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Jennifer is forming a street team...
My agent wants me to form a street team. What is a street
team? It’s a group of people who actively participate in helping me market my
books.
What do they do? They post on social media for me, they
write reviews, they recommend me to others. I’ll post a request for something
each week and my street team members will do what I ask some time during that
week. Unless there’s something crazy going on, there won’t be more than one
request a week.
What do they get? They get free copies of my books, swag and
the chance to win prizes.
A street team allows me to reach people I wouldn’t normally reach. Remember that Faberge shampoo commercial from the 1980’s: “I told two friends and they told two friends and so on and so on.”
Well, a street team works the same way.
So how can you help? If you think you might be interested in
being on my street team, please go to this website: http://jenniferwilckstreetteam.blogspot.com
Click on the tabs and it will give you all the information you need. Next, go
to this Facebook group page and ask to join: https://www.facebook.com/groups/749451931834130/
That’s where I’ll be posting what I need from you each week. If you’re not
interested in being part of my street team, but know someone who might be,
please pass the information along. The more people who help me, the better
chance I have of getting my books in the hands of more readers.
And if you're interested in setting up your own street team, talk to me. I'm happy to help you out!
I joined a street team (for a crit loop friend) and I have to confess that it's overwhelming. She posts instructions every day for tweeting or contest voting--and her book's been out for several months now.
ReplyDeleteI don't tweet (yet) and I don't have the dedication to vote for her in endless popularity contests. I wrote nice reviews for Amazon and Goodreads because I truly liked the book.
I can see streeting when the release is new, but I barely have time for my own writing.
I'll take a look at your info, because I want to support you, but don't take offense, PLEASE, if I can't commit.
I didn't post this here for HWH to do it, Ana, so don't worry! Every few days is totally overwhelming (also for the street team leader because, hello, you have to come up with things for the team to do!). My goal is once a week and I'm pretty laid back. There's only so much I can handle either!
DeleteI have very mixed feelings about street teams, so I shall be interested to know how effective yours is!
ReplyDeletePaula, would you be willing to share some of those feelings? :) What do you like? What don't you like?
DeleteI'm really curious about this whole thing. I've heard of Street Teams, but never really gave it much thought for myself.
The review part is one of my concerns, Debra, as I feel that street team members' reviews may not be genuine and/or that it could be a case of 'I'll give yours 5 stars if you give mine 5 stars'.! Also, I prefer to 'advertise' other people's books because I have enjoyed them - and prefer others to do the same with mine, and not because they have been promised some kind of 'reward'. Of course, these are simply my personal preferences :-) At the same time, I would agree that 'word of mouth' is the best kind of advertising.
DeleteI'd be interested in hearing more about how you're progressing with your street team. It sounds like a good way to get the word out.
ReplyDeleteHow do you recruit people to be on it besides posts such as this giving links and such?
The part that I'm not totally sure about is the review part. I always worry that soliciting reviews from people will back fire or they'll seem less 'authentic'.
To Debra and Paula's points about reviews, I look upon street team reviews as any other review. First of all, at least for me, street team members are not rewarded for providing a review. There is no prize for doing it. They will have access to the book and asked for an honest review. In my mind, there is no difference than doing a blog tour with reviews attached to them. And they're more objective than friends who might read my books and be hesitant to leave an honest review for fear of hurting my feelings. My street team members are, except in a few cases, random people who want to help me promote my work. When I post about a book of mine, if I'm lucky, a few friends will share what I post, but for the most part, few do. Street team members are obligated to share what I post on the street team page. They aren't given things that say, "Oh wow, what an amazing book, it's the best thing ever, you have to read it!" They're given information that they share, such as "Have you seen this book?" It extends my reach to people I wouldn't normally get to.The only rewards they receive are for active participation in the team. I've been recruiting by going to reader groups and getting the word out. I'm also asking my street team members to recruit other members for me.
DeleteThanks, ladies. There's always something new to learn in this crazy business we call writing.:)
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