Which shoe salesman are you in social media?

I was reading 10 Simple Secrets of the World's Greatest Business Communicators and in it, Carmine Gallo relates the story of Akio Morita (cofounder of a little electronics company called Sony and the guy that brought us into the era of portable electronics thanks to a gadget you might have heard of – the Walkman!)

It seems Mr. Morita had great trouble convincing colleagues and investors that anyone would want to use, much less want to buy, a portable music player. It seems that Mr. Morita took to telling the story of the two shoe salesmen in the jungle. The jist of the story is this:

Two successful shoe salesmen from competing companies were sent to Africa to see of there were any opportunities there.

The first shoe salesman arrived in Africa and immediately began his assessment of this new wide open market. Less then an hour into it, he quickly phoned back to his headquarters: “I can’t sell shoes here! Nobody wears them, everyone is barefoot!”

The second shoe salesman arrived in Africa and also began his assessment. He quickly became thrilled at what he observed and called headquarters: “I can’t believe what I’m seeing, everyone is barefoot over here! Send me as much stock as you can spare, we are going to make a killing!”

Can you even imagine someone today, in the age of smartphones , netbooks, portable GPS, etc, questioning the viability of a portable music device? Of course not! And yet I see that type of mentality all of the time in social media. This kind of reasoning seems to come back every time something new comes out.

Remember Twitter? How many people clamoured, in web and in print, that it was doomed from the start? “140 characters? Nobody is going to want to use this.”; “I give it a month.”; “Nobody wants to read about what you had for breakfast”; “There is just no practical use for this”.

Twitter may have had a very simple premise when it was created but the community found uses for it. Individuals and groups looked for the opportunity to use the tool to fill some of their needs and it worked. Now Twitter is the fastest growing social media channel out there and it is being used:

• by individuals as a communication and research tool,
• by corporations for PR,
• by public figures for branding (Ashton, Oprah, Britney)
• by politicians for campaigning
• by government agencies for advertizing, media monitoring, and crisis communications
• by advocacy groups and non-profit organizations for outreach and funding campaigns

It reminds me of the story of Victor "I liked the shaver so much, I bought the company." Kiam. In his autobiography, Mr. Kiam tell the story of how when he was Vice President of Marketing at Playtex in 1958, he was offered the option on a patent for a new kind of fastener for bras. He decided it would never catch on and passed on it. The product was Velcro! Mr. Kiam admits he failed to see the potential of the product beyond what the inventor had foreseen and vowed never to make the same mistake again.

So, which shoe salesman are you? The one who dismisses new social media channels out of hand or the one who tries to see the opportunities that lie just beyond the moment?

P.S.
If you think you are due for a quick brain shake-up, read Good Idea or Bad Idea? by Joel Saltzman

Now this is the tale of the castaways

I was in a store the other day and I saw someone wearing a Gilligan hat. Imagine that, having a hat become so synonymous with your character that people forever refer to it with your character’s name.

In fact, few other shows have had the cultural impact of Gilligan’s island. Did you know for example that the question "Ginger or Mary Ann?" is regarded to be a classic pop-psychological question when given to American men of a certain age as an insight into their characters, or at least their desires as regarding certain female stereotypes?

That’s quite an impact for a show that only aired for…3 years!

So what made the show into such a pop culture icon? 2 reasons:

Because it made you long for a life on a deserted island…

Sure, the sets were cheesy by today’s standards but still. The island was a very exotic place for someone from little-town America. Many a young boy had visions of living in one of those bamboo huts and sleeping in a hammock like Gilligan.

Because it made no pretention at seriousness.

Gilligan’s Island was funny and goofy and the perfect way to escape from a bad day at the office (or in my case, at school). TV shows today, even the zanier one, always seem to want you to learn a lesson of some sort, or aim to provide a moral with a social redemptive aspect to it.

Gilligan’s Island made no such claim. You didn’t really learn anything from watching this show (besides perhaps how to make a bomb out of a coconut) and you know what? You didn’t need to! It was pure, guiltless fun. I think we could use some of that right about now!

OK, I'll admit, there might also have been some motivation provided by the huge crush I had on Mary Ann (sorry Ginger)!
I did a bit of digging around, as I usually do when something stirs up my nostalgia gland. I learned a lot about the show and about the story behind the show.

I also found fascinating facts about the actors who brought these characters to life. Did you know?

That Russel Johnson (the Professor) flew 44 combat missions as a bombardier in B-25 Mitchell bombers and that plane was shot down in the Philippines in March 1945.

That Jim Backus (Thurston Howell, III) was the voice of Mr. Magoo.

That Natalie Schafer (Lovey Howell) was actually older than Jim Backus by 13 years and that she made millions in real estate.

That Tina Louise (Ginger Grant) posed for Playboy.

That although Tina Louise played the sultry actress, Dawn Wells (Mary Ann) was the real-life beauty queen, crowned Miss Nevada, she represented her state in the 1960 Miss America pageant in Atlantic City.

That Russell Johnson and Dawn Wells were originally considered "second-billed co-stars" and that it was Denver who went and forced the studio executives to get them added to the opening credits. Wells said that Denver never mentioned this to anyone in the cast, and she did not find out about it until years after the show ended.

