15 Event Promotion Ideas for a Blogger Book Launch

My Skechers Shape Ups arrived today. It’s neat; when you wear these shoes, you don’t walk–you sort of roll.

It’s an odd motion at first, but one that keeps you moving. That’s kind of how social media is, too. It may feel odd at first, but once you get moving you wonder how you managed to communicate before being connected to your friends online.

Flickr Blogger Book Launch Group Disclosure

My company contributed to the social media strategy along with Beth Rosen of 4 Keys Media; we created a flickr blogger book launch photo group; facilitated the Naked Fitness book tour event blog, and I was a member of the event’s social media team. Along with the other participants, many high profile social media celebrities, I received several promotional giveaways, including a NordicTrack weight set, Coach’s Oats, Muscle Milk, EA Sports Active 2, lunches and dinners at Hotel Arista in Naperville and Sunda Sushi. Today, I’m sharing a few ideas with you about how to promote a blogger event and book launch.

Posterous is a great place to set up a free blog. We set up 27 posts, including this one that recognizes the Naked Fitness, which is the name of Andrea Metcalf’s new book, event sponsors.

15 Social Media Marketing and PR Suggestions for a Blogger Book Launch

1. Encourage sponsors to interact with bloggers and to feature them on company blogs.

2. Set realistic expectations of the kind of coverage sponsors can expect, both directly and indirectly.

3. Give the social media team clear guidelines regarding content and frequency.

4. Interview bloggers and invite them to guest post on the event blog.

5. Host communications briefs before, during and after the event.

6. Give the bloggers an RSS feed they can follow and plug into their stream, if they want.

7. Invite local people with high klout scores to participate in a social event.

8. Propose that local officials declare a special day to honor the event.

9. Connect with schools and community centers to set up special appearances.

10. Allow time to plan, create, review, edit and then schedule tweets and Facebook updates.

11. Set measurable social media and marketing goals.

12. Collect all communications on one site with a back channel for check-ins.

13. Develop a series of releases, one for each event and sponsor.

14. Distribute releases online via prlog.net [free] or prweb.com [paid].

15. Publicize all blog posts with updates throughout social networks.

What would you add?