Top 5 Most Influential Authors on Social Media 2014

Photo by Jason A. Howie, Flickr

In my humble opinion, these authors rank as the top 5 most influential authors on social media. Other authors should model their social media efforts after the folks on this list. They all have incredibly popular blogs as well as impressive presences on the top social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. Most importantly, all of them have also successfully leveraged social media to sell thousands (or millions) of copies of their books, making them bestsellers. Without further ado, here they are!

1. Guy Kawasaki - Twitter: 1.4 million | Facebook: 237k | Google+: 5.7 million 

Guy's impressive following on Twitter and Google+, along with other social media sites, is comprised of over 7 million people. He's probably one of the biggest social media influencers on the planet. He's written twelve books, with his latest three -- Ape, Enchantment, and What the Plus! -- all enjoying great success due to strong social media campaigns.

2. Gary Vaynerchuk - Twitter: 1 million | Facebook: 153k | Google+: 1.9 million

Gary has arguably more experience in social media than any other author on this list. He started his video podcast, Wine Library TV, back in 2006. Crush It!, The Thank You Economy, and Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook all focus on the power of social media in business, and Gary used social media to catapult those titles on to numerous bestseller lists. He's also the owner of the highly successful social media brand consulting agency, VaynerMedia.

3. Tim Ferriss - Twitter: 475k | Facebook: 210k | Blog: 25,000+ subscribers

The 4-Hour Workweek, The 4-Hour Body, and The 4-Hour Chef have sold millions of copies worldwide. He aggressively uses his blog and other social media sites to sell copies of his books as well as garner reviews. Not only are his book marketing techniques quite intriguing and helpful, but his work less and live more lifestyle has transformed many lives.

4. Seth Godin - Twitter: 352k | Facebook: 239k | Google+: 123k

Seth has authored fifteen books, twelve of which are bestsellers. His blog is highly trafficked and his loyal followers connect with him there on the blog as well as other major social media sites.

5. Michael Hyatt - Twitter: 213k | Facebook: 35k | Blog: 381k subscribers

Michael's blog "helps leaders leverage influence" and with over 381,000 subscribers, it's one of the most renowned blogs in the world. His most successful book, Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World, is a step-by-step guide to building a successful online platform through the power of social media. The book spawned his Platform University where he uses specialized classes, tutorials and actionable lessons to teach members how to grow their platform. Michael also runs a highly popular weekly podcast, This Is Your Life.

This list has been compiled by J.J. Hebert, bestselling author & president of Mindstir Media book publishing and is accurate as of 2-16-2014. None of the above authors are affiliated with MindStir Media book publishing company or author J.J. Hebert.

Why Authors and Business Owners Can't Afford to Ignore Google+

I work with authors every day via MindStir Media. Most of my authors use social media on a daily or weekly basis to promote their books. I know authors find it difficult to keep track of all the social media opportunities out there. It seems like a new social network pops up every month. Admittedly, I find that frustrating as well. At the moment I mainly focus on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Blogger, Wordpress, YouTube, LinkedIn ... and most recently -- Google+.

Don't get me wrong, I've been on Google+ for a while -- maybe a month or two after it was made available to the general public -- but until recently I didn't see much value there. Facebook seemed much more active and let's face it: It's hard to keep up with another social network. But Google+ is now the second largest social network according to Wikipedia, making it a force that you as an author or business owner simply cannot ignore. Not only is Google+ a place where you can network with other authors (and potential readers or clients/customers), it's also a great tool for Search Engine Optimization (SEO). I won't get into all the details here because there are other articles on the Internet that do a great job explaining (in great detail) Google+ and its impact on SEO (including charts), but essentially Google treats +1's as a "social signal." Social signals -- including +1's, Google+ shares, Facebook likes and comments, etc. -- are treated by Google as "votes," indicating popularity to the search engine. Research shows that the more votes a page has the higher ranking the page will receive...

Google+, a Google product, apparently has a greater impact on SEO than Facebook likes and comments and Twitter retweets and other social signals. This is really good to know especially if you're an author or business with a blog/website. Not only should you be active on your own Google+ account, you should also add Google +1 buttons on your blog/website so readers can +1 each individual post/page. If one of your posts/pages is a huge hit and attracts lots of +1's there's a chance Google search will give that content more visibility (i.e. higher ranking), which should result in more traffic to your blog/website and potentially more sales!

