Everything You Do Online Reflects on Your Book: Make Sure That Reflection Is Professional
Guest Expert: Phyllis Zimbler Miller
This month’s guest post is a natural extension of last month’s guest post “Do Your Offline and Online Book Promotion Activities Support Each Other?”
In that post I talked about how your book author website should present consistent information about your offline and online book promotion activities.
In addition, all your online book promotion activities should present you as a professional book author, regardless of whether your book was traditionally published or self-published.
Recently a book marketing consulting client asked me why he could not build a website himself for his nonfiction book the same as he had built for his business. I asked if he wanted my honest response.
When he said yes, I told him that his business site did not look professional. (And he agreed.) Then I added, as everything related to a book reflects on that book, he should have a book site that does appear professional.
And this advice about professionalism extends to everything you do online to promote your book.
For example, I’ve noticed typos in the Twitter profile bios of many people. Now this bio has a maximum of 160 characters. Do take the brief time to make sure you have spelled all the words in the bio correctly.
I always proofread my tweets and the comments I leave on blog posts before hitting “submit.” Now I know I may still occasionally miss an error, but I do try to ensure that whatever I write online is professional.
And this same advice goes for tweetchats or forum discussions or whatever.
Why is this so important?
You do not want to appear unprofessional and risk this reflecting negatively on your book.
And as you have spent a great deal of time writing your book, you should take the time to make sure you are not hindering your own book promotion efforts.
Bonus tip for customizing your Facebook and LinkedIn URLs rather than having those long URLs:
Facebook: Sign into your account. Then go to www.facebook.com/username and get your customized URL for your Facebook personal profile.
(Note that this profile must be in your own name and NOT your business name or you are in violation of Facebook terms. See my blog post )
Also, if you have a Facebook Page for business – formerly called a Fan Page – Facebook currently requires that you have at least 25 people who have “liked” your page before you can go to www.facebook.com/username and get a customized URL for your Facebook Page. But when you have at least 25 people, also get a customized URL for this page.
LinkedIn: Sign into your account. Then click on PROFILE (in navigation bar) and click on EDIT PROFILE.
On the right-hand side of the next screen click on CHANGE PUBLIC PROFILE SETTINGS.
Then you’ll see at the top of the next screen YOUR PUBLIC PROFILE URL and click on EDIT.
And, yes, having a customized URL instead of a long, awkward URL can reflect positively on your image as a professional book author.
Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) is the co-founder of the social media marketing company Miller Mosaic Power Marketing. The company is committed to taking the mystery out of social media so that individuals and companies can utilize the power of social media marketing. Check out the company program Quick Start Social Media Track.
