All About Street Teams @pendarielraye #RLFblog #MFRWauthor
Kaden’s Reprieve |
Dariel Raye and I have worked together on several projects,
so when she started a street team recently, I asked if I could tag along. She
soon outran me energy-wise, and I dropped back to admire from a distance. I
asked her to keep me posted on what was what. This is her report. — Kayelle
Allen
so when she started a street team recently, I asked if I could tag along. She
soon outran me energy-wise, and I dropped back to admire from a distance. I
asked her to keep me posted on what was what. This is her report. — Kayelle
Allen
- Street
teams are all the rage in the book market right now. Ideally, an awesome group
of loving fans sacrifice their time and effort to help get the word out about
our books. Realistically, though, it’s not quite that simple. After contemplating
the pros and cons of street teams, I finally started one a couple of months
ago. I’d been reading about them and asking questions from more experienced
marketers, but since I started working with Raye’s Ravers, quite a few more
things have been made clear to me. Here’s my take, along with a few suggestions. - Ongoing
point/reward system is too tedious, and even that doesn’t get everyone sharing/tweeting.
Also becomes impersonal, IMO. The golden rule for street teams is to find unique
ways to show appreciation. Never forget that these awesome individuals are
helping you for FREE, so personal thank yous are definitely a requirement.
I’ll talk more about this later in #6 and #11. Points/rewards for special campaigns/projects
works better. You can use Google or some other spreadsheet to help keep up
with points for each team member during the campaign. I started with a month
long campaign, but I don’t recommend that – too LONG. Two weeks is probably
a good maximum for special projects and campaigns. - Don’t accept
people onto the team who are on more than 5 street teams – there are exceptions
to every rule, of course, but generally speaking, they simply don’t have time
to keep up with all the boards, groups, and teams on a regular basis. Unless
your team quickly becomes a favorite, they’re seldom around to respond to tags
or any other messages you post. - Create
a private group for sharing and team files. - I’m sure
you know this, but very few writers have time to be on street teams. Like you,
they need to be writing. Any time they have left needs to be spent marketing
their OWN work. Cross promotion is always awesome, but it should never be just
about you and your work when working with another author. Enough said. - Team-ONLY
parties can be nice incentives for special campaigns, and this is another reason
for #7. - Let people
go nicely who never share. I call most of them “Friends of Raye’s Ravers”
because they cared enough to give the team a try, and they still help by sharing
occasionally. Occasional “house cleaning” is important though. Unless
a team member lets you know why they’re not around (vacation, family problems,
illness, etc.), set them free if they don’t respond to posts and never share. - Chatting
with team members as a group helps everyone get to know each other better –
strengthens the team and it really is nice to get to know people who like your
work. - Another
thing I’m planning is choosing a “Raver” of the week or something
to help get more consistent sharing. It’ll be random. - Playing
random games and asking questions helps with team building too. - Create
special prizes only given to team members to increase interest and pride. - All in
all, if you’re planning to start a street team, expect to spend the first few
weeks or so just getting your team up and rolling. In other words, don’t try
to start a street team in the midst of a big writing project. Your goal is
to keep the team moving and show appreciation without
constant hands-on involvement from you. Let’s face it – if your team needs
your constant attention, you still don’t have time to write! I don’t think
there’s a hard and fast rule as to what works or doesn’t work, but the beauty
of it is that the sky’s the limit in terms of fun things to try, and you get
to meet some awesome people along the way.
Heck, you might even get a little more marketing done than you
can on your own.
can on your own.
Previous Books
Kaden’s Reprieve:
Barnes and Noble http://barnesandnoble.com/w/untameable-heat-dariel-raye/1116022654?ean=2940148255086
Dark Sentinels Book One: Sable:
Amazon http://amzn.com/B008L87H0O
Jordan’s
Wings – The Alerians – Dark Progeny Series:
Wings – The Alerians – Dark Progeny Series:
Amazon http://amzn.com/B00AQBDTJW
Find Me Here
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