower. Instagram Reels is where a publisher can create content live. This allows a brand to engage with users in their community in real time with multiple presenters. Finally, Instagram offers IGTV (Instagram TV), the platform’s space for longer form content. Recently, Instagram announced a shift in focus from standard feed content to Reels content, due to the success of TikTok, and this is worth noting when considering a strategy for this platform. In addition to the various ways to share content, Instagram has a robust native eCommerce system in place, allowing people to purchase items within the app. As a publisher this would require the ability to sell books from an owned source, such as the publisher’s website. The goal of using Instagram is to build a community of people who look forward to the content the publisher provides, because it is unique to a particular publisher. With this engagement, awareness of new products and backlist can be raised. On Instagram the goal is to have people liking, commenting, sharing with friends, and clicking to purchase/follow a CTA. Instagram is a good starting platform that has behaviours that can entertain (Interesting Stories, Funny Reels, Memes), educate (How To Reels/Stories), inform (Stories, News bullets, News in feed posts, event notifications on Stories and Feed), and inspire (UGC, contests, beautiful In-Feed imagery) an audience, which is something that can be tapped into if done well. For these reasons, Instagram is the main platform that publishers should be using on their own behalf. Use Instagram for engagement, conversion, and awareness.

Facebook Founded in 2004, Facebook has shifted over the years to become the world’s most used social media platform (We Are Social, 2021, slide 75). It has been a stalwart in the area of social media marketing in the form of paid ads and highly limited organic reach, which is, in 2021, between 1.1–2.2 per cent of

Master Social Strategy (MSS) 47

page followers (Wagner, 2021). This follows a sharp downward trend from 2013 onwards, and sits lower than competitor social platforms, further pushing organisations into a “pay for play” Facebook marketing strategy (Wagner, 2021; BI Intelligence, 2016). More recently, Facebook made the move to promote features that are around “connecting” vs. “content”. Functions such as Facebook Groups have taken on a new range of possibilities for building communities around popular authors, book series, and/or genres. If a publisher can develop these communities, they will have a more direct audience to tap into, one that is invested and able to respond to calls to action. Facebook Groups are perfect if the goal is to entertain, educate, and inspire audiences with content that provides value to readers like access to authors, news, book hacks, new covers etc. As well as Facebook Groups, Facebook has Stories (though these are less popular than Stories on its sister platform, Instagram), and Facebook Watch, which is similar to YouTube with both user content and Facebook-owned original content. There also is Facebook Live for when a brand wants to connect in real time with their audience. Facebook pages and/or groups allow a publisher to create a community populated by readers of the book genre or author, allowing them to promote products and give users/readers unique news and information that they can share with their other communities by word of mouth. In addition, Pages have a mature, native eCommerce offering (shared with Instagram, which helps if you have both platforms) that a publisher can tap into for direct sales links. Use Facebook Pages for informing (new books, new authors, events). Use Facebook Groups for engagement, awareness, and conversion. Use Facebook pages for paid awareness, and paid conversion.

TikTok TikTok is the newest viral platform. Once home to anyone under 18, it is now home to everyone, with over 1 billion active users (We Are Social, 2021, slide 7). Of the TikTok audience, 56.1 per cent are female, with the vast majority of users between 18 and 34 years old, with more uptake on the younger side (2021, slide 8). Content delivered on TikTok is full screen, and shorter content lengths maintain better engagement. The platform has a range of filters and features to make videos fun and engaging for the target users. The main feature is the hashtag challenge that can become popular organically, but brands also have the option to promote a hashtag challenge (though these can be upward of $400k to purchase for three days). Individual creators are a large focus on this platform, and while some videos simply have hands that feature content such as new books or items, content that gains traction tends to include charismatic, funny, interesting people trying out new challenges, talking about their life, and being amusing. When a publisher is contemplating creating content for TikTok, they must consider the type of

48  Master Social Strategy (MSS)

individuals that might make good hosts on TikTok. An option could be to have an author reviewing and engaging with videos readers have made about their books. The goal on TikTok is to entertain and engage with readers on topics around trending behaviours and upcoming fun challenges. Here a publisher needs to be one of them, and indicate comradery by understanding the right trends to take part in and how to use them for promoting book culture. TikTok is also developing their eCommerce platform,5 which will provide options for brands to push sales in entertaining and authentic ways. TikTok is an ideal platform if a publisher wants to entertain, inspire and educate their readers through fun hacks, entertaining videos (with and without author participation), and showcasing/duetting with amazing and interesting UGC. Use TikTok for engagement and conversion.

Pinterest Founded in 2009, Pinterest falls near the bottom of the “most used platforms”, with 478 million users worldwide (We Are Social, 2021, slide 75). It may be more obscure than the previously discussed platforms, but certain industries and areas do very well on Pinterest. And, for those who produce content around cooking and DIY, for example, there is a dedicated community of book lovers on Pinterest. Pinterest does not give the same opportunity as other platforms to formulate a community around a publisher’s channel. Pinterest, while having a comment feature, is not about community. The user behaviour is not to comment. This is a platform that revolves around collecting. Users collect content to make their boards look visually appealing and interesting. It helps them plan weddings and to decide what to watch or read next. Therefore, the goal on Pinterest is to create desirable content that users want to add to their boards, reminding them, when they peruse through their channel, that a particular brand or publisher exists and creates/sells something they want. Pinterest has matured their eCommerce offering and it now has features that can help a publisher to sell their books within the platform. Pinterest is a great platform to educate and inspire current and potential readers through beautiful book imagery, quotes, and thoughtful and interesting hacks and tips. Use Pinterest for engagement and conversion.

Reddit Many marketers forget about Reddit, in part because it can be a volatile platform with unique behaviours and native languages, and user dialects within the different communities. It is a hive of small communities as well as some

Master Social Strategy (MSS) 49

large ones such as “r/Food”, and others that are unique like “r/Superstonk”.6 These communities can be territorial about their digital homes. In a study of digital gamers, Woods found that territoriality “emerges when these diverse entities are assembled into specific socio-spatial configurations that strive for exclusivity” (2020, p. 2), as is found in the Reddit communities. Within these communities their “dynamics cause territory to be constantly (dis)assembled, and constantly, therefore, to be in a state of becoming” (Woods, 2020, p. 3). Therefore, it is harder for a large brand, or publisher, to join in these communities and not alter the power dynamic within them as users are especially unforgiving to companies that try to sell their wares within their space. But, this is not always the case. There are a few interesting ways in which brands can communicate with Reddit users within those communities without upsetting the dynamics. One recommendation is to request to work with established communities and provide them with content that gives them value, such as an r/AMA (ask me anything) with their favourite author. If a publisher has the time and enough content that can give value to their niche community of Reddit-based readers, they could set up a community around a genre/author/book(s) and cultivate the audience through unique news and information that readers would not get elsewhere. This can be access to their favourite authors, knowledge of when a hotly anticipated book is about to drop, and more. Reddit is an ideal platform to inspire, educate, and entertain readers with valuable content. Publishers can also choose to use the paid features on the platform where they can inform wider audiences about new books, authors, and events. Use organic Reddit for engagement only. Use paid Reddit for conversion and awareness.

Twitter Though often considered one of the top platforms, Twitter ranks below Pinterest on actual user numbers (We Are Social, 2020, slide 75). Founded in 2006, Twitter gained popularity as a micro-blogging site, which rose to further prominence in 2009, with the live reporting of the Hudson River plane crash, giving rise to the “citizen journalist”. Since then, it has been a popular platform to quickly share information, follow trending events, and even follow key political policies. For a publisher, Twitter is a good fit if they do not have much visual content, but do have internal resources to spend time cultivating the Twitter presence. Twitter is an of-the-moment platform, and publishers who engage with it need to be willing to put in the effort. Posting three times a day on another platform is not recommended, but on Twitter the more a publisher posts the better. Twitter has video, image, GIF, audio posting options and is a good way to have one-toone conversations with a target audience. This is not to say it is easy to grow a community on Twitter, but a publisher can develop a wider conversation around a Tweet, and raise awareness.

50  Master Social Strategy (MSS)

On Twitter, it is important to seek out conversations that a publisher or brand can enter authentically. Time should be spent looking at relevant hashtags to see if there are conversations happening that a publisher can add value to. Twitter is great for entertaining, educating, and informing audiences about all a publisher’s news, fun hacks, and any funny memes, based around current events, trends of products for sale. Use Twitter for engagement and awareness.

Twitch Traditionally only for gamers, Justin.tv morphed into Twitch in 2011. In the last few years Twitch has begun to expand its audience and move into general streaming areas such as cooking, lifestyle, and beauty, making it more valuable to brands. It is purely live streaming, meaning there are no traditional social media posts, though users can watch “catch up” videos after they have gone live. This also means publishers who want to invest their marketing in Twitch must be prepared to treat the channel as if it were a TV show more so than a social media platform. To make the most use of it, post regular videos at the same time each week, have interesting content ready to go that will maintain the attention of a target audience for the entirety of the stream – aim for users watching from start to finish. Therefore, this platform requires much time and energy, along with a decent budget. Twitch is great for entertaining and educating an audience with streaming videos using authors and partners. If done well, this platform can build and foster a highly engaged community around a publisher’s brand and products. Use Twitch for engagement and awareness.

YouTube YouTube is a platform that is different from other social media, and some may not classify it as social media. With 30 million visitors to the platform every day, YouTube is actually the second largest search engine behind Google. It is the perfect place to promote longform video content, but longform video is expensive. And the obstacles do not stop there. Competition is incredibly high. Every minute, 100 hours of videos are uploaded to YouTube. There are hundreds of high-quality videos with similar content, often vying for the same audience. Here, publishers are not only competing against other publishers and authors, they are going against established YouTube content creators, who are putting up multiple videos each week and investing hours into maintaining the popularity of their channel and videos. They bring significant search engine optimisation (SEO) expertise, and they are adept at cross-promoting with their other channels and with other influencers to make sure that their content rises up the ranks. In order to be seen, publishers will need to invest large budgets to create videos on a regular basis, and give them a paid boost to be able to break into the top search

Master Social Strategy (MSS) 51

results. If that type of budget is an option, then this is a channel worth investing in, but publishers should create a separate strategy just for this channel, and like Twitch, it is worth thinking about the content more as a TV series than a social media post. YouTube is great for entertaining and educating an audience with owned streaming videos (if ongoing budgets are high) and partner video content on a large scale with influencers. Use YouTube for awareness.

Snapchat Snapchat can be an opportunity to reach a younger audience. Publishers of young adult fiction might find success on this channel, for example. It is a creative space, and the audience will expect creative content that is in line with the platform behaviour. Publishers will need to use the features and elements that Snapchat provides to ensure people know they understand the platform. It can be difficult to grow an audience on Snapchat and it requires time, effort, and budget, but publishers can be rewarded with a dedicated and engaged audience. It is also possible to use Snapchat purely for partnering with content creators. There are also interesting opportunities in features like branded filters and BitMoji merchandise that could be unique ways publishers can promote their books. Create BitMoji outfits of favourite characters that fans can use on their own BitMoji. Snapchat is a platform to inspire, educate, and entertain a young audience and connect to them through their own digital language. Use Snapchat for awareness and engagement.

Cross-platform Posting Understanding the unique benefits of using each platform is an important starting place. And though it is best to focus on a few platforms well, rather than stretch resources thin across several, this is not to say that the underlying creative ideas cannot be posted across platforms. In fact, there does exist some content that could be posted cross-platform. See Table 3.5 for examples of where content can cross-platform. You can see by Table 3.5 that most cross-platform posting is limited to Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, Pinterest, and Twitter. Other platforms such as Twitch and Reddit have unique content that cannot be posted cross-platform. Twitch and Reddit also have very dedicated users with a loyalty to the platform that echoes those found in fan communities (Roberts, 2007). If a publisher develops a way to provide these fans, on these platforms, with unique content that cannot be obtained elsewhere then it may be worth adding this to the roster of social platforms on which a presence is built. However, if unique

Content Type

Platform Crossover

Instagram In-Feed Static

• • In-Feed Video (3–60 • seconds) • Stories Video • (3–15 seconds) •

Stories Static Reels IGTV Videos (60 seconds+)

• • • • • • •

Facebook In-Feed Static

• • In-Feed Video (3–60 • seconds) • • • Stories Video (3–15 seconds)

• •

Stories Static

• • • •

Considerations

Instagram is the most versatile of the platforms, with a lot of its Facebook Feed content being able to push to other platforms. Twitter if adjustments were made to the dimensions This would be the recommended platform if you could only Facebook Feed concentrate on one platform. Twitter if slight adjustments were made to the dimensions Publishers can create any number of different content depending on Facebook Stories the different resources they have, switching things up to IGTV for Snapchat (base content only, added functions like polls, stickers etc. will larger budgets, Reels and Feed Video for medium budgets, and Feed need to be optimised for Snap features) Static and Stories for low budgets. Pinterest Idea Pins Pinterest Video Facebook Stories Snapchat (base content only, added functions like polls, stickers etc. will need to be optimised for Snap features) TikTok YouTube Facebook Feed Facebook is pay-to-play. Unless you have an ongoing budget to Instagram Feed promote content, this is not a good channel for organic reach. Twitter if slight adjustments were made to the dimensions Though, when you have a budget Facebook remains the best platform Instagram Feed (if below 60 seconds) for paid media.We recommend having the Facebook channel for those GTV (if above 60 seconds) moments when you have a big campaign and can create dark ads YouTube linking out to somewhere else. Twitter (if slight adjustments were made to the dimensions and below If you need, you can post the same content from Instagram onto 2 minutes and 20 seconds long) Facebook to keep it ticking over and looking fresh. Instagram Stories Creating a group around a particular genre would be a good use of Snapchat (base content only, added functions like polls, stickers etc. will this platform. To do this will require time and resources to grow the need to be optimised for Snap features) community. Instagram Stories Snapchat (base content only, added functions like polls, stickers etc. will need to be optimised for Snap features) Pinterest Idea Pins Pinterest Video

(Continued)

52  Master Social Strategy (MSS)

TABLE 3.5  Cross-platform posting considerations

TABLE 3.5  Cross-platform posting considerations (Continued)

Content Type Twitter Text Tweet Audio Tweet Video Tweet Image Tweet TikTok Video Feed (up to 3 minutes long)

Snapchat Photo

Pinterest Pinterest Static Pinterest Video Pinterest Idea Pin YouTube YouTube Video

N/A N/A • Facebook (if slight adjustments were made to the dimensions) • Instagram Feed (if slight adjustments were made to the dimensions) • Facebook (if slight adjustments were made to the dimensions) • Instagram Feed (if slight adjustments were made to the dimensions) • Instagram Reels (as long as up to 1 minute long)

• Instagram Stories • Facebook Stories (base content only, added functions like polls, stickers etc. will need to be optimised for IG/FB features)

Considerations For a publishing company, Twitter is a positive. If there is the time and budget to Tweet 2–3 times a day + look for conversations to join and create content to post, use this platform. If budget and resources are limited, leave Twitter out.

#BookTok is a thriving community, and there is not much competition from other companies.7 Publishers can start by posting their IG Reels content on TikTok to test the waters. Another option is to forgo a profile, and instead forge partnerships with the multitude of content creators on the platform. It is not recommended to have an account on this platform. Look to forge partnerships with influencers already on the platform + create fun filters.

• Pinterest Idea Pins • Pinterest Video • Instagram Stories • Facebook Stories (base content only, added functions like polls, stickers etc. will need to be optimised for IG/FB features) N/A • Instagram Stories • Snapchat Video • Facebook Stories • Instagram Stories • Facebook Stories • Facebook • IGTV

Pinterest is a very visual platform, and book lovers are collectors, which is what this platform is about: collecting interesting and beautiful content. There is not much crossover with other channels. Pinterest is not a “must-have” but rather a “nice-to-have”.

YouTube requires an entirely different strategy and budget for long form videos. This channel is only recommended for companies who have large budgets.

Master Social Strategy (MSS) 53

Snapchat Snapchat Video (individual videos are 10 seconds in length or 6 × 10 second multi-story video)

Platform Crossover

54  Master Social Strategy (MSS) TABLE 3.6  A one-page strategy

Goal: What do you want to do with this platform? Do you want to entertain your audience, educate them, inspire them? KPIs: What will be indicating success? Conversion, Awareness, Numbers (setting this will help you with reporting later on in the process. Role: What will this platform do for you and how does that fit in with the wider ecosystem? Activation Pillar #1 Activation Pillar #2 Activation Pillar #3 Product type Product type Product type

content that fits into the mould of Twitch and Reddit is not available, it is best to not engage rather than engage poorly. Once a publisher has an understanding of the platforms and how content can, or cannot, be cross-posted, they can start to formulate their platform strategy. A good way to pull this together is to create a one-page strategy for each platform that makes sense for their brand, budget, and resources. Publishers then can create a summary of how each platform strategy fits together in the wider social media ecosystem so they understand how each element is working towards an overall goal. To create the one-page strategy, publishers need to add the following elements: the platform specific goals, the KPIs for the platform, the platform’s role (thinking about how it fits into the larger online ecosystem), and how the platform will work with the publisher’s activation pillars. There may be elements of the activation pillars that are not utilised on certain platforms; not all activation pillars must be used at all times in all locations. In Table 3.6 is an example of how a publisher can organise this information easily and in a way that allows those who will be implementing the strategy on the ground to immediately understand how they can use that platform to best benefit the publisher. For example, if a small publisher with small budgets and resources wants to have eCommerce options and flexibility in content type, they may choose to focus on Instagram and TikTok. If that is the case, their one-page strategy for each platform might resemble Tables 3.7 and 3.8. If working with a smaller budget, utilise the internal resources that the platforms offer. A publisher may decide to do Facebook Groups + small Facebook paid ad campaigns, using that internal resource (paid ads) to help put time into growing the Facebook Group. Here is how the platform strategy may look if a publisher decides to put all their efforts into cultivating a Facebook Group + paid Facebook ads (Tables 3.9 and 3.10).

One-page Strategy Guide Once the platform roles have been decided, complete the strategy framework by adding this information. This should now be the go-to sheet for any and all future social projects. Based on the information above, the one-page strategy will look something like Table 3.11.

Master Social Strategy (MSS) 55 TABLE 3.7  Instagram with a small budget

Instagram Goal: Inspire, Entertain, and Inform KPIs: 1. Conversion 2. Engagement 3. Awareness Role: To engage In The News In-Feed: author news, book news, book launches Stories: event coverage, author news, author content, latest genre/ industry news New Books

Fanzine In-Feed: author content, memes, in-jokes, UCG Stories: trends, in-jokes, polls, quizzes, UGC, community recommendations Reels: author content, trends, in-jokes IGTV: author content Backlist/New Books

Book Art In-Feed: collector content, book art, UGC Stories: book art, UGC Reels: collector content, book art

Backlist/New Books

TABLE 3.8  TikTok with a small budget

TikTok Goal: Inspire, Entertain, and Educate KPIs: 1. Engagement 2. Conversion 3. Awareness Role: To engage and convert In The News In-Feed: author news, book news, book launches Stories: event coverage, author news, author content, latest genre/ industry news New Books

Fanzine In-Feed: author content, memes, in-jokes, UCG Stories: trends, in-jokes, polls, quizzes, UGC, community recommendations Reels: author content, trends, in-jokes IGTV: author content Backlist/New Books

Book Art In-Feed: collector content, book art, UGC Stories: book art, UGC Reels: collector content, book art

Backlist/New Books

TABLE 3.9  Facebook Page with a small budget

Facebook Page Goal: Inform KPIs: 1. Conversion 2. Awareness Role: To raise awareness and convert In The News In-Feed: Book launches New Books

Fanzine In-Feed: author content New Books

Book Art In-Feed: Book art New Books

56  Master Social Strategy (MSS) TABLE 3.10  Facebook Groups with a small budget

Facebook Groups Goal: Inspire, Educate, and Entertain KPIs: 1. Engagement 2. Awareness Role: To engage and build brand affinity In The News Fanzine Book Art In-Feed: author news, book news, In-Feed: author content, memes, In-Feed: collector book launches, event coverage, in-jokes, UGC, community content, book art, latest genre/industry news recommendations UGC New Books Backlist/New Books Backlist/New Books

When creating and ideating content, publishers will need to refer back to this one-page strategy framework to help ground the content creators and remind them of what the publisher is trying to accomplish with their social efforts and how they plan to reach those goals. It is important to keep in mind that this strategy is not set in stone. It may change as business goals shift, platforms alter, and performance TABLE 3.11  Full one-page strategy

Increase sales of both new books and backlist Drive awareness and sales of popular authors and books series and create a community of readers that love our books Social Audience Book lovers aged 14–25 Creative Headliner Bringing books to life through the eyes of a fan. Brand Objective Social Objective

Activation Pillars

In The News Fanzine This pillar will Let your fan flag fly! help to keep the Ideas can traverse the audience up to range of fan topics. date with all the Book memes, in-jokes, latest gossip, recommendations and news and trends any other fun trends from new books, will be given free reign to exciting under this pillar and events, to any will be a way to other updates in promote backlist titles the world of in a relevant way books or the making them almost book category. new again.

Book Art Sometimes words are unnecessary. Let’s use books to speak to our bookworms aesthetically. This can be ideas that use beautiful covers, books displayed in fun structures and interesting backgrounds, the perfect shot or an entire collection, or even people making art from books.

Platform Roles

Facebook Page (ads) Goal: Inform KPIs: 1. Conversion 2. Awareness Drive conversion and awareness of new titles, events, and authors to existing and potential fans through ads

Facebook Group Goal: Inspire, Educate, and Entertain KPIs: 1. Engagement 2. Awareness Drive engagement and awareness of current list (back and new) through conversations and added value content

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reports provide better insights and recommendations. Publishers will need to adjust portions of the strategy to better fit the current socio-economic climate. A common question brands have is whether they need to implement a social tone of voice (TOV) and visual guidelines if they already have a brand guidebook that indicates what the brand stands for, who they are speaking to, how, and why.8 A publisher does not need to rewrite their brand TOV and visual identity, but they must have social media factored into how they are developed. For example, a publisher could include a social TOV section that includes: • • • •

Hashtag strategy (how many, when to use what hashtags, etc.). Emoji strategy (if the publisher wants to use them/how should they be utilised). Keyword strategy (Pinterest and Instagram). Community management strategy (including FAQs and roles and responsibilities – who is responsible for what, e.g. consumer issues vs. product questions vs. author questions).

It could also include a social visual guide segment that indicates what should be done with the following: • • •

Branding on social posts (does the brand need it, if so how does it look across all the different formats?) How does the publisher’s overall visual style work across each of the platforms? How does a publisher effectively use features such as filters or IG Stories stickers and polls or TikTok’s duet?

Hashtag Strategy When used effectively, hashtags are a great free tool that can help publishers expand the reach and awareness of their content. Platforms where this discovery tool is effective are Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. They are available on Facebook, but are rarely used for discoverability. They were introduced into the platform too late in the development of “Facebook behaviour” and they are not the natural way to locate content. They are also available on Pinterest, but from 2020 they were no longer clickable, and as descriptions have all but disappeared from the feed and are no longer useful. While it is not detrimental to include them in a description, it is a better use of time to develop a keyword strategy for Pinterest instead. Hashtags are mainly used for three different reasons: 1. To help package and track a campaign: One way to see how effective a campaign has been is to track it using a hashtag. Create a unique hashtag for the campaign, and include it on all the marketing materials from print to social to traditional media. This way conversations can be tracked to

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measure how well the campaign has worked. Hashtags will not provide a complete report for a campaign’s performance, but will provide interesting additional insights into how people experience and talk about it. Publishers can also use the hashtag to track a live campaign and follow it throughout the promotion window. Publishers may be able to find optimisations that can be implemented based on the conversations happening online. 2. To help bring a community together: People use hashtags to find things that interest them, including potential content from a relevant community of readers. A hashtag such as #uplit will be an active tool in bringing together readers of uplifting fiction, makes the content easily searchable, and provides a community for engagement. Given the avid fandoms that books create, publishers can harness the power of the hashtag and bring their readers together online through the use of a branded hashtag for the author/book/ book series by seeding it through all a campaign’s content and marketing materials. Do research before creating a hashtag; the community may have already created one, which is a ready-made space for the publisher to engage. 3. To aid discovery of specific content: People use hashtags to find the things they love. If a reader wants to see content around their favourite author, they are likely to simply use the platform’s search function. Therefore, a publisher must ensure that they are using the most effective hashtags for their posts to enable their readers to discover it. When choosing a hashtag, be aware that it is less valuable to create new ones that no readers will know about, as content will not be “discovered” through them; as in point 2 above. It is worth doing research to understand which hashtags around the topic are popular. Keep these three points in mind when developing a strategy and TOV. The following sections go into some detail on how to locate the best hashtag for the chosen platform.

Instagram Using the search box, the publisher can add in a generic term like “book”, “mystery book”, or “romance book”. This should reveal a dropdown menu with similar hashtags. Utilise this menu as a guide to hashtags. Find a balance between the very popular hashtags and popular hashtags. If a hashtag has millions of uses and people are using it every few minutes, a publisher’s content will get lost amid the other posts. It is best to find niche hashtags.9 For example, #crimefiction has nearly 270k uses whereas #crimefictionaddict has nearly 11k uses (Figure 3.1). In this case #crimefictionaddict might be more appealing as there is less competition, but still a healthy amount of use. It can also be beneficial to add a few smaller hashtags such as #crimefictionlover, which only has 3.3k uses. Though recommendations will alter depending on the source, we have found that the ideal number of hashtags to use on an Instagram Story is three, though

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FIGURE 3.1 

Instagram search for #crimefiction. Accessed 11 January 2022.

the limit is ten. Instagram allows up to thirty hashtags on an In-Feed post and here 9–12 is valid if the goal is discovery. In Instagram Insights a publisher can see how many people found a particular post via the hashtags chosen (Figure 3.2). This allows the publisher to gain knowledge about which are and are not working, enabling them to create a “test and learn” strategy designed to hit upon the hashtags that will work best for a campaign.

TikTok TikTok hashtags work much like Instagram hashtags and help to increase visibility and reach. The TikTok algorithm uses the hashtags users click on, via the Discovery tab, to help inform the videos they will see in the “For You” feed, playing an important role in discovery on TikTok. On TikTok, publishers can search for hashtags by writing a generic hashtag with keywords into the search box, seeing what hashtags come up, and how many posts use them (Figure 3.3). On TikTok, ensure the search is performed in the hashtags list and not on other tabs like “users” or “sounds”. When beginning to grow an audience on TikTok, use a mix of hashtags. Popular hashtags reach a wide range of readers and niche hashtags appeal to a

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Instagram Insights page showing hashtag discovery. Accessed 14 January 2022. FIGURE 3.2 

smaller, but potentially more engaged, audience. The readers that discover a publisher’s content through these niche hashtags are more likely to purchase books and develop brand loyalty. In addition, these niche hashtag users are more likely to provide quality engagements, which makes the TikTok algorithm take note and start pushing the content higher for both the niche and more popular hashtags, which in turn, broadens a publisher’s appeal to a wider audience. Following this strategy, a possible hashtag combination for the fantasy fiction could be #fantasybook and #fantasybooks mixed with #Yafantasybook, if it is a YA book, or #darkfantasybook if it is a dark fantasy. Publishers can also use the Discover tab to find what the current trending hashtags are to see if any are relevant to their content. For example, if #MyStory trended and readers use it

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FIGURE 3.3 

TikTok search for fantasy book hashtags. Accessed 14 January 2022.

to share their stories, publishers could have their authors share their stories under this hashtag, and discuss how those stories inspired and influenced their writing and characters. TikTok descriptions have a 100-character limit. Therefore, the video itself needs the key information. Keep the caption concise, leaving room to add the

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recommended 5–7 hashtags. While hashtags can be written in the comments, these are not as effective as those in the description.

Twitter If a publisher plans to utilise Twitter, hashtags must be an important part of their strategy. Hashtags work in a similar way to those on Instagram and TikTok in terms of linkable hashtags that allow users to see all content connected underneath the hashtag. Unlike Instagram and TikTok, which show the amount of uses a hashtag has, Twitter does not have this feature and is therefore harder to search for ideal hashtags to use. To locate current trending hashtags, publishers can use the native search feature. Click onto the explore tab on the dashboard and trending conversations will appear, that include the current trending hashtags – though these are exceptionally popular and by joining in the threads, content could get lost in the volume of tagged Tweets. Hashtags here are also more likely to be ephemeral hashtags, existing around a particular moment versus more long tail hashtags. Publishers can sign up for the free version of https://www.trendsmap.com/ map, which allows users to see words, hashtags, and users that are trending on Twitter at that moment. Trendsmap also allows a user to filter by only hashtags (Figure 3.4). Publishers can use this tool to hone in on a hashtag that can link to their content. Hashtags such as #FridayFeeling has global popularity with 22,000 Tweets on a Friday, and drilling down further can highlight the Tweets that are using the hashtag, for an indication of whether that is a conversation worth joining in (Figure 3.5). Using Trendsmap, publishers can explore hashtags over the previous seven days. This is useful to understand if a hashtag is “of the moment” or potentially one that has lasted for a few days, indicating its use as a long-term hashtag.

FIGURE 3.4 

Trendsmap filtered by hashtag. Accessed 15 October 2021.

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FIGURE 3.5 

Trendsmap showing #FridayFeeling conversation. Accessed 15 October

2021.

Twitter has a 280-character limit, and there is a fine balance in getting a message across and deciding how many hashtags are needed. Generally speaking, 2–3 per Tweet is sufficient.

Some Dos and Don’ts for Hashtags • • •

Always check a hashtag feed to make sure the other posts using it are in line with your company’s brand values. Give readers a reason to use the hashtag. Use a mix of broad and niche hashtags to help extend the posts’ reach.

Keyword Strategy Keyword strategies are important on both Pinterest and Instagram and differ from a hashtag strategy.

Pinterest Keywords are the main linking item at Pinterest. While Pinterest has had a past with hashtags that has been unreliable,10 keywords have always been a staple way to ensure a Pin gets discovered. Pinterest is essentially a search engine, and one of the items that decides if a piece of content gets served to someone who is actively searching is the keywords used in the heads and description. As with hashtag searches, a good way to find popular keywords and phrases is to enter a generic term into the search box on the platform and see what keywords/phrases the dropdown menu reveals. The keywords and phrases that come up are the most popular ones related to the input term. For example, if we look

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at a fantasy book, “fantasy books to read”, “fantasy book recommendations”, and “fantasy book covers” are potentially interesting key phrases. In addition, publishers can go through the motions of setting up an ad in order to take advantage of the keyword tool. They can abandon the ad, if paid social is not a part of the budget. 1. Go to “create ad”, 2. Choose “consideration”, 3. Click continue, 4. Pick “new customers” as the targeting strategy and this should unlock the keyword tool. Add in a generic term to see what keywords and phrases will populate the dropdown menu. The tool displays popular phrases and how many people could potentially be reached with that phrase; “best fantasy books”, “fantasy books to read”, and “ya fantasy books” are three potential options (Figure 3.6). Publishers can also use the Pinterest Trends tool, which was a recommended tool for research in Chapter 2. This may not have the more niche keywords a publisher might want to locate, but it is adding new keywords and phrases every

FIGURE 3.6 

Keyword search in Pinterest Ads Manager. Accessed 14 January 2022.

