This is a guest post by Karl Staib. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.
Marketing your blog and products is easier when you are like Daniel with a lot of leverage to pull people in to your blogs and sales pages, but not all of you have this much leverage. You need to find creative ways to get people interested in what you produce.
You need to do this by making whatever you do an event. If you are launching a new ebook on your blog you can’t just write a blog post and tell people you have a book. Well, you can, but your sales won’t be that amazing.
You need to make whatever you are launching something people want to talk about this. One of the tricks I’ve seen people using is designing a few covers for their ebook and letting their audience vote on their favorite cover. The idea is an old one, but not enough bloggers use it. Get people engaged with the product and they will feel more attachment to it.
My Story
I tried launching an e-course that bombed. Well it didn’t bomb, but it wasn’t the success that I thought it would be. It was about how to overcome fear and create a business that makes you happy. Great topic right? For some reason, well many reasons, the product never gained traction.
I didn’t use the advice that I’m going to give you in this post. I didn’t create any build up before the launch. I didn’t do anything fun during the launch. I didn’t do anything fun after the launch was over.
See a pattern?
I was a launch fool.
When marketing your blog and products you have to do stuff that is fun and interesting, otherwise you won’t get people excited about what you do.
Here are 3 new ways to market your blog and products that is fun and also layers your tribe’s engagement:
1. Twitter Parties
The whole concept is getting people to gather on Twitter, win prizes, and learn about your cool product. It’s an amazing marketing tool because it’s improves your social media presence as well as build connections.
I started throwing Twitter parties as a way to just mess around and have some fun then I asked Michael Port a bestselling author if he would like me to throw him a party. He didn’t even need for me to explain the whole concept, he loved the idea. We threw the party for his audience and it was a smashing success.
The reason I love Twitter parties is because they aren’t the conventional way of marketing. You create an event, give away some prizes, have some fun, and build deeper connections with people. It’s so much more fun than buying ads on Facebook and much more engaging.
Everyone wins. The people who participate meet new people and win prizes. You gain new followers who if they like what you do become buyers.
2. Facebook Photo Contest Giveaway
Facebook is one of the more difficult social media tools. It’s great to connect with friends, but a little harder to build a relationship with a stranger.
Most of your Facebook giveaways should be on the smaller. Too grand like an iPad and you end up with a bunch of people that are just there to win a prize and don’t care about what you do.
Gretchen Rubin gave away copies of her book The Happiness Project. It was a way to reward people who are already fans and hopefully encourage those fans to convince their fans to join in. It worked for Gretchen because she targeted her audience and used it as a tool to gain a deeper connection without making the offer too sweet and getting people who don’t care about what she does.
You have to really look at how you can build a little more trust with your people by giving something away that fits in line with your blog’s business plan. Once you have something that fits your audience then make sure you make the giveaway a fun event. Make them post a photo that relates to your product. Michael of Social Media Examiner did this well with his book launch. This is a great way get people sharing and talking with each other. You can’t do it all and you need your tribe to support each other.
3. Offer Your Superpower in Exchange for some Promotion
I know this is an old technique, but I included it here because social media has added a new twist to this powerful too.
You have superpowers that other bloggers need. You need to share this superpower with bloggers that have a larger audience than you. The idea is to create a winning situation for the both of you.
I’m not talking about just offering your copywriting services to J.D. of GetRichSlowly.org and hope he links to you. I want you to create something that will be an event for another blogger. Something that you can create that helps them get exposure too.
Let’s say you are a copywriter. You can offer another blogger a guest post and also offer to review someone’s ebook or salespage to the person that leaves the best comment. You can make the rules, so do it in a fun way that gets people talking.
The bigger blogger gets a guest post, his readers get to win a prize and you get to show your authority on copywriting. It becomes so much more than just you helping another blogger. It becomes a win-win-win.
Your Turn
I don’t know all the tricks out there and I bet with this smart audience there are a lot of people who have used some really cool ways to market their blog and products. Please share with us.
What new ways have you used to grow your blog and encourage product sales that other bloggers don’t know about?
About the Author: Karl Staib is addicted to throwing Twitter Parties to help bloggers with product launches. If you want to learn how Twitter Parties can help your business grow then check out Party Biz Connect. You can also follow Karl on Twitter so you can stay in the know on all the Twitter parties and their prizes.
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