(Follow MindStir Media on Google+)
This post is sponsored by Page SEO Company, a top NH SEO agency.

Exceptional Customer Service from Authors

Whether you want to believe it or not, writing is a business. It's lots of fun but you should remember in the back of your mind that you need to make a profit in order to stay in business. What do all successful businesses have in common? Exceptional customer service. Great customer service creates happy and loyal customers. Make them happy and they'll keep coming back for more of your books. These sales generate profits. Treat your customers badly and you'll ultimately go out of business. 

Here are some ways to provide quality customer service as an author:

1. Use social media, e.g. Facebook and Twitter, to communicate with current and potential customers. Be polite, always. The key word there is "communicate." Don't talk to them; talk with them.
2. Take Gary Vaynerchuk's approach and respond to negative reviews (on Amazon.com, for example) with an apology and offer to refund. I know this may sound crazy, but you'd be surprised how much respect you will earn. Read this.
3. Throw in a bookmark or some complimentary item with every book sold at your website. Sign the book, obviously, and also the bookmark. Include a short note with your email address. Sign the note as well. Ask the customer to get in touch with you after they're done reading. Let them know you'd love to hear from them. When they email you, make sure to respond. This type of personal customer service will gain you many repeat customers!

Any other ideas? 

Facebook Fan Page Upgrade

Last Thursday, Facebook unveiled a major upgrade to fan pages. Users were -- and still are -- able to view their fan page(s) in preview mode, to understand the changes, before officially upgrading. Of course, sometime around March 11, Facebook will upgrade all pages automatically. I was initially a bit concerned about this upgrade as I control several fan pages, and let's face it, Facebook hasn't always been the most "user-friendly" social network. But I gave the upgrade a test run in preview mode and was pleasantly surprised. Here are some reasons I recommend upgrading your fan page(s) now:

•  New, neater design: The left sidebar is now packed with relevant info such as all tabs (e.g. Wall, Info, Photos, etc.), a cleaner space showing the total number of "likes," and a more prominent area to display favorite pages ... Feature photos sit at the top of the page. In other words, there's space for five photos at the top of each fan page, just like the new profiles. This is extremely valuable space and should be used to showcase recent business photos. You can even create a panorama with the five available spaces ... In case you haven't noticed, pages closely resemble the recent profile upgrade.
• Notifications, yes, NOTIFICATIONS!: Admins can now receive notifications when fans comment or post. This is a major improvement!
• Like and comment on other pages as your page

A couple cons to be aware of:

• No new Static FBML: Facebook has decided to do away with Static FBML. This is very disappointing for admins that like to create custom tabs (and have mastered Static FBML) for landing pages. FBML tabs that were created before the upgrade shouldn't be affected, but you won't be able to build a landing page with Static FBML going forward. Do not fear, though. There are other options: Check out http://www.pagelever.com.
• The editable text area beneath the default photo is no longer available. I was kind of bummed to see this disappear because I once used that area to offer extra links to fans. Now fans have to click on the info tab in order to see my websites.

Here's a screenshot of the fan page upgrade (click to enlarge):

http://www.facebook.com/mindstirmedia

Happy (Belated) New Year

Happy New Year ...

And all my previous posts have suddenly disappeared. I guess this means I need to start over and fill this blog with some solid content. Later ...

See those cool icons and button-thingies in the right sidebar? Okay, cool. I hope you'll give them some attention. They get lonely over there. Especially the ones that say "Receive the blog via e-mail" and "Follow". Why should you take action? Because this is the year--the big 2011--that I'm going to blog like crazy. I'll blog about self-publishing, writing, my work, book marketing, social media, and pretty much anything I find interesting. I might even add some videos and pictures to the blog. If you're lucky. Ha.

So won't you join me? I'd love to build a friendship with you on here. If you've already shown love to the follow/receive via e-mail buttons/links, I hope you'll stick around and also share the blog with your friends. You're awesome! Thanks for visiting my little platform of self-importance.

J. J. Hebert
Author and president of MindStir Media
http://www.jjhebert.net/ | http://www.mindstirmedia.com/