character blog.

[robertbevan]

i'm working on a little project, and i'd like some opinions about it.

i set up a google account under the name of one of the characters in my novel. from there, i set up a blogger account for him. it's an advice column in which he insults people and gives really bad advice. (it's supposed to be funny, and true to his character.)

i've made two posts so far, and they're both fictitious. the idea is that i'll post some fake questions to get the ball rolling and let readers know what they're in for, and then if real people ask questions, i can pick and choose ones which i can come up with a good response for.

it's something that's fun for me, and i'm thinking it might work well as a marketing tool. have a look and tell me what you think. thanks.

Ask Cooper

[JCFarnham]

I was going to say that as long as people have a way to realise that it's linked to your books then its all good. Then I clicked the link and saw the two huge covers...

The power of viral marketing is pretty well known I like to think, so you might well be onto a good thing! One point you need to be aware of however is testing the audience over the coming weeks and months. It may well be that "showing your hand" too early will lessen the power of it. However you won't know unless you find you start to get sales from it. The problem then is testing that.

There are some (aka loads of) joke accounts on the social media networks that have seen success. So It certainly could work, but I definitely think you need to keep an eye on it and tailor it depending on reaction.

[robertbevan]

One point you need to be aware of however is testing the audience over the coming weeks and months. It may well be that "showing your hand" too early will lessen the power of it. However you won't know unless you find you start to get sales from it. The problem then is testing that.

i don't know what you're talking about... especially the bit in red. do you mind elaborating?


also, thank you for the response.

[JCFarnham]

No problem.

With Viral marketing-type campaigns often the trick is to present something utterly ridiculous as fact and get people to believe it's a real thing. There was an example of a youtube video consisting of a HUGE waterslide some guys had built. You saw them slide down it, jump off the end and land perfectly in a small paddling pool. A while after this had circulated (views in the millions), I believe it was leaked that it was faked and a viral ad for an FX studio. I may be wrong, but that's the story I've heard thrown around a lot.

There are plenty of other examples of such campaigns though. Like the scandinavian [?] musician who created an anonymous account on youtube, a created very symbolic, short music videos intended to create a kind of "man hunt". I don't know if it was ever revealed but people became very sure it was one artist in particular. Thing is, whether or not it was intended by that artist, she's gotten more interest in her more public music.

So you see, when I say watch when you "show your hand", I'm telling you I think you should be careful with telling future followers exactly who Cooper is. I'm not suggesting removing all mention of the books (you wouldn't get any sales at all), nor am I suggesting making it obvious. What I'm saying is, if viral marketing has anything to teach us, you need to tailor this effort as you go along. Change things here and there, see what works...

Just giving you some ideas from the kind of marketing we've been seeing recently on social media sites, and how marketing has changed since their invention. It's not all that simple any more haha.

I'm not yet sure how you should proceed with this, but I do think you're on to a good thing here. Especially since Cooper has quite a recognisable "vocal tick" shall we say

EDIT: I say, keep the links to your books for the moment.

[Kit]

As soon as I get some chapters up on my weblit-in-progress, I plan to do regular blogposts from the POV of one of my characters. One of the things I like about weblit is the opportunity to interact with readers and have them involved in the storyline.

[Devor]

You should switch to tumblr.

[JCFarnham]

You should switch to tumblr.

Personal preference, or technical reason?

I'm hoping technical.

[Devor]

Personal preference, or technical reason?

I'm hoping technical.

Neither. Tumblr has a younger, more creative audience that would be more inclined to pick up on it. Tumbler does also favor shorter and more visual entries (letter format is a little visual), but those are secondary.

[JCFarnham]

I'd call that personal preference really, not yours of course but some ones you know.

[Devor]

I'd call that personal preference really, not yours of course but some ones you know.

Err . . . I'm not just parroting people. You should do some research about Tumblrs emerging (well, fully emerged by now) role in social media networking and marketing. It would be a far more effective platform for what Robertbevan is doing than blogger. Creative, short aand visual are the traits for doing well on tumblr, and if your work has those traits, blogger can't compete.