The Hub & Outpost Method to Organize Your Social Media Marketing

by Joel Friedlander

Most authors have gotten the message: you have to be marketing on social media sites if you want to make an impact and, eventually, sell your content. 

Social media is indispensable to today's self-published artists, but it's good to remember that social media by itself is only one tactic in your overall marketing strategy. Just using social media is not a strategy in itself; it's a way to implement your basic marketing thrust. 

Set Up Your Hub 

This method of organizing your social media activity requires that you set up a Hub that will be your "home base." It could be a blog or a website. What's important here is that you own it. You own the domain name: it doesn't belong to another entity the way that blogs on blogspot.com or wordpress.com are part of a larger company. You need a place over which you exert ownership, which you can control without worrying about other people's "terms of service." 

Here are a few good reasons to use your blog as the hub of your social media strategy: 

• Your blog is frequently updated - This is the place it's easiest to post new material relating to your book or your subject area, and consequently is the most up to date and flexible site you have.

• Your blog has your list opt-in - One of the reasons you want visitors to stop at your blog is to find the people who are interested enough in what you're doing that they want to stay in touch and find out more. Your newsletter or mailing list opt-in form should be prominent on your blog, and you also should offer subscriptions to your blog via email or RSS, another way to keep in touch.

• Your blog is the best place to release news - Blog software allows you to easily post updates or breaking news items, which then go onto your subscribers through the email or RSS feed. It's the best way to stay in touch with your fans and followers.

• At your blog you have the best tools for interacting with readers in a robust way over a long term.

Explore to Find Outposts 

Outposts depend on your own subject matter and preferences for working, but they have to be places where people interested in your subject congregate. 

You might find effective outposts in: 

• Facebook fan pages

• Twitter accounts

• Forums that deal with your topic

• Photo sharing sites like your stream on Flickr.com

• Video sites like your channel on YouTube.com

• Bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon.com

• Networking sites like LinkedIn.com

• Specialized niche sites like those run on Ning.com

Really, there's no limit to the number or type of outposts you create. 

At your outposts you might post links to content you've published at your hub. But you'll also contribute content to the outpost sites, too. Outposts are used for: 

• listening to what others in your niche are doing

• building authority by contributing expert tips and answers to questions

• testing ideas for marketing or for your next projects

• networking with other people and influencers in your niche

• growing your online profile

• creating links back to your hub

Remember to link to your hub at every outpost. These links create the connections that people will use to travel back to your hub. On Twitter, for instance, the link will show up in your bio, and that will be the first place people click to find out more about you when they've been intrigued by one of your postings. 

Go Forth and Multiply 

It's likely that new social media sites with different approaches to connecting people will continue to sprout online. With the hub and outpost model for your social media strategy, it's easy to integrate new locations. 

You might decide, for instance, to start building a series of Squidoo lenses about your topic or your book, film or music. Linking back to your blog is a natural way for people who come across your sites on Squidoo to find out more about you. 

When they travel back to your blog they'll find links to your other sites, like the site you've set up for your individual projects, your content's Facebook fan page, your Twitter account, and you'll be able to supply links and "follow" buttons for all of them. 

From this central location, you will rule your (social) media empire. So go forth, author, and multiply your voice and your influence, confident that you can make use of all that traffic you generate with your insightful comments and spectacular status updates.

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Joel Friedlander is the proprietor of Marin Bookworks in San Rafael, California, a publishing services company where he’s helped launch many self-published authors. He blogs about book design, writing and self-publishing at www.TheBookDesigner.com. Joel is also the author of the newly-published A Self-Publisher’s Companion: Expert Advice for Authors Who Want to Publish.

This article originally appeared on CreateSpace.com. For more helpful articles and blogs for authors, visit CreateSpace Resources. Reprinted with permission. © 2011 CreateSpace, a DBA of On-Demand Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved.