Marketing Meetup & Technology Recap: Social Media Series Part 4

On Thursday, July 22, the American Booksellers Association held the fourth in a five-part social media series (a merging of its Marketing and Technology Meetups), with this session focusing on social media analytics.

Guest speakers included:

• Robin Wood of Books and Books at the Studios in Key West, Florida
• Christine Bollow of Loyalty Bookstores in Washington, D.C., and Silver Spring, Maryland
• Kathy Ellen Davis of Bards Alley in Vienna, Virginia

Here are some of the key points from the session:

• How you look at metrics depends on what your marketing goals are. Consider: Are you trying to reach a wide audience or just your community? Are you in a tourist location? Is your content directed at a specific group of people? Your goals will factor into what you will post, as well as what analytics you’ll want to pay the most attention to.
• There are a lot of tools to track social media analytics. For bookstores, Wood and Bollow recommended using the tools that are built into the platform itself, which keeps it simple.
• Using tools for analytics, track follower counts and engagement to see which posts are attracting the most attention. Not all posts have the potential to go viral, such as event reminders. But metrics can help you gauge what can reach a wider audience, such as a fun series like “rapid bookseller recommendations.”
• But don’t get lost in the numbers. Numbers should inform your strategy — for example, if followers stop watching video content early, use that information to cut down your intro.
• Bring your store’s voice online. That could mean sharing memes, interacting often with followers, and highlighting the kinds of books that best represent your store’s mission.

The session closed with an extensive Q&A about setting goals, capturing an audience, and more. Later this week, a recording of the session and access handouts will be made available on the Education Resources page on BookWeb.org. Handouts will include detailed information on social media analytics and best practices.