Should Authors Use YouTube for Book Marketing?

In the history of marketing, the most popular marketing spots are the places where you can find the most people, whether in the town square, the bazaar, the train station, the airport, MySpace, YouTube or Twitter. .

There are over 75 million videos on YouTube, for example, and when these videos go viral, they record millions of views per video. And while many authors know how to use YouTube to share videos with family and friends, very few understand how to harness the power of YouTube to make money, promote yourself, connect with customers, grow your business, and sell more books.

I am using YouTube in every possible way for all my clients. I really see opportunities for every type of client I represent, including authors, doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs, and even charities.

In fact, I used YouTube to help Angel Acres Horse Haven Rescue make it to the “Top 10” in a $ 1 million shelter makeover contest sponsored by Zootoo, a website for animal and pet lovers. As part of his effort, I asked Mike Ball, who, in addition to being an award-winning columnist, is an accomplished musician, if he would be willing to write and record a song that could be used in an online video and for public service announcements. . That emotional song with the horse photos helped Angel Acres in her online voting campaign.

Another client, Mr. Duey, a school teacher who uses music to teach math, science and history to children, is also having great success with his video. It’s called “Mr. Duey Fractions” and it appears on Teacher Tube, which is like YouTube, but it’s for teachers, parents, and students. The “Fractions” video we are promoting is now one of the top ten most viewed videos of all time on TeacherTube with 567,000 views. You know you’re really good when kids at your school ask a teacher for an autograph! The exposure has led to CD sales, media coverage and other exciting opportunities for Mr. Duey and the Kaas Records label. As I write this, Mr. Duey is finishing filming a new series of videos linking his musical talents to a new “book-like” product … I can’t tell you what it is, but it came as a direct result of that. video!

Another very successful application for YouTube videos is through video book trailers as part of a book marketing campaign. In an effort to get publicity for the book for my author clients, we will create a book trailer about the book. A book trailer is like a movie trailer in that it allows someone to preview a book both visually and via audio. A video book trailer brings the book to life and gives the potential reader a sneak peek of the content. Then we’ll post the book trailer on YouTube and … here’s the best part … we added it to over 41 additional video sites online for even greater exposure.

One of the great benefits of advancing a book is how it improves the search engine ranking of an author’s main website, providing them with a careful selection of the traffic that drives the keywords and titles.

How can the advancement of a book help? A couple of months ago we got a great article for one of my authors at The Patriot Ledger outside of Boston. First, they posted a photo of the author holding his book. They mentioned upcoming book signings that I asked him to organize after this story was confirmed so that I could capitalize on public relations.

The ledger also included a link and screenshot of the book trailer video we produced for YouTube. The best part? Boston’s ABC-TV CH-7 then saw the article and the trailer for the book, realized it was a good visual story, and went out to the author’s home and filmed his own story. It really proves my point that “PR begets PR, the more you get, the more you get.”

You can see an example of book trailers we’ve created on the Westwind Communications YouTube channel at: [http://www.youtube.com/thebookpublicist]

There are a lot of ins and outs when it comes to YouTube. If you are serious about using it, I suggest you buy a new book How to Make Money on YouTube by Brad and Debra Schepp. In this detailed guide, the authors reveal specific steps to harness the power of YouTube to make money. Schepps offer detailed, easy-to-understand instructions on everything from recording and uploading videos to fundraising and marketing, building buzz, and how to get your videos noticed.

They are also based on the humorous “Will it Blend?” From an infamous company. video that brought thousands of new customers to your website. You’ve probably seen it. A guy in a lab coat mixes everything from food to iPhones in his blender, proving just how powerful the blender really is. The book is packed with valuable tips and practical advice that allow readers to maximize their earning potential on YouTube.

One of the most valuable features of How To Make Money From YouTube is the real-life success stories of video marketers who used the site to launch successful consulting businesses. A notable success story is from my own firm on the aforementioned Mr. Duey. The bottom line: Get a video trailer of a created book and get it on YouTube right away and use it to promote your book online. You can’t go wrong.

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