Fauzia Burke is the Founder and President of FSB Associates, an
Internet marketing firm specializing in creating online awareness for
books and authors. FSB has played a role in
the success of numerous chart-toppers, including novels by Daniel
Silva, Mitch Albom, Michael Cunningham, Tana French, Barbara
Delinsky, Jonathan Franzen, Sue Grafton, and Jacqueline Winspear; and
nonfiction titles by Doug Stanton, Alan Alda, Barbara Ehrenreich, Dr.
Arthur Agatston, Al Gore, Linda Greenlaw, Tony Horwitz, Richard A.
Clarke, Vincent Bugliosi, Marlo Thomas, and Bob Woodruff.
Real Time Web was coined to describe online activities
in real time -- from status updates on Facebook, to microblogging on
Twitter to uploading photos and videos on other social media sites.
With the ease of mobile devices like iPhones, this type of
communication has grown tremendously in 2009. Now Google (video) is
offering the power of real time web searching to millions everyday.
Although you may cringe when considering the personal implication of
searching your updates and Twitter feeds, you can't deny the benefits
to publicity and marketing.
According to Nielsen, social media
and blogs are now more popular than email. As marketers, this
presents us with a great opportunity. Reader engagement is not only
important in today's market, it is essential. Although your web site
is important, a savvy marketer knows that a page on Facebook is even
more important for interacting with fans and potential readers. With
Google and Bing now offering real time search results, the ease,
power and speed of sharing information is changing before our eyes.
Word of mouth has never been shared faster or more easily. It
is important to remember that social media is public communication,
you probably should never share personal information, comments or
thoughts you don't want spread. But you can't simply ignore what
investors are calling a new Web Revolution.
By staying off of
Twitter and Facebook as a marketer you are not only missing out on
community building, but you are also unaware of the conversations
taking place about you, your books, and your competition. Real time
search results are changing the speed at which a conversation spreads
online. It is more important than ever to manage brand and reputation
on social media sites. Content is streaming live with or without your
blessing.
Some fantastic sites that offer good information on
Twitter conversations are Topsy which shows how many people retweeted
you. For example, if you do a topsy search on my name you'd see that
my HuffPost blog about Facebook was retweeted 118 times, others were
not as popular. Sency allows you to search topics and conversations,
and Dailyrt allows you to track what is important to people right
now.
These tools can allow you to stay on top of messaging.
For marketing and publicity people, it can give you fresh ideas and
leads for more exposure. For editors, it may give you ideas for your
next book project and for authors it can most certainly show you
what's important to your readers right now. Opinions are being shared
online and in real time, and now through searches we can find them
and notice trends and measure excitement.
Today if you do a
search for Oprah on Google, the search results will include social
media results, which means you can see what people said about Oprah a
minute ago (see midway down). If that doesn't inspire awe (and a
little fear) in you, I would be amazed.
Conversations are
happening online in real time and now these conversations are being
tracked, measured and searched. By becoming part of the community and
paying attention to the dialogue around you, I believe your marketing
efforts will benefit greatly this year and in the years to come. Real
Time Web is becoming the norm -- there are tons of apps and programs
coming that will make it easier for us to know what people are
saying, where they are gathering, and what they are reading in real
time.
© 2010 Fauzia Burke