Marketing & Technology Meetup Recap: Social Media Series: Getting Organized

On Thursday, August 5, the American Booksellers Association held the third in a five-part social media series (a merging of its Marketing and Technology Meetups), with this session focusing on getting organized. This session was originally set to take place in July, and was rescheduled.

Take a look at the full series:

• Part One: Need to Knows & Best Practices
• Part Two: All About Video
• Part Four: How Do I Know It's Working? (Analytics)
• Part Five: Ask Anything 

Logged-in booksellers can access helpful handouts on tools, best practices, and more, as well as view a recording of the session on the Education Resources page on BookWeb.org.

Guest speakers included:

• Kelsey Hammond of Yellow Dog Bookshop in Columbia, Missouri
• Rhiannon Gupta of RJ Julia Booksellers & Wesleyan RJ Julia Booksellers in Madison, Connecticut
• Kathy Ellen Davis of Bards Alley in Vienna, Virginia, and the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association

Here are some of the key points from the session:

• Know your store’s mission and values, since that’s what will inform where your content comes from. When creating content, ask yourself: Does this align with my store’s goals? Is this the voice we want to be using? Is this something we would say in the store to someone?
• Keep organized. Make a system that tracks when you’ll post, what you’ll post, how often you’ll post, and where you’ll post. Consider also using a scheduling service, which is a great way to see all of your content across platforms in one fell swoop.
• Aim your content at different audiences — post at different times of day to reach younger or older audiences, post different kinds of content across platforms, and recruit your booksellers to help come up with creative posts.
• Post varied content — books, trends, shelves. Try to feature people in your posts as much as possible, which can garner more community engagement.
• Create content in batches, so content is ready to go when you’re ready to post.
• Repost content from other accounts. This takes the pressure off trying to constantly create organic content.
• Also, network with other local businesses — boost their content around Small Business Saturday, Find Waldo Local in July, or during the holiday season.
• Stay in the know about current events, too. While scheduling is helpful, you also want to be sure your content is being posted at appropriate times. When the world at large is collectively dealing with a tragedy, for example, you might consider pausing social media.
• Before posting anything, be sure to get a second pair of eyes on it for grammar, voice, and content.
• Do what you can. Choose the platforms that make the most sense for your community and store, and don’t worry about posting perfect content all the time.