So, to our merry band of castaways I say this. Thank you for providing us with a show and characters that made us laugh, and made us dream!

Bob Denver (Gilligan)
Alan Hale Jr. (The Skipper)
Russell Johnson (The Professor)
Tina Louise (Ginger Grant)
Dawn Wells (Mary Ann)
Jim Backus (Thurston Howell, III)
Natalie Schafer (Lovey Howell)

Promote Your Book Online the Offline Way – Part 2: The Virtual Book Tour

This is part 2 of a series of articles exploring new ways to promote your book or ebook using traditional venues adapted to the digital world. In part one, we explored adapting the use of publishing magazines articles to promote an upcoming or published book. In part 2, we look at another great classic of the publishing industry: The book tour.

Ah, the book tour. Aspiring writers dream about it. Seasoned writers often dread it (nothing is more ego-deflating that waiting for hours at an empty table while people walk by pretending not to see you). So why bother?

Well, although the book tour may seem dated in today's digital world, it is still a staple of the book publishing industry. Perhaps because it offers potential clients some of what Social Media excels at: a chance to interact with the author.

This allows them to put a human face to the book and to establish a connection – on a certain (if somewhat superficial) level – with the author. This connection creates an attachment to the author and although I have no data to back this up, I would advance that this attachment pays dividends down the line. People who have met an author are more likely to recommend the book to their friends and family (generating buzz) and to buy future books from the same author.

So how do we modernize the book tour to make it relevant to the digital age? Well, the beauty is that you can promote your book across the planet without incurring a dime in travel expenses.

In simple terms, this is how it would work: You will tour different sites/blogs and offer to answer comments/questions during a set period of time.

Now, if you search on the internet, you will find different variations and definitions of what a virtual book tour is. For some, it is simply having a presence on varying sites. Others equate it to guest blogging. These all lack, in my humble opinion, the key ingredient witch is the interaction aspect.

Here are some handy steps you may want to consider to make your tour more successful and productive:

• First, if you have a publisher, let him know what you are planning to do. This is free publicity to them. They may even be willing to help by pitching in some $ for online advertizing and link to your blog from their main site

• If you don’t have a publisher (if this is an ebook for example) or if your publisher is not interested in helping, then find some sponsors – sites willing to highlight your book tour on their sites and to follow you on your tour (i.e. link to whichever site you are touring on at a given moment)

• Get some early reviews.
  -Send out your book to potential influencers in the subject your book is on and ask for reviews or comments.
  -Always be very polite and somewhat humble, especially if you are not already a star in that particular field.
  -Make sure to ask if you can quote them.
  Let them know about the book tour (they may want to help or even sponsor your tour).

• Approach websites and blogs and pitch your book took to them.
  -Highlight the advantages to them (free content, visitor engagement, links to their site from your sponsors)
  -Highlight what you have done so far, if anything, to promote the book (include distribution stats, copies sold, links to online reviews or celebrities/experts who have supplied review/comments on your book)
  -Explain the process (how it will work, the duration of the tour, etc)
  -Use some of the tactics from Part 1 to make your offer more interesting

• Put up a calendar of your “appearances” on your own site or blog. Allow enough time at each site so that a cross section of the site’s visitors can interact. Set up specific times (example, between 7:00 pm to 9:pm EST, December 15 to December 20) when you will be online responding to comments/questions. This is where you make connections

• Prepare a blurb with links to you book tour that you can post on the social networking site where you already have a presence (Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, etc). Be cautious, the line is fine between alerting your friends to your tour and spamming (and alienating) all of your connections.

• Prepare material in advance for each “appearance”
  -A list of interesting sites that complement your subject
  -A list of experts that support your position
  -A list of any reviews you have gotten from the requests you sent out or from sites like Amazon
  -A blurb that describes the event (You are touring to promote your new book – Social Media for pets ) and that includes a link to where the participants can purchase the book
  -Short blurbs on different topics that you can post intermittently to invite visitors to comment or ask questions

• Get a friend or to drop by one the day of your appearances in case no one asks any questions. You can supply them with the broad picture of what you would like to accomplish but don’t “plant” questions. This is meant as a measure to stimulate engagement in the event of a lull in the conversation – don’t try to fool visitors by creating a bunch of fake and obvious interaction. Fake always stinks and makes you look bad. People have to deal with too much that is fake already; they are searching for something genuine in their interactions with you.

A word of caution!
Virtual book tour services and book marketing experts are popping up all over the place. Many of these services charge thousands of dollars for what is essentially just getting you a few guest blog posts. If you do elect to go with one of these services, check them out thoroughly first. Ask for references and make them specify exactly what you can expect them to do to promote your book.

Some pioneers of virtual book tours:
-Angie Pedersen for her book The Book of US: A Guide to Scrapbooking about Relationships
-Rolf Potts – Marco polo didn’t go there
-Post2Post: A Virtual Book Tour of Jack’s Notebook

Interesting resources on the web:
BookTour – Where authors and audiences meet

And of course…
Promote Your Book Online the Offline Way – Part 1

If you have anything to add, any suggestions for your fellow writers, please add them in the comments!