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Keyword search for “fantasy book” in Pinterest Trends Tool. Accessed 15 October 2021. FIGURE 3.7 

day, keeping it current. Add in a generic term and see what other keywords and phrases come up (Figure 3.7). Publishers can then compare up to four key phrases and see how popular they have been throughout the past twelve months, enabling the publisher to understand the seasonality of the keyword, which can be useful for books with seasonal markets (Figure 3.8). A search for popularity indicates that “dark fantasy art” is the most popular and has a surge during the summer months. The least popular is “fantasy books”, but it does maintain a steady use, making it a potential evergreen keyword. Each data point here compares the search volume of a term with all other searches during that week rather than the actual number of searches. The results are then indexed from 0 to 100 to compare the relative volume of each term. Publishers

Comparing search volume of different fantasy book keywords in Pinterest Trends Tool. Accessed 15 October 2021. FIGURE 3.8 

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can use this tool to check on the popularity of keywords found through the ad tool and Pinterest search. Now that keywords have been identified, publishers need to add them into their profile and board descriptions and use them in their Pin descriptions in a way that it sounds like their brand voice. Below is an example of how a publisher profile description might read: Looking for fantasy book recommendations? Look no further we have some of the best fantasy books available from YA Fantasy books to supernatural books. So step into our fantasy world and enjoy! The bold and underlined terms come directly from the research steps taken above.

Instagram Instagram, in 2020, added a keyword function to its platform, allowing users to search for content on the platform using keywords as well as hashtags. The process of finding these keywords is exactly the same as for hashtags. When one option is selected from the dropdown menu, the publisher is taken to a feed of content using those keywords. However, here, searching the popularity rating of keywords or phrases is not possible. With this functionality, it is a good idea for a publisher to implement a strong keyword strategy for Instagram in addition to a hashtag strategy, since they provide different opportunities for discovery (Figures 3.9 and 3.10).

Shopping Strategy Platforms have enhanced their shopping tools in recent years, especially in light of the changes brought forward by the COVID-19 pandemic. “Social used to be just a satellite of the business, an extension of the brand’s voice. Now it is the brand’s voice. It is its core platform to engage with, sell to, and service customers” (Mérineau, 2021). Given the sophisticated ecommerce11 experiences that social platforms provide to brands, a publisher needs to have a strategy in place to ensure they are taking advantage of the native experience on a platform and utilise their content to grab the attention of social media shoppers. For publishers who sell from their own websites, there are a range of native shopping options which are discussed below.

Instagram/Facebook Instagram and Facebook have sophisticated features to enable a publisher to sell on social. “Nearly half of people surveyed use Instagram to shop weekly” (Instagram Inc, 2021). On Instagram/Facebook a publisher can have a Shop, which is located on the Instagram or Facebook home page. This Shop houses a publisher’s Collections, which are groups of their books curated by a theme. Each product has its own

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FIGURE 3.9 

Instagram search for fantasy book keywords. Accessed 15 October 2021.

Product Detail Page (PDP) that has its pricing and description. From here, the publisher has two options: they can send buyers to their website to complete the purchase and have them check out with Shopify’s Shop Pay feature, or if the publisher is in the United States12 they can allow buyers to checkout in-app. Once the buying process is set up, publishers need to make their content shoppable by adding Product Tags to them. These allow users to click the tag and be taken to the PDP. For US companies only,13 publishers can also announce a new book launch and give people early access to preview details and set reminders for when they can buy. This is ideal if a publisher has a popular author, or an anticipated next instalment in a popular book series. In addition, Instagram and Facebook have a dedicated Shop tab to help readers and potential buyers to discover new products and brands personalised to them. Tips include: • • •

Use one catalogue to easily keep track of everything. Check weekly, if not daily, to ensure all information is up to date. Fill out all the catalogue fields for each product, including pricing, detailed descriptions, and website links. Ensure a product’s metadata is accurate.

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FIGURE 3.10 

• • •

• •

Instagram search for fantasy book hashtags. Accessed 15 October 2021.

Make product descriptions as fun and engaging as posts. Product descriptions encourage followers to buy at the crucial purchasing moment. Include at least four high-resolution images of the product, including one that gives buyers an idea of how it could look and fit into their life. If the content shared on the platform mentions a book that has a PDP, add a Product Tag or Sticker. Tags are unobtrusive and not “sales-y”; they are there if someone wishes to click on the product and learn more, but they do not intrude on an audience’s enjoyment of engaging content. Currently only available in the United States (as of December 2021), but this feature will soon have global rollout. Likewise, a publisher can now tag products in their Instagram Live. If there are sales promotions happening elsewhere (website, in-store), mimic them on Instagram using the Offers feature. If a publisher or their content has been tagged in a UGC post, use the Community Content feature to ask the creator if the image or video can be used. If approved, the image can then feature across shopping surfaces including: Product Pages, Shops, and Shops storefront, giving authenticity to the product via the community, and providing extra evidence as to why people should buy the book (people love to see that others have enjoyed a book before purchasing).

Master Social Strategy (MSS) 69

TikTok TikTok’s shopping experience is in its infancy, and may not be available in a particular country at the moment, but this section will cover their services for those who do have this option. There are two ways that a publisher can set up a shop on TikTok: Direct Integration and Partner Integration.

Direct Integration This allows a publisher to have a completely native shopping experience and never leave the app. People can discover a book through Livestream, video content, or Showcase (a shopping tab under account profile) and then can checkout and purchase while still in the app. TikTok offers PDPs, shopping, billing, purchase, and returns management tools.

Partner Integration Similar to the Facebook and Instagram shopping tool where a publisher can set up a product catalogue with PDPs, on TikToker users can discover and browse a publisher’s products through Livestream, video content, or Showcase (Shopping tab under account profile). However, checkout, returns, and refunds all take place via the publisher’s website outside of TikTok. Tips include: • • •

Check weekly, if not daily, to ensure all information is up to date. Fill out all the catalogue fields for the products including pricing, detailed descriptions, and website links. Make product descriptions as fun and engaging as posts. Product descriptions encourage followers to buy at the crucial moment.

Pinterest “Weekly Pinners are 7x more likely to say that Pinterest is the most influential platform in their purchase journey compared to other social media platforms” (Pinterest, 2021). Likewise, “Shoppers on Pinterest spend 2x more per month than people on other platforms” (Pinterest, 2021). If a publisher can tap into these audiences, they are likely to be highly engaged and more willing to purchase.14 Pinterest has arguably always been a platform associated with shopping. In the early years, it was a place to create wish lists based on themes. The platform has now evolved to allow users to not only create these themed lists but also shop from those lists, within the platform. Pinterest shopping begins with a catalogue. Once this has been created and uploaded, a publisher will find the Shop tab on their profile page. If the publisher has a Shopify account they can pair it with their Pinterest account, which will pull information from Shopify to create a

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catalogue. Once this is set up, they are free to create product groups and shoppable Pins. From within their catalogue a publisher can create product groups, which are collections of products divided as the publisher decides. A publisher can create these themselves, edit, and delete them when the collection is no longer needed. Pinterest also suggests some groups that can be used, but if these are not to the publisher’s taste and strategy, they can be ignored. Next, the publisher needs to choose which of these groups they want to highlight in their Shop. These groups can be moved around depending on the publisher’s goals each month. If a publisher decides they do not want to go through the hassle of setting up a catalogue, they can, instead, create a Rich Pin using their website product page. To do this, they must save their website product page to Pinterest and it will take the information directly from the page to create the Rich Pin. Note, the publisher has to be a verified merchant for this data to pull through. It is recommended that if they plan to use Pinterest, a publisher applies to be a verified merchant; this gives shoppers a sense of security when purchasing their products. Shoppable Pins on Pinterest are much like normal Pins except they will contain information such as the price, availability, product description, and name of the products on offer. There are two types of shopping Pins that can be created. A publisher can tag a product in an image and add a Product Tag, where they can tag up to eight products per Pin. Or, they can create a Collections Pin, where they can add up to 25 products from their catalogue or website. The information for these products in the Collections Pin shows below the Pin rather than on the Pin like the Product Tag. Tips include: • • •

Check weekly, if not daily, to make sure all information is up to date. Fill out all the catalogue fields for each product, including pricing, detailed descriptions, and website links. Make product descriptions as fun and engaging as posts. Product descriptions encourage followers to buy at the crucial purchasing moment.

For publishers who sell only through third-party websites, setting up social commerce is not as straightforward. They will not have the unique URLs needed to sell products and they do not want to alienate their partners by only promoting sales on one of the available channels. There are options, which are outlined below, but be aware that these options have costs associated with them, therefore the benefits must outweigh the cost implications.

TikTok As mentioned earlier in this chapter, TikTok has a Direct Integration option, which is ideal for publishers who do not sell through their own websites but

Master Social Strategy (MSS) 71

can potentially set up a fully integrated “shop” on TikTok. Utilising this option depends on what the publisher’s business model and revenue streams are.

Live Shopping With origins in the Asian markets, first introduced in 2016 (Chen, 2021), livestream shopping is set to grow worldwide.15 “In a 2020 survey, two-thirds of Chinese consumers said they had bought products via livestream in the past year” (Arora et al., 2021), and “by March 2020, live commerce was used by 265 million people – almost 30 percent of Chinese Internet users” (2021). It is worth understanding how it works if a publisher is already planning live content like author Q&As, or readings. Some factors that can help a publisher decide if livestream shopping is a viable option are: •

•

Technology: Does the publisher have the technology and Internet quality for live filming? They will need to ensure their equipment can produce high-quality TV. Users will turn off if there is a bad connection or low-res videos. Talent: Are a publisher’s authors and/or hosts competent in a live setting; do they have engaging personalities?

Below are some options to create social media-based livestream shopping events: Pinterest is currently partnering with creators to create and evolve Pinterest TV, a live shoppable show that provides episodes around a theme (fashion, beauty, home) and that features Pinterest creators. The show airs Monday to Friday at 6 pm EST and on Friday’s episode the audience is able to purchase exclusive products with special discounts. Amazon has begun integrating livestream shopping, allowing Amazon influencers and brands to create livestream shopping events within the Amazon Live Creator App. Here they can sell, interact with their audience, and showcase products. The product appears at the bottom of the video with an image, title, and price taken from their Amazon product page. Users can click on the image and be taken to the product page to purchase. Amazon creator livestreams appear on an influencer’s or brand’s storefront and also at amazon.com/live. On Instagram, publishers with checkout on Instagram (currently this is limited to the United States only) can use the Live Shopping experience. This allows publishers to sell products directly from the app. To begin a livestream shopping experience, click to go Live, and if a publisher is eligible for livestream shopping they will see a shopping bag icon. Clicking on the icon allows a publisher to add up to 30 products to a collection to be showcased during the livestream. When the livestream is on, the publisher

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can go into the shopping bag and choose items to highlight one at a time, coordinating with any product discussions. If a publisher has livestreaming experiences in the pipeline, they can use Live Scheduling. This allows businesses using checkout on Instagram to schedule a live broadcast anywhere from one hour to three months in advance. On Facebook, publishers can tag and feature products from their shop and add links for customers to purchase directly during their livestream. A publisher can start the Facebook livestream shopping experience by going to Commerce Manager and clicking “Live Shopping” under the “Promotions” tab. Here they can create a Playlist, which is a collection of products they want to highlight during the broadcast. The Live Shopping Page is where all the playlists are listed. Click “Go Live” on the one needed for the current livestream. Once live, they need to click “Feature” under the product they want to highlight and remember to click “Stop Featuring” when they want to stop and choose another product. #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt is one of the most popular trends on the platform; “As Seen On TV” is now #AsSeenOnTikTok. From leggings to sneakers and books, TikTok has a powerful effect on shopping trends. “TikTok users are 1.7x more likely to have purchased the products they discover through the app” (TikTok, 2021) and as they continue to evolve their shopping experience for brands, they have started to engage with live-streaming. LIVE shopping on TikTok will allow brands to integrate products from their TikTok shopping into a LIVE session, and should be rolling out in 2022. Though developing a strategy can be labour intensive and require much research in order to understand where a particular brand works best in the digitally social environment, these preliminary steps are necessary. The strategy development guide in this chapter will be used to drive forward more detailed campaign strategies, the growth of communities, and making use, or not, of influencers.

Notes 1 Note that this is an example only and not all headliners will have this content. 2 For more about BookTok as a female community see Merga, 2021 where 87 per cent of the BookTok user/content creator sample was female identifying. We Are Social and Hootsuite’s Digital 2021: Essential Tiktok Stats indicate that across all age groups using TikTok, there are more female than male identifying users (Slide 8). 3 Note that the headliner is known by many different names in the industry. Different companies have different names they use internally, such as The North Star, or Social Value Proposition (SVP), or “Creative Platform”. While they have different monikers, they all do the same job. 4 As with most marketing elements, activation pillars are known by many different things across media and industries such as “content pillars” and “content topics”. 5 As of December 2021. 6 A place for theoretical discussions about business and stocks – specifically Gamestop Stock ($GME).

Master Social Strategy (MSS) 73

7 As of December 2021. 8 A brand book “is a detailed instruction on using all elements developed for a company […] that, when properly used, significantly improves the company’s image […] and includes information on the company’s mission, story, [and] positioning” (Romanenko & Chaplay, 2017, pp. 160–161). A brand book is worth having, even if the publisher is small, but covering developing a brand book is beyond the scope of this book. 9 Niche hashtags should not be confused with obscure hashtags, which only a handful of people use. 10 They shifted their stance between: they are linkable, they are not, don’t use them, use them, don’t use them. 11 For more information on social media-based ecommerce see Purcarea, 2021; Geru et al., 2018; and for social shopping, see Li, 2019. 12 This feature is currently only eligible for US accounts as of December 2021. 13 This feature is currently only eligible for US accounts as of December 2021. 14 For more information on Pinterest as an ecommerce site, see Lipsman, 2019 and Shiau et al., 2020. 15 For more information on the international use and growth of livestream shopping see Chan et al., 2021; Li, 2021; and Andersson and Pitz, 2021.

References Andersson, E., and Pitz, N., 2021. Ready, Set, Live! How Do European Consumers Perceive the Value of Live Video Shopping and What are Their Motivations to Engage in It? A Qualitative Study. Available at: https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1573238/ FULLTEXT01.pdf (Accessed 21 April 2022). App Annie Intelligence, 2021. The State of Mobile 2021. Available at: https://www.appannie. com/en/go/state-of-mobile-2021/ (Accessed 21 December 2021). Arora, A., Glaser, D., Kim, A., Kluge, P., Kohli, S., and Sak, N., 2021. It’s Showtime! How Live Commerce Is Transforming the Shopping Experience. McKinsey Digital, 21 July 2021, https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/itsshowtime-how-live-commerce-is-transforming-the-shopping-experience (Accessed 3 November 2021). Bader, J., 2022. Interview on Social Media Marketing. Interviewed by Helen Simpson, [email]. BI Intelligence. 2016. Publishers’ Organic Reach on Facebook has Tanked.Available at: http:// www.businessinsider.com/publishers-organic-reach-on-facebook-has-tanked-2016-8 (Accessed 3 November 2021). Chan, L.Q., Kong,Y.M., Ong, Z.Y., Toh, J.X.,Von,Y.H., Lee,V.H., Loh, X.M., and Tan, G.W.H., 2021. Driving Factors Towards Live-Stream Shopping in Malaysia (No. 5726). EasyChair. Chen, Q., 2021, December. Live Streaming – The New Era of Online Shopping. In 2021 3rd International Conference on Economic Management and Cultural Industry (ICEMCI 2021) (pp. 2988–2991). Atlantis Press. Duffy, B.E., and Hund, E., 2019. Gendered Visibility on Social Media: Navigating Instagram’s Authenticity Bind. International Journal of Communication (19328036), 13. Finn, R., 2022. Interview on Social Media Marketing. Interviewed by Helen Simpson, [email]. Geru, M., Micu, A.E., Capatina, A., and Micu, A., 2018. Using Artificial Intelligence on Social Media’s User Generated Content For Disruptive Marketing Strategies in eCommerce. Economics and Applied Informatics, 24(3): 5–11. Instagram Inc., 2021. Instagram Shopping. Instagram for Business. Available at: https:// business.instagram.com/shopping/ (Accessed 8 November 2021).

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Li, C.Y., 2019. How Social Commerce Constructs Influence Customers’ Social Shopping Intention? An Empirical Study of a Social Commerce Website. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 144: 282–294. Li, Y., 2021, July. Livestream Sales: A Breakthrough in the Retail Industry. In ECSM 2021 8th European Conference on Social Media (p. 299). Academic Conferences Inter. Lipsman, A., 2019. Why Facebook Provides Scale, but Instagram and Pinterest Offer Relevance for Social Commerce. EMarkter. Available at: https://contentstorage-na1. emarketer.com/e343e0d429d7f1c41a7630bb19b427b3/Why_Facebook_Provides_ Scale_but_Instagram_and_Pinterest_Offer_Relevance_for_Social_Commerce_ eMarkete.pdf (Accessed 21 December 2021). Merga, M.K., 2021. How Can Booktok on TikTok Inform Readers’ Advisory Services for Young People? Library & Information Science Research, 43(2): 101091. Mérineau, É., 2021.Trend 4:The Social Commerce Trend. Hootsuite, Hootsuite, 11 November 2021. Available at: https://www.hootsuite.com/research/social-trends?utm_campaign=alltier_1_campaigns-social_trends_2022-glo-none—-social_media_today-en–q4_ 2021&utm_source=3rd_party_media&utm_medium=sponsored_media_and_promotion&utm_content=email (Accessed 11 November 2021). Pinterest Inc. 2021. Pinterest Shopping. Pinterest for Business. Available at: https://business. pinterest.com/en/shopping/ (Accessed 9 November 2021). Pooley, J. (2010). The Consuming Self. In Aronczyk, M. and Powers, D. (eds), Blowing up the Brand: Critical Perspectives on Promotional Culture. New York: Peter Lang, pp. 71–87. Prunty, E., 2021. Which Social Platforms Should You Use for Your Business? Digital Institute of Marketing. Available at: https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/blog/which-socialmedia-platforms-should-you-use-for-your-business (Accessed 21 December 2021). Purcarea, I.M., 2021. Digital Marketing and Ecommerce in the Digital Neo-Economy, Discovering by Learning in the New Era of Innovation, and Re-engaging the Marketing Team. Holistic Marketing Management Journal, 11(2): 16–31. Roberts, A., 2007. The History of Science Fiction. New York: Palgrave MacMillan. Romanenko, Y.A., and Chaplay, I.V., 2017. Theoretical and Methodological Foundations Subsystem Brand Management at The Enterprise. Marketing and Management of Innovations, 2(10): 156–163. Ross, N., 2017. Marketing and Advertising for Small Business in Local Economies. Available at: https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/grcsp/152 (Accessed 21 April 2022). Shiau, R., Wu, H.Y., Kim, E., Du,Y.L., Guo, A., Zhang, Z., Li, E., Gu, K., Rosenberg, C., and Zhai, A., 2020, August. Shop The Look: Building a Large Scale Visual Shopping System at Pinterest. In Proceedings of the 26th ACM SIGKDD International Conference on Knowledge Discovery & Data Mining (pp. 3203–3212). TikTok Inc., 2021. New Solutions to Connect Community, Entertainment and Commerce. TikTok For Business, TikTok Inc., 28 September 2021. Available at: https://www. tiktok.com/business/en-US/blog/tiktokworld-commerce-solutions-tiktok-shopping (Accessed 9 November 2021). Wagner, J., 2021. Social Media Organic Reach 2021: Who Actually Sees Your Content. Ignite Social. Available at: https://www.ignitesocialmedia.com/social-media-strategy/social-mediaorganic-reach-2021-who-actually-sees-your-content/ (Accessed 21 December 2021). We Are Social, 2021. TikTok Stats for October 2021. Available at: https://www.slideshare. net/DataReportal/digital-2021-essential-tiktok-stats-for-october-2021-v0 (Accessed 21 December 2021). Woods,O.,2020.TheTerritoriality ofTeams:Assembling Power through the Playing of Pokémon Go. Mobile Media & Communication. https://doi.org/10.1177/2050157920968867.

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4 CAMPAIGN AND EVERGREEN STRATEGIES

Once the master social strategy (MSS) has been completed, a publisher can move on to more detailed aspects of individual campaign crafting and evergreen strategies that remain relevant for much longer. Campaigns, much like the master social strategy (MSS), require planning and research in order to develop the correct plan to reach an exact audience. This chapter focuses on the role of a campaign’s actionable insights, building campaign briefs, and how to work with evergreen briefs.

Campaign Actionable Insights With campaign strategies, a publisher can use research into the six key areas to create actionable insights for specific campaigns. These six areas of research can be mixed and matched depending on what is needed for a particular strategy. Whereas for the master social strategy (MSS), research is undertaken on Culture, Customer, Competitor, Category, and Company, for one-off campaign strategies a publisher can include Commodity instead of Company Insights. These are insights about previous books or an existing author. A publisher cannot collate Commodity Insights if the campaign is around a new book or author. To simplify the process, use research held in the master social strategy (MSS). Customer Insights should have included all target customers. Therefore, whichever segment the current event or book is targeting there should be insights available. Culture Trends, Category Insights, and Competitor Insights should be reused if still relevant. Commodity Insights (Book/Author insights) should be refreshed for each promotional item/product/event that a campaign strategy is being created for. DOI: 10.4324/9781003276012-5

76  Campaign and Evergreen Strategies

Once the research is up to date, it can be used to create actionable insights for a campaign strategy. Whereas the master social strategy (MSS) output is a guidebook to a publisher’s/imprint’s social ecosystem, the campaign strategy output will be a creative brief: a document that will be used to direct the creative in a particular campaign. It does not contain creative ideas, but signposts suggestions to help inspire creativity to develop smart social. Consider a new book from an existing author. The publisher wants a campaign to target readers of the author’s previous book/s, and potential new readers. The research for the current Culture Trends, Customer Insights, Competitor Insights, Category Insights, as well as Commodity Insights, can be compiled into a table and condensed into 3–4 actionable insights for each audience segment (Table 4.1). Because campaigns are more targeted, the insights included below are more specific than those created in Chapter 3 for the master social strategy (MSS). They are about a specific event, book, or author, allowing for more tailored research. Keep in mind that, when generating the campaign strategy, the goal is not to create content ideas themselves, but to develop guides for how the creative content will mature into a viable output.

Campaign Creative Brief Once these insights are narrowed down into a framework, a creative brief can be produced. Note that within each individual publishing house, the way that creative briefs are written will vary based on numerous internal and external factors such as: specific templates, tone, and available resources. Different campaigns will need to ask different questions and provide different types of signposts for creative outputs. Best practice is to have a larger template that will have all the different elements that could be included; eliminate those that are not needed. Table 4.2 shows an example of how to tailor this brief to our MSS for an existing readers campaign.1 This brief is the compass for the campaign ideation and every piece of information should be useful and actionable.

Evergreen Content Briefs While campaign briefs for books evolve throughout the book’s life cycle, some briefs will remain ongoing. Ongoing content briefs are also known as evergreen content. Here, we will consider how to think strategically about the day-to-day content a publisher posts to their social media channels that is not part of a particular campaign. This content will relate more to the overall brand values. Most publishers who work in social understand the need for a monthly social calendar, where they plan out their social media posts for the month. These plans run two to three months ahead. For instance, in January the publisher will be populating March or April’s calendar. On top of this planned content, they must factor in reactive content that replies to current events, comments, and posts, that needs to be created and posted on the day to be relevant.2

Campaign and Evergreen Strategies 77 TABLE 4.1  Campaign Insights

Culture Trends • Book community trends and in-jokes → Pull out key “females being awesome” are thriving in the social book moments and apply them to current communities feminist memes and trends where possible. Ideate around “reading spaces” and what • Book hangovers that means to readers. • Smashing female reader Targeted content around “book men” stereo­t ypes should perform well with female • Book men. audiences. • #BookTok is a very female-led Ideate around “Book hangovers” and community. engage the community around their • Very proud of their reading spaces recommendations for getting over one. (nooks, shelves, rooms). Customer Insights • The author’s readers are collectors. → Ideas that provide readers with “collector” • They are on social to keep in touch material (merchandise, NFTs (nonwith friends and family. fungible tokens), artwork) will be engaging • They are on social to find content. to the audience. • They are more likely to follow Ideate ways to harness influencers who celebrities and influencers. are existing readers, and so understand • They use social for inspiration for the “reader talk” of the previous books + things (new purchases, places to visit). category. • They are on social to avoid missing Giving the audience exclusive knowledge out. and access to the author should grab their • They spend on average 19.9 hours attention. a month on TikTok, more than Potential for TikTok to be the primary Instagram and Facebook. platform for this campaign, with support from the Facebook and Instagram platforms. Competitor Insights • Engaging with the community pro- → Do not forget to include a community vides more interactions. engagement strategy for the campaigns and • Competitions that need comments, ongoing social work. shares, and likes increase engageHow can a publisher harness the ment and organic reach. engagement and reach power of • Readers love discussing book cover art. competitions without gaining the attention • Content that harnesses relevant trendof readers looking for a free item? ing conversations performs well. Identify relevant trending conversations that • Readers like getting recommendacan be entered into. tions from the publisher. • CTAs increase engagement. Category Insights • Readers rely on recommendations to → Ideas that give readers the chance to find new books. recommend books/moments/share quotes • They are collectors and like to show should perform well. off their collections. Ideas that encourage UGC and reward and • They are creative readers and love highlight their creativity. to create from their favourite books Ideas that focus on current in-jokes that (tattoos, artwork, fan fiction etc.). only the audience will get. • Keen on merchandise. Harness the power of their desire to collect. • In-jokes comparing non-category readers with category readers (Continued)

78  Campaign and Evergreen Strategies TABLE 4.1  Campaign Insights (Continued)

Commodity Insights (Book) • Readers love the previous book → Create cross-over content, using popular series’ covers. moments from the existing book series • There exists a wealth of UGC for to generate interest in the new series to several of an author’s books. engage the existing readers. • There are three top quotes that Find ways to showcase the beauty of the new everyone uses when talking about book series’ covers, take inspiration from their first book. popular posts from the previous book series. Commodity Insights (Author) • The author has charisma. Readers → Ideas that use the author in a “Live Social” love meeting them in person and capacity should garner excitement, given believe them to be a great presenter. both the charisma and authority they hold • The author has authority. Readers within their own community. take their recommendations and Ensure campaign includes social materials suggestions to heart, buying books specifically designed for the author to use they promote on their channels on their own channels to promote to their existing community. Ensure the campaign includes “author” content for owned channels to draw in new readers and excite existing readers.

TABLE 4.2  Tailored creative brief

Background and Task: We are launching a new book series from an existing author. Goals: We want to leverage the passion of readers of the author’s previous series to drive conversion of the new book series. We also want to drive awareness of/engagement around the author with potential readers through both the existing and new series. Success will be measured as follows: (Understanding previous content performance [average likes of these type of posts, average mentions of the previous book series launch, etc.] and industry metrics, where possible, can help in applying hard target numbers to these areas.) Conversion (Depending on whether social commerce can be utilised on the platforms, and/or the use of influencers etc.) • # of purchases through social channel ecommerce platforms (tracked through platform’s analytics). • # of purchases via content creators (tracked using personalised links). Awareness • # of mentions of author. • # of mentions of new book/series. • # of mentions of old book/series in relation to new series. Engagements • # of UGC around the new book/series. • # Comments, likes, shares, and saves on owned content. • # Comments, likes, shares, and saves on influencer content. (Continued)

Campaign and Evergreen Strategies 79 TABLE 4.2  Tailored creative brief (Continued)

Results: We want existing readers to be excited about the launch of a new book series by their favourite author and for those readers to buy the first book in the new series. We want potential new readers to be excited about finding a new author who already has a completed book series and is beginning a new one. We want potential readers to purchase the new book in the new series, as well as the first book in the older series. We want existing and potential readers of the book to create the same types of content that we saw with the previous book series (art, fanfic, cosplay, tattoos etc.). Readers should care because they are passionate about that type of fiction and looking for recommendations for a new series that they can fall in love with. We are providing them with their next fiction addiction. Audience: Primary audience • Existing readers • New readers, cis women/trans women/non-binary aged 16–25 Secondary audience • New readers, cis men/trans men/non-binary aged 16–25 Our Social Insight(s): Culture (new + existing readers) • Females are a strong force within this category (strong female memes/in-jokes and book men are two areas for consideration). • Reading spaces and book hangovers provide interesting content. Customer (new + existing readers) • Collectable material (merchandise, NFTs, artwork) will be engaging. • Harness content creators who are existing readers. • Give added value/exclusive knowledge/access. Competitor (new + existing readers) • Focus on creating a community through engagement, recommendation, and rewards. • Utilise trending conversation topics in content. Category (new + existing readers) • • • •

Add recommendation tactics. Encourage UGC, possibly reward it. Focus on current in-jokes that only the audience will understand. Harness their collector behaviour.

Commodity (existing readers) • Cross-over content, using popular moments from the existing book series to generate interest in the new series. • Content specifically for the author and their channels. • Using author for publisher owned channels. • Think about including “live” moments with the author. Tactical Considerations: We want to target this audience on TikTok first with support from the Facebook and Instagram platforms. We want to engage through social content, live content, contests, and merchandise. (Continued)

80  Campaign and Evergreen Strategies TABLE 4.2  Tailored creative brief (Continued)

Strategy: Master Social Strategy (MSS): Bringing books to life through the eye of a reader. Campaign Strategy: Generate excitement of new book series with potential new readers by harnessing the passion of the existing readers of the previous book series. How they tie together: This ties into the master social strategy (MSS) to promote the new book from the new series as well as the existing book series by creating a campaign that will be filtered through the eyes of the existing readers. This will allow us to speak their language, and will also bring the author’s work to life for new and potential readers. Thought Starters: Elements of previous campaigns that worked well: • Provide readers with merchandise. • Giveaways that provide 1:1 access to the author/influencer. • Content Creator campaigns. Trends/Innovations we could harness: • ASMR – is relevant and ubiquitous across social platforms, and users engage with it. • AR – has been refined and has evolved to provide a bridge between the offline and online elements of a campaign. • Challenges – Arising from TikTok, challenging people to do something has become very popular across a range of platforms. A challenge can be as small as readers copying a dance using original music, or creating something like a cosplay outfit for the series’ characters. • Livestream Selling – Big in China, and soon to be so across the globe. It has the potential to create a virtual event that produces sales. Campaign elements from other brands that were successful (not necessarily in the book world): • Toy company brand – listened to their smaller, more niche reader groups to provide products that spoke to their specialised needs, and allowed for more inclusive play around their brand. They didn’t change their brand, but they did change the experience of their products for a small fan base. Listening to the smaller pockets of fans, and making small adjustments helps grow large loyal customer bases. • Fast Food Company – chose to work with content creators that have very dedicated fan bases to borrow their equity and grow their community through others. They presented this fanbase with the opportunity to show their loyalty for their beloved creator and let the conversations take on a life of their own. People love to share and support things close to their hearts, like their favourite sport’s team, music group, fast food, or books. By becoming involved in these dedicated fan bases in authentic ways, you can boost your brand awareness.

Taking a strategic approach is beneficial in the following ways: 1. It improves chance of successful content a. Deciding the purpose of creative content (engagement, conversion, or awareness) before ideation allows the publisher to effectively measure the content’s performance and gain insights to continually improve and evolve their social presence. This can lead to higher quality engagements, which can provide more conversions and elevated awareness, and maintains the social goals set out.

