Connecting with Influencers and Building Your Market and Platform

Excerpt from Book Marketing Checklist for Self-Publishing, Available at Amazon.com

One of the best ways to build your book platform is to figure out who the main influencers are in your market and connect with them. This is a technique that takes a while to do, 6 months to a year is not unusual. You just don't run into a room and say here I am!! You need to connect, engage, contribute, promote and build a relationship. The goal being to increase your exposure and awareness in their market. Influencers usually have large networks, that is the reason they are influencers. The goal being that when you do come to launching your book you have built a relationship where they can help you. Where they want to help you spread your message

Connecting with Influencers

___Research bloggers and people who have influence in your market. Come up with a list of 10-20 people or sites

___Connect with these people using social media, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, their YouTube Channel, Pinterest, Periscope, etc. You also want to be where your audience is. You want influencers that are connecting with your target audience. Twitter is especially important here as Blab runs over Twitter.

___Subscribe to their blogs, Facebook, Linkedin groups and email lists.

___Start commenting and engaging with them on their blogs and social media sites. Try to get on these people’s radar, start building a relationship. This will become much more important when we come to launching your book.

___Blab and Periscope are both excellent ways to get in-front of influencers. Especially Blab, which is one of the new personal broadcast platforms. Start a Blab yourself where you talk about your topic, and join Blabs run by your influencers.

To read the second half of this article be sure to click here, 7 Ways to Start Building your Book Marketing Plan and Building Your Platform. In it I talk about Setting up your social media home and offline connections.

This text is an excerpt from my latest book Book Marketing Checklist for Self-Publishing, Complete Book Launch Action Plan Included! by J. Bruce Jones Available at Amazon.com

J. Bruce Jones is the author and creator of over 40 books. I create books and I help others get their books published through my consulting and training programs. Check out my course page for more info of my training.