Enter “Stories to Share” Contest to Win Membership Benefits, Social Media Exposure

Booksellers who enter ABA’s “Stories to Share” Social Media contest will get the opportunity to win $50 off their 2017–2018 membership dues and a full day of dedicated posts on ABA’s social media accounts when they submit original social content to help populate the new “Stories to Share” section on BookWeb.org.

Located under BookWeb’s Designs & Downloads menu, “Stories to Share” houses categorized folders where ABA members can find ready-made tweets, posts, and images for booksellers to repost on social media. ABA’s contest encourages booksellers to contribute social media content to this new section by tagging social posts on Facebook, Twitter and/or Instagram so that ABA can track members’ suggestions of content to include within this new resource.

By including the hashtag #bookweb in a store’s social media post, participating booksellers signal to ABA that the post includes engaging content that would be a good fit for fellow booksellers around the country to share. Local first content; DIY promotional content; holiday content; content that promotes causes independent bookstores have in common; and content that is fun, uniting, and emotional are all welcome for submission. Success stories at any one store — told through photos, tweets, quotes, memes, videos, and more — can help strengthen and amplify the success stories of independent bookstores nationwide by finding a wider audience through greater social sharing.

The challenge of the contest is for members to help populate this new section in preparation for the holiday season. Beginning today, Wednesday, November 9, and ending on Sunday, December 4, the store that shares the most usable content fitting the above criteria on its Facebook, Twitter, and/or Instagram pages using the hashtag #bookweb will win.

Participating stores must be current ABA members to be eligible. All posts must include the hashtag #bookweb and must be published on Facebook, Twitter, and/or Instagram between November 9 and December 4 to qualify as entries. Submitted posts should aim for universality, so that many different independent bookstores would benefit from sharing the suggested content on their own social media accounts.

By adding the hashtag #bookweb to a post, stores permit ABA to add the content of the post — text and/or images — to the “Stories to Share” section in a format that other members can use to share on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

In addition to $50 off annual membership dues for 2017–2018, the winner will receive a full day of approved shares, retweets and regrams on ABA’s social media channels for all of that store’s social posts on a weekday of their choice in December or January. The winning store will also be recognized at Winter Institute 12 in Minneapolis.

Booksellers with questions may contact ABA Social Media Manager Catherine Cusick or ABA Membership and Marketing Officer Meg Smith.