Campaign and Evergreen Strategies 81

b. Looking seasonally at previous conversations and successful content helps to gauge the types of things the audiences are discussing at particular times of the year. Knowing this will help the publisher hit upon popular conversations that can help to ensure continuing and growing success of the creative content. 2. It ensures you stay relevant and smart a. Finding new trends keeps a publisher’s brand relevant, and allows them to borrow the equity of current conversations. But, there must be strategic thought behind this type of content. Can a publisher’s brand authentically speak in this space? If yes, how can it use the trend effectively and not look like a brand trying too hard? The best way to add the strategy into a publisher’s day-to-day content is to pull together a roadmap/brief/collection of exciting stimuli that will promote ideation. A publisher can create this roadmap in a number of different formats. It is, essentially, a simplified and specific version of the creative brief developed for the campaign strategy. Table 4.3 shows an example of a generic evergreen roadmap for books that can be taken as a starting point. TABLE 4.3  Evergreen content roadmap

Topic

Research Timeframe

Type of Research

Recent book/ These should have Use platform hashtag search functions, comments author mentions occurred since the on author’s page/previous owned content, and (focus this on last brainstorm. community conversations found in Reddit and authors/books Facebook. you are For more details look to the section on commodity promoting that research. week or month) Recent book trends

These should have Explore general book influencers’ content, occurred since the Google and Pinterest Trends, and community last brainstorm. conversations found in Reddit and Facebook. For more details look to the section on culture research.

Recent genre trends

These should have Explore niche/specific book influencers’ content, occurred since the Google and Pinterest Trends, and community last brainstorm. conversations found in Reddit and Facebook. For more details look to the section on category research.

Current culture trends

These should have This should be populated with things that the occurred since the publisher already knows about. These include last brainstorm. viral posts or news stories happening on TikTok, Instagram, the news etc. These are currently culturally relevant and can go beyond books.

Seasonal trends

These can include trends from the previous year.

For this a publisher will want to use Pinterest Trends or Google trends to see the conversations that happened in the appropriate time frame in previous years. For more details look to the section on category research. (Continued)

82  Campaign and Evergreen Strategies TABLE 4.3  Evergreen content roadmap (Continued)

Topic

Research Timeframe

Type of Research

Fun competitor content

These should have A publisher should already be following occurred since the competitors and making notes of the content and last brainstorm. campaigns that they enjoy.This section should be populated with this content for the week/month. For more details look to the section on competitor research.

Fun non-book brand content

These should have This is where a publisher can add campaigns and occurred since the content that they have come across that week/ last brainstorm. month that spoke to them, made them laugh, educated them, or did something that made them stop and pay attention.

See Measuring section in Chapter 10 for more details Previous content This can be a on how to gain insights from previous content. insights growing list of insights that can be chosen from where it makes sense with the other content in your document.

Publishers should resist the temptation to fill each section every week/month. Sometimes sections will remain blank due to a lack of quality campaigns or lack of conversations around the publisher’s authors or books. It would also benefit the brief to source information from the wider marketing team. Algorithms are remarkably personal, and in branching out and speaking to others, different social content can be collated for reference. It may be worth sending out a regular internal email requesting colleagues to relay what social content they believe is worth sharing. Start creating behaviours within the company, such as having them store links to content they have seen in order for the marketing team to have access. Once the brief for the campaign has been created, a publisher can utilise it to drive their campaign ideation. The brief, along with the strategy and research accompanying it, will increase the chances of the success of the creative ideation.

Notes 1 We have included a blank version of this template in the Appendices as a starting point for a publisher’s individual strategies. 2 Reactive content is covered in detail later in Chapter 5.

5 CREATIVE IDEATION

The introduction of TikTok has changed everything, in terms of creative output. (Stephanie Levy-Dhami, 2022)

After going through the processes of creating the master social strategy (MSS) and the creative brief, they must be put in to action. The role of brainstorming is vital for divergent and convergent thinking. According to Ritter and Mostert, “[d] ivergent thinking is the ability to generate many ideas, and convergent thinking is vital for the evaluation and selection of the most promising options for implementation” (2018, p. 264). With divergent thinking in mind, if possible, bringing in a wider team beyond those in social media and marketing will provide interesting and new voices to consider in the creative ideation process. Editors, production team, interns, rights teams, and more, can impart fresh takes on content.1

Campaigns Brainstorms for campaigns work best in short bursts. Keep sessions short and focussed to allow participants the opportunity to run through the brief and ideate without burning out. Regardless of how long a session is, Johnson and D’Lauro found that “67% of the best ideas were generated in the first quartile of the brainstorming sessions” (2018, p. 183), which is something to keep in mind when scheduling sessions. Break the session into three segments, the first of which begins by taking participants through the creative brief to ensure everyone is aligned on the target audience, goals, and KPIs. Everyone in the session needs to have a clear understanding of what the particular campaign needs to achieve. Second, move to considering some key thought starters that should contain links to interesting DOI: 10.4324/9781003276012-6

84  Creative Ideation

content and successful campaigns which inject humour or emotion into the brainstorming session. In total, try to keep these sections to ten minutes. The third segment of the brainstorming session can take one of two formats: structured or loose.

Structured A structured brainstorm is an excellent starting point. It really helps to promote ideation and brings into play out-the-box thinking. Keep in mind that in the structured session everyone at the table has a say, and it is the role of the moderator to ensure that quieter voices are heard and louder ones are tempered. A structured brainstorm can be divided into sections. These sections start broad and become more specific and detailed as the process takes place. The five sections are detailed in Table 5.1, but they can be combined in a variety of ways. The way we have chosen to do so here is not indicative of this being the only way. Be creative. Those who lead a structured brainstorming session should be prepared. Along with the creative brief, the moderator will provide a series of random words on cards to serve as prompts (rabbit, chair, flying, lucifer, etc.). Likewise, participants will need a way to write and share their own words that come to mind. They will also need to keep track of the social formats of the creative ideas that come up (Influencers, Live streaming, Facebook/YouTube/Instagram video content, TikTok challenge etc.). While the examples in Tables 5.2 and 5.3 are highly structured, they are not the only way to create ideas from a brainstorming session. Another way to facilitate creative ideation is by running a loosely structured session to capitalise on previous sessions.

Loose While a loose brainstorming session can work at any point in the process, it is most effective as a phase two brainstorm, following a structured one. When considering TABLE 5.1  Structured brainstorming session

Section

Brief

Warm Up

Ideate

Expand

Review

Ensure everyone Get everyone Generate Generate Hone in on understands the talking broad ideas focussed ideas potential purpose of the working campaign ideas Time 10 mins 5 mins 15 mins 15 mins 5 mins each What Reading through Writing words Ideating Ideating Discussion Happens the brief related to the book and/or author Purpose

Creative Ideation 85 TABLE 5.2  Brainstorm Example One for a crime book

Brief

Warm Up

Ideate

Review

Expand

Take the In two groups, Using the brand words created Each team As a group, group write down + the pre-written random presents ideate on through words associated word cards + the pre-written their ideas how the the brief. with the book format cards, pick a word to the wider top ideas and/or author. from each pile and brainstorm group. can be One for each an idea that uses these three Everyone expanded. note. words. A participant might then gets to E.g. for a crime pick up blackmail, chair, and vote for book it might be influencers. their two murder, knife, Don’t spend too long on each favourite gun, forensics, one. Keep moving through ideas. blackmail etc. the cards. 10 mins 5 mins 15 mins 10 mins 15 mins

convening a loose brainstorming session, it is key to have the best mix of participants who will both listen and speak. Having an experienced moderator helps to keep the conversation moving and can direct the group to expand on ideas, and when to leave one behind. If choosing to run a loose session following a more structured session, it is worthwhile to bring forward those two to three ideas to be expanded on further. A loosely structured session, much like a more rigidly structured session, begins with a review of the brief. From there, a loose brainstorming session is much more free-form; participants should be encouraged to openly share ideas, while the role of the moderator is to take notes, and facilitate conversation. TABLE 5.3  Brainstorm Example Two for a crime book

Brief

Warm Up

Ideate

Take the In two Using the brand group groups, write words created + the through down words pre-written random the brief. associated word cards + the with the pre-written format book and/or cards, pick a word author. One from each pile and for each brainstorm an idea card. that uses these three E.g. for a words. A participant crime book might pick up it might be blackmail, chair, and murder, influencers. knife, gun, Don’t spend too long forensics, on each one. Keep blackmail etc. moving through the cards. 10 mins 5 mins 15 mins

Review

Expand

Review

Each team Groups swap Come presents ideas and together their ideas expand on as a group to the them. and each wider team group. presents Everyone their ideas then gets to the to vote. whole for their group. two favourite ideas.

10 mins

10 mins

10 mins

86  Creative Ideation

Brainstorming Ongoing Content Sessions for brainstorming ongoing content sit between loose and structured brainstorm formats and should occur regularly to keep the social media calendar full of relevant ideas. These sessions should be short, 30 minutes to an hour, held once a week (these can also run once or twice a month), and open to those who want to take part. Having wider points of view and differing voices ensures a better understanding of cultural insights that can be pulled into the ideation. The tone of these sessions should be light and fun. No ideas are bad ideas when brainstorming evergreen content. The direction of this brainstorming session is dictated by the evergreen strategy document.2 This document will guide the current brainstorming session. These sessions are low pressure; therefore, including sharing the latest memes, trends, exciting content, and new books across all publishers is encouraged. The goal of this session is to allow the participants to inspire each other, and then channel that inspiration into potential creative ideas. It is useful for these evergreen brainstorming sessions to have key questions to help solidify the purpose of the meeting. Three such questions are: 1. Is this an authentic place our brand can speak in? 2. How can we take this as inspiration, expand on it, and make it ours? 3. Is there a bigger idea happening than just sharing content? Four key things to keep in mind in a brainstorming session: • • • •

There are no bad ideas. A measured and skilled moderator is necessary to pace the session. Even loosely structured sessions require a clear order and purpose to produces ideas that answer the publisher’s needs. Encourage participation. This can be as simple as providing food and drink at the session.3

Solo Creative Sessions If a publisher has a small social and/or marketing team, they might not have the opportunity to pull in others for brainstorming sessions. This will not necessarily have a negative effect on the creative ideation, but it does require approaching it with an open mind and a willingness to ask others to cast a fresh set of eyes over the work for new points of view. •

•

Have a second or third person look over the creative brief before ideating to ensure it is directing the creative in the appropriate direction and enabling the campaign to meet the goals of the publisher. Try working in a location that is inspiring: get away from the desk, change the physical scenery.

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•

Keep these three questions in mind (these are the same as in the previous section and are valid regardless of the size of the brainstorming session): 1. Is this an authentic place our brand can speak in? 2. How can we take this as inspiration, expand on it, and make it ours? 3. Is there a bigger idea happening than just sharing content?

•

Ensure another person sees the ideas. Following a solo brainstorm, send through the calendar or written-up campaign ideas to at least one other colleague to ensure the ideas are aligned with the strategy and publisher’s brand, and are valid in the current social environment.

Evergreen/Ongoing Content: Create a Calendar Following the ongoing content brainstorm, collate the ideas through the lens of the master social strategy (MSS) and activation pillars to see where they best fit. Doing this ensures that the creative ideas are aligning with the master social strategy (MSS) and providing a coherent brand story throughout all a publisher’s social content (Table 5.4). The next step is to populate the calendar with the posting details such as: date, day, time, and should also include some, if not all, of the following: • • • • • • • • •

Overarching idea Recommended platforms Visual direction if needed Copy Activation pillars it falls into Purpose (conversion, awareness, engagement) Owned or partner content Will it be promoted (paid)? Detail of promotion if promoted

This document does not have to be complex. This document will be the publisher’s daily social content guide; it will tell them when and where to post content, what the purpose of the content is, and how it ladders up to the master social strategy (MSS). It also provides a touchpoint for wider office meetings and presentations on social strategy. TABLE 5.4  An example of an evergreen content calendar

Bringing Books to Life Through the Eye of a Reader In The News

Fanzine

Book Art

Idea #1 Idea #2 Idea #3 Idea #6

Idea #2 Idea #4 Idea #6

Idea #1 Idea #3

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Reactive Content and the Importance of Social Monitoring Publishers must dedicate time to monitoring mentions of their brand, the wider industry, their book lists, and authors on a regular basis. This allows them to be aware of any conversations happening about their brand, products, and industry; and, importantly, allows them the opportunity to react.

Reactive Content By continually monitoring the social landscape, the publisher will be able to identify new trends and conversations around the book industry, their authors, or a particular book (Albors et al., 2008; Dwivedi et al., 2015). They can then use these trends to create reactive content, where the “the emphasis is on monitoring and analyzing customer activities” (Li et al., 2021). Ideal reactive content must have a quick turnaround – even that same day – to ensure any content posted is relevant. Therefore, a good rule of thumb is to adhere to simple creatives such as: text only posts, static images using existing assets, or GIFs. The possibility of reactive content means the publisher needs to be flexible with their content calendar. Reactive content is a great way to show that a publisher understands current culture, and therefore understands their audience. It provides an opportunity to show how their books and authors fit into this quick-moving cultural space. It is a complex concept and can backfire if a publisher is seen as “trying too hard”. Below are guidelines to ensure that, as a publisher, they are approaching reactive content correctly: • • •

Do not force the conversation to fit the publisher’s needs. If there is a natural reason to be in that conversation, there will be a clear path to approach it. Stay away from political conversations, unless the publishers have a firm point of view that is part of their brand values.4 Get a third and fourth opinion. If possible, have a diverse group of people provide feedback on the content before it is posted.

Brand Management and Understanding Another reason a publisher should monitor mentions of their brand, the industry, and their products is to manage how their brand is perceived and spoken of through other readers, followers, fans, and detractors. If social conversations are monitored, the publisher can be the first to know if there is an issue with a book or author on their list. By catching it early they can manage the conversation before it becomes more widely shared. On a smaller scale, if a publisher doesn’t agree with how readers are discussing their authors or books they can find ways to turn the tide of the conversation to be more positive through influencer campaigns and publisher-owned content. In addition, an understanding of how readers and potential readers are talking about their books and authors allows a publisher to see how those products are

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perceived by the reading public, which is a vital piece of information to inform the direction of their creative content.

Monitoring Tools Publishers must find ways to continually monitor social conversations, and there are a few tools that can help. Tools mentioned in Chapter 2, such as Pinterest Trends and Twitter #Explore, work. In addition, they can also set up Google Alerts for their company/imprint name, author names, book list, and books in general. Setting an alert on Google Alerts is simple (https://www.google.com/ alerts). The publisher can specify how often and how many they receive. Regions can also be indicated, sharing alerts for a particular country. They can set up more unique results by choosing specific sources, such as blogs, and formats such as books, videos, or discussions. Publishers can also set up a free social monitoring tool. For instance, Hootsuite is valuable in monitoring Twitter conversations. This function is only for Twitter and YouTube due to privacy limitations from Meta. 1. Connect a Twitter account to the Hootsuite profile. 2. Set up the keyword or search streams. For keywords, select the profile just connected, then click on “Keyword”. Here publishers can add up to three keywords or phrases to monitor. 3. If a more detailed search is required, then a publisher needs to set up a search stream that allows for Boolean queries. 4. Once searches are set up, publishers can monitor all the streams created throughout the days/weeks, staying on top of pertinent conversations. This chapter has set out the role of creative ideation, including advice on running successful brainstorming sessions around both campaign-specific and evergreen content. Once these have been done, the next step is to develop a social calendar while keeping flexible enough to always monitor and react to current cultural trends. Staying on top of these areas will keep a publisher’s content fresh and exciting to their target audiences, which is important when it comes to developing and producing creative ideas.

Notes 1 For more information on brainstorming see Paulus and Kenworthy, 2019 and Rawlinson, 2017. 2 See Chapter 4. 3 In a study by Segovis et al., 2007, they found that 70.1 per cent of students were more likely to attend session if there were complementary food; conversely, 53.1 percent indicated that they would be less likely to attend if food were removed from their sessions. 4 However, the role of brand activism is growing with “more than nine-in-10 Millennials would switch brands to one associated with a cause” (Cone Communications, 2015).

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References Albors J., Ramos J.C., and Hervas J.L., 2008. New Learning Network Paradigm: Communities of Objectives, Crowdsourcing, Wikis and Open Source. International Journal of Information Management, 28: 194–202. Cone Communications, 2015. New Cone Communications Research Confirms Millennials as America’s Most Ardent CSR Supporters, But Marked Differences Revealed Among This Diverse Generation. Cone Communications. Available at: https://www.conecomm. com/2015-cone-communications-millennial-csr-study-pdf (Accessed 21 December 2021). Dwivedi,Y.K., Kapoor, K.K., and Chen, H., 2015. Social Media Marketing and Advertising. The Marketing Review, 15(3): 289–309. Johnson, B.R., and D’Lauro, C.J., 2018. After Brainstorming, Groups Select an Early Generated Idea as Their Best Idea. Small Group Research, 49(2): 177–194. Levy-Dhami, S., 2022. Interview on Social Media. With Helen Simpson. [Zoom]. Li, F., Larimo, J., and Leonidou, L.C., 2021. Social Media Marketing Strategy: Definition, Conceptualization, Taxonomy, Validation, and Future Agenda. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 49(1): 51–70. Paulus, P.B., and Kenworthy, J.B., 2019. Effective Brainstorming. In Paulus, P.B. and Nijstad, B.A. (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Group Creativity and Innovation. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 287–386. Rawlinson, J.G., 2017. Creative Thinking and Brainstorming. London and New York: Routledge. Ritter, S.M., and Mostert, N.M., 2018. How to Facilitate a Brainstorming Session:The Effect of Idea Generation Techniques and of Group Brainstorm After Individual Brainstorm. Creative Industries Journal, 11(3): 263–277. Segovis, C.M., Mueller, P.S., Rethlefsen, M.L., LaRusso, N.F., Litin, S.C., Tefferi, A., and Habermann, T.M., 2007. If You Feed Them, They Will Come: A Prospective Study of the Effects of Complimentary Food on Attendance and Physician Attitudes at Medical Grand Rounds at an Academic Medical Center. BMC Medical Education, 7(22). doi:10.1186/1472-6920-7-22.

6 PRODUCTION

Once the research has been completed, the strategies developed, and the creative ideas formulated, the next step is to produce the content. While this can be an expensive process, that should not inhibit engaging and impactful social posts being developed. This chapter presents an overview of the role of visual content in social media and highlights key considerations for both general formats (video, live, etc), as well as across specific platforms. It provides information on using tools that are freely available to a publisher both on and off-platform, as well as some that are paid services.

Social Media’s Visual History Before exploring how publishers can use current tools to produce their content, it is worth considering the circularity of social visuals. This allows us to better understand where social creativity has been, and where it is currently. With early social platforms (Classmates, Six Degrees, 1995; Live Journal, Blogger, 1999; Friendster, 2002; LinkedIn and Myspace, 2003), users could upload a profile image, but the majority of conversations that took place were text-based, a format that some platforms (Twitter, 2006) continue to foreground. Facebook was founded in 2004, and opened to the wider public in 2006; it also led the way in uploading images to a profile page. Feeds of amateur photos depicting family gatherings, friends on holidays, and selfies began to emerge. In 2010, Instagram and Pinterest went live, allowing users to upload content as if they were a digital photo album. Instagram evolved to facilitate the use of filters and borders, giving images a more professional feel. With these visual additions, it brought to life the curated feed. Where brands quickly took a photo of their product against an appealing background, Instagram ushered in an era in social that demanded higher quality pictures with beautifully displayed products. The rise of DOI: 10.4324/9781003276012-7

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professional style content has arguably made marketing on these platforms more difficult, especially if the budget is low. With the emergence of video content on these platforms, and their success with paid and organic content marketing, the expectation of quality, and associated production costs, continued to rise. However, in the 2010s, a shift began to emerge due to a mix of handheld devices becoming more high-tech and a weariness of the perfectly curated feed. In 2011, Snapchat launched and brought with it ephemeral social, with videos and images that only lasted 24 hours. Instagram soon followed suit and both platforms were promoting transient content, and with it came a move back to “raw” and “real” aesthetics. Users no longer wanted their Instagram Stories to be polished and, instead, were repelled by the gloss. This is not to say that raw and real content avoids curation. In fact, “natural” or behind the scenes photos are often edited and are “still somewhat curated for the appreciation of others” (Krystek, 2021, p. 28). With its emergence in 2016, TikTok became a place where #fail videos became popular. This trend saw users posting their own “fails” at different activities, finding humour in them, and inviting viewers to laugh with them. This type of video, like much TikTok content, is not about a beautifully edited piece of content; it is more about the journey taken to be able to create the content. It is considered real, raw, and authentic. Stephanie Levy-Dhami, Associate Creative Director of Etsy, US indicates that “[there still is] a place for highly produced content, but people used to have an expectation of it from brands and that expectation has become less popular. People want real content” (2022). Instagram saw the emergence of TikTok and brought out Reels, a product they plan to focus more on in the future with the traditional feed being sidelined and potentially retired. TikTok and Instagram Reels content is full of talking heads, tips, and funny videos. These are low-fi, and often made on a user’s phone. The vast majority of these users are not professional content creators or videographers. Due to the format and style of the content on these platforms, content that is polished can be mistaken for an advertisement, and often passed by. This skipping of overly polished content will play into how publishers can harness that to fit into the general aesthetic of the feed and provide readers and potential readers with something of value. This circle back to “raw” content enables publishers to create content on a budget that their target audience will appreciate.

Platform Creative Tips While Table 6.1 provides good general guidelines to follow in creating content, Table 6.2 indicates how best to use specific platforms and their features.

Making Use of Available Resources Taking inventory of what resources are available when ideating campaigns and evergreen content is essential.1 Teams need to have a firm grasp of the capabilities,

Production 93 TABLE 6.1  General tips

Platform

Creative Considerations

General

• Reinforce the message and branding through the captions. • Show people reading and enjoying books in the content, allowing the audience to see the book “in action” and mentally put themselves in that situation. • Add a clear CTA to drive readers to your website in the creative and in the captions. Utilise links where possible to push people to purchase and/or discover more about the books or authors. • Encourage audience engagement through the captions by asking questions and getting people to share and tag friends the content relates to.

Video

• Expect most views of any video content to happen with the sound off – add closed captions or text overlays into the videos to highlight important key messages. Remember that people view videos mostly on mobile devices, therefore ensure the text can be read on small screens. • Insert branding into the first three seconds of any video content. Users have short attention spans, and might not watch the whole video. Facebook found a 23 per cent increase in brand recall for videos that featured branding in the first three seconds (Facebook IQ, 2017) and video ads with clear logo placement drive 30 per cent higher unaided brand recall according to Twitter studies (Twitter, 2021). • Grab attention early in any video content. Given the short attention spans of users, seek to capture attention in the first three seconds with something engaging that will make them want to continue. An example might be adding a preview in the first few seconds that draws attention to the video’s key points to encourage users to watch the entire video. • Make the content dynamic. It needs movement to capture and engage attention. Don’t just have one-shot: zoom in, pan out, and add transitions to increase visual stimulation. For example, if recording an author talking to camera, add in different angles, pan and zoom as they are talking. • Use a flat, solid-coloured backdrop to showcase books or an author talking on screen. It eliminates distractions and gives the video a sleek look. • Using a voiceover to talk about the book can help to reinforce its unique selling points (USPs). Voiceovers can be added to owned content, stock video, or photos that have been stitched together. These can also be overlaid with text to highlight certain messages in the voiceover. • If production budgets are low, existing assets can be stitched together with stock images, text overlays, and voiceovers to create a video with a narrative. • Remember the thumbnail – choose it, do not let the platform decide, make it look professional and make sure it gives a clear indication of what the video is about. (Continued)

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94  Production TABLE 6.1  General tips (Continued)

Platform

Creative Considerations

Live

• When streaming, engage with the audience, monitor comments, answer them, encourage users to ask questions with calls to action, make the stream more interactive and therefore capture attention more easily. Continue to engage with users after the Live is over and fuel the relationships in order to transition users from potential customers to loyal community members. • Some people will be joining late, therefore repeat key messages throughout the video. • Much like a television show, think about promotion as a user journey that moves from teaser, to launch, to post-launch content. Drop teasers and pre-live content across Facebook and Instagram to raise awareness, and be sure to post when the stream is live. Following the broadcast, consider providing extra content to encourage brand/book/author recall and drive conversions. • Go live at the same time each time, so people know when to tune in. • When the livestream has ended, post the recording, give people the opportunity to watch it later. • Run Live with more than just an inhouse persona. Include authors and/or content creators. This will broaden the publisher’s audience and potentially help grow the community.

Static

• Ensure that the books or authors are prominent to highlight what is being promoted – make it clear. • Make static content dynamic, use different angles, different backgrounds/props, etc.

spaces, and production tools already to hand. Tools such as mobile phones are straightforward and readily available, while some publishers will find that dedicated space and audio-visual courses may be harder to come by.

Mobile Devices Mobile phones and devices are incredibly useful in creating content. Today, the cameras and editing tools on most mobile devices are highly sophisticated. It is worth investing in a light, microphone, and stand for the device. These are not usually expensive and can elevate the content quality.

Dedicated Office Space Is there a place that can be dedicated to content creation? Ideally, this should be somewhere that has bookshelves and a table where the publisher can take closely cropped shots of their books using different cloths and props; somewhere where authors can be interviewed.

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TABLE 6.2  Specific to platform

Platform

Creative Considerations

TikTok

• TikTok users appreciate originality. On this platform publishers can be super creative in their shooting and editing; users are not expecting everything to be perfect. • Authenticity is key. Have fun, add humour to the content. The content should not be polished. It should be raw and unfiltered. • Much content on TikTok is talking heads; consider the possibility of using a host/s. • Tell a story or educate. Users want to be entertained or to learn something new. • Engage with existing trends, but only where the brand and product have an authentic way in (look at specific book trends only if more general trends seem daunting). Publishers could potentially rework a current cultural trend and turn it into a book trend. • Create content that uses features designed to engage with the audience. For instance, post a duet with an author or reader, do a “reply to comments” post, or stitch a video. If the goal is to boost impressions: • Make your content dimensions portrait vs. landscape (TikTok studies indicate a 40 per cent lift in impressions). • Always add audio (indicates 16 per cent lift in impressions). • The best length is between 21 and 34 seconds, which indicates a 2 per cent lift in impressions (TikTok, 2021). If the goal is to boost conversions:

(Continued)

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• Use real voiceover + offer text to promote the product (TikTok studies show 87 per cent lift in conversion and a 9 per cent lift in impressions when used together). • Use a 9:16 aspect ratio (TikTok studies indicate a 91 per cent lift in conversion). • Use 720P resolution or higher (TikTok studies indicate 312 per cent lift in conversion). • Add clear CTA (TikTok studies indicate a 152 per cent lift in conversion). • Show a variety of product styles, transitions, and shots rather than a single individual on screen selling the product in one-shot (indicates a 38 per cent lift in conversion). • The best duration appears to be between 21 and 34 seconds, which indicates a 280 per cent lift in conversion (TikTok, 2021).

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Platform

Creative Considerations

Facebook • • • • • •

Optimise content for mobile viewing – smartphones account for 65 per cent of current total digital usage. Page content is pay to play. Therefore, unless a publisher has a media budget, it is not worth ideating content for a Facebook page. On Facebook simplicity is key. Highlight a USP of the book or a prominent image or video of the book within the creative. Featuring the book in the content will positively impact behaviours such as purchase intent. Go for longer form videos than is normal on TikTok or Instagram, ideally three minutes+. Make sure the video is as discoverable as possible by adding accurate and clear Video Tags +. Create a thumbnail for the video that includes branding and indicates what the video is about. • If doing video, ensure it is high quality. Do not post a slideshow of images, or loop a three-second video.

Facebook • Test before going live to ensure it is working properly. On Facebook the privacy can be changed on the video in order to run a test and check Live comments. • Facebook has a free globally licensed library of music and sound effects, use these to stay within the bounds of copyright. Leverage playlists to curate themes. Aggregate the videos featuring books and/or authors. Regularly post content to help develop a cadence and establish ongoing viewing expectations. YouTube favours accounts that post a lot of content. Optimise for YouTube SEO with hashtags. Include relevant hashtags in the video description, above title, and in title. Utilise longer-form video and storytelling. YouTube favours videos that have longer watch times. Longer video = longer watch times; two minutes or more is recommended. • Tap into relevant platform trends in order to keep the brand relevant and at the forefront of the category. • Think about the logo placement. If creating skippable assets, do not place important logos, titles, or author names near the “Skip A” button.

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YouTube

• • • •

Pinterest Pins

• Utilise relevant keywords in title and copy (and in board names). The tool Pinterest Trends can help publishers understand the popularity of certain keywords. Ensure keywords are clear and concise. Pin titles can have up to 100 characters and the description can have 500. • Pick the image cover for the board; make it enticing. • Use multiple colours. Static content with multiple dominant colours gets re-pinned 3.25 times more than its monochrome counterparts. • Pinterest is a highly visual platform and the message should be mostly conveyed through visuals that do not rely on audio or dialogue. • Educate and entertain. The best performing Pins are how-tos and interesting visuals. Many users use Pinterest for DIY concepts and visual inspiration. • Adding a logo allows for brand recall, but needs to be subtle. Avoid the lower right corner, however, as product icons will cover it. • Keep Pinterest video content short. Organic content should be between 15 and 60 seconds, and paid content should be even shorter: between 6 and 15 seconds. • Recommended video dimensions include square (1:1) or vertical (2:3 or 9:16). • Recommended static dimensions are 1000 × 1500 (2:3 aspect ratio).

(Continued)

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TABLE 6.2  Specific to platform (Continued)

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TABLE 6.2  Specific to platform (Continued)

Platform

Creative Considerations

Pinterest • Utilise the Idea Pin feature for content that is about engagement and awareness. Idea Pins get higher reach than regular Pins. Idea Pin • Publishers can tag products in their Pins using verified website links. • Video works great for Idea Pins, even if it is just the first frame (see video creative recommendations above). • Much like an Instagram story. With Idea Pins, a publisher has multiple frames to tell their story. Use them to provide deeper narratives to engage the audience, or highlight books from a series, or a theme – Idea Pins allow for the tagging of up to 20 products per pin • Unique content works best; do not reuse ideas that have been noticed on other platforms. • Videos should be between 1 and 60 seconds and recommended dimensions are using 1080 × 1920 pixel size (9:16 ratio). Instagram • Let the brand be itself, and have fun. Add in humour to the content. This content should not be polished. Reels • A lot of content is talking heads. Consider the possibility of using a host/s. • Tell a story or educate, users want to be entertained and to learn something new. • Engage with existing trends, but only where the brand and product have an authentic way in (look at specific book trends only, if more general trends seem daunting). Publishers could potentially rework a current cultural trend and turn it into a book trend. • Create content that uses features designed to engage with the audience. Publishers can venture beyond owned content and can incorporate a Remix with an author’s or reader’s content. • Use a green screen to change the background and add variety to the videos (this is great if a publisher has dedicated space in their office to record content, but want to make it look like it is elsewhere to add variety). Have the author’s book cover behind them while they are talking. • If the goal is conversion, tag any products being discussed in the Reel to push conversion. This is especially valuable since readers can discover and shop for products without leaving Instagram. Do not use swipe up functions. This is a Story behaviour and they are two different formats. • Use the Timed Text feature to highlight key messages in a video, such as a book title or author’s name. This will reinforce product recall, and if brand recall is the main campaign goal, highlight the author or book names/images within the first few seconds. • People tend to listen to Reels with the sound on. Grab their attention with original tracks or use the free tracks that Instagram provides.

Instagram • Use Stories and features such as the countdown sticker to pre-promote Live events and provide people with the tune-in times. Remind them of Live the event nearer the time. • Pin a comment at the top when livestreaming to give a little intro into what is happening and who is involved for latecomers. 18/07/22 10:37 AM

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Instagram • The Instagram Feed is a publisher’s virtual storefront. When readers visit a publisher’s feed, they need to be able to understand who the publisher Feed is and what they sell. These elements are important to keep in mind when creating images and videos. • Place calls to action in the middle of a video. • Refer back to the social visual identity guidelines in the master social strategy (MSS) to ensure a consistent brand look in the feed for both photo and video content.

Platform

Creative Considerations

Instagram • Utilise Stories features/stickers to give a fun element to the brand and promote engagement with features like Polls and Questions. Stories • Much like TikTok and Instagram Reels, readers will anticipate and appreciate a raw and in-the-moment video style. • Make use of link stickers to push readers to purchase and/or discover more about the books or authors. • Craft an engaging narrative with frames to encourage readers to click-through to the end where placing a CTA, pay-off, and link out. According to Instagram there is an 89 per cent chance of campaigns that emphasise the CTA outperforming creative without. There is also a 75 per cent chance of better performance if you place the CTA/add to cart in a central position. • Use Stories to be more light-hearted with your readers and followers; they expect less seriousness here. • Stories are fast, try to land key messages and/or stories as quickly and as succinctly as possible. • For organic stories, publishers can spread the narrative over a number of different Stories, giving the opportunity for richer storytelling. • Stories work with sound. Adding music or audio gives instant personality to the content. Voiceovers, in particular, can be used to enhance and highlight a message. According to Instagram, 80 per cent of Stories with voiceovers or music drive better, lower funnel results. • Brand the Story. This can be with book name, publisher’s name or authors name, or combination these. Brand the Story in the first and last seconds of the content to reinforce what the Story is about/who it is from and aid in brand/product recall. Pair this with a strong CTA at the end. • Make the content dynamic. Stories is not the place for static content, it needs movement to capture and engage attention. According to Instagram, when motion was used in Stories it outperformed static content for “add to cart” and “purchase” objectives. If conversion is a goal, make the content move. • Stories is designed to be used with visuals and copy. Add text to key moments in the content to highlight important messages or narratives. IGTV

• Cross-promote any IGTV (Instagram TV) videos within the other areas of the platform, including In-Feed and Stories, to increase visibility and discoverability. • Take advantage of the longer form content to tell more in-depth brand stories, educate, and provide longer narratives. We recommend around 3–5 minutes in length. • For videos that are about the same author, the same book/book series or themes, use the IGTV Series feature to organise the content into a collection, similar to episodes for a TV series.

(Continued)

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TABLE 6.2  Specific to platform (Continued)

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TABLE 6.2  Specific to platform (Continued)

Platform

Creative Considerations

Twitch

• Twitch is a unique platform for which to create content. Publishers need to ensure that they are creating content that fits seamlessly into the behaviours of the platform. This means no branded videos or advertisements. Consider content as more of a TV series. • All content is live. Ensure authors/hosts/etc. are comfortable with being put on the spot, especially if doing a live Q&A. • Twitch requires highly unique content. What do publishers have that no one else has? Access to their authors. Think about how to utilise authors in creating content. Interviews, authors reading chapters from their books, and Q&As all work well. • Audio-visual equipment is necessary to make this work. Publishers can still use their phone, but the output needs to be more professional, using a tripod, microphone, and light kit is helpful in achieving that standard. • The Twitch advertising options are different from the organic content created for the channel; these are usually images or videos with no captions. For this to work, ensure the key message is written into the video or image. • For image and video ads, use the largest USP front and centre for images, or within the first three seconds for video. These can be the author, book series name, or a popular genre. • Check Instagram and Facebook video tips to learn best practices for creating the narrative and branding the video ad content.

Twitter

• • • • • • • • •

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• •

Keep your Tweet copy concise. The best performing Tweets are only 50–100 characters. Focus on one message per Tweet and get straight to the point. If there is more to say, use photos or video, or link to a website. Twitter moves fast. Campaigns that have promotions with deadlines or limited numbers work well on this platform. Do not add hashtags into the ads. They are not necessary; hashtags are there to aid discovery for organic tweets. Keep videos between 6 and 15 seconds, and for pre-roll videos say all key information within the first 6 seconds, in case people choose to skip the ad. For ad campaigns, run multiple creative, change the copy, change the creative, change the CTA to see what works best; this also drives research insights. For organic content, avoid creating creative with heavy text, let the Tweet do the talking and the visual do the illustrating. Avoid all-caps copy. People don’t like it when you are shouting at them, it makes your copy seem brash and angry. If you are creating carousel ads, take advantage of the feature to customise headlines and URLs. Give each frame of the carousel a different title and use each to drive to different books or online spaces. Twitter is a conversation platform; keep a conversational tone. This invites people to join in a conversation. Consider using emojis to add emotion into any organic Tweets.

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Platform

Creative Considerations

Reddit

• Test the same ad with different headlines (tone, length, offering etc.) or use the same headlines with different copy (photography, graphic, video etc.) to see what appeals to a specific Reddit audience. • Promotions work well on Reddit. If a publisher has any offers or deals, try them on this channel. • Keep it light-hearted and conversational, avoid sounding or looking too much like an ad. • Redditors enjoy a challenge, think about providing them with one in order to get access to a special promotion. • Use the platform jargon. Make sure it is “Reddit-y”; add in u/ and r/ TIL, ELI5 etc. • Reddit audiences want to be educated; try providing them with an interesting tip, hack, or information. • They also appreciate anything surreal or out of the box. • If creating content on Reddit is daunting, a publisher can instead host an Ask Me Anything (AMA) with their authors. In this format, the publisher can engage directly with the Reddit audience without being too “ad-like” and give them something of value. It also humanises a brand by bringing into sight the people/authors at its heart.

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In-House Expertise What resources can be found in-house? Is there an amateur photographer or videographer whose skills can be tapped into to film and shoot content?

Quick Courses There are many low-price courses to upskill a team’s photography and video editing skills. There are also courses that specialise in producing and editing content on mobile devices and phones which provide free editing tools. It is worth investing in the skills of the social team; it will enhance a variety of company outputs. Even the platforms offer specific creator workshops within their free training schools. • • • •

Twitter Flight School (https://www.twitterflightschool.com/) Facebook Blueprint (https://www.facebook.com/business/learn) TikTok Business Learning Centre (https://ads.tiktok.com/business/learn/ course/list) Snap Focus (https://focus.snapchat.com/student/catalog)

Available Platform Tools YouTube Video Builder If YouTube ads are being considered, but the publisher does not have a large production budget, they can sign up to use YouTube Video Builder to create 6–15 second videos. This is a feature YouTube has designed to help small businesses with small budgets and is currently a free beta tool “that animates static assets – images, text and logos – with music from [their] library” (Google, 2021). They also provide a variety of layouts, colours, and fonts to choose from.

TikTok Tools TikTok has a few different tools to help create and edit TikTok videos.

Video Editor This free in-app tool allows publishers to professionally edit their videos for free, provided they have a TikTok business account. This tool is similar to other video editing tools and allows publishers to cut and paste video, add custom subtitles, add royalty-free music, transitions, effects, object eraser, split audio track, multi-­ layer editing tool, and help crop to size, frame by frame.

Video Template This tool has a variety of customisable templates (vertical 9:16, horizontal 16:9, and square 1:1) to choose from. The publisher needs to then upload photos (not videos),

102  Production

text, and logos to create a finished ten-second video. Video content is not required, and video-editing skills are not needed to splice together a video. TikTik also provides the use of thousands of royalty-free music tracks that can be added. This tool gives publishers the advantage of using separate pictures to highlight various USPs of one book (maybe highlight a quote, a strong character, a fact about the author, etc.). Or they can use it to highlight a number of books from the same author, same series, or even the same theme (horror books, best romance books of 2022).

Smart Video Smart Video was developed by TikTok to help brands reduce the costs and efforts of video production. Upload one or more images or videos and TikTok’s AI (artificial intelligence) will automatically choose the right clips/images to use, add video transitions, pick out the perfect music to complement them, and edit the sound and video together seamlessly, turning raw materials into a professionally edited video.

Smart Video Soundtrack Tool Sound 2 can make or break a video, and without prior video editing and mixing skills it can be hard to get it right. To assist businesses, TikTok has created the Smart Video Soundtrack Tool that automatically selects musical tracks based on video content.

Facebook Tools Sound Collection This is Facebook’s library of free and legal music and sound effects that can be added to videos. Note, publishers must use their own software to add the music; Sound Collection does not enable video editing.

Smart Crop Found in the Creator Studio, publishers can use this tool to reframe and resize the aspect of any 16:9 videos to either 1:1 or 4:5 for feed content (recommended sizes for In-Feed Facebook video content). Smart Crop has technology that will identify the main subject of the video and ensure that it is kept in frame.

Tips for Creating Live Event Content Tip #1: Live platforms, Stories, and Reels are the best way to promote events: Event content should be spontaneous. Those watching should feel as if they are experiencing the event in real life, but with the bonus of a better view and behind the scenes content.

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Tip #2: Go Live at key moments: Understand the order of the reallife event and decide in advance what parts would benefit going live online. Is the author going to reveal something exciting that the audience would love to be the first to know about? Create short clips of authors and influencers doing live Q&As or giving a tour of the event through their eyes. Tip #3: Who’s Who? Research the guest list and approach well-known attendees before the event to see if they would consent to a one-minute chat with the online audience. Seek them out at the event, and request permission to record a Boomerang or video of them. Tip #4: Use the “Ask Me A Question”/Polls feature: The audience may have questions about the event, questions for the author, or about the book. Crowdsource the questions using the “question” features. Plan for a Q&A session in the event line up, where the author/s will be answering questions from social media. Tip #5: Remember to tag: Add locations, @handles, #hashtags, every­ thing helps with discovery. Tip #6: CTAs are your friend: Add a call to action (CTA) to some of the content. A unique link to the publisher’s website or a bookstore can send people to purchase signed copies in a first come, first served fashion. Once the content has been produced, the publisher will need to consider how to best share the content across platforms. One way is for the publisher to share it organically, however organic reach can be low and therefore a paid campaign might be the best way to reach the audience.

Notes 1 However, do not let budgets and resource considerations hinder brainstorming sessions. Great ideas can be pared down and remain engaging and worthwhile. 2 Winters, et al., 2019 have used image-based Twitter posts to map speech, sonification, auditory scenes, and music across high-level data pulled from the images using Microsoft AI image recognition software.

References Facebook IQ, 2017. Meta For Business Insights to Go. Available at: https://www.facebook. com/iq/insights-to-go/brand-presence-significantly-improves-aided-recall-comparedto-brand-presence-in-the-first-4-seconds-aided-recall-was-113x-when-brand-presencewas-within-4-seconds-or-more-and-123x-when-brand-presence-was-within-the-first3-seconds (Accessed 21 December 2021). Google. Google Ads and Commerce Blog. YouTube Video Builder, Google, 14 April 2020, https://blog.google/products/ads/youtube-video-builder/(Accessed 4 November 2020). Krystek, S.A., 2021. Experience Sharing on Social Networking Sites: A Glimpse into the Process, Benefits, and Drawbacks of Curated Experiences (Doctoral dissertation, Carleton University). Levy-Dhami, S., 2022. Interview on Social Media. With Helen Simpson. [Zoom].

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TikTok, 2021. Triple-Digit Conversion Lift: Simple Creative Tips to Make Your Ads Work Harder. Available at: https://www.tiktok.com/business/en/blog/creative-that-drivesconversions (Accessed 24 December 2021). Twitter, 2021. Ads Best Practice. Twitter for Business. Available at: https://business.twitter. com/en/advertising/ads-best-practices.html (Accessed 22 December 2021). Winters, R.M., Joshi, N., Cutrell, E., and Morris, M.R., 2019. Strategies for Auditory Display of Social Media. Ergonomics in Design, 27(1): 11–15.

7 PAID MEDIA PROMOTION

Paid social can be daunting, so it is important to have a strong strategy and paid media process in place in order to properly consider paid options. According to Alec Piliafas (2022), founder of APD Co. and expert in paid social, the key ingredients to a good paid campaign include: Quality of targeting – Ensure to segment your audience. For example, if you are trying to reach a culinary audience – you can segment into “broad cooking interests”, “cooking shows & tv”, “food publications”, “specific cuisine interests”. This level of granularity allows you to understand who responds to your message and/or brand as well as the messaging they respond to – which can oftentimes be different based on the segment. Tailored Creative – The power of digital has transformed consumer expectation to anticipate the idea of personalization, which comes into play in paid based on contextual marketing … [for example] if someone abandons their cart, you want to make sure that the message you send them is specific to “come back and grab your cart” based on their actual behaviors. Another example is sequential messaging – differentiated messages based on actual consumer behaviors so if they do X, we want them to think Y. Knowing the tools – Understanding […] your objectives and the placements and formats that help to achieve them. Viable platforms where smaller budget campaigns work are Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Twitter, Pinterest, and TikTok. YouTube, Twitch, and Facebook video require higher quality video and bigger budgets, so with a smaller budget it is often better to leave them out of the campaign strategy rather than do them poorly. There is an ongoing discussion about what helps a business more: is it larger budgets spent at key moments in the year, or smaller budgets spread out DOI: 10.4324/9781003276012-8

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across the year so that paid content is always on? There are benefits to both and strengths in a mix of the two. If a publisher plans their campaigns correctly and has an additional, flexible budget for one-off/unexpected moments, they will have managed an always-on social. How to break up a budget will vary by company, goals, and more nuanced, situation-specific factors, but below is a general guide as to how a publisher can divide their budget for a product/campaign: •

•

•

1–2 large campaigns (50–65 per cent of budget) that include multiple pieces of content focused around large/popular book launches or seasonal moments such as holiday gifting or summer reading. 3–4 smaller campaigns (25–35 per cent of budget) that include 1–2 pieces of content that are focused on planned small/new author book launches. Publishers can boost organic content that has been posted or create a campaign of dark posts. A monthly budget pot (5–15 per cent of budget) set aside for unplanned/ reactive moments. Is there a piece of organic content that is performing well and might benefit from a boost to find a wider audience? Has the decision been made to run a last-minute competition? Is there a trending conversation happening around one book, or a topic that the publisher can authentically engage with? Unplanned posts can be small, but a budget pot will provide the flexibility to be reactive and relevant.

Campaign Objectives There are three campaign objectives to choose from when creating a paid campaign. They represent a journey that the audiences need to be taken on to push them towards a final objective: loyalty. This is sustained by organic and content creator content rather than paid. Awareness: Start by raising awareness of a new book or author, let readers and potential readers know that it is available, and give them a reason to believe it is for them. At this stage capturing their attention is important. Any paid campaign that uses awareness as a key goal needs to be certain that it is providing readers with something interesting. Consideration: Tell them why they should consider purchasing this book over another. Make potential readers understand why this particular book is relevant to them. Conversion: Finally, push them towards conversion. Give them the reason to complete the purchase. Loyalty: After completing the first three objectives, loyalty can be secured. Now a publisher can think less about paid content and more about community management, ongoing organic content, and content creator content. Paid campaigns are designed to get people to the point where a company can start providing them with loyalty content.

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The Eight Paid Media Strategy Steps It is important that there is an internal process for how the publisher approaches paid media. Here are the main steps of a paid social campaign: 1. Define the campaign objective, e.g. awareness, conversion, consideration. 2. Decide the best platforms to help reach those goals. 3. Decide the best formats to help achieve success. This can be adding a number of formats together or using just one. This helps to diversify and enhance campaigns; e.g. on Instagram and Facebook run In-Feed, Stories, and Collection ads to drive awareness and conversion of the latest book launch. On TikTok, raise awareness of the newest author by running a Collection Ad and an In-Feed Ad, and, if the budget is available, run these alongside one of the Takeover Ad options such as a TopView ad. 4. Identify the best way to measure success, e.g. if awareness is the goal, the measurement will be # of impressions or cost per impression (CPM). 5. Build a targeting approach; e.g. target new readers aged 16–24 whose interests include reading and books and anime. 6. Ideate and create the content to be used in engaging this audience. 7. Launch and monitor the campaign, providing optimisations where needed. 8. Report on the success of the campaign with actionable insights to help improve future paid media campaigns.

Facebook and Instagram Paid Features How and When to Use the Different Options Available A paid social strategy should guide customers through a journey. Each stage of the journey will need a different approach, which requires a different ad format that best aligns with the desired behaviour. See Tables 7.1, 7.2, and 7.3 for how and when to use the social options available, the available ad options on Facebook and Instagram, and how to build your target audiences.

TikTok Paid Features TikTok has a unique option in their Hashtag Campaign format, but this is expensive, and when paired with the Brand Takeover (which TikTok recommends) can cost in the region of half a million pounds to start, which is a budget most publishers do not have. Recently, the platform has begun to enhance its paid features to include more In-Feed and boosting options for companies with smaller budgets. It is worth noting that there is a campaign-level minimum budget. For campaigns, both daily budgets and total budgets must exceed 50 USD (36.49 GBP). In addition, Ad group levels also require a minimum budget where the daily budget must exceed 20 USD (14.59 GBP). Lifetime budgets will be calculated as the minimum daily budget (20 USD/14.59 GBP) × scheduled days.

108  Paid Media Promotion TABLE 7.1  How and when to use the social options available

Recommended Ad Formats

Stage

Objective/Approach

Stage 1: Awareness Generate awareness of a new book or author and drive interest.

Book Awareness Increase awareness of the book by reaching people who are likely to be interested in it. Reach Show the content to as many people as possible.

Photo Ad Video Ad: In Stream Stories Ad Instant Store Front Slideshow Ad Instant Store Front Instant Lookbook

Stage 2: Consideration Get customers to want your book over a competitor’s book and seek out more information.

Traffic Send people to a destination, such as the publisher’s website, for more information. App Installs Ensure there is third-party tracking on in order to track the app installs. Video Views Get more people to view the publisher’s video. Engagements Get more people to engage with the publisher’s content, like their page, reply to event invites, claim their offers. Lead Generation Drive more sales leads, such as emails, from people who are interested in the publisher’s books and authors. Messages Help people start conversations with the publisher and get personal with current or potential customers, and add interactive or automated features.

Carousel Video Ad: In-Feed Stories Ad Messenger Ad Messenger Stories Sponsored Messages Slideshow Ad Instant Lookbook Instant Customer Acquisition

Stage 3: Conversion Get customer to purchase the book.

Conversions Drive purchase on the publisher’s website, or natively through the platform. Catalogue Sales Create ads that show books from the publisher’s product catalogue based on their target audience.

Photo Ad Carousel Video Ad: In-Feed Stories Ad Messenger Ad Messenger Stories Sponsored Messages Slideshow Ad Instant Store Front Instant Lookbook Instant Customer Acquisition

See Tables 7.4, 7.5, and 7.6 for how to use paid ads, the available ad formats, and how to build your audience on TikTok.

Reddit Paid Features Reddit connects with an audience that cannot be found on other channels, which makes the platform an interesting option for publishers who can extend

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TABLE 7.2  Available ad formats on Facebook and Instagram

What It Is

Benefits

When to Use Them

Photo Ad

Photo ad + copy This format is great to raise awareness of a tangible product and push people to the publisher’s website in order find more information and purchase a book. In a Facebook study, a series of photo-only ads outperformed other ad formats in driving unique traffic (Facebook, 2015).

Quick and low production costs, good for driving awareness and conversions. As a single image, it is quick to make and production costs are low.

Use if the publisher has a simple narrative that can be told through one image with a clear CTA. Push people to purchase new/existing books from series or well-known authors’ work. Raise awareness of a new series from a popular author.

Video Ad: In Stream

Video + copy This ad is inserted into publisher and creative videos, primarily as mid-roll ads.

Tells a richer story and is great for ad recall and brand awareness. In-stream ads can deliver targeted brand messages within Facebook’s publisher and creator content, helping to drive ad recall, brand awareness, and intent lift.

Use to raise awareness of new books, new authors, existing authors with new books/ series.

Video Ad: In-Feed

Video + copy This as shows up in the user’s feed between content from their friends, family and brands they follow.

Tells a richer story and drives consideration and conversion.

Use to drive purchases of new books, new authors, existing authors with new books/ series.

Stories Ad

Video Richer storytelling. People look to Stories for inspiration, Stories make full use of the mobile screen, offering Great for driving conversion, discovering new products and tips and offers. businesses a beautiful and immersive canvas consideration, and awareness. Use Stories for brand content that provides without the distraction of other content around it. In a Facebook study, 58 per cent say they offers, universal truths, access to authors, and/ have browsed the brand’s website to get or tips, as well as new book launches. more information after seeing a product/service in a Story (Facebook, 2021).

(Continued)

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Ad Format

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Ad Format

What It Is

Benefits

When to Use Them

Messenger Ads

Video/Static + copy Messenger ads drive people into conversations with the publisher, which provides high quality engagement, and drives results that matter. The ads will be in the Chats tab in a user’s Messenger app. When they tap, they’ll be sent to a more detailed video with a CTA that sends them to the publisher’s website, app, or a conversation with your business on Messenger.

Low production costs. Great to build relationships and high-quality engagements that lead to conversion and consideration. If a publisher is running other campaigns across Facebook and Instagram they can use the same creative.

To be used when the publisher has campaigns that will drive people to ask questions about their new book or author allowing them to give potential readers more information.

Messenger Stories

Video A full screen mobile experience that captures attention for a publisher.

Great for richer storytelling that drives consideration and conversion. One in two people surveyed say they have visited a website to buy a product or service after seeing it in stories (Facebook, 2018).

Because they are only available to buy with other Stories ads on Instagram, or as an addition to campaigns running In-Feed, these ads should be used for promotions that have more budget, books by popular authors or existing popular book series.

Sponsored Messages

Copy/Static + copy Sponsored messages allow the publisher to send highly targeted promotions directly to the people who have already talked to them in Messenger.

Low production costs, great to build relationships and high-quality engagements that lead to consideration and conversion.

Use when the publisher has new book launches that they know existing readers will appreciate. Use in conjunction with another paid ad such as video, Stories, or carousel.

Carousel Ad

Video/Static + copy The carousel ad format is available for Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger. It allows the publisher to showcase up to ten images or videos within a single ad, each with its own link.

Telling a richer story and great for consideration and conversion.

Use when the publisher wants to showcase different books from one author or a wider theme. Or, they can tell a deeper story about an author or book series across a series of different ads. (An example would be to reveal all the main characters with fun bios for an exciting new book series.) Note that if taking advantage of the format to tell a sequential story, make sure to opt out of the automatic optimisation feature.

(Continued)

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TABLE 7.2  Available ad formats on Facebook and Instagram (Continued)

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TABLE 7.2  Available ad formats on Facebook and Instagram (Continued)

Ad Format

What It Is

Benefits

When to Use Them

Slideshow Ad

Static + copy Turn images and text into a simple, lightweight video ad in minutes to tell a story and communicate particular messages. This is a good choice if the publisher wants to reach people with slower connections as they are easy to load.

Quick and low production costs. Allows Use when the publisher does not have a large the publisher to tell a richer story to raise budget or many assets, but needs to tell more awareness and drive consideration and of a story to raise awareness or push users to conversion. purchase new book series, new books, and/or They are easy to make and edit, and have new authors’ work. low production costs, but also possess most of the experiential benefits of video. The free editing tool provides free stock images and a range of music to enhance the ads.

Collection Ad

Collection is an ad format (with three different templates) that enables users to seamlessly move from discovery to purchase by pairing the publisher’s video with product photos, giving users an easy and immersive way to explore their shop. A collection ad features a primary video/image with three smaller images below. When a customer taps on the ad they are taken to an Instant Experience without leaving Facebook or Instagram.

Instant Store Front Quick, affordable (uses product images), and great for awareness and conversion.

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Instant Store Front The publisher can showcase a number of books in a grid, so users can browse them in one place. Use to push people to purchase whole series or works from the same author, or a collection of themed books, e.g. summer reading collection. Instant Lookbook Instant Lookbook Tells a richer story as the images are more This template will engage people with a lifestyle than the product images you use narrative around the book rather than just for Instant Store Front. seeing the product, while encouraging They are great for driving awareness, product sales. Great for books that need more consideration and conversions. information. Use to raise awareness and push people to purchase new books, new book series, and new authors. Instant Customer Acquisition Instant Customer Acquisition Tells a richer story and drives Use this template to drive people to purchase consideration and conversion. new books from existing authors and new Only use this template when the publisher books in existing series on the publisher’s has high- quality images and videos that mobile landing page, website, they want to show off. or app.

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112  Paid Media Promotion TABLE 7.3  Building your target audiences on Facebook and Instagram

Prospective Audiences

Lookalike Audiences

Retargeting Audiences

What Are Users who have not expressed Users whose demographics Highest intent users They? purchase intent but fit and interests are similar to who have already within the publisher’s those of current customers; taken a desired defined target audience built from existing customer action, visited the based on relevant interests, relationship management website, and/or demographics, etc. (CRM) data. converted. How Do You Build Them?

A publisher can build the A publisher’s own CRM audience through any of the List following filters: Website/App Pixel Age & Gender Relationship Status Education Level Location & Language Device Interests & Behaviours Job Title

CRM List Website/App Pixel Offline Activity Native Platform Actions (i.e.Video Viewers, Event Responders, etc.).

TABLE 7.4  How to use paid ads on TikTok

Recommended Ad Formats

Stage

Objective/Approach

Stage 1: Awareness Generate awareness of a new book or author and drive interest in them.

Reach Enables the publisher to show their ads to the maximum number of people in their targeted audience at the most efficient price.

Branded Hashtag Branded Takeover Branded Effects TopView In-Feed Ad Spark Ad

Stage 2: Consideration Get customers to want your book over a competitor’s book and seek out more information.

Traffic Send people to a destination such as the publisher’s website for more information. App Installs If a publisher has an app, they encourage users to download it with this approach (ensure there is third party tracking on in order to track the app installs). Video Views Get more people who are likely to be interested to view a publisher’s video. Lead Generation Allows a publisher’s customers to share their contact information with the publisher, directly on TikTok.

Branded Takeover TopView In-Feed Ad (+Instant Form for lead gen) Spark Ad Carousel Collection

Stage 3: Conversion Get customer to purchase the book

Conversions Drive purchase on the publisher’s website, or natively through the platform. Catalogue Sales Allows the publisher to show ads featuring specific products to people who have expressed interest in them on the publisher’s app or website.

Branded Takeover TopView In-Feed Ad Spark Ad Carousel Collection

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TABLE 7.5  Available ad formats on TikTok

Ad Format

What It Is

Auction Ads In-Feed Video ad + Copy Ads Displayed inside the native news feed as users scroll through the “For You Page”. They blend well with the TikTok feed.

Benefits

When to Use Them

If created well, this ad will provide rich storytelling awareness, and also drives consideration and conversion.

Use when the publisher has a simple and quick message that can be told easily through video plus CTA. Push people to purchase new/existing books from series or well-known authors’ work. Raise awareness of a new series from a popular author.

Video + Copy Spark Ads allows a publisher to put a promotional budget behind organic TikTok posts using their own TikTok account’s posts OR using organic posts made by other creators – with the user’s permission.

Drives awareness, conversion, and consideration.

Use if a publisher has a small media budget and wants to raise awareness for new books by existing authors or new books by new authors. It is a good idea to have a small amount of media budget ready to boost any organic TikTok posts that have gained good organic awareness and engagement. Use to help amplify influencer campaigns by giving a boost to the content creator’s posts.

Carousel

Static + copy This ad format lets advertisers share up to ten images and unique captions and links for each image in a single ad.

Telling a richer story, great for consideration and conversion.

Use when a publisher wants to showcase different books from one author of the theme. Or they can tell a deeper story about an author or book series across a series of different ads.

Collection Ad

Static product shots + copy This format enables people to seamlessly find, discover, and browse products in a full-screen mobile experience. People who tap on this ad will be led to an Instant Gallery Page, where they can browse a curated gallery of product cards, and click through to the publisher’s website for discovery. Publishers can handpick the featured products or allow TikTok Ads Manager to dynamically display the most relevant products for each visitor.

Drive consideration and conversion.

Showcase a number of books in a grid, people can browse all of them in one place. Use to push people to purchase whole series or works from the same author, or a collection of themed books – possibly seasonally.

(Continued)

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Spark Ad

Ad Format

What It Is

Benefits

When to Use Them

Takeover Ads Brand Video/Static/GIF Effective for creating mass awareness, Given the high cost involved, use only for books Takeover Brand takeover ads pop when users open the TikTok and, with the incorporated link, they with large marketing budgets such as popular Ads app and take over the screen for a few seconds before are good at driving consideration and authors, the latest book in a very popular series, changing into an In-Feed video ad. conversion. or a celebrity-powered book. They also show up on the “For You Page” as still images, TikTok only shows one brand per day, so videos, or GIFS with clickable links that lead to there is no competition to compete landing pages within TikTok. against for the time period the publishers are running their takeover.

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TopView Ads

Video While brand takeovers pop up when users first open the app, TopView Ads are the first In-Feed post after 3 seconds and show up to 60 seconds of full-screen video with auto-play and sound.

Help to increase awareness and include a Given the high cost involved, they should only be link which makes them good at driving considered for books with large marketing consideration and conversion. budgets. 71% of users say TopView grabs their attention (TikTok for Business, 2021) and TopView ranks #1 in the TikTok engagement index (TikTok for Business, 2021).

Branded Effects Ads

Create a unique custom filter, special effect, or sharable stickers for people to use in their videos on TikTok. The ad can last up to ten days at a time.

Help gain awareness.

Given the high cost involved, use if you have a global campaign budget. It is an effective way to use the market, as this overcomes any language barriers with one creative, and raises mass awareness. Recommended for new works from popular authors or celebrity authors with global appeal.

Branded Hashtag Ads

Video + Copy Branded hashtag involves challenging users to create their own content around a specified theme, and to post it with a defined hashtag. The ads show up at the top of the discovery page. When users click on the hashtag, they go to a TikTok page that collects other TikTok videos from the same hashtag challenge.

TikTok hashtag challenges encourage engagement and builds awareness

Given the higher cost of running a branded Hashtag ad, this is for new works from popular authors or celebrities.

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TABLE 7.5  Available ad formats on TikTok (Continued)

Paid Media Promotion 115 TABLE 7.6  Building your target audiences in TikTok

Prospective Audiences What Are They?

Custom Audiences

Find people who already Users who have not expressed purchase intent know or have engaged with the publisher by but fit within a defined previously visiting their target audience based on site/app etc. relevant interests, Powerful tool for demographics, etc. re-marketing.

How Do The publisher can build You the audience through any Build of the following filters: Them? Age & Gender Interests & Behaviour Operating system Location & Language Mobile carrier Device price

Customer File Engagement App Activity Website Traffic Lead Generation

Lookalike Audiences Created from the publisher’s custom audiences, this audience group shares commonalities with existing customers. Custom Audience

the reach of their campaigns through this platform. Reddit breaks down the audience crossover, or lack thereof, in highlighting that 23 per cent of Reddit audiences are not active on Facebook, 47 per cent are not active on Instagram, 52 per cent are not active on Twitter, 65 per cent are not active on Snapchat, and 69 per cent are not active on TikTok (TikTok for Business, 2022). This indicates that it could be a useful way to reach unique audiences in a new way. Publishers don’t need to post organic content or own a subreddit; they can be on the platform in a purely paid capacity. On Reddit, the campaign level minimum budget must exceed 50 USD. See Tables 7.7 and 7.8 for available ad formats on Reddit, and Table 7.9 for tips on building a target audience on Reddit.

