Specifics on How My Street Team Marketing Has Worked, ThunderClap Marketing, and Winners Announced

by Edie Melson @EdieMelson

A ThunderClap for While My Child is Away!

First, a THUNDERCLAP!

Before I get to the update on my street team, I want to share something else that my publisher is doing to get the word out about my book. They have set up a ThunderClap. This wasn’t something I’d heard of until they introduced me to it, but I’ve done a good bit of research since then and see how it’s a great marketing idea.

The idea stems from a flash mob, only it takes place online.

For my campaign, we’ve designated  the minimum number of 100 participants. These people agree to let ThunderClap send out a single automated social media update through the accounts of those who sign up. This update is sent through all 100 accounts at the exact same time. This multiplies the visibility exponentially and generates huge views, shares and hits.

The only drawback is that if I don’t get 100 people to sign up, the ThunderClap won’t happen.

I’m sharing this for two reasons:

1. It’s a great marketing tool, with many different payment levels (from free on up), and we need to know about ways to market our books!
2. I’m still 30 people away from my 100. I only have until the end of August to get the final 30 signups. 

To see what ThunderClap will share. read more specifics, and sign up visit: What is Edie’s ThunderClap?

Specifics on how my street team marketing has worked.

Specifics on How My Street Team Marketing Has Worked

Back in April I wrote a post about developing a street team to help market my newest book, While My Child is Away. I also promised I’d update you and let you know how it went.

In a word, it’s been WONDERFUL!

My prayer is that those participating in the street team have also gotten some value through the experience.

We had to tweak things as we went, but overall, it’s been a pretty seamless process. Here’s how it worked out:

• I ended up with 28 members of the street team—27 women and 1 man.

• Because of timing, we decided to spread the 6 week study over the 3 weeks before and 3 weeks after the book released.

• I learned how to use MailChimp to send out a weekly update to the team and that has worked extremely well. It has been an added benefit that I’ve learned how to utilize this valuable tool.

• For the study, I posted 4 discussion questions on the private Facebook group page every week. To avoid confusion, each question got it’s own post and the discussions have been great. Not everyone can participate every week, but that was expected and has not been an issue. Actually I like it that the members of the team haven’t felt stressed about living up to expectations.

• Each week I also recorded a short video that introduces the topic we’re focusing on for that week. This has been a bit out of my comfort zone, but I’ve gotten more relaxed with it and I’m truly glad I’ve done it.

Now the bottom line from an author’s perspective.

Was it worth the effort?

• Was it worth the effort? I say absolutely! Just the interaction with my team and the privilege of banding together with them in prayer for our kids makes this a winning situation. But beyond that, my social media visibility numbers have been super. According to my publisher, several weeks in we’d already gotten over 200,000 social media views, shares, likes, and interactions.

• What kind of time was required? I spent  time each week making the video, writing the content for the email update, and interacting on Facebook. I’d say around 4 – 6 hours each week. It did take time, but it was time well spent.

• What kind of money did I spend? This is a little harder to quantify because my publisher, Worthy Inspired, did so much. They developed the landing page and uploaded everything to it each week. They developed the memes that I shared, and they even generated the click to tweets. Even with that, I think an author without the publisher partner I had could spend more time and still follow this example. The only money I spend was on the gifts that I sent (and am still sending) my team and the postage. 

But I would love to hear from some of you who are on the prayer street team. Has it been valuable to you at all? Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments section below. 

I'd also be happy to answer any questions you have about ThunderClap or my prayer street team. 

Don't forget to join the conversation!
Blessings,
Edie

TWEETABLES
How street team #marketing worked for this author - @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

Unexpected benefits from building a prayer street team for my newest book - @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

And no, I haven't forgotten! Those of you who helped advertise my book signing went into a drawing for two Barnes & Noble $15 and Amazon $15 gift cards.

The winners are:
For the 2 Barnes and Noble e-giftcards: Ellen Andersen and Loraine Nunely 
For the 2 Amazon e-giftcards: Robin Mason and Robert Frohlich. 

Please contact me through email and I'll send them your way: ediegmelson (at) gmail (dot) com.