Editor’s Note: these posts are my notes taken during the presentation, so they will not be of great literary quality. PB
How to take brands into digital world. Social media is exploding in last 5 years. Publishers have to reinvent themselves to survive. 5 ideas to think about how to change:
1. Build consumer brands. Public needs to identify with publisher and not just author and retailer. Branding today is much different than traditional branding methods. B to B companies are fading away and need to become business to consumer companies. Authors are now connecting with customers and authors have more control over them. Can build an audience before you have a book. Audiences are connecting with authors also and so authors are building their own communities and they can ask their communities what sort of books to write and even what publishers to use. Publishers need to drive the direction of fan pages by creating a brand to get ahead of the authors. Distributors are becoming publishers themselves and taking control of area.
One advantage of digital customers and ebooks is the amount of data publishers will capture using Kindle as a example:
Usage data: how many pages read in a book; which books being read this minute; when does reader drop off from reading a book (i.e, didn’t get to chapter 5); where reader chooses to read ebooks
Social media data: which reviews influence reader to purchase; whether reader is an influences in getting people to buy
2. Take consumers from one book to another. Move from product driven model set up on a book by book basis. Need to go to a community model. People look to what their community says and if focus on community it will help plan books for the future. There are now hundreds or thousands of “book clubs” and must understand and market to them. Consumers are moving to act as communities instead of as individuals the way they used to do.
3. Bring readers into book development process. In traditional publishing has little consumer involvement. Author involvement should also be large throughout the process instead of just on the front end. Use conversation mining tools on social media to find out what should be future topics for books and which authors are starting to explode.
4. Leverage social influences at every step of the way. Advertising dependence is dropping and friends and peers are rising when it comes to make decisions. Need to focus on key influencers (reviewers), but also on social influences and peer influencers. Social and peer influencers are now more important than key influencers and now, for the first time, there are tools that will allow you to reach them.