Twitter Paid Features Twitter has a number of viable options to promote a publisher’s content. They also have a large range of options that start from low production costs to bigger campaigns; whatever the budget, a publisher can find a way to engage with paid features on Twitter. Twitter also offers add-ons that can help direct a variety of outcomes. Publishers can add a poll to their ad to raise awareness and give high-quality engagement with the content. They can add a conversation button to prompt users to join in the conversation about their latest book launch. And, if the publisher has an app, they can add a button that will link to the App Store or Play Store for users to download it. See Tables 7.10, 7.11, and 7.12 for the different stages, recommended approaches, and formats for working with paid features, available ad formats, and how to build your target audiences on Twitter.

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116  Paid Media Promotion TABLE 7.7  Available ad formats on Reddit, part one

Stage

Objective/Approach

Recommended Ad Formats

Reach Stage 1: Enables the publisher to show their ads to Awareness the maximum number of people in their Generate targeted audience at the most efficient awareness of a price. new book or author and drive interest in them.

Takeover Ad Trending Takeover Category Takeover First View Takeover In-Feed Video In-Feed Text In-Feed Link Conversation Link Conversation Video

Stage 2: Consideration Get customers to want your book over a competitor’s book and seek out more information.

Traffic Send people to a destination such as the publisher’s website for more information App Installs If the publisher has an app, they can encourage users to download it with this approach. Note that this will only serve on native mobile. Video Views Get more people who are likely to be interested to view the publisher’s video

Takeover Ad Category Takeover First View Takeover In-Feed Video In-Feed Link In-Feed Gallery

Stage 3: Conversion Get customer to purchase the book.

Conversions Drive purchase on the publisher’s website.

Takeover Ad Category Takeover First View Takeover In-Feed Video In-Feed Link In-Feed Gallery Conversation Link Conversation Video

YouTube and Twitch Paid Features For those publishers that have larger production and media budgets, YouTube and Twitch could be viable campaign options. Below is a breakdown of how they can be used.

YouTube On YouTube there are a variety of advertising options, but it is important to note that all the options will require high-quality video, unlike the other platforms. If a publisher does not have the capability to create high-quality video with rich storytelling, avoid YouTube. See Tables 7.13, 7.14, and 7.15 for how to use paid ads, the available ad formats, and how to build your audience on YouTube.

Twitch To advertise on Twitch, a publisher needs to work with the Twitch teams, instead of setting up their own ad account and doing everything themselves.

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TABLE 7.8  Available ad formats on Reddit, part two

Ad Format

Benefits

When to Use Them

Reddit provides a front-page takeover, where the publisher can take over Home and Popular areas for 24 hours. This ad includes a promoted post (first In-Feed ad placement), a top banner, and a sticky banner.

This drives mass awareness, consideration, and conversions.

Given the high cost involved, use only for books with large marketing budgets like popular authors, latest books in a very popular series, or celebritypowered books.

Trending Takeover

Amplifies the publisher’s trend across Popular and Search for 24 hours. This includes a trending unit on Popular, a trending unit on Search, and a trending landing page.

This is a useful tool to drive mass awareness for This requires a trend to hinge the a trend that the publisher creates, that is campaign around, and is great for relevant to the book being marketed. promoting new books in existing series where an organic trend has emerged from the one or more of the previous books in the series that can be harnessed.

Category Takeover

Allows the publisher to own top communities in their selected category for 24 hours. This includes a promoted post (first In-Feed ad placement), a top banner, and a sticky banner.

Categories allow the publisher to target specific Given the cost involved, use only for communities that they know are already books with large marketing budgets interested in their category. like popular authors, the latest book in Using this ad, they can advertise only in a very popular series, or a celebrityspecific threads or communities, depending on powered book. what type of book they are promoting. Given the already perceived interest in the book, this ad format provides higher awareness and engagement, which leads to quality consideration and conversion.

First View Takeover

Home or Popular, the publisher’s ad will be the first they see. Includes a promoted post (first In-Feed ad placement)

This is a useful tool to provide rich storytelling. Given the cost involved, use only for It drives mass awareness, consideration, and books with large marketing budgets conversion. like popular authors, the latest book in a very popular series, or celebritypowered book.

TAKEOVER ADS Takeover Ad

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(Continued)

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What It Is

Ad Format

What It Is

Benefits

When to Use Them

Copy only Ads show up to users browsing their Home and Popular feeds, as well as individual community feeds.

Drives awareness and has very low production costs, with only text and no accompanying images or videos.

Use when the publisher can share their message with copy only. Can be used to utilise book quotes and is good for promoting books from well-known authors/series or celebrities whose name will be recognisable. These ads don’t have creative/visual elements to help tell the more in-depth story needed for new authors/books.

In-Feed Link

Image + Copy Ads show up to users browsing their Home and Popular feeds, as well as individual community feeds.

Quick and low production costs, good for driving awareness, consideration, and conversion. As a single image, it should be quick to make and production costs are low.

Use for existing series and well-known authors/celebrities who can be promoted with just copy and image.

In-Feed Video

Video + Copy Ads show up to users browsing their Home and Popular feeds, as well as individual community feeds.

Smartly crafted video ads can provide rich Given the richer storytelling experience, storytelling and drive awareness, consideration, publishers can use this type of ad to and conversion. promote new authors and new books, as well as launching existing authors’ new books.

In-Feed Gallery (Carousel)

Image/GIF + Copy Tells a richer story and is great for A swipeable series of up to six images with consideration, and conversion. multiple destination URLs in a single post.

AUCTION ADS In-Feed Text

Use when the publisher wants to showcase different books from one author or single theme. Can be used to tell a deeper story about an author or book series across a series of different ads.

(Continued)

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TABLE 7.8  Available ad formats on Reddit, part two (Continued)

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TABLE 7.8  Available ad formats on Reddit, part two (Continued)

What It Is

Benefits

When to Use Them

Conversation Link

Image + Copy Shows the publisher’s ads to users who are engaging with other users about a specific post. The ad will appear in a fixed location between the post and the first comment.

As a single image, it is quick to make, and Use for promoting books from existing production costs are low. series or authors. Allows publishers to reach more users with this ad format than an In-Feed format. People in a conversation have moved away from browsing and are engaging with ideas, questions, comments. If the publisher makes their creative smart then they can gain high-quality engagements that drive awareness and conversion.

Conversation Video

Video + Copy Shows the publisher’s ads to users who are engaging with other users about a specific post. The ad will appear in a fixed location between the post and the first comment.

Smartly crafted video ads will provide rich Use for promoting new books and new storytelling. authors; video gives publishers a Allows publishers to reach more users with this chance to tell a deeper story. ad format than an In-Feed format. People in a conversation have moved away from browsing and are engaging with ideas, questions, comments. If the publisher makes their creative smart then they can gain high-quality engagements that drive awareness and conversion.

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Ad Format

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120  Paid Media Promotion TABLE 7.9  Building your target audiences on Reddit

Reddit Audiences What Are They?

Custom Audiences

Reach the publisher’s known Users who have not audience on Reddit, to expressed purchase intent but fit within the re-engage or exclude them from seeing certain ads publisher’s defined target audience based on (only for managed service teams) relevant interests, demographics, etc.

How Do Publishers can build the You audience through any of Build the following filters: Them? Location Device Time of Day Interests Communities

CSV list of emails CSV list of mobile Ad IDs LiveRamp +Overlay Reddit Audience targeting to include or exclude people based on (interest, locations keywords, devices etc.).

Reddit Pixel Retargeting This enables publishers to reconnect with users who have shown interest in their brand. Through the Reddit Pixel, which must be installed into the publisher’s website.

TABLE 7.10  Paid features on Twitter

Recommended Ad Formats

Stage

Objective/Approach

Stage 1: Awareness Generate awareness of a new book or author and drive interest in them.

Reach Enables the publisher to show their ads to the maximum number of people in their targeted audience at the most efficient price.

Text Ads Image Ads Video Ads Moment Ads Amplify Pre-Roll Timeline Takeover Trend Takeover Branded Hashtag

Stage 2: Consideration Get customers to want your book over competitors’ books and seek out more information.

Traffic Send people to a destination, such as the publisher’s website, for more information App Installs If the publisher has an app, they can encourage users to download it with this approach. Note that this will only serve on native mobile. Follows Get more people following the publisher’s Twitter account Video Views Find more people who are likely to be interested to view the publisher’s video content

Follower Ads Image Ads Video Ads Carousel Ads Timeline Takeover Trend Takeover

Stage 3: Conversion Get customer to purchase the book.

Conversions Drive purchase on the publisher’s website.

Image Ads Video Ads Carousel Ads Timeline Takeover

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TABLE 7.11  Available ad formats on Twitter

What It Is

Benefits

When to Use Them

Text Ads

Copy only Ads that seamlessly fit into the Twitter feed among other tweets.

Very low production costs. Great to raise awareness.

Use to provide a message with copy only. This could be used to utilise quotes and is good for promoting books from well-known authors/series or celebrities whose name will be recognised, as there is no visual creative to help tell the deeper narrative of a new book.

Image Ads

Image + Copy A format that mimics organic Twitter content and shows up in your Twitter feed.

Good for driving awareness, consideration, and conversion. A single image is quick to make, and production costs are low.

Use for existing series and well-known authors/celebrities who can be promoted with just copy and image.

Video Ads

Video + Copy A format that mimics organic Twitter content and shows up in a users’ Twitter feed.

Smartly crafted video ads will provide rich storytelling, awareness, and also drive considerations and conversion.

Given the richer storytelling experience, you can use this type of ad to promote new authors and new books.

Carousel Ad

Image/GIF/Video + Copy A swipeable series of up to six images or six videos with multiple destination URLs in a single post. (Carousel ads do not allow for the mixing of videos and images at the moment.)

Telling a richer story and great for consideration and conversion.

Use when you want to showcase different books from one author or from a theme. Or you can tell a deeper story about an author or book series across a series of different ads.

Moment Ad

Copy, Image, and/or Video Publishers can promote a collection of Tweets that tells a deeper story across a number of Tweets.

Great for telling a deeper story and raising awareness.

Use to promote a new book from a new author. It allows the publisher to tell the story with more depth and get people excited about a book they have not heard of before.

Follower Ads

Copy + Image of Profile This shows up in a person’s Twitter feed and is an image pulled through from the publisher’s profile with the large “follow” action button added to encourage people to follow immediately and not move away from the feed.

Drives consideration by turning users into readers.

Only use this if the publisher has an active Twitter account where they post considerable content and want to grow that community.

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Ad Format

Ad Format

What It Is

Benefits

When to Use Them

Amplify Pre-Roll

Video only A skippable ad placed at the start of other brand/creator videos. A publisher can select from 15 different categories of videos to help ensure that their ad aligns with the video content they are advertising on.

Great for mass awareness and tells a richer story.

Use to promote new books, existing authors with new books.

Twitter Timeline Takeover

Video + Copy This is the perfect way to drive mass This places the publisher’s ad first when awareness, consideration, and conversion of a someone opens Twitter with an autoplay video. new book launch, given the prominent position of the ad. Video is recommended for this format allowing for a deeper storytelling, but production costs are high.

Trend Takeover

Image/Video + Copy Great for driving awareness and consideration. Use for books with larger marketing budgets Displays the publisher’s ads next to “what’s such as popular authors, book series, and trending” in the Explore Tab. celebrity-powered books. Only video content is used for Trend Takeovers.

Branded Hashtag

Hashtag Publishers can promote a branded hashtag so whenever someone uses the hashtag it changes and adds a fun and visual creative element. E.g. if a publisher branded a hashtag they could make a book emoji appear in someone’s Tweet whenever they used that hashtag.

Good for mass awareness via conversations with people using the hashtag to see the effect for themselves.

A day-long promotion is perfect for large book launch days from popular authors and celebrities. Given the deeper storyline, it should be reserved for new books/book series rather than existing book series.

This is good for promoting new books in an existing series, as using the hashtag is a reader behaviour, and publishers will need a loyal following for this to capture attention and take off.

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TABLE 7.11  Available ad formats on Twitter (Continued)

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Paid Media Promotion 123 TABLE 7.12  Building your target audiences on Twitter

What Are They?

Demographics

Audience Types

Your Audiences

People who have similar demographic traits.

Find people based on interests and behaviours.

Find people who already know or have engaged with the publisher’s business, such as followers, people who have downloaded the app, etc.

Interests Movies/TVs Keywords they use Follower lookalikes Engagement behaviour Conversation behaviour

Publisher’s own file of Twitter Handles or Emails Twitter Website Tag Conversion Tracking for mobile app Publisher’s Twitter Followers

How Do Publishers can build the You Build audience through any Them? of the following filters: Location Language Device Age Gender

TABLE 7.13  Using YouTube for ads

Stage

Objective/Approach

Stage 1: Awareness Reach Generate awareness of a Enables the publisher to show new book or author and their ads to the maximum drive interest in them. number of people in their targeted audience at the most efficient price. Stage 2: Consideration Get customers to want your book over competitor’s books and seek out more information.

Traffic Send people to a destination such as the publisher’s website for more information. Leads Encourage customers to sign up for a newsletter or provide their contact information. App Promotion Drive app installs and engagement. Product/Brand Consideration Encourage potential customers to consider the publisher’s brand or products in the future and when they are purchasing.

Stage 3: Conversion Conversions Get customer to purchase Drive purchase the book. Local store visits and promotions

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Recommended Ad Formats Skippable in-stream ads Bumper Ads Non-skippable in-stream ads Masthead Ad Skippable in-stream ads Video Action Campaign Non-skippable in-stream ads

Skippable in-stream ads Video Action Campaign Non-skippable in-stream ads

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Ad Format

What It Is

Skippable Video in-stream ads These ads play before, during, or after other videos, and after five seconds the viewer has an option to skip. They appear on YouTube watch pages and across websites and apps running on Google video partners.

Bumper Ads

Benefits

Great for awareness, conversion and Use when the publisher consideration, and richer has a longer message storytelling. that they want to impart, but where most of the message can be told in the first five seconds. This is great for existing book series and well-known authors.

Great for awareness. Video Bumper ads are six seconds (or shorter) and play before, during, or after another video. Viewers don’t have the option to skip the ad. They appear on YouTube videos and across websites and apps running on Google video partners.

Non-skippable Non-skippable in-stream ads are 15 seconds (or shorter) and play in-stream ads before, during, or after other videos. Viewers don’t have the option to skip the ad. They appear on YouTube videos and across websites and apps running on Google video partners.

When to Use Them

Great for awareness, consideration and conversion. Also great for richer storytelling.

Use when the publisher has a short message to get across. Ideal for existing book series and well-known authors. As viewers have to see the entire message, publishers have more time to tell a story. This is good for promoting newer authors and books/ book series. (Continued)

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TABLE 7.14  Available ad formats on YouTube

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TABLE 7.14  Available ad formats on YouTube (Continued)

What It Is

Benefits

When to Use Them

Masthead Ad

Video + Copy Desktop Autoplays for up to 30 seconds at the top of the YouTube Home feed. It includes an information panel to the right that automatically uses assets from the publisher’s channel. Publishers can opt to include up to two companion videos in this panel. After autoplay, the main video defaults to the video thumbnail. When people click on the video or click on the thumbnail, they are taken to the YouTube watch page for the video. Mobile Same as the desktop but this is at the top of the YouTube app or m.youtube. com Home feed.When a user clicks on the mobile video Masthead ad, it will exit to the YouTube watch page for the featured video. TV Screens Much like the desktop version, but this format is at the top of the top of the YouTube app for TVs (where supported). People can use their TV remote to interact with the Masthead ad. After autoplay, the main video defaults to the video thumbnail.When a user clicks on the video or thumbnail, they are taken to the watch page for the video to watch full-screen. Note: publishers cannot add a CTA to a Masthead ad on TV screens.

This ad is for awareness and for those moments when the publisher wants mass reach in a short period of time. Masthead ads are available on a reservation only basis through a Google sales representative.

Use for book launches for celebrity or popular authors, or popular book series. Good if publishers have a marketing budget for an event they are running and want to raise awareness.

(Continued)

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Ad Format

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Ad Format

What It Is

Benefits

When to Use Them

Discovery Ad

Static + Copy Video discovery ads consist of a thumbnail image from the publisher’s video with some text.Video discovery ads always invite people to click to watch the video. The video then plays on the YouTube watch page or channel homepage. These ads appear on YouTube search results, alongside related YouTube videos, and on the YouTube mobile homepage.

These ads are great for awareness goals with richer storytelling.

Drives awareness of popular authors, series, and celebrity-owned content.

Video Action

This is for books with This ad is great for driving Video + Copy big name authors/ consideration and conversions. Video action campaigns use the skippable in-stream and video celebrities or new discovery ad formats and combine inventory from the YouTube Home These ads also expand a publisher’s campaigns to run in more places on books in popular feed,YouTube watch pages, and more. series, as it allows the and off YouTube.They simplify Ads included in the publisher’s campaign can use a CTA, headline running a publisher’s ads on mobile, publisher to drive (both short and long), and a description in the creative. mass conversion in Publishers can add extensions (for example, sitelinks or lead forms) or a desktop, and TV in one campaign, effective ways. without having to set bids and product feed to their campaign to influence conversions. budgets for each inventory source.

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TABLE 7.14  Available ad formats on YouTube (Continued)

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Paid Media Promotion 127 TABLE 7.15  Building your target audiences on YouTube

What Are They?

How Do You Build Them?

Retargeting Audience

People who previously interacted with your business.

Your Data Segments Using data from YouTube and Google channels to see who has interacted with the publisher. Customer Match Segments First-party online and offline data uploaded as a CSV file.

Similar Segments

Use the publisher’s Data Segments or Customer New users with similar characteristics Match Segments data. to Your Data Segments or Customer Match Segments

Detailed Groups of people Include age, gender, parental status, household Demographics who share common income, and additional shared traits, such as traits with your whether they are college students, homeowners, target audiences. or new parents. Interest Audience

Pick from available Affinity Segments audience categories Created by selecting from available categories like to reach people shopping behaviour, lifestyle, and consumption interested in habits. particular topics. Custom Affinity For when the publisher wants to reach an audience that is not included in the Affinity audiences taxonomy. Created from a few keywords and URLs as a starting point to build a customised list. Life Events Reach people at key transition points in their lives. Created by selecting from segments, such as purchasing a home, starting a new job, and retiring. Custom Segments Add specific keywords, URLs, and apps related to the publisher’s product or services.

Table 7.16 (on the next page) includes the various options that can be requested when working with the Twitch teams.

Building Your Campaign Strategy Once the publisher has chosen their goals, platforms, formats, and audience, they can begin to develop a paid media strategy. They need to collate their: • • • • •

Media budget Campaign goal Identified platforms Assets Target audiences.

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Ad Format

What It Is

Benefits

When to Use Them

Homepage Carousel

Takes video from the publisher’s page. Content is placed on the homepage in the rotating carousel slots. The link provided is directly to the publisher’s Twitch channel.

Mass awareness to drive interest in the publisher’s channel; not good for pushing people elsewhere.

Use if the publisher already has a Twitch account with content and they are running a Live video with authors/influencers etc. and want to drive more people to watch.

Homepage Headliner

Image ​The Headliner Unit wraps around the Homepage Carousel with image space on either side + brand colours. It includes a link out feature.

This is designed to drive mass awareness, consideration, and conversion given its prominent placement, and link out feature.

Use when the publisher has a book launch from a celebrity or popular author/book series.

In-Feed Medium Image/GIF Great for awareness, consideration, Rectangle This is placed in the Browse section of the site and is on and conversion. the far right of the first row of the Categories or Live Channels browser feeds. It includes a link out feature.

Use for well-known authors, celebrities, or popular book series launches.

Image Great for awareness, consideration, Similar to the Medium Rectangle, you can find this and conversion. option on the browse section of the website. It is a thin rectangle that spreads across the top of the page with a link out option.

Use for well-known authors, celebrities, or popular book series launches.

Super Leaderboard

Twitch Premium Video This is designed to drive mass Video This is an in-stream video that will be incorporated into awareness, consideration, and live broadcasts across desktop, mobile, and tablet, and conversion given its prominent connected TV devices. placement and link out feature.

Use when the publisher has a book launch from a celebrity or popular author and/or book series.

Video This is designed to drive mass This is a full screen experience that pops up whenever a awareness, consideration, and conversion given its prominent user opens the website/app. It will be the first thing placement and link out feature. they see and has a link out feature.

Use when the publisher has a book launch from a celebrity or popular author and/or book series.

First Impression Takeover

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TABLE 7.16  Available ad formats on Twitch

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Once that information has been brought together, they can create their strategy, which should include: • • • • • •

Platform Budget Audience Type Campaign Objective Ad Format Flight Time

Example Paid Campaign Summary #1 Media Budget: Medium level1 Campaign goal: Generate excitement of a new book series from a popular author Identified platforms: TikTok, Reddit, Facebook, and Instagram. Assets: Created in-house using a phone: • Photos of book in a fun setting (relevant props around it, or with a mug of hot chocolate, and on a stack of books). • Images using the cover artwork (something the design team could provide, or that can easily be created with a free editing tool). • 15-second video of the author reading the first sentence (in a space in an office/bookstore surrounded by books, prominently featuring their own if they have any). • 60-second video of the author reading the first few pages (a space in an office/bookstore surrounded by books, prominently featuring their own if they have any). Target audiences: • Existing readers (we know they are interested in this type of book and this author, and can be used to drive conversion). • New readers who have an interest in fantasy (we want to first raise awareness with this audience for the book series, and then retarget those who interact with this ad, with a further ad that drives consideration). With this in mind, the viable strategies for this campaign might be: TikTok Budget: 40% New Fans • • • •

Campaign Objective #1: Awareness Audience Type #1: Prospective Ad Format #1: In-Feed Ad Flight Time: 2 weeks

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• • • •

Campaign Objective #2: Consideration Audience Type #2: Custom Audiences Ad Format #2: Carousel Flight Time: 1 week

Facebook/Instagram Budget: 40% Existing Fans • Campaign Objective: Conversion • Audience Type: Retargeting through CRM List and Native Platform Action • Ad Format: Carousel or Static Ad • Flight Time: 3 weeks New Fans • • • • • • • •

Campaign Objective #1: Awareness Audience Type #1: Prospective Ad Format #1: Slideshow Flight Time: 2 weeks Campaign Objective #2: Consideration Audience Type #2: Retargeting through Native Platform Action Ad Format #2: Carousel or Static Ad Flight Time: 1 week

Reddit Budget: 20% New Fans • • • • • • • •

Campaign Objective #1: Awareness Audience Type #1: Reddit Audiences Ad Format #1: In-Feed Video Flight Time: 2 weeks Campaign Objective #2: Consideration Audience Type #2: Reddit Pixel Retargeting Ad Format #2: In-Feed Video Flight Time: 1 week

Example Paid Campaign Summary #2 Budget: Low Campaign goal: Generate excitement for a new book in an existing series Identified platforms: Facebook, Instagram, and Reddit Assets: Created in-house using a phone: • Photos of book in a fun setting (with relevant props around it, or with a mug of hot chocolate, on a stack of books).

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• Images using the cover artwork (something the design team could provide, or that can be easily created with a free editing tool). • 15-second video of the author reading the first sentence (in a space in an office/bookstore surrounded by books, prominently featuring their own if they have any). • 60-second video of the author reading the first few pages (in a space in an office/bookstore surrounded by books, prominently featuring their own if they have any). Target audiences • Existing readers (we know they are interested in this type of book, so we want to drive conversion). • New readers who are similar to existing readers (we want to first raise awareness with this audience for the book series, and then retarget those who interact with this ad, with another ad that drives consideration). Viable strategies for this campaign might be: Facebook/Instagram Budget: 60% Existing Readers • Campaign Objective: Conversion • Audience Type: Retargeting through CRM List and Native Platform Action • Ad Format: Carousel or Static Ad • Flight Time: 3 weeks New Fans • • • • • • • •

Campaign Objective #1: Awareness Audience Type #1: Lookalike through CRM List Ad Format #1: Slideshow Flight Time: 2 weeks Campaign Objective #2: Consideration Audience Type #2: Retargeting Native Platform Action Ad Format #2: Carousel or Static Ad Flight Time: 1 week

Reddit Budget: 20% New Fans • • • •

Campaign Objective #1: Awareness Audience Type #1: Reddit Audiences Ad Format #1: In-Feed Link or In-Feed Text Flight Time: 2 weeks

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• • • •

Campaign Objective #2: Consideration Audience Type #2: Reddit Pixel Retargeting Ad Format #2: In-Feed Link Flight Time: 1 week

The role of a paid campaign, however good, is only part of the story that can move audiences from awareness through to conversion. Smart social takes the building blocks created by paid social, and moves forward to create a community of readers, fans, and followers who want to see the ads and who want to engage with the publisher, their authors, and their books.

Note 1 Medium, in this sense, will vary based on the company. The important thing to note in this section is how the budget is broken up percentage wise, by platform.

References Facebook, 2015. Creative Combinations that Work. Facebook IQ. Available at: https://www. facebook.com/business/news/insights/creative-combinations-that-work (Accessed 14 December 2021). Facebook, 2018. Connect with People and Everyday Moments with Stories Ads. Facebook IQ. Available at: https://www.facebook.com/business/ads/stories-ad-format (Accessed 14 December 2021). Facebook, 2021. Groups. Facebook. Available at: https://www.facebook.com/help/ 1629740080681586 (Accessed 21 November 2021). Piliafas, A., 2022. Interview on Social Media Marketing. Interviewed by Helen Simpson, [email]. TikTok for Business, 2021. Kantar Finds Ads on TikTok Are Seen as More Inspiring, Trendsetting and Enjoyable Than Other Platforms. TikTok: For Business. Available at: https://www.tiktok.com/business/en/blog/6-takeaways-from-our-latest-kantar-study (Accessed 16 January 2022). TikTok for Business, 2022. Grow Your Business with Diverse Solutions on TikTok. TikTok: For Business. Available at https://www.tiktok.com/business/en-US/apps/tiktok (Accessed 16 January 2021).

8 COMMUNITY BUILDING

Along with putting content out onto the publisher’s social channels, it is important to feed, grow, and evolve their communities on these platforms. This is part of a loyalty goal and can grow a dedicated community who are waiting to hear about their latest book, which will in turn provide higher quality conversions. There are a few key tactics that should be kept in mind while developing a community across platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Reddit, and Twitch. Understanding these tactics begin with the consideration of connectivity and community, wherein “[t]he concept of public connection starts from the assumption that people do not navigate through everyday life as atomized individuals, but are part of larger networks” (Swart et al., 2018, p. 4331). Within the global village, these communities develop, link, overlap, and dissolve, much like communications offline. Many of these online communities sustain their own linguistic forms and become virtual communities of practice (Lucy & Bamman, 2021); examples include the acronyms of Reddit forums (/r, ELI5) and fan fiction platforms (AT, Jossed, Mary Sue). The publisher needs to be aware of the language used in their communities in order to speak within them in an authentic fashion, keeping in mind that the “establishment of mutual understanding to comprehend conversations and knowledge contributions on the internet are inevitably more difficult than face-to-face communications” (Lin & Huang, 2013, p. 135). There are considerations of the feeling of belongingness that users have within their chosen communities that publishers need to tap into in order to engage users with their content, encourage them to converse with one another, and to take action when given new information, such as watching a new author video, or pre-ordering an exclusive edition. Community members with a strong sense of belongingness “find the socialization entertaining or relaxing because he or DOI: 10.4324/9781003276012-9

134  Community Building

she feels accepted by and connected to these friends” ( James et al., 2017), and these communities can “gratify needs for purposive value, self-discovery, maintaining interpersonal interconnectivity, social enhancement, and entertainment value” ( James et al., 2017). A publisher needs to be aware of this as they develop their community building tactics.

Tactics for Growing Your Communities Tactic One: Ongoing, Paid Social Ongoing budget against the monthly evergreen content helps to increase followers. Paid campaigns tend to generate an increase in followers, so having small monthly budgets throughout the year will allow a publisher to keep a steady increase in people discovering their channel.

Tactic Two: Harnessing Existing Brand Affinity Users get passionate about their favourite book series and characters; this is a powerful emotion that a publisher can harness. Tap into these existing readers to build love and passion within the community. Cultivate the publisher’s interaction with the community and use their devotion to collecting, recommendations, and book memes to turn engagements into conversions without the use of paid. If a reader goes the extra mile and creates content for a publisher’s books, highlight it, reward them, and spotlight them. It could be worth collaborating with them on limited edition book covers, or fan fiction stories set in the world of the book(s) made available exclusively in that community. Provide them with unique content that they share more widely in their global village.

Tactic Three: Borrowed Equity Partner with non-competing brands on cross-promotion content to the benefit of both channels, borrowing their equity. Work with a coffee or drinks brand to provide lifestyle images of someone curled up with their favourite book and a mug of hot cocoa or glass of wine. Work with a DIY shop to provide the best shelves for different book collections. Work together with these brands on simple posts that allow both collaborators to find new followers in the other’s fanbase.

Tactic Four: Influencers/Content Creators Some influencers have very dedicated communities. If the publisher chooses the ideal content creator whose community aligns with their target audience, they may have many potential new readers waiting to discover the books they publish. It is helpful when influencers give shout-outs in their content for their community to follow the publisher’s channel for all the best book content, author access, and

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new news about favourite series, etc. Surprise the community with books and news that give them social currency.

Tactic Five: Giveaways Giveaways that encourage people to follow a publisher’s channels are great for increasing followers. The publisher must be smart about the process and reach the right audiences and not those non-readers who are only looking for free products. The goal is growing a quality audience. Therefore, the publisher needs to develop niche giveaways that are specifically targeted to their audience. Do not only give away products; consider 1:1 workshops with a trusted partner/ author, or other interactive prizes. The publisher can then surprise and delight the winner with a signed edition of the book once they have won as an extra; but do not use it as the key messaging.

Tactic Six: Community Manager Lee Cassanell, freelance creative and copywriter who has worked with large, multi-national companies, states that, [t]he biggest mistake that brands make is regarding community management [is leaving it to] people in junior positions. Community management is the frontline of your brand, it’s a pressure job that takes skill, quick thinking and a calm head. It’s probably the most important position in your entire social team and yet, it’s often an afterthought. (Cassanell, 2022) The publisher needs to have an employee who has dedicated time to not only answer all the direct messages and comments on organic and paid posts, but who also has the time to seek out other, proactive conversations their brand has the authority to join and recruit new followers. These community managers are engaging in 1:1 conversations with the publisher’s existing and potential new readers, and it is more savvy to use a copywriter or an employee who is aligned with the company’s TOV (tone of voice). The publisher needs a community manager that is confident enough to move away from generic answers.

Growing the Community on Specific Platforms Facebook Groups Another offering from Facebook is Groups. “1.8 billion people use Facebook Groups” (Newberry, 2021), which is why it is worth the effort for publishers to work within groups to grow their communities of readers, as long as they have the resources to maintain those groups. This platform requires the investment of time more than money.

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Facebook Groups have a variety of features to ensure that publishers can grow and sustain a dedicated community who are ready to attend their new book launches and events, and are keen to hear about new authors, all without the publisher needing a paid media budget. Publishers can create a group to spark meaningful conversations among readers who share a passion for books, or a genre that is relevant to the publisher, use the group to deepen existing relationships with super fans, and find potential new readers and customers. A group is a place to provide added value for loyal members, as well as to gain insights about the publisher’s communities and capture feedback from those communities regarding the publisher’s books and authors. Recently, Facebook Groups have added more tools that allow the publisher to alter the group’s colours, fonts, and backgrounds, allowing the publisher to reflect their corporate style but not be brand heavy. Publishers can also control what emojis people can use to react to things in their community, potentially removing the option of negative emojis. There are also Community Awards. As an administrator, the publisher can reward their community members for participation. They can present users with accolades for “Insightful” and “Relevant” content. Utilising these features helps to boost engagement and foster a sense of community within the group. Below are guidelines to help create a healthy and enjoyable community: • •

•

•

•

•

•

Set clear objectives for the group – the bio should include the purpose of the group and expectations, rules, code of conduct and guidelines. Welcome new members, either include a post mentioning them, or ask them to introduce themselves to the community. Leave it optional; if they are shy, they may not want to post. Promote the group on the publisher’s existing channels and invite people to join. If the publisher makes it private, they can present it as an exclusive community and get people excited by the possibility of being a member. Be firm and address negative comments, and remove members who repeatedly spam, post abusive content, or do not follow the rules and guidelines stated in the group bio. Provide added value to the community. Why should they participate and be a part of this particular community? Offer them discounts, provide them access to authors and creators that they would not normally have, and exclusive events such as book launches and readings. Be active and comment and engage with members. This lets users know that the publisher is paying attention and is as committed as the user is in making this community a success. Create fun posts such as polls to gain information about how the community views certain books, authors, book series, and more. Get user opinions on the genre and what they would like to see in the future to help with commissioning the next bestseller.

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• •

The insights in groups allows the publisher to understand when members are active, so they can schedule posts at peak engagement times. Surprise and delight members who are great contributors by rewarding participation; the publisher is encouraging others to follow their example.

Instagram There are a lot of book lovers on #Bookstagram, and by utilising some of the recommendations in the previous chapters the publisher has raised awareness, driven consideration and conversion, and now has a thriving community that they can connect with and grow. The goal is a collaboration where the publisher provides engaging content and the user then helps to promote the publisher’s page to their own communities. For this platform: • •

•

• •

• •

Utilise the range of formats available on the platform: Reels, Stories, In-Feed, etc. This helps expand the publisher’s reach1 and helps to locate new followers. Be sure to engage with follower comments, even if with only a like, to acknowledge every time a reader sends something. This makes them feel special and will encourage them to continue to follow and engage with this and future content. Borrow equity from the publisher’s authors by asking them to post content on their channels that pushes their communities to the publisher’s page. This is an authentic way that new audiences can be introduced to the publisher’s wider list. Provide value through exclusive author content. Videos, images, and content that users can access via the publisher’s channels. There are a number of interactive stickers that can promote engagement and encourage community building such as: Questions, Slider, Poll, Quiz, Add Yours, and Donations that can draw the community to participate with the publisher’s account. Using features like Location, @Mention, and #Hashtags also aids in discovery of the publisher’s channel and helps the community to grow. Post regularly. This allows users to know that the community is active and will continue to raise awareness.

TikTok The #BookTok community on TikTok is active, engaged, and seeking out content to interact with. A publisher must work to promote their own community to these users, gain their interest, and encourage them to interact with the publisher’s specific #brandtok. •

Leverage the TikTok features that push the publisher to engage with their community or that encourage their community to engage with them. Duet, Stitch, and Reply To Comments are good options to explore. Using these,

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• •

•

publishers can create content specifically for people to Duet with, such as getting an author to read one part of a dialogue and getting readers to bring to life other characters. Read all comments and react to them. This lets users know they are heard and part of a community. Create content using the trending hashtags to broaden the reach to new potential community members, but do add a CTA for the community to get them engaged and to provide them with something special ( join our exclusive author reading, share for a chance to win a signed first edition, etc.). Post regularly. This allows users to know that the community is active and will continue to raise awareness.

Twitter The #Twitterature audiences are meme and GIF loving communities. If publishers develop a good strategy, these communities will be ready to engage with them and join their community. It is also worth noting that Twitter has been testing a new feature called “Communities” which allows people to join groups based on their interests and Tweet directly to them on those topics, similar to how Facebook Groups or a Reddit subreddit works (Speakman, 2021). The Twitter communities feature will be something to watch. •

• •

•

•

Twitter is based on creating conversations; take advantage of this by asking questions and encouraging responses, perhaps even drive debate. A publisher can Tweet questions that they know have their community divided (which character should the protagonist choose? Who would win in a fight? etc.) and encourage users to engage. Pay attention to the conversation, and take part in it when it feels natural that the publisher should do so. Not only is this feeding the existing community, but a popular conversation with multiple people joining in will aid in discovery across the platform. Tap into trending topics that can be found on the Explore page and use popular hashtags and keywords to aid discovery and grow the audience. Acknowledge every Tweet that @mentions the publisher. If the community took the time to engage directly, connect with them and ensure they feel seen and appreciated. By Tweeting with the publisher’s handle, they are promoting the publisher to their own communities. This helps both fuel the existing community and raises awareness to grow further. Retweet and interact with leaders in the industry, as well as the publisher’s authors and partners. This will raise awareness. Have the authors @ mentioning the publisher so that the publisher’s community grows through theirs. Post regularly. This allows users to know that the community is active and will continue to raise awareness.

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Reddit If the publisher has the resources to set up their own subreddit, there are ways they can grow the community and keep it engaged and thriving. •

•

•

• •

•

•

Provide r/AMAs with the publisher’s authors to provide added value for their existing community, build excitement with people outside of that particular community, and encourage them to join. Have a clear and detailed community description. Ensure that people know what to expect when they join so there will not be any disappointment or misunderstandings. Feed the community with content on a regular basis. Provide questions to drive conversations, give users exclusive news that they can take and share with their other communities across Reddit. Look to promote the publisher’s community in subreddits which allow promotions, such as: r/newreddits or r/promoteareddit. Make connections with other communities. Is there a way the publisher and another partner can work together to provide both communities with engaging content and cross-promote? Some communities will allow the publisher to cross-post if the content is relevant; for example if the publisher has a video from an author teasing exclusive news about a particular book series, and there is another subreddit where it may be of interest (such as a true crime or fantasy fiction, etc.), and that subreddit may welcome added value content. Do not attempt to push sales with this post. Do not add links on all publisher content; community development should avoid spam. This is a continuing community, not a one-off transaction.

Twitch The live nature of Twitch makes it a strong platform on which to grow a community, as people are interacting with the publisher’s brand in real time. Here are a few ways to encourage engagement, feed the publisher’s community, and keep growing it: •

• •

Interactivity is the key to a good stream. Send out calls to action to the publisher’s community to ask questions or provide answers. It could gain more interaction if the audience can dictate what happens in the video; if those watching can choose the chapter the author reads, what recipe the chef makes from the book, etc. Potentially work with other brands or creators on the platform to cross promote the publisher’s channels to other communities. Exclusive content revealed live to the people watching helps to promote a sense of camaraderie between the brand and those who heard it first. In

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• •

doing this, the publisher is giving them social currency to be the ones to tell their own communities, and drive word of mouth which indicates that, by joining the publisher’s community, readers get to hear first any news about their favourite authors and books. Ensure any outputs are high-quality video. If the publisher’s streaming show is not of high enough quality, people will not watch. Post regularly. This creates an expectation of content and encourages the community to check in to see when the publisher will be going live.

The listed platforms are not the only ones on which a publisher can build a community, but they are some that are the most utilised, and when resources for community management mean that the publisher needs to limit the platforms on which they engage. As cited by Voorveld et al., “[e]ngagement with a medium can be seen as an essential context characteristic that drives responses to advertising” (Calder et al., 2009), and engagement within digitally social communities directly relates to brand recall, brand affinity, and the power of those who have influence in the social media landscape.

Community Management Strategy Community management allows publishers to reach customers in a more intimate way compared with traditional media. If people are talking to publishers on social, then they already have awareness. Therefore, community management offers an opportunity to push awareness to consideration and conversion, and then on a deeper level towards that final goal of loyalty by ensuring these 1:1 exchanges give a value to the customer – whether that is entertainment, reinforcement, helping them with a problem, or just showing that they have been heard. But good community management takes time and effort, and it is important to have a strategy in place to ensure that you have a consistent tone of voice and reply process, and everyone understands roles and responsibilities.

The Goal of Community Management The goal needs to explain what exactly the publishers want to achieve with community management. For example: • • •

Educate, inspire, and promote positivity through daily interactions. Encourage strong relationships between fans and their favourite books/ authors/characters. Produce new resources such as UGC, New Content Creators, New Trends, and Conversations.

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FIGURE 8.1 

Example of how a channel strategy could look.

Channel Strategy This section needs to provide an above-the-line summary of how community management should be performed on each channel and how it ladders up to the ultimate community management goals. See example in Figure 8.1.

The Role of the Community Manager What is the Community Manager responsible for, and what should they be making sure they are doing while performing community management? (Figure 8.2)

FIGURE 8.2 

Key roles of the Community Manager.

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FIGURE 8.3 

Community management opportunities with other teams.

Opportunities This section looks at opportunities outside of social media and understands how community management may help in other areas of the business, e.g. feedback on products or competitor analysis (Figure 8.3).

Engagement and Crisis Management The engagement matrix will lay out how the community managers should engage with fans. This will include: • • •

•

Who to engage and who not to engage with. How to engage and how not to engage with people. Examples of answers for frequently asked questions (FAQs). These are to be used as guidelines, not used as copy and paste. Each reply should be unique, which is why it is essential to employ someone who understands and works well with copy to community management. Engagement priority + Surprise and Delight.

It is a good idea to split the type of fan into different categories to help navigate the level of response they will receive. Table 8.1 showcases an example of how this matrix could look for three different types of fans: general fans, super fans, content creators. This is not an extensive example, but it gives an idea of how you can begin to formulate this document. It is also worth noting that this is an ever-evolving document that should be updated on a regular basis, to keep things fresh and include new FAQs that come up. See Table 8.2 for ideas on how to engage with fans.

Community Building 143 TABLE 8.1  Crisis Management Matrix

Who to Engage Who Not to Engage • Fans sharing brand love (where publishers • Angry people. (For the most part, engaging can encourage conversation). with these people usually only makes them • Super fans (those who engage regularly or go angrier. See crisis management section for more the extra mile and create UGC). information.) • Fans who have created content around • Brands attempting to talk to us. (Unless the books (which publishers may be able to there is an authentic link that might make for repurpose on owned channels). an interesting partnership, brands engaging can look a little desperate.) Types of Content for Engagement Types of Content Not for Engagement • Comments on owned content. • Negative comments that don’t • Direct Messages. questions. • #Mentions. (Some conversations happen outside publisher channels so you need to monitor #mentions of book, author, and character names.) How To Engage • Use first names/handle names. (This brings intimacy into the exchange.) • Engage with people who provide an opportunity for an interesting conversation. (Don’t reply to everyone who @’s your handle, some can be acknowledged with a like.) • Make replies entertaining. (Engagement should be as entertaining as our content.) • Create replies that encourage further conversation. (Try to extend the conversation as long as possible.) • Respond with an image for superfans and creators (adds a more personal touch to the reply, which a lot of fans appreciate).

ask

How Not to Engage • Force the conversation. (If there is no way to continue the conversation, don’t try.) • Reply to everyone with the same reply. (Each reply must be unique to that person, even FAQs.) • Be aggressive or negative. • Flirt or be overly friendly with fans. (Be friendly but always professionally so.)

Crisis Management and Social Media Social media can be a great tool within a company’s crisis management structure and can support publishers with their crisis management process in three significant ways: 1. Monitor & Identify Crisis: use social media to monitor social conversations through pre-agreed hashtags and keywords to potentially identify the crisis at the beginning, or even before it becomes viral. 2. Understand the Issue: by analysing the conversation around the issue, social media can provide details on the scope of the crisis, key insights into how people are reacting and talking about the crisis, and what recurring themes are provoking the strongest reactions. 3. Communicate Company’s Response: integrate social media into the company’s crisis communication plans and use these channels to effectively communicate the company’s response with mass awareness.

Type of Engagement

Example of Engagement

How to Engage

General Fans (Fans who have sent a text message or direct message) Customer Service When is a book coming out? Reply with the proposed book launch date, or let them know that there is no date yet and they Question should keep checking back for more information OR if there is an email list that will let people know when it launches, ask them to provide their email. Do you have books that focus on Answer their answer with the following three books that are currently a priority for strong female leads? promotion: Book 1, Book 2, and Book 3

RT/ Add to Regram/ Creator Share List N

N

N

N

Customer Service Complaint

Why don’t you have more books that Thank them for the suggestion. focus on teen protagonists? If there is a plan to bring out books with teen protagonists then mention that the future should hold some exciting new books for them. If there is no plan to add books with teen protagonists to the list, this might be an interesting opportunity to either push them towards another imprint in the company that does OR even another company that does.

N

N

Brand Love (comment)

I love your book. Brian is my favourite character, I feel he is me.

Reply with a question that encourages them to talk more about their love of the book.

N

N

Brand Love (comment)

Your books are great!

Reply with a question that encourages them to discuss which ones they love to extend and fuel the conversations.

N

N

With a “like” only.

N

N

Y

N

Brand Love (reaction/emojis)

Super Fans (Fans who engage regularly or who provide UCG (artwork, music, etc.) Brand Love (UGC) Check out this drawing of character Respond with a positive message and ask if you can share with the rest of the community. name.

18/07/22 11:15 AM

Brand Love (tattoo) Just got some new ink of character name.

Respond with a positive message and try to encourage more conversation around the book and characters + ask for permission to share with the community.

Y

N

Content Creators Brand Love I am obsessed with book title! (Comment)

Thank the creator for the love and try to continue the conversation by asking questions + add them to a list to send new books to.

N

Y

Thank the creator for the image, try to keep the conversation going with questions + get permission to reshare with the community.

Y

Y

Brand Love (UGC) I couldn’t help myself, I had to make those brownie character name made in book name.

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TABLE 8.2  How to engage with fans

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There are some key rules that experience has taught us over time as to how to respond to a crisis over social media, whether that crisis started on social media or offline. •

• •

•

•

•

•

•

DO NOT DELETE – do not delete the post or comment that raises the issue. If this is a genuine concern then it needs to be addressed, and deleting the comment will not make it go away, it will only escalate the problem. SPEED – be quick and do not think it will go away. Start crafting a response as soon as possible and get it ready to post. OWN UP – claim responsibility and be open with audiences. Do not try to hide anything. Social media audiences are much more forgiving when companies admit mistakes. OPENNESS – an interesting way to diffuse the situation is to provide access to someone in charge. Run a Q&A with a leader within the company who can answer genuine questions about the issue through a LIVE chat on a preferred channel. This is a bold move, and should only be done if the publisher has answers to the most frequently asked questions, has a plan of action in place, and someone who is calm under pressure. Explain the rules before the Q&A begins, pin them in a comment to the top of the chat, and have someone monitoring all the comments to pull out the genuine questions. Note that this will not work for all issues. PREPARE – as well as posting about the issue, construct answers to potential questions people might ask to provide them with more details, so community management is quick to diffuse the situation. DIRECT – try to direct the conversations from social to offline or private spaces. Potentially add a page on the website with the FAQs that can be used to direct people off social media. Or set up a dedicated customer service team to respond to this issue that can be used to direct people to Direct Messages, emails, or phones. LEARN – do not just accept responsibility. Publishers should indicate how they have learnt from this mistake, or how they are addressing the issue, so people understand they are making positive actions to improve themselves. LISTEN – a lot of crises can be avoided through good community management. If someone has complained, make sure to answer them, regardless how small their concerns. This can stop issues from escalating immediately.

To effectively manage crisis management within social media, publishers should have a crisis management matrix for their community manager and other internal teams to follow that includes the escalation process. This process must be quick from the point of identifying a problem and the process should be measured in hours, not days. Table 8.3 is an example of how this could look: Building a community is about more than just putting out content, dealing with concerns, or engaging with followers; it is about ensuring that readers, fans, and followers feel as if they are part of the community. The feeling of belonging

146  Community Building TABLE 8.3  Crisis Management Hierarchy

Monitor & Identify Crisis

Understand The Issue

Communicate Company’s Response

If the issue starts to gain If further action is Crisis identified Community needed by the traction, then the on social media Manager to alert company, the key team members Community e.g. a negative post Internal Teams if issue is identified Manager needs to from someone with alert the internal team should provide the influence, an owned and monitor the official statement and situation to see if it and provide a report post that the Community on the issue. A gains traction. accidentally Manager needs to publisher needs to provokes outrage to suggest how they can establish for their a certain push this out on company what community, or social channels “traction” means someone with an effectively. e.g. issue who didn’t like the answer the • Post gains more than community 100 RTs/Likes/Shares. manager provided. • Conversation appears outside of initial post. Crisis identified offline e.g. author is controversial in an interview or a community has been offended by a theme in a new book and has written about it in the press.

If further action is Internal Teams to Community Manager to provide a needed by the inform the company the report on the issue Community Internal Teams including scale, Manager of any should provide the conversation themes, potential issues. official statement and and type of people Community the Community Manager to set up talking. Manager needs to monitoring under suggest how they can a set of keywords push this out on and hashtags social channels related to crisis and effectively. brand.

branches beyond interaction with each other within a platform, it also extends to how the publisher engages with them. Therefore, Community Managers are a key role and should be involved in all marketing strategies, plans, and partnerships both on and offline.

Note 1 Some users only watch Stories, while others only look at in-feed content, for instance.

References Calder, B., Malthouse, E.C., and Schaedel, U., 2009. An Experimental Study of the Relation­ ship between Online Engagement and Advertising Effectiveness. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 23: 321–331. Cassanell, L., 2022. Interview on Social Media Marketing. Interviewed by Helen Simpson, [email].

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18/07/22 11:15 AM

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James, T.L., Lowry, P.B., Wallace, L., and Warkentin, M., 2017. The Effect of Belongingness on Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in the Use of Online Social Networks.  Journal of Management Information Systems, 34(2): 560–596. Lin, F., and Huang, H., 2013. Why People Share Knowledge in Virtual Communities: The Use of Yahoo! Kimo Knowledge + as an Example. In Internet Research [e-journal], 23(2): 133–159. doi:10.1108/10662241311313295. Lucy, L., and Bamman, D., 2021. Characterizing English Variation across Social Media Communities with BERT.  Transactions of the Association for Computational Linguistics,  9: 538–556. Newberry, C., 2021. 47 Facebook Stats That Matter to Marketers in 2021. Available at: https://blog.hootsuite.com/facebook-statistics/ (Accessed 23 November 2021). Reddit, 2022. An Audience You Aren’t Reaching Elsewhere. Reddit Inc. Available at: https://www.redditinc.com/advertising/audience (Accessed 11 January 2022). Speakman, K., 2021. Twitter Begins Testing “Community” Feature Similar To Facebook Groups. Forbes, 8 September 2021. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ kimberleespeakman/2021/09/08/twitter-begins-testing-community-feature-similarto-facebook-groups/#:~:text=Twitter%20announced%20Wednesday%20it%20 would,grow%20its%20audience%20after%20other (Accessed 11 November 2021). Swart, J., Peters, C., and Broersma, M., 2018. Shedding Light on the Dark Social: The Connective Role of News and Journalism in Social Media Communities. New Media & Society, 20(11): 4329–4345. Voorveld, H.A., Van Noort, G., Muntinga, D.G., and Bronner, F., 2018. Engagement with Social Media and Social Media Advertising: The Differentiating Role of Platform Type. Journal of Advertising, 47(1): 38–54.

9 INFLUENCERS

Most people will have heard the term “influencer” (or content creators as a lot of them now like to be referred to) and most will probably have come across their partnerships with brands. Influencers are people with influence specifically on social media channels. These are not to be confused with celebrities (actors, musicians, reality TV stars, artists) who have a multitude of offline fans who they have converted into large social media followings. Influencers “are ordinary consumers who gradually gain a large following and notoriety for their ability to create and diffuse high quality content, as well as expertise in a specific area” (Lee & Eastin, 2021, p. 823). The influencers/content creators to which this guide refers have become popular through their social media content, whether this is through lifestyle videos on YouTube, photography and art on Instagram, or funny videos on TikTok. They have, over time, created and evolved a community around which they can then “influence”. By “partnering with other voices, such as influencers, [a brand can …] extend reach and can build credibility” (Bader, 2021) within these ready-made audiences. This is the premise of influencer marketing. ​As Cassanell says: “What good is a £1 m creative idea if nobody sees it?” (2022). “The global influencer marketing market size has more than doubled since 2019. In 2021, the market was valued at a record 13.8 billion U.S. dollars” (Statista, 2021). Influencers vary widely in their focus, how they brand themselves, who their followers are, and what engagement they expect (Campbell & Farrell, 2020). They remain an effective way to produce valuable campaigns and content for brand.1 In fact, Zhang et al. (2018) found that the impact of a content creator is economically meaningful, and that for a content creator with one million followers, “her endorsement would increase the number of Quantifying Value of Online Influencer sales by 9%” (p. 6). Likewise, as quoted in Lee and Eastin, “influencer marketing … has become one of the most prominent forms DOI: 10.4324/9781003276012-10

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of marketing today – driving more than eleven times return on investment compared to other forms of digital media marketing” (2021, p. 823). This is because [s]ocial content creators are masters at what they do. One of the most effective ways to use an influencer is to partner with them as creators for your channel, rather than just use them as a one-off sponsored spotlight on their channel. That way, you have someone who knows the platform inside and out coming up with posts that often have an authentic voice and keeps your content feeling fresh. (Finn, 2022) However, Bader (2021) indicates that the concept of influence has evolved from one off partnerships to LTRs [longterm relationships] and in turn, influencers have the same struggles as brands. From the decline in organic reach to the increase in bots and fake followers, the industry is forever evolving in order to stay relevant. And for smaller companies and publishers, it is easy to question putting resources into influencer marketing when they consider the decrease in organic reach for verified platforms, the oversaturation, credibility issues (influencers working with competitor brands), discussions over how much to pay them, and how to measure if they have actually been effective. Publishers must be smart when selecting the content creators are to work with and understand how best to work with them. They need to have a plan for which channels they want to work with influencers on, and why. Instagram, YouTube, Twitch, and TikTok are ideal for influencer collaborations, but Pinterest and Facebook are less likely to give the publisher an acceptable return on investment. Reddit is a channel that sits in the middle. It could be exceptionally valuable to utilise a content creator on this platform, but it requires a different approach that involves the publisher fully understanding the channel and how influence works within it.2

Identification of Content Creators Publishers should be continually documenting new content creators as they discover them naturally via their social channels. Research conducted along the lines covered in Chapter 2 will likely lead publishers to a variety of content creators, including those in their areas of interest. Make a note of their handle and platform, conduct research into them using a vetting process. If the publisher is on Instagram, they can set up multiple content creator collections where different creators’ information can be held for ease of reference. It is worth the publisher setting up an internal process where other employees in the company can submit content creators they have seen while scrolling through their own channels. Find

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ways to use the publisher’s internal resources to alleviate the workload of social, in order to provide the marketing team with fresh, new views and content creators.

Campaign If the publisher has been collating key content creators throughout the year, when it comes to pulling together a content creator campaign for their latest book launch, they should have a wealth of potential partners to choose from. The publisher needs to sift through the list and choose the more relevant ones to work with. If the publisher has not developed an ongoing list, or their list does not have the exact partner they are looking to use in a particular campaign, they will need to seek out content creators, and there are a number of ways this can be done. A few examples are below: 1. Publishers can use platforms to help, such as upfluence.com, creator.co, or Klear, but there will be fees. These fees are often monthly, but do allow the publisher to access, identify, and contact content creators. 2. Do any of the publisher’s authors have a significant social presence? Are they relevant to the campaign and would they be willing to help out? 3. Reach out internally to discover if anyone has content creators they follow who it would make sense to use for the new book launch campaign. 4. Check the publisher’s followers. Are there any with substantial followers who follow the publisher? 5. Check the publisher’s competitors’ followers as well to see who is following them and if they could be a viable option. 6. Search on the platforms using campaign-specific hashtags and discover if any of the content collated under the hashtag is from content creators. a. On Instagram, hover over content to see engagement; anything getting over 100 is worth considering following. b. On TikTok, the publisher can see the likes for each video in the hashtag search, allowing the publisher to see popular videos, which could indicate popular creators posting them. c. On Twitch, book content is newer, and less saturated. Search for terms such as “books” or “mystery” to see channels associated with that keyword.

Content Creator Tiers Tier 1 • • • •

500k+ on primary platform. Creators with the largest reach. Audience can sometimes be less engaged than in lower tiers. Best tier for building mass awareness around an author or specific book launch. Reserved for books from existing and very popular audiences to ensure return on investment.

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Tier 2 • • • •

250–500k on primary platform. Creators who have a substantial reach, but are more affordable. Audience is engaged and interested in the content topics. Best tier for building effective awareness around books and authors, and driving cultural relevance.

Tier 3 • • • •

50–250k on primary platform. Creators who have medium reach. Audience is highly engaged and interested in the content topics. Best tier for driving conversation around products and converting sales. Great for new books from new authors.

Tier 4 • • • •

10–50k on primary platform. Creators who have the minimum reach for the content creator threshold. Audience will be highly engaged and interested in the content topics. Best for conversions, as the niche audience will provide higher quality engagements which lead to higher quality conversions. Good for new books from new authors.

Vetting your Content Creators There are guidelines that are good to keep in mind when considering content creator marketing to ensure that readers see an authentic relationship between their favourite creator and the book or author that creator is promoting. For instance, if the creator does not regularly post content related to books or reading, will their audience believe them when they tell them to read the publisher’s book? Below is a guide that indicates what a publisher should look for, and prioritise, when selecting potential content creators. Deciding on a content creator is not solely about the amount of followers they have, but more about who their audience is and how engaged they are – it should be about quality over quantity. This is not how content creator marketing is traditionally thought about, but mindsets must shift in order to get high-quality engagements that lead to conversions.

Essentials •

Does the content creator understand the platform and social? • Do they specialise in the creation of social media assets with a clear understanding of social platform features?

152  Influencers

•

Does their personality fit the task? • Are they considered to be reputable? Are they liked by people? Do they incite discussion and debate?

•

Do they have high-quality engagement? • Does their audience like, share, and comment on their posts? Do they engage with their audience? Look for a 2 per cent engagement rate on branded content and above 3.5 per cent on personal content.3

•

Do they have target appeal? • Do the content creator’s followers and content themes align with the book’s target audiences?

•

Do their values align with the publisher’s? • The publisher needs someone aligned with their values. People won’t believe the partnership if the publisher does not share a common point of view as the content creator.

•

Do they read/love books? • Publishers need someone who actually reads, and reads the type of books the publisher wants them to promote (unless the campaign is around broadening people’s minds, which could be a goal). People want authenticity. If a content creator is recommending a book, readers want to believe that person has read it and loved it.

Nice-to-Haves •

Is there existing brand affinity? • Has the content creator already demonstrated appreciation for the publisher’s author, books, or even the book’s genre? Existing brand affinity helps content feel more authentic to their audiences.

•

Do they have a multi-platform presence? • Are they active on multiple channels? This will provide a much wider audience and higher reach.

Potential Pitfalls Use this list to see if there are any drawbacks to working with the content creator in question. •

Have they worked with three or more brands in the last three months? • If the influencer has a high level of brand endorsements, it can dilute the effectiveness and authenticity of the publisher’s content. Several

Influencers 153

endorsements back to back indicate that they are driven by money instead of working with select brands they love. They can lack trust.4 •

Do they work with brands the publisher would deem inappropriate? • The publisher does not want their content to live beside content that does not align with their brand values.

•

Have they worked with competitors? • Have they worked with any competitor brands in the last year? If so, how in-depth was the content? Was it successful? If the publisher still wants to work with them, how can they make their campaign stand out?

•

Do they have a low average engagement rate? • Does their engagement rate fall below 3 per cent over a three-month sample?

Contracts and Outreach Getting into negotiations with content creators can be unnerving for publishers, especially if they have not engaged with this type of campaign previously. Today’s creators are savvy, and the majority of them have agents or companies representing them. And, importantly, it is not, as a general rule, acceptable to pay a content creator with only a free product or “exposure”.5 It is difficult to understand how much a content creator will charge; they set their own rates (or their agents do it for them), and prices depend on more than follower numbers, making it difficult to understand if the price they are asking is fair. Rates are often based on follower count and engagement rate, but elements like celebrity and talent can also have an impact. The cost may also include expenses like renting a studio, hair, and makeup. To help the publisher understand roughly what costs may be associated with creator posts, the unofficial rule generally followed by the industry is $100 per 10,000 followers + extras for the type of post (× # of posts) + expenses = total rate. For example, a content creator with 500,000 followers, the publisher might expect to pay $5,000 per post and for a creator with 100,000 followers, closer to $1,000. When crafting the contract with a content creator, there are certain key elements the publisher needs to include, on top of the usual contract elements like disclosure, usage rights, and terms. These include: • • •

Number of posts the creator will develop + the exact platforms they will post them on. The dates the creator will post the content. What the publisher requires the creator to incorporate in their posts. This can be any of the publisher’s brand messaging, social handles, campaign language, or hashtags that they provided the content creator.

154  Influencers

•

•

•

• •

If the creator is developing content for a live event, include the minimum number of social media posts the creator must post in real-time + that they will provide the publisher with any photography captured at the event. Length of time the posts need to stay live on the creator’s channels. For example, the creator agrees to keep all posted materials live on their owned channels one year from the date of posting. If the content creator has agreed that they will not be working with competitors for the duration of the campaign, ensure this is noted in the contract with the exact dates of the promotion. If the information is time sensitive, add the date when the creator is allowed to post, including any information embargo dates. The expenses, if any, that the publisher agrees to pay to the creator.

Best Practice for Working with Content Creators Working with content creators can still be a challenge for publishers. If the publisher has done their due diligence in the previous steps, they should know the type of content the creator produces and how they create it. In theory, the publisher should be able to leave it up to the creator, and not micromanaging the creator will be appreciated. Levy-Dhami (2022) notes that publishes should use influencers: for their expertise and why it is that they have their audience. [Brands used to] give them very specific briefs that would leave small room for interpretation, which is understandable because we want to have quality control, but […] social has changed and shifted so much. [Publishers need to] trust that [influencers] have their audience for a reason and should let them guide some of that creative and some of that brief and collaborate with them, as opposed to briefing them with a lot of limitations. Once you put a lid on their expression you are limiting what they can do for your brand. The best thing that the publisher can do is create a brief that provides the creator with all the information they require, but does not specify exactly what content the publisher wants them to create. This allows the content creator to be as creative as possible. Along with providing them with any books they need to read before creating, the publisher’s brief should include the following items: •

• • • •

Campaign strategy (including how the publisher wants the audience to behave, what they are measuring, and the key insights that are relevant to the campaign). Target audience (this should just be aligned with the creator’s community demographics). Hashtags and Handles the creator needs to include around the brand and campaign. Correct names of books and/or authors creators need to mention. Any dates and event information required.

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• •

A quick summary of the book’s plot and characters as a cheat sheet. Details of other marketing activities.

It should not include the following items: • •

The publisher’s own creative ideas. If the publisher has ideas, develop them with the internal team and do not use a content creator. Inspiration. The content creator’s work is the inspiration and the reason the publisher wants to partner with them. Showing them examples of other content casts doubt on the value of the publisher/creator relationship.

Where possible, the publisher should think long term when it comes to their partnerships. Short, one-off campaigns can come across as inauthentic, but if they build a long-term relationship with the content creator the publisher’s audience will believe that the creator enjoys the books. This leads the creator’s audience to become more accustomed to the mention of the publisher’s authors, books, and series, and they will be more willing to buy-in to the creator’s passion and listen to their recommendations. A secondary benefit to having long-term partnerships with content creators is that they can come to the publisher with their ideas for any new books that they know are launching. Publishers can create an email list that includes the most valuable partners that the publisher has worked with. Send out a monthly email, including details on book launches/events/author marketing that the publisher knows they have the budget for, to see if any content creators come back with ideas and have a passion for the book/event/author. If their passion is engaged, then creators are more likely to go above and beyond to help promote the campaign.

Maximising Creator Content At this point, the publisher has identified their content creators, negotiated and briefed them, and they are delivering the content. Here are three tips for ensuring that the publisher is maximising that content: 1. Ensure that there is agreement regarding which platforms the content creator will be posting on. If they have more than one channel, then the publisher wants their campaign to utilise as many of them as possible, where it makes sense. 2. Organic reach on Instagram and YouTube is being limited for influencers. This means that the publisher should consider putting budget behind their content to push to their audience. It doesn’t need to be a large budget, but just something to give the content an initial boost. 3. Add their content to the publisher’s own channels and any sister/partner channels that they can. If possible, add a little budget behind them too. Working with content creators can be a great way to raise awareness and drive conversion. It can be hard for publishers to know where to begin, and it can be costly,

156  Influencers

but by taking steps to understand creators and their audiences, publishers can tap into their authenticity among their audiences, for a valuable return on investment that can be reported to stakeholders.

Notes 1 For more information on influencer use on see Jin et al., 2019; Childers et al., 2019; Kadekova and Holienčinova, 2018; and Haenlein et al., 2020. 2 For more information on identifying and using content creators in Reddit, see Yadav et al., 2021. 3 Divide the average number of likes and comments on a post by the number of followers, then multiply it by 100 to determine the percentage. 4 For more information on how trust can be defined in the influencers setting see Hautala, 2019. 5 An exception to this is if the content influencer has fewer than 5,000 followers, though good practice indicates that publishers should pay for their role in the campaign, regardless.

References Bader, J., 2021. Interview on Social Media Marketing. Interviewed by Helen Simpson, [email]. Campbell, C., and Farrell, J.R., 2020. More than Meets the Eye: The Functional Compo­ nents Underlying Influencer Marketing. Business Horizons, 63(4): 469–479. Cassanell, L. 2022. Interview on Social Media Marketing. Interviewed by Helen Simpson, [email]. Childers, C.C., Lemon, L.L., and Hoy, M.G., 2019. # Sponsored# Ad: Agency Perspective on Influencer Marketing Campaigns. Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising, 40(3): 258–274. Finn, R., 2022. Interview on Social Media Marketing. Interviewed by Helen Simpson, [email]. Haenlein, M., Anadol, E., Farnsworth, T., Hugo, H., Hunichen, J., and Welte, D., 2020. Navigating the New Era of Influencer Marketing: How to be Successful on Instagram, TikTok, & Co. California Management Review, 63(1): 5–25. Hautala, M., 2019. Distrust towards Social Media Influencers: Causes and Contribution of User’s Age, Gender and Social Media Use. Master’s thesis. Jin, S.V., Muqaddam, A., and Ryu, E., 2019. Instafamous and Social Media Influencer Marketing. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 37(5). doi:10.1108/MIP-09-2018-0375. Kadekova, Z., and Holienčinova, M., 2018. Influencer Marketing as a Modern Phenomenon Creating a New Frontier of Virtual Opportunities. Communication Today, 9(2): 90–104. Lee, J.A., and Eastin, M.S., 2021. Perceived Authenticity of Social Media Influencers: Scale Development and Validation. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing. doi:10.1108/jrim12-2020-0253. Levy-Dhami, S., 2022. Interview on Social Media. With Helen Simpson. [Zoom]. Statista, 2021. Influencer Marketing Market Size Worldwide from 2016-2021. Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1092819/global-influencer-market-size/ (Accessed 12 December 2021). Yadav, J., Misra, M., and Singh, K., 2021. Sensitizing Netizen’s Behavior through Influencer Intervention Enabled by Crowdsourcing – A Case of Reddit.  Behaviour & Information Technology, 1–12. doi:10.1080/0144929X.2021.1872705. Zhang, Y., Lin, Y., and Goh, K.H., 2018. Impact of Online Influencer Endorsement on Product Sales: Quantifying Value of Online Influencer. PACIS (p. 201).

10 REPORTING/METRICS AND SUCCESS

The analytics of social media is best understood as a series of data layers. (Sponder & Khan, 2018, p. 168) If publishers want the creative content to both engage the target audience on a deeper level and create longer lasting connections and higher quality conversions, they must pay attention to the metrics and how they plan to measure success. Discovering the return on investment (ROI) that campaigns bring underpins recurrent strategy and budgets. A full grasp of the measurement of a campaign can allow the publisher to understand what books each target audience is interested in. It can tell them the type of content and copy the audiences will engage with, what makes them reply or like a post, and what makes them click the button to purchase. Proper measurement strategies provide the publisher with a wealth of actionable insights they can use on future content enabling the publisher to be more efficient: content should perform better and goals should be reached more quickly.1 The more the publisher optimises, the harder their content will work for them, and the smarter they can be with their budget. For instance, if the publisher notices that content with a specific CTA does better, ensure that type of CTA is used across all content. Piliafas notes that analytics validate investment. If you’re spending money on creating […] but you don’t know how it works/if it resulted in anything, it’s money ill-spent. When structured correctly, analytics can inform each part of future investments (e.g., campaign, audience information & inputs, creative, format, placement, etc.) (Piliafas, 2022)

DOI: 10.4324/9781003276012-11

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However it is important to note that this doesn’t mean just create content that performs well in your reporting. Finn (2022) states that publishers should [a]void the trap of creating iterative content. If you only make content that you already know “performs well” then the danger is that you get stuck making the same creative over and over again with little variation or new styles introduced. Use reporting to analyse content so that it can give you indications of what connects best with your audience, and what to invest in in the future. While it is important to look at the data that comes out of a campaign, it is equally as important that each piece of data is evaluated in the context of the whole campaign and master social strategy (MSS). If the campaign does not produce the expected goals, as set out in the campaign brief, the publisher should test it again with slight adjustments. The data should be seen as a way to test and learn, not as a binary of delete or keep strategies. This chapter deals with understanding and analysing the data from a campaign. We can now discuss quantitative and qualitative data and how their importance upon social media reporting. At the very beginning of social media, brands used social as a way of building awareness and brand love. As social media has become more sophisticated in its offering with native shopping and conversion features, it has risen in importance and now is a significant element in a brand’s marketing oeuvre. With this rise in importance, however, came ROI targets, and brands have come to put more importance upon the quantitative data. The publisher first needs to establish what success looks like in order to know if their content or campaign achieved it. The publisher should get into the habit of checking their numbers and data regularly so they can watch how things change over time and consider the data holistically. To do this, the publisher can compare month to month, quarter to quarter, or same months in different years. It is vital to establish the goal of each piece of content within each campaign before the process of ideating. Therefore, when it comes to measurement, there are goals against which they can be checked. In order to judge if a campaign was successful, work through these four stages of the social media analytics cycle: 1. Establish goals 2. Measure 3. Report + identifying insights 4. Optimise content.

Establish Goals When establishing goals, the publisher must reach back to their customer journey and the four goals of awareness, consideration, conversion, and loyalty.

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Quantitative Data Though Table 10.1 is a full list of quantitative data that can be gathered, the publisher may not need to measure all the elements mentioned, depending on the types of reports and outcomes they require. See Tables 10.2, 10.3, and 10.4 for quantitative consideration, conversion, and loyalty. TABLE 10.1  Measuring quantitative awareness

Metric

Platform

Type

What It Is

Impressions

Pinterest Organic The number of times a piece of Facebook Paid content or the Instagram publisher’s page TikTok was seen. Twitter Twitch Reddit

Was the content, page, or campaign viewed a lot of times?

Reach

Facebook Organic The number of Instagram Paid people who saw TikTok the post. Twitter

Was the content or campaign seen by a large amount of people?

Video Views

Facebook Organic How many times the video was Instagram Paid viewed. TikTok Twitter Reddit Pinterest Twitch

Were a lot of people interested in watching the video?

Live Video Views

Facebook Organic How many people Instagram watched the TikTok publisher’s Twitch broadcast while Twitter they were streaming?

Did the livestream pull in a lot of people in real time?

Cost per 1,000 Impressions (CPM)

Facebook Paid Instagram TikTok Twitter Reddit Pinterest

Did a lot of people see the content for a low cost?

Cost per 1,000 impressions.

Hashtags Uses Facebook Organic How many times was the campaign Instagram hashtag used? TikTok Twitter Reddit

Twitch Where Did the Views Come From?

What It Means for Your Brand

Did the publisher’s campaign encourage people to chat about their product and inspire them enough to utilise the campaign hashtag in UGC and conversation?

Organic How are people Which avenues are most Paid finding the successful for driving publisher’s videos? people to the publisher’s content?

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160  Reporting/Metrics and Success TABLE 10.2  Measuring quantitative consideration

Metric

Platform

Type

What It is

What It Means for Your Brand

New Followers/ Follower Growth

Facebook Instagram TikTok Twitch Twitter Pinterest

Organic How many followers did the publisher gain during the campaign period?

Did the campaign inspire people to turn from viewers to followers so they can receive more of the publisher’s content?

Clicks

Facebook Instagram Twitter TikTok Twitch Reddit Pinterest

Organic How many people Paid clicked on the content’s link?

Did the content or campaign encourage people to seek more information about the product and consider purchasing it?

Cost per Click (CPC)

Facebook Instagram TikTok Twitter Reddit Pinterest

Paid

How much did the publisher pay for each click?

Was the conversion campaign efficient with costs?

Clickthrough Facebook Rate Instagram (CTR) TikTok Twitter Reddit Pinterest

Paid

How many people Did the publisher’s content clicked through succeed in convincing the against the number people who saw it to click of people who saw for more information? it?

Website Action (add to wishlist, add to cart, leads, sign ups)

Facebook Instagram TikTok Twitter Reddit Pinterest

Organic Actions taken on Paid your website.

Did the publisher’s campaign or content entice people to take actions on their website, like sign up to a newsletter?

Qualitative Data Whereas quantitative data is concerned with numbers that reveal engagement, awareness, and conversions, qualitative data answers more specific questions but is more time consuming as it is gained through analysis of comments, DMs (direct messages), and online conversations. While it is as important as quantitative data and a mix of the two will provide a well-rounded report that should provide insights for success, it is worth noting that it is more difficult to measure this data, and a lot of key stakeholders within your company may not be as interested in this data as they are in quantitative data. Publishers can use qualitative measurements within a campaign to find out specific questions about a specific campaign vs. ongoing reporting. See Tables 10.5, 10.6, 10.7, and 10.8 for measuring a campaign’s qualitative awareness, consideration, conversion, and loyalty.

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Reporting/Metrics and Success 161 TABLE 10.3  Measuring quantitative conversion

Metric

Platform

Type

What It Is

Website Action Facebook Organic Actions taken on your website. (sign up, leads, Instagram Paid download) TikTok Twitter Pinterest Purchases/ Conversions/ Conversion Rate (CVR)

Organic How many people Reddit completed the Facebook Paid purchase journey Instagram either on the social TikTok media channel or Twitter publisher website? Pinterest

Where did the Twitch revenue come from?

What It Means for Your Brand Did the publisher’s campaign or content entice people to take actions on their website like download a document or sign up to a newsletter? Did the campaign or content entice people to buy the product?

Organic Breakdown of the Which revenue streams are Paid different revenue working best for the streams (paid subs, publisher, and which are gifted subs, cheering, not working? bounties etc.

Measuring One important tool in measurement is ensuring that the publisher utilises platform tags/pixels, which are lines of code that are added into the backend of the website to track the activity of people who come from social media links. The platforms provide these pixels and tags for free, but the publisher will need to add them to their website. The Pinterest Tag can give the publisher numbers of conversion reposting for Page Visit, View Category (views of category pages) Search, Add To Cart, Watch Video, Checkout, Sign Up, Lead, Custom (this records a special unique event such as downloading a specific document or filling out a form). The Facebook/Instagram Pixel will let the publisher learn about their website traffic, measure cross-device conversions, optimise their audience targeting and help them to create custom audiences from people who have engaged with their site. The Twitter website tag enables them to track cross-device conversions. For instance, if a user saw the publisher’s Promoted Ad on mobile, but converted on a laptop, this is still tracked and attributed to the campaign. The publisher can choose a Universal Website Tag that is placed across the entire website and tracks multiple actions. Or, there is a single-event website tag that can track a single website conversion on the publisher’s website and should be used for actions such as downloading a document or submitting a registration form.

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162  Reporting/Metrics and Success TABLE 10.4  Measuring quantitative loyalty

Metric

Platform

Type

What It Is

What It Means for Your Brand

Engagement Rate

Facebook Instagram TikTok Pinterest Twitter Twitch Reddit

Paid

How many people engaged with the publisher’s content against the number of people who saw it?

Did the content succeed in inspiring the people who saw it to engage with the publisher, either liking it, leaving a comment, sharing it with their own communities, etc?

Reactions (likes, upvotes, wows, etc.)

Facebook Instagram TikTok Pinterest Twitter Reddit Twitch

Organic Paid

How many people liked/reacted to the post?

Did the content or campaign engage people?

Comments/ Chatter/ Replies

Facebook Instagram TikTok Twitter Twitch Reddit Pinterest

Organic Paid

How many people commented on the post?

Did the CTA work and get people talking? Did the publisher’s message resonate with readers and inspire them to comment?

Saves

Instagram Pinterest

Organic Paid

How many people saved Did the content contain the content on a interesting enough content Pinterest board or that meant they wanted to Instagram collection? save it to relook later?

Shares/ Retweets/ Repins

Facebook Instagram TikTok Twitter Pinterest

Organic Paid

How many people Did the content or campaign shared the publisher’s inspire someone to share it content with other with their wider people or on their own community? channels?

Returning Viewers

Facebook Instagram

Organic

Did the people who Was the content engaging initially saw the enough to make people content watch it again? want to watch it again?

Video Watch Time/ Retention Rate

Facebook Instagram TikTok Twitter Reddit Pinterest

Organic Paid

How many people watched 3 seconds/10 seconds/95% + of the video?

Was the video interesting enough that people needed to watch to the end? If not, where was the main drop off point, where did you lose their interest?

Clips Created Twitch

Organic

How many people created clips from the publisher’s streams?

Was the video entertaining enough that people wanted to take clips and share it?

Subscriptions

Organic

How many people subscribe to the publisher’s channels?

Do people love the publisher’s content enough to subscribe to their channel to receive news and notifications regularly?

Twitch Reddit

(Continued)

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Reporting/Metrics and Success 163 TABLE 10.4  Measuring quantitative loyalty (Continued)

Metric

Platform

Type

What It Is

What It Means for Your Brand

User Generated Content (UGC)

Facebook Instagram TikTok Twitter Reddit Pinterest

Organic

How many people Does the brand or product created content around inspire people to take the the publisher’s brand or time and effort to show product? brand affinity and create content about it?

Brand/ Product Mentions

Facebook Instagram TikTok Twitter Reddit Pinterest

Organic

How many people are Does the publisher or product talking about the brand exist in the public’s or product through consciousness so that they Tweets, comments, mention it in conversations hashtags, @mentions, unprompted? and chats?

TABLE 10.5  Measuring a campaign’s qualitative awareness

Metric

What It Is

What It Means for Your Brand

Conversation Themes

What drove conversations around an event book or author?

Are there particular moments (book or event) or characters that people are discussing more than any other? Is this something that the author can use in future books? Is this something publishers can use for future marketing campaigns?

Influencer Relationships

Are you gaining an effective new audience through your influencer relationships?

Is this influencer relationship worth continuing or is it not effective?

Pre-Launch Conversation

Did people start talking about the book Did the teaser campaign word before launch, expressing excitement effectively to get people ready for about its arrival? the launch? Are people asking questions about the book, such as when is it coming out? What is it about? Is it similar to other books the author has written?

Customer Education

Did conversations show an understanding of the book/event or author?

Were the marketing messages effectively communicated to the target audience?

TABLE 10.6  Measuring a campaign’s qualitative consideration

Metric

What It Is

What Is Means for Your Brand

Book Enquiries

Are people asking “sales” questions about a new book being launched, such as price, or where they can purchase it?

Are people considering buying the book and seeking out the information needed to purchase?

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164  Reporting/Metrics and Success TABLE 10.7  Measuring a campaign’s qualitative conversions

Metric

What It Is

What It Means for Your Brand

Confirmed Sales

Are people confirming they have bought the new book launched?

Was a publisher’s launch/marketing successful and are sales happening?

TABLE 10.8  Measuring a campaign’s qualitative loyalty

Metric

What It Is

What It Means for Your Brand

Unprompted Are people displaying love Was the publisher’s marketing campaign Brand Love of the books/author on successful in targeting the correct audience? post comments? Product Feedback

What are people saying about the books? Is it good or bad?

Was the publisher successful in providing the audience with a book that provokes positive discussion and engagement?

Sentiment

What is the sentiment of the brand/book/author?

Did people like the book?

User Generated Content (UGC)

What type of content did people create? What was the level of time and effort spent?

Did people love the book enough to put a lot of time and effort into creating things around it? Was there a moment or character that resonated with the audience more than any other?

The TikTok pixel allows the publisher to track and understand actions users take on their website, such as: adding to cart, registering, and completing payment. Publishers can then use this data to create custom and lookalike audiences from those who engaged with their site. The Reddit Pixel can measure user actions on the publisher’s website. Those actions include: Page Visits, View Content, Search, Lead, Add to Wishlist, Add to Cart, Sign Up, and Purchase. It can help the publisher to optimise their future campaigns and to create a retargeting audience from those who engaged with the publisher’s website, or retarget users who left the conversion journey mid-way with fresh new content designed to get them past that point and on to purchasing. Once pixels are installed, the publisher can begin to measure, analyse, and optimise content. When measuring qualitative data, which is found in online conversation, there are a few areas publishers can mine for the conversations needed. •

Comments/Replies that can be found on owned, influencer and author content, and Direct Messages should already be read as part of a community management strategy. Therefore, it is more about putting into place a process that sorts out and records comments each day when performing community management. Sort comments and messages into different buckets ready to analyse (awareness, consideration, conversion, loyalty) and read through these to locate patterns and pull out insights.

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Reporting/Metrics and Success 165

•

•

#Online Conversations will mainly be found on Facebook Groups, Twitter, and Reddit. Social listening can be performed by using hashtags and keywords to find conversations about brand, author/book and/or campaign, and a manual sweep of Facebook Group conversations. User Generated Content (UGC) can be found across a range of platforms. People may tag publishers in content, or send the content directly to them, at the same time publishers can also sweep through online conversations.

For quantitative data, there are many platforms that can be used to help with measurement, but these can be costly and platform analytics have developed greatly over the last few years and now provide a wealth of data the publisher can use for free. With that in mind, we will explore the platform measurement tools that can work for even the lowest of budgets.

Facebook and Instagram There are a few ways a publisher can explore the analytics for their content on Facebook and Instagram. •

•

•

The Posts – Go to the post itself on the platform and click for detailed performance results, such as engagements, clicks, paid and organic reach, and impressions. On Facebook the publisher can also see negative feedback like “hide post”. Facebook Page Manager – This tool is likely to disappear soon with the release of Facebook’s two new tools: Facebook Business Suite and Creator Studio. Publishers are probably most familiar with this interface, which can be accessed from their page in the settings section. It contains the same analytics about posts as above, but the publisher can also find analytics about their entire page performance. These include page views, total actions, total reach, recommendations, followers, total post engagements, total page reactions/ comments and shares, total Story reach, and a section called “pages to watch” that helps the publisher compare their page performance against other similar pages across Facebook. There is also a “people” tab that provides demographic details about the audience, including language, location, gender, and age. These can be further split by your fans, your followers, people reached, and people engaged. Here, publishers can also see insights about their messages including block rate, new connections, and response rate. Instagram Mobile Insights – On the Instagram mobile business profile, the publisher has access to the analytics section, found underneath settings, where they can measure three areas: • Overview – Here the publisher can find out the total number of accounts reached and total number of content interactions for a custom time period. • Your audience – This includes total followers, follower growth, audience demographics (location, gender, age), and what times and days users are most active.

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• Content – This allows the publisher to see the performance of individual content they post across the platform. These metrics include interactions (likes, comments, shares, saves, follows), reach, impressions (you can also discover where the impression comes from), clicks, sticker/ hashtag taps, or profile visits. •

•

Creator Studio – This is a tool that allows the publisher to manage their video content from a content library, creative tools, and includes an insights section, which is similar to the other insights areas, but provides a few more options. Audience insights provide details such as pages the viewers liked and videos they are watching. The publisher can also look specifically at one-minute viewers, engaged viewers, new followers, and total followers. Creator Studio provides a benchmarking section that allows the publisher to measure their video content performance against up to four other pages, or a category. It includes loyalty metrics that explore returning viewers and complete views. Facebook Business Suite – This is a relatively new tool created to consolidate the management of content across Instagram and Facebook, from commerce management to creating content. It allows the publisher to see the performance of their Facebook page or Instagram Business profile and content. Currently, it performs the same function as Facebook Page Manager, and if the publisher wants detailed video insights, Creator Studios is a better place to go, but for a holistic view of the content that includes the publisher’s static content and page stats, the Facebook Business Suite is preferable. It also provides tools such as Facebook Experiments A/B Test, which allows the publisher to test different creatives against each other to see which performs better based on cost per result/conversion.

TikTok TikTok gives publishers four types of analytics: overview, content, follower, and LIVE. •

•

• •

Overview tab – Here the publisher can see follower growth, video views, profile views, likes, comments, and shares over any time period within the last 60 days. Content tab – Indicates the performance of the videos with metrics such as clicks, comments, and shares. Publishers can also look into the content tab to get more in-depth insights for each post, including total views, total likes, comments, shares, average watch time, watched full video, traffic source (profile, FYP), and audience territories. Followers tab – Find out about the community, where they are from, when they are active on TiKTok, and the publisher’s change in follower growth. LIVE – If the publisher uses LIVE, they can access information including total view, followers, and total time watched.

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It is worth noting that TikTok holds metrics for 60 days; therefore, publishers should regularly check and measure performance. Dedicate a time each week or month to do this. For the publisher’s paid content, they have a few more measurement options in The Dashboard and The Campaign Page sections. The Dashboard – is all about the larger picture and provides a summary of campaigns. Here, the publisher can see the status of all their campaigns, both Active and Not Delivering, and view the performance metrics including CPM, CPC, CTR, and CVR. The Campaign Dashboard – includes total cost, impressions, clicks, conversions, click rate, conversion rate, CPC, CPM, and conversion cost.

Twitter Has a number of measurement tools to help identify insights. •

•

• •

Dashboard Home Page – This has high-level metrics and the best performing tweets. It shows any content creators within the publisher’s own network, which helps when they need to identify creators for campaigns (they always work better if the creator is already a fan). It also provides the publisher with tips to improve post performance. Tweet Activity Dashboard – The Tweet Activity Dashboard provides information on organic and paid reach, impressions, and engagement data for each tweet, and has charts to gauge month-to-month performance. Video Activity Dashboards – Video Activity Dashboards provides data such as video retention rate, view rate, and completion rate. Campaign Dashboard – Specifically for the publisher’s paid campaigns, this dashboard includes metrics such as impressions, engagement rate, cost per result (CPR), results (depending on the goal of the content, these could be video views, clicks etc.).

Twitch Twitch has an excellent and informative analytics dashboard that provides a variety of stats. The publisher can navigate to their Channel Analytics by clicking Insights > Channel Analytics, via the icon on their dashboard. ​​By default, it will display their data from the last 30 days, but the publisher can click on the date picker in the centre and choose a custom date range. •

The Stats Chart – The Stats chart allows the publisher to toggle between a variety of stats, many of them unique to Twitch. These include: Average Viewers, Live Views, New Followers, Subscriptions, Revenue made in that

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•

time period, Minutes Watched, Time Streamed, Max Viewers, Unique Viewers, Host/Raid Viewers, Unique Chatters (people who have chatted in the publisher’s stream), Total number of Chat Messages, Clips created (from your stream), How many times those clips have been viewed, Duration of the Ad Breaks run, Ad Time Per Hour, the number of people who engaged with go live notifications sent out for streams, Promotion Impressions (of the publisher’s stream), and Promotion Clicks (of the publisher’s stream). Revenue Breakdown – Beneath the Revenue Dashboard, the publisher can gather more information about their revenue sources and subscribers. These metrics include: • Where the revenue originated (paid subs, twitch prime subs, gifted subs, ads, cheering, game sales, extensions, bounties, other bits interactions). • Payout History. • How many subscribers does the publisher have? (Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3) • Download Subscriber list.

•

Questions – This section of the dashboard tries to anticipate the publisher’s FAQs and answers them. It includes questions that help the publisher to understand their audience more, and how that audience is finding their content or page. • • • • • •

Where did the views come from? What were my top clips? What channels have viewers in common with mine? What categories do my viewers like to watch? How have my custom go live notifications performed? Which tags are users filtering by to find my channel?

Reddit For any paid ad campaigns a publisher runs on Reddit, they can find the following metrics by logging into their Ads Dashboard at ads.reddit.com. They can toggle between Campaigns, Ad Groups, and Ads to see each one’s performance; for those in the United States, the UK, and Canada, publishers can see a breakdown of the data by Country, Community, Interest, Region, or State, and can choose from the below metric categories: • • •

General Performance (default) – This includes Impressions, Viewable Impressions, Clicks, Amount Spent, eCPM, CTR, and CPC. Engagement – This includes upvotes, downvotes, and metrics on comments received on the publisher’s ads. Conversion – This pulls the data from the Reddit Pixel and includes Page Visit, Page Visit eCPA (cost per action), View Content, View Content eCPA, Search, Search eCPA, Add to Cart, Add to Cart eCPA, Add to Wishlist, Add to Wishlist eCPA, Purchase, Purchase eCPA, Lead, Lead eCPA, Sign Up, and Sign Up eCPA.

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•

Video – These are only available for campaigns that chose “video views” as their objective and they include Video Views, Full Video Views, Plays W/Sound, Plays Expanded (played in full screen mode), Watches at 25%, Watches at 50%, Watches at 75%, Watches at 95%, Watches at 100%, Video Starts (times your video started to play), 3-second Views, 5-second Views, 10-second Views, and CPV (cost per view).

For looking into the subreddit stats, Reddit does not have an analytics dashboard to explore how the publisher’s subreddit community is doing. For this, they can go to r/subredditname/about/traffic or the traffic stats link in the moderation tools section in their sidebar to view their Traffic stats, which show unique views, page views, and subscriptions. But there are no more detailed subreddit stats. However, there are third-party tools that can be used. One that can provide a lot of data is: https://subredditstats.com/. On this website the publisher can enter the name of their subreddit in the top (even the name of a competitor subreddit) and locate a large variety of data.

Pinterest Pinterest has an analytics dashboard where publishers can find both paid and organic stats under three areas: Overview, Conversion Insights, and Video. •

•

•

Overview – Here, publishers can set a custom date range and filter by Age, Gender, Device, Source, Content Type (organic or paid), and Format. Metrics include Total Impressions, Total Engagements, Total Audience (Pinners who have seen or engaged with your post), Engaged Audience (Pinners who engaged with your post), Top Boards (by impressions, engagements, pin clicks, outbound clicks, saves), and Top Pins (by impressions, engagements, pin clicks, outbound clicks, saves). They can measure the following in the Performance Over Time graph: Impressions, Engagements, Pin Clicks, Outbound Clicks, Saves, Engagement Rates Pin Click Rate, Outbound Click Rate, Save Rate, Total Audience, Engaged Audience, Monthly Total Audience, and Monthly Engaged Audience. Conversion Insights – On this tab, publishers can see the data that their Pinterest Pixel has received. They can set an attribution window, and filter by Conversion Content (organic or paid), Attributed Action (Impression, Engagement, Click), Device, Source Format. Metrics on this tab include Revenue, Page Visits, Add to Cart, Checkouts, Average Order Value, Top Converting Pins. In the Activity Funnel they can see how their Total Audience on Pinterest converted on the path to purchase. In the Performance Over Time graph, publishers can measure for Revenue, Checkouts, Average Order Value, Purchasers, Page Visits, Add To Cart, Impressions, Pin Clicks, and Saves. Video – This tab talks specifically about a publisher’s video content. They can set a custom date range and filter by Content Type (organic or paid) and Device. The metrics include Video Views, Total Play Time (mins), Outbound

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Clicks, Saves, and Top Pins. In the Performance Over Time graph publishers can measure Impressions, Outbound Clicks, Saves, Video Views, Average Play Time, Total Play Time, Played at 95%, and 10-second Plays.

Report ± Identifying Insights Once the publisher becomes familiar with the metrics that can be measured and where to find these metrics in each of the platforms, they can concentrate on creating report templates.2

Benchmarking In order to provide the most complete picture of the publisher’s data they must include an element of benchmarking to understand what achieving their goals means. Publishers need to compare themselves with industry standards, their historic performance, their competitor’s performance, and can branch out to include aspirational benchmarking by comparing themselves with top-performing companies. They can use one or a combination of these benchmarks depending on the data they can collect and what is more important to the individual company. First, the publisher must decide what metrics they want to benchmark. This will depend on their own goals and, to an extent, what data they can gather. A good base level of benchmarking is impressions, reach, followers, engagement rate, and clicks. Below we will look more closely at a few of the types of benchmarks publishers can engage with.

Competitor When it comes to evaluating competitor performance, publishers should be careful in whom they choose to benchmark. If the publisher has a media spend of $/£100,000 for the year – overall, they should not compare themselves with an organisation who has a media spend of $/£1 million. Publishers need to evaluate what information can be obtained on their competitors. For many platforms, publishers can locate engagement, reach, and impressions, but they might not be able to measure clicks. For follower numbers, publishers need to note their competitors’ follower numbers at the start of each month, to ensure they can use historical data. Once they have compiled data across the chosen competitors, find an average in each data point, and these will be the new competitor benchmarks. Seek out competitors that are on a similar level; if these are hard to find, it is better not to use competitor data for benchmarking.

Aspirational Aspiration benchmarks can be gained by seeking competitors that have more followers and budget to work with. Here, publishers want the best examples from their

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industry. For example, if the company were a sports apparel brand they would use Nike; for a streaming service, they would use Netflix for aspirational benchmarks.

Industry Benchmarks Industry benchmarks can be hard to come by, but there are certain websites such as Social Insider who produce industry benchmark reports that can be accessed for free. However, the publishing industry is not included as a primary industry, though there is a category called “entertainment”. As “entertainment” includes movies and gaming, it can be difficult to measure against their numbers, unless the goal is highly aspirational. Third-party resources do provide an average over all industries, which may prove valuable. For instance, The Social Insider 2021 Benchmark Report stated that “In 2020, the Facebook average engagement rate was 0.27%, the Twitter engagement rate a mere 0.07%, while an Instagram post scored an average rate of 1.16%” (Jipa, 2021). In this case, publishers can utilise the overall benchmarks while keeping in mind that they must score above them in order to make any social media impact. Social platforms are slowly beginning to provide more data for companies. As mentioned previously, Facebook’s and Instagram’s Content Suite allows publishers to compare their content and page performance against up to four other pages of their choice, or against a wider category.

Owned Performance A publisher’s own historical performance data should be easy to obtain and use. If this is the only benchmark there are resources to work with, it still provides information to measure effectiveness. Start with the last quarter for any of the metrics to be measured against. For example, in the past three months, the publisher’s Instagram content has gained 100,000 impressions and 2,500 engagements. By dividing the engagements by the impressions, and multiplying by 100, they will get their benchmark engagement rate. In this case, it is 2.5 per cent. If the publisher had 100,000 impressions across 100 posts, then they can gain the average impressions per post, which would be 1,000/post, as the new benchmark.3 Many brands want to create benchmarks for social media based on “industry performance”. This is surprisingly difficult to do on social media, where there are so few public metrics, and oftentimes performance is skewed based on paid or partnerships. The best benchmarks are set against yourself. Are you doing better than the previous month? The previous quarter? The same month last year? When you know your per post average (e.g. the average number of shares per post you got in a month) you can easily track your progress, without getting too caught up in how your competitors are performing. You want to constantly improve your own content, rather than try to compete with others when it comes to social. (Finn, 2022)

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Ongoing Reporting Many companies will create monthly reports; however, the timeframe of a month is often not large enough to give a holistic view. If one month does not perform as well as the previous month, this does not indicate that the content is not effective and that a different direction is needed. We recommend quarterly reports and one annual report. These reports can be split into the four different goals of awareness, consideration, conversion, and loyalty. If a publisher is a new company, awareness and consideration are more likely to be their main goals. If a publisher is an established publisher with many popular authors on their list, the focus is more likely to be conversions and loyalty. There are other activities that could shift the goals of each quarter. The book launch of a new author would make Awareness a key goal, while a book launch of the next instalment of a popular series might focus on conversion and loyalty. The publisher needs to consider who the report is for. They may need different reports or different extracts and summaries for different team members. For the social/digital team, the publisher should provide a more detailed report in order to optimise their content in the future. But, for the head of marketing and company directors, the publisher should truncate the report to no longer than 1–3 slides, and a written report with an executive summary, with a more detailed report following. How the publisher visually shows their data will vary, but in the next few sections we will discuss how to decide what content should be included in the report. Note that if the publisher is running ongoing paid activity, they should keep paid and organic content separate on the quarterly report as their goals and measurement will be different.

Organic Content A publisher may have a lot of organic content running across their platforms, making an organic content report extensive. We recommend not including a breakdown of every single piece of content, but instead suggest an ongoing reporting structure. We also suggest using average numbers much of the time. This is to negate issues relating to content volume. For example, if the publisher had more content posted one quarter, or their Story had five frames to it versus two, then this will return higher overall results. By taking the average, the publisher can more clearly see how their content performed.

Ongoing Paid Content Your ongoing paid content reporting should mainly concentrate on Awareness, Consideration, and Conversion, and the publisher can either do a separate report or incorporate paid sections into each of the goal sections of your report.

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Campaign Reporting Campaign reporting is not used for the ongoing content, but for those moments when the publisher has created content/actions that hinge around an “event”, such as a book launch, an event, or a seasonal drive like pushing people to purchase their next summer read in May. A campaign, in the report, can be a collection of organic content, but it can also include paid and creator content. This should be a collection of content around promoting one element, where it is best to consider it all together. When the publisher decided the goal of their campaign, this also determined what they would be reporting on. If this was an awareness push for a new author’s book, success should be determined by awareness metrics. The report can also include conversion or consideration metrics, but the actual success should be determined by whether the awareness benchmarks were hit. If resources are available, we recommend a mid-way campaign report that briefly explores how things performed, which will allow the publisher to create their retargeting/custom/lookalike audience and optimise their content for the consideration/conversion part of the campaign. Always include loyalty metrics in this report and follow up with a separate loyalty report at the end of the quarter, to see if people are still loyal to the campaign. All the previous options included in the ongoing organic and paid reports can be included in the campaign reporting. The above lists can be used to decide what to report depending on what information is considered valuable. We recommend that the Executive Summary has one slide for organic, one slide for paid, and one slide for creator content. The publisher should also split the report via the goals for ongoing content, and under each goal add the organic, paid, and content creator results. The difference here is in the ability to gain insights from the different levels used and ask key questions such as: • • • • • • • • • •

Which gained the more awareness, paid, or content creators? Was organic content useful to the campaign at all? Does it look like the organic content benefitted from the paid/creator content? Did the publisher gain extra followers from their creators? Was the ROI worth it for the creator content? Would this campaign have been successful with just paid or just content creators? Should this campaign have just been an organic campaign? Was the campaign a quick burst, or has there been a high performance of ongoing Loyalty and Conversion metrics? Did the paid Conversion campaign drive purchases? Are people creating UCG around the book? Have many people used the campaign hashtag? If so, what type of content are they sending with it? If not, why not?

If the publisher is doing their reports for each campaign and their quarterly and annual ongoing reports, they will be amassing a variety of actionable insights. Add

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these insights to future briefs and brainstorms. Start testing some of them in content. It might be worth adding into the reports the previous insights that were used in developing new content in order to report on whether those optimisations are working and should be continued or whether they need to be stopped. Utilising the insights found to evolve the content, improve it, and ensure that the publisher is creating the best content they can be for the goal and platforms required is a key part of optimisation. One that many organisations have yet to incorporate fully.

Notes 1 See Lal et al., 2020 for a comprehensive introduction to the research on methods of understanding ROI in social media. 2 Please note that the word template does not imply that all contents for fields should be copied and pasted to each. There should be slight differences in every report depending on the goals and type of campaign or content being posted. 3 Note, if there are any outliers, such as one post that gained many more impressions or engagements for no identifiable reason, remove them from the data, as it may skew the results.

References Finn, R., 2022. Interview on Social Media Marketing. Interviewed by Helen Simpson, [email]. Jipa, A., 2021. 2021 Social Media Industry Benchmarks – Know Exactly Where You Stand in Your Market. Available at: https://www.socialinsider.io/blog/social-media-industrybenchmarks/ (Accessed 14 November 2021). Lal, B., Ismagilova, E., Dwivedi, Y.K., and Kwayu, S., 2020. Return on Investment in Social Media Marketing: Literature Review and Suggestions for Future Research, in Rana, N.P., Slade, E.L., Sahu, G.P., Kizgin, H., Dey, B., Gutierrez, A., and Dwivedi,Y.K. (eds), Digital and Social Media Marketing: Advances in Theory and Practice of Emerging Markets. Cham: Springer, pp. 3–17. Piliafas, A., 2022. Interview on Social Media Marketing. Interviewed by Helen Simpson, [email]. Sponder, M., and Khan, G. F., 2018. Digital Analytics for Marketing. London and New York: Routledge.

11 TL;DR

This book has critically examined what a brand is in relation to publishers and authors, and considered the role of strong and weak advertising in the global village. It provides publishers with the tools to research insights, develop their master social strategy (MSS), create and execute campaigns, work with content creators, and report on results. It does this with smaller budgets, and an eye on general fiction as a starting point. It is expected that the publisher can use the guides here to develop their strategies for smart social, which will, in turn, enhance their brand by creating authentic and meaningful engagement with readers and potential readers.

DOI: 10.4324/9781003276012-12

176  TL;DR

Key Takeaways Smart social is a cycle. When publishers look to develop their master social strategy (MSS), the following process in Figure 11.1 is a key reference point.

FIGURE 11.1 

Smart Social Cycle.

APPENDICES

Appendix A: Tailored Creative Brief Template Background and Task: Describes what we are trying to do. Background on the book and/or author and/or event. Goals: What are we trying to achieve (what success looks like including proposed KPIs or how measuring will take place). Results: What is the desired outcome in reader behaviour? What do we want them to do? What do we want them to feel? Why should readers care? Audience: Describe the readers/potential readers we are engaging and why they are the correct audience. Our Social Insight(s): Summarise the insights we feel have the most scope for this particular campaign.Try to aim for at least one per insight type, but more can be added. Culture Insight Customer Insight Competitor Insight Category Insight Commodity Insight

178  Appendices

Tactical Considerations: Where do we want to engage them and how? Strategy: What is the strategy for the campaign and how does it feed into the master social strategy (MSS) of the brand? Thought Starters: Provide the team with interesting thought starters to kick off their brainstorming sessions. • Potentially show other campaigns that work well. • Reveal previous content/campaigns that have worked in the past. • Are there any tech or social innovations that have just come out recently that could potentially be used for this campaign?

Appendix B: One-Page Strategy Brief Template Goal: What do you want to do with this platform? Do you want to entertain your audience, educate them, inspire them?

KPIs: What will be indicating success? Conversion, Awareness, Numbers (setting this will help you with reporting later on in the process.

Role: What will this platform do for you and how does that fit in with the wider ecosystem?

Activation Pillar #1

Activation Pillar #2

Activation Pillar #3

Product Type

Product Type

Product Type

BK-TandF-JOHNSON_9781032231563-220448-App.indd 178

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INDEX

#Bookstagram, 26, 137 #BookTok, 22, 26, 137 #Hashtag, 19, 103, 137 #Twitterature, 138 5Cs, 40 Academic, 2, 24, Account, 8–9, 30–1, 35, 69, 89, 101, 116, 137, 165 Paid, 39 Social, 8, 19 Activation pillars, 4, 39, 42, 44, 54, 87 Advertisement (ads, advert), 2, 22, 64, 92, 101, 107–8, 115, 161, 167–8 Format, 115, 129–32 Paid, 46, 54, 108, 116 Advertising, 2–3, 22, 32, 39–40, 116, 140 Strong, 2–3, 42, 175 Weak, 3, 42, 175 Algorithm, 39, 60, 82 Amazon, 7, 71 Figures, 11 Analytics, 157–8, 165–7, 169 App, 46, 67, 69, 71–2, 101, 115 Apple, 8 Artificial Intelligence (AI), 102 Ask me anything (AMA), 49, 139 Assets, 11, 88, 101, 127, 129–30, 151 Attention economy, 33 Audience (see also insights), 2–5, 8–9, 17–9, 21, 25, 26, 28, 30–1, 34, 36, 39, 42–3, 46–7, 49–51, 59–60, 68–9, 71,

75–6, 81, 88, 103, 105–8, 115–6, 127, 129–32, 135, 137–9, 145, 148–52, 154–8, 161, 164–6, 168–9, 173 Target, 1–3, 26, 30–1, 40, 45–6, 49–50, 83, 89, 92, 107, 115, 127, 129, 134, 154, 157 Behaviour, 17 Online, 103 Australia, 26 Authentic, 4–5, 12–13, 32, 46, 48, 50, 81, 86–7, 92, 106, 133, 137, 149, 151–2, 175 Brand, 13 living, 12, Authenticity, 12–13, 20, 46, 68, 152, 156 Calculated, 46 interpersonal, 12 Author, 3–4, 8–14, 17–20, 25–7, 33–6, 40, 43, 47–50, 57–8, 61, 71, 75–6, 88–9, 94, 102–3, 106, 129, 131–40, 150–2, 154–5, 164–5, 172, 175 Awareness, 14 brand, 9–11, 13–4 brand-as-celebrity, 12 debut, 2, 14 established, 2, 18 existing, 18, 26, 75–6 popular, 47, 67, 129, 172 promotions, 20, 39 strategy, 9 new, 18, 47, 106–7, 133, 136, 173

180  Index

Awareness, 1, 14, 33, 35, 36, 46–7, 49–51, 57, 80, 87, 106–7, 115, 129–32, 137–8, 140, 143, 150–1, 155, 158, 160, 164, 172–3 AIDA (awareness, interest, desire, action), 14 Readers, 7 Backlist, 43–4, 46 Bader + CO, 14 Barnes & Noble, 7, 22 Behaviour, 2–3, 28, 30–2, 45–6, 48, 57, 82, 105, 107 Blackwell’s, 7 Blogger, 91 Blogs 25 Literary, 36, 89 Book, 1–5, 8–14, 17, 19–27, 30–1, 33–6, 40, 42–4, 46–9, 51, 58, 60, 64–6, 68–9, 72, 75–6, 81–2, 88–9, 94, 102–3, 106–7, 129–32, 134–7, 139–40, 150–2, 154–5, 157, 165, 173, 175 Art, 43–4 clubs, 22, 27 community, 20–1, 26 Content, 35, 134, 150 Covers, 19–20, 24, 34, 44, 64, 134 deal, 7, 11–2 industry, 3, 17, 88 influencers, 22 launch, 4, 39–40, 42, 67, 106, 115, 136, 150, 155, 172–3 new, 2–3, 18, 23, 26, 43–4, 47, 49, 75–6, 86, 106–7, 130, 151, 155 recommendations, 19, 23, 64, 66 series, 3, 8, 20, 22–5, 35, 47, 58, 67, 129, 131, 134, 136, 139 speak, 44 trends, 25, 26–7, 30 Bookstore, 7, 103, 129, 131 Brainstorm, 4, 83–7, 89, 147 Brand, 2–5, 7–14, 28–9, 32, 36, 39–40, 42, 44–50, 54, 57, 66–7, 71–2, 81, 86–8, 91–2, 102, 105, 107, 134–6, 139–40, 148–9, 152–4, 158, 165, 171, 175 Affinity, 2, 134, 140, 152 Awareness, 36 Family, 9 Hierarchy, 9, 13 insights (see insights) loyalty, 60 perception, 17

recognition, 7–8, 36 values, 63, 76, 88, 153 voice, 66 Brazil, 29 Budget, 1–2, 5, 8, 20, 30, 44–5, 50–1, 54, 64, 92, 101, 105–7, 115–6, 127, 129–31, 134, 136, 155, 157, 165, 170, 175 Business, 66, 101, 105, 142, 165–6 Goals, 37, 39, 56 implications, 9 model, 71 objectives, 39 Call to action (CTA), 34, 46, 103, 138, 157 Campaign, 1, 3–6, 10, 14, 17–9, 25, 32, 34, 39–40, 42, 57–9, 72, 75–6, 82–4, 86–9, 92, 105–7, 115–6, 127, 129–31, 148, 150, 152–5, 157–8, 160–1, 164–5, 167–9, 173, 175 Brief, 4, 75–6, 158 Objective, 5, 106–7, 129–32 social, 2, 5, 14, 17, 20, 39, 107 strategy, 1, 4–6, 25, 75–6, 81, 105, 127, 154 Canada, 26, 29, 168 Catalogue, 67, 69–70 Category, 3, 17–8, 21–2, 24–5, 30, 36–7, 40, 75, 161, 166, 171 Insights (see Insights) Celebrities, 11–2, 18, 148, 153 Channel, 1, 8, 18, 20, 22, 32, 45, 48, 50–1, 70, 76, 86, 108, 133–7, 139, 141, 143, 145, 148–50, 152, 154–5, 168 Analytics, 167 Strategy, 141 Character, 20, 31, 51, 61, 102, 134, 138, 140, 155 Limit, 61, 63 Coke, 36 Comment, 19, 26, 34–5, 46, 48, 62, 76, 135–8, 145, 152, 160, 164–6, 168 Commodity, 3, 17–9, 37, 75, 79 Communities, 2, 5, 14, 20–2, 45, 47–9, 51, 72, 133–40 Digital, 9, 20, 23, 140 Offline, 133 Online, 133 Community, 5, 8–9, 19–21, 23, 26, 34, 40, 42–50, 58, 68, 106, 132–40, 145, 148, 154, 166, 168–9 Book (see Book) Dedicated, 48, 133–4, 136

Index 181

management, 33, 57, 135, 140–2, 145, 164 manager, 2–3 135, 141–2, 145–6 Company, 2–3, 6, 8–9, 17–8, 23, 33, 35–7, 40, 63, 75, 82, 89, 101, 106, 135, 143, 145, 149, 170–2 Company based insights (see also insights), 3 Competitor, 3, 17–8, 33–6, 40, 42, 45, 47, 75, 142, 149–50, 153–4, 169–71 Insights (see insights) Name 34 profile, 33 Consumer, 3, 8, 13, 32, 42, 57, 71, 105, 148 Content, 1–2, 4–5, 8–9, 12–3, 17–20, 22–3, 25–6, 30–4, 35–6, 39, 42–51, 54, 56–8, 60, 62–3, 66–8, 71, 76, 80–3, 86–9, 91–2, 94, 101–3, 106–7, 115, 133–4, 136–40, 145, 148–55, 157–8, 164–9, 171–4 Creative, 34, 51, 76, 80–1, 89, 157 Creators, 1, 5, 12, 50–1, 56, 92, 106, 134, 140, 142, 148–55, 167, 173, 175 Day-to-day, 76, 81 Exclusive, 139 Framed, 11 Organic, 92, 106, 115, 172–3 Paid, 92, 106, 167, 172–3 Performance, 80, 166 Polish, 92 Reactive, 4, 76, 88 User-generated (see User-Generated Content) Video, 13, 50–1, 69, 84, 92, 102, 166, 169 Visual, 49, 91 Conversations, 4, 19, 21, 26, 30, 35–6, 49–50, 57–8, 62, 81–2, 85, 88–9, 91, 106, 115, 133, 135–6, 138–40, 143, 145, 151, 160, 164–5 Conversion, 3, 5, 14, 46–9, 80, 87, 106–7, 129–34, 137, 140, 151, 155, 157–61, 164, 166–9, 172–3 insights (see insights) Creative ideation, 1, 4, 43, 82–4, 86, 89 Credibility, 13, 148–9 Crime, 9, 23–5, 40, 58, 139 Crisis management, 142–3, 145 Cross-platform, 51 Crowdfunding, 14 Crowdsource, 103 Cultural, 11, 14, 26, 88, 151 insights (see insights) trends, 3–4, 26–7, 30, 32, 40, 89 Culture, 3, 17–8, 29, 40, 48, 75–6, 79, 88

Capital, 10–1, 14 Customer, 9, 17–8, 30, 40, 42, 64, 66, 72, 75, 88, 107, 140, 145, 158 Relationship Management (CRM), 130–1 Current, 37 insights (see insights) potential, 37, 42, 136 Digitally social spaces, 8, 72 Direct Message (DM), 135, 145, 160, 164 DK, 7 Dropdown menu, 58, 63–4, 66 eCommerce, 46–8, 54, 66 Editorial content, 18 Editorial strategy, 17, 25 Engage, 3–5, 9–10, 12–4, 19–20, 26, 30–4, 37, 42, 46, 48–51, 54, 58, 60, 66, 69, 72, 106, 115, 132–3, 136–40, 142, 146, 150–3, 157, 161, 164–6, 168–70 Engagement, 9, 12, 20, 33–4, 46–51, 58, 60, 80, 87, 134, 136–7, 139–40, 142, 150–3, 165, 167–71, 175 high-quality, 80, 115, 151–2 Etsy, 92 Events, 4, 13, 29, 32, 39, 42–3, 46–7, 49–50, 71, 75–6, 102–3, 136, 154–5, 161, 173 Evergreen, 4, 65, 76, 81, 86–7, 89, 92, 134 Brief, 75–6 Strategy, 75, 86 Exclusive, 3, 71, 133, 136–9 Facebook, 28–32, 46–7, 51, 54, 57, 66–7, 69, 72, 84, 91, 101–2, 105, 107, 115, 129–31, 133, 149, 161, 165–6, 171 Groups, 5, 20, 47, 54, 135–6, 138, 165 IQ, 28, 32, Live, 47, 72 Pages, 47, 165–6 Fandom, 58 Fan fic(tion), 133–4 Fans, 20, 35, 42, 51, 88, 129–32, 140, 142, 165, 167 Offline, 148 super fans, 136, 142 Fantasy, 1, 23–4, 25, 60, 64–6, 129, 139 Fanzine, 43 FAQ, 57, 142, 145, 168 Feed (see also In-feed), 1, 46, 57, 63, 66, 91–2, 102 Ferrante, Elena, 12

182  Index

Fiction, 1–2, 9, 22, 25, 51, 58, 60, 139, 175 Literary, 1, 11 Followers, 5, 9, 12–3, 33–5, 43, 46–7, 68–70, 88, 132, 134–5, 137, 145, 148–53, 165–7, 170, 173 Numbers, 153, 170 Following, 11, 13–4, 148, 150, 169 For you page (FYP), 26, 166 “For you” feed, 59 Framework, 39, 43, 76 Strategy, 45, 54, 56 Friendster, 91 Game of Thrones, 25 Gamers, 49–50 Genre, 1–3, 7–11, 17, 20–7, 36, 40, 43, 47, 49, 136, 152 GIF, 49, 88, 138 Give-away/giveaways, 22, 36, 135 Global village, 2–3, 5, 9, 12–3, 45, 133–4, 175 Global Web Index (GWI), 30–1 Google, 50 Alerts, 89 Trends, 23, 36 Gucci, 36 Handle, 1, 8–9, 103, 138, 149, 153–4 Hashtag, 4, 19–22, 26, 34, 35–6, 50, 57–63, 66, 103, 107, 137–8, 143, 150, 153–4, 165–6, 173 Challenge, 47 Strategy, 39, 57, 66 Headliner, 4, 39, 42, 44 Honeyman, Gail, 12 Hootsuite, 89 Ideation, 1, 4, 43, 76, 80–4, 86, 89 (see also Creative ideation) IGTV, 46 Impressions, 107, 165–71 Imprints, 7–10, 36, 76, 89 In-feed, 46, 59, 102, 107, 129, 131–2, 137 Influence, 4, 8, 10, 12, 22, 140, Influencer, 1, 5, 8, 11–2, 14, 18, 22, 33, 36, 39, 42, 50–1, 71–2, 84, 88, 103, 134, 148–9, 152, 154–5, 164 In-jokes, 22, 42–4 Insights, 1, 3–4, 17–8, 20, 22, 24–5, 26–37, 39–40, 42–3, 57–9, 75–6, 80, 136–7, 143, 154, 158, 160, 164–7, 169–70, 173–5

Actionable, 4, 40, 75, 107, 75–6, 107, 157, 173 Audience, 31–2, 166 Author, 19 Brand, 9, 36 Category, 3, 20–2, 24–5, 26, 40, 75–6 Commodity, 3, 18–9, 75–6 company, 3, 35, 40, 75 competitor, 3, 33–5, 40, 75–6 cultural, 3, 26, 28, 37, 86 customer, 3, 30–2, 40, 75–6 Instagram, 1, 5, 12, 19–21, 26, 28–33, 36, 45–7, 51, 54, 57–9, 62–3, 66–9, 71–2, 84, 91–2, 105, 107, 115, 129–31, 133, 137, 148–50, 155, 161, 165–6, 171 Feed (see Feed) Handle (see also Handle), 1 Reels, 46, 92 Story, 58, 92 Invest, 2, 9, 12, 50, 158 Investment, 11, 135, 149, 157 (see also Return on Investment) Key Performance Indicators (KPI), 54, 83 Keyword, 23, 27, 42, 59, 63–6, 89, 138, 143, 150, 165 Strategy, 4, 39, 57, 63, 66 Ladybird, 7 LGBT/LGBTQIA+, 22, 24 Linked products, 45 LinkedIn, 91 Live Journal, 91 Livestream, 69, 71–2 Lonely Planet, 7 Loyalty, 3, 5, 51, 106, 158–60, 164, 166, 172–3 Brand (see brand) Goal, 133, 140 Major media, 39 Manuscript, 14 Market, 2, 8–10, 14, 36, 65, 71, 148, Marketing, 2–3, 10, 14, 19, 21, 25, 27, 30, 37, 39–40, 44, 46–7, 50, 57–8, 82–3, 86, 92, 105, 146, 148–51, 155, 158, 172 Persuasive, 3 Plan, 10 strong, 2, 14 theories, 2 14, weak, 2, 14 Meltwater Audiense, 30

Index 183

Meme, 3, 27, 35, 43–4, 46, 50, 86, 134, 138 Memoir, 7, 12 Mentions, 35, 42, 68, 88, 138 Merchandise, 19–22, 51 Meta (see also Facebook), 28, 89 Metadata, 67 Meta-image, 11 Meta-narrative, 11, 14 Metrics, 3–4, 11, 157, 166–71, 173 Mexico, 29 Mobile devices, 94, 101 MySpace, 91

Plot, 155 Plotlines, 20 Politicians, 11 Product Detail Page (PDP), 67–9 Production costs, 92, 115 Professional, 91–2 Profile, 31, 33, 66, 69, 89, 91, 165–6 Promotion, 58, 68, 72, 87, 134, 139, 154, 168 Author, 20, 39 Public, 7–8, 11, 89, 91, 133, 171 Publishing houses, 7, 9–10, 76

Negative publicity, 7 Netflix, 171 New York Times, 11 News, 23–5, 30, 42–3, 46–7, 49–50, 135, 139–40 Nielsen Bookscan, 11 Nike, 8, 36, 171 Non-fiction, 2, 12

Q&A, 71, 103, 145

Offline, 133, 145–6, 148 Optimisation, 6, 174 Paid, 3, 12, 30–1, 39, 46–7, 49–50, 54, 87, 91–2, 105–8, 115–6, 134–6, 165, 167–9, 171–3 Ads (see advertisement) Campaign, 5, 54, 103, 105–7, 129–30, 132, 134, 167–8, 173 reach (see reach) Resources, 2 Social, 4–5, 64, 105, 107, 132, 134 Strategy, 5, 107, 127 Partnership, 146, 148–9, 152, 155, 171 Penguin, 7 Personalised, 67 Personalization, 105 Picador, 7 Pinterest, 27, 48–9, 51, 57, 63–4, 66, 69–71, 89, 91, 105, 149, 161, 169 Platform, 2–5, 8, 13–4, 20–3, 29–33, 44–51, 54, 56–8, 63, 66, 68–9, 72, 87, 91–2, 101–3, 105, 107–8, 115–6, 127, 129–31, 133, 135, 137–40, 146, 149–53, 155, 161, 165–66, 170, 172, 174 Action, 130–1 Key, 5 Social, 2, 13, 21, 28, 32, 33, 36, 43, 46–7, 51, 69, 91, 151, 171 Strategy, 4, 39, 44, 54 Playlist, 23, 72

Reach, 3–6, 10, 14, 21, 31, 44, 51, 57, 59, 63–4, 75, 105, 115, 135, 137–8, 139, 148, 150–2, 165–6, 170 Organic, 3, 28, 46, 103, 149, 155, 165, 167 Paid, 3, 103, 165, 167 Reader, 2–5, 7–14, 19–23, 26, 30, 33–6, 42–3, 45, 47–9, 58–60, 63, 67, 76, 88, 92, 106, 129, 131–2, 134–8, 140, 145, 151–2, 175 Category, 22 New, 26, 76, 107, 129, 131, 134–6 Potential, 3–5, 8–9, 76, 88, 92, 106, 134–6, 175 Readership, 9 Recommendations, 19, 22–3, 27, 34, 43–4, 49, 57–8, 64, 66, 134, 137, 155, 165 Reddit, 5, 20, 22, 27, 48–9, 51, 54, 105, 108, 115, 129–33, 139, 149, 164–5, 168–9 Subreddits, 20, 22, 115, 138–9, 169 Threads, 27 Relationship, 9, 12–4, 136, 140, 149, 151, 155 Symbiotic, 14 Research, 3–4, 9, 12, 17–8, 23–4, 26, 33, 36, 40, 43, 45, 58, 64, 66, 72, 75–6, 82, 91, 103, 149, 175 Desktop, 24, 30 Terms, 2, 23–5, 150 Return on investment (ROI), 11, 149–50, 156–8, 173 Review, 33, 48, 85 Romance, 9, 21–2, 24, 58, 102 Science fiction, 9 Search Engine, 21, 25, 50, 53 Optimisation (SEO), 50

184  Index

Shopping strategy, 4, 39, 66 Signposts, 76 Simon & Schuster, 7 Simon Kemp’s Data Reportal, 31 Smart social, 1–4, 6, 39, 76, 132, 175 Smith, Zadie, 12 Snapchat, 13, 51, 92, 115 Social, 2–3, 5–6, 11–3, 17–21, 27–8, 33, 36, 39, 43, 45–6, 51, 54, 56–7, 66, 70, 72, 80, 84, 86–9, 91–2, 101, 106–7, 133–5, 140, 143, 145, 148, 150–1, 153–4, 158, 165, 171 Channels, 8, 20, 22, 45, 133, 148–9 Community (see Community) Connotation, 9 content, 1, 5, 39, 82, 87 currency, 135, 140 ecosystem, 39, 54, 76 metrics, 11 presence, 80, 150 reality, 20 spaces, 8, 20, 34 strategy, 5, 39, 87, 107 Tone of Voice (TOV), 57–8 Social media, 1–3, 9, 12–4, 17–8, 20, 27, 30–2, 36, 39, 42, 45–6, 50–1, 54, 57, 66, 69, 71, 76, 83, 86, 91, 103, 140, 142–3, 145, 154, 158, 161, 171 following, 11, 14, 148 master social strategy (MSS), 2–4, 9, 17, 25, 36–7, 39–40, 42, 75–6, 83, 87, 158, 175 network, 12, 32 presence, 12, 42 strategy, 2, 34 teams, 2 traditional, 50, 57 Socio-economic, 11, 14, 57 Systems, 11 Stories, 17, 25, 32, 46–7, 57, 61, 92, 102, 107, 134, 137 Stream, 50–1, 71, 89, 139–40, 168, 171 Target, 2, 5, 14, 47, 64, 75–6, 105, 107, 135, 152, 158, 161 audience (see Audience) Technology, 71, 102 Thailand, 29

TikTok, 1, 5, 13, 22, 26, 30–2, 39, 46–8, 51, 54, 57, 59–62, 69–72, 83–4, 92, 101–2, 105, 107–8, 115, 129, 133, 137, 148–50, 164, 166–7 Traffic, 161, 166, 169 Trend, 3, 17, 22–30, 32, 36, 40, 43–4, 47–50, 64–5, 72, 81, 86, 88–9, 92, 140 Cultural (see Cultural) Discovery, 26 of-the-moment, 25 Trending, 22, 26–7, 48–8, 60, 62, 106, 138 Topics, 138 Tropes, 20, 22, 36, 44 Tweet, 39, 42, 49, 62–3, 138, 167 Twitch, 5, 50–1, 54, 105, 116, 127, 133, 139, 149–50, 167–8 Twitter, 5, 19, 22, 26, 32, 36, 49–51, 57, 62–3, 89, 101, 105, 115, 133, 138, 161, 165, 167, 171 Unbound, 14 Unique selling point (USP), 11, 102 United Kingdom (UK), 26, 29, 32, 168 United States (US), 24, 26, 29, 67–8, 71, 168 User, 1–2, 5, 12–3, 20, 27, 32, 42, 45–51, 59, 60, 62, 66–7, 69, 71–2, 91–2, 115, 133–4, 136–9, 161, 164–5, 168 Base, 2 Behaviour, 12, 48 -generated Content (UGC), 19, 21, 34, 36, 43–4, 46, 48, 68, 140, 165 Video editing, 101–2 Vietnam, 29 Views, 26, 136, 150, 161, 165–70 Viewer, 2, 92, 166–8 Viral, 47, 143 Waterstones, 7 We Are Social, 39 WhatsApp, 28 Young Adult (YA), 1, 24–5, 40, 51, 60, 64, 66 YouTube, 23, 32, 47, 50–1, 84, 89, 101, 105, 116, 148–9, 155