ClickInsights: Tips on how to use social media marketing for promoting white papers

Posted by Ambal Balakrishnan June 4th 09

ClickInsights is an Expert Interview Series brought to you by Connect the Docs (ClickDocuments blog). In ClickInsights Expert Interview Series we feature top notch industry experts and thought leaders and get their insights, opinions and predicitions. We also ask for their suggestions on what reports, whitepapers etc to read to keep abreast with latest trends in their industry.

Social Media Marketing is now getting a lot of interest not only from cutting edge startups but also from mainstream brands. How can White Paper writers and marketers leverage social media marketing? We have invited White Paper Experts to shed light on the following question: How to use social media marketing for promoting white papers? Read on to get their insights.

Michael Stelzner

Blog WritingWhitePapers Twitter Mike_Stelzner

“Social media is not about promotion, it's about engagement”

Michael Stelzner's Bio

Michael Stelzner is one of the leading authorities on the topic of writing and marketing white papers. Michael is also the author of the bestselling book, Writing White Papers: How to Capture Readers and Keep Them Engaged.

Michael Stelzner's Tip

Do NOT "promote" white papers with social media.  Rather monitor discussions on topic-relevant subjects and then interject by saying, "Have you seen this white paper on...". Social media is not about promotion, it's about engagement.

Michael Stelzner Recommends

• WritingWhitePapers Blog
• WhitePaperSource Newsletter
• WhitePaperSource Forum

Jonathan Kantor

Blog WhitePaperPundit Twitter Jonathan_Kantor

“Modify information for the short attention span of your audience”

Jonathan Kantor's Bio

Jonathan Kantor is the principal and founder of The Appum Group, "The White Paper Company", and has been producing enterprise white papers for the past 11 years. He is also the author of the “White Paper Pundit” blog.

Jonathan Kantor's Tip

If you are going to participate in social media, understand that your audience has a limited amount of time, and more importantly, a limited amount of attention with each message that you may post.

With this in mind, you need to keep your information messages short and sweet. If you are posting a white paper on Twitter, you must use the 140-character limit very efficiently. Try to describe the type of post, such as “White Paper:” or “Case Study:”, then use the remaining number of characters you have left for the white paper title and a brief description.

Most importantly, use the “Shorten URL” feature rather than your own URL link and directly link critical files such as white papers, case studies or articles so your viewer doesn’t have to navigate across several web pages before they find the download link.

With attention at a premium, if you have too many landing pages, users will give up. Once you’ve lost them, it will be more difficult to get them back in your camp when you need them.

Jonathan Kantor Recommends

• WritingWhitePapers Blog
• WhitePaperSource online forum
• Scribd for reference and distribution of white papers
• Google Alerts set to keywords such as "white paper" or "white papers" for news, articles, stories, or examples of white papers

Jim Lodico

Blog WhitePaperSolution Twitter Jlcommunication

“Go where your target audience is and join the discussion”

Jim Lodico's Bio

Jim Lodico is a white paper specialist who combines more then 20 years experience in writing and editing with a background in journalism and education.

Jim Lodico's Tip

Go where your target audience is and join the discussion. If they're active in a LinkedIn group, become an active member of the community. If there are bloggers in your industry, get to know them and offer the white paper as helpful information. Everyone wants to jump on the latest social media bandwagon but it's not the medium that matters, it's who's using the medium. There is no value in 20,000 followers on Twitter if they have no interest in what you have to say. Find your group, become a member of the community and offer your white paper as a way to help the community. Remember, you'll be much more successful if your white paper offers truly valuable information and not just glorified sales fluff.

Jim Lodico Recommends

• Michael Stelzner's blog White Paper Source 
• Michael Stelzner's book Writing White Papers; How to Capture Readers and Keep Them Engaged
• Jonathon Kantor's blog The White Paper Pundit

Phil Dunn

Blog QualityWriter Twitter PhilDunn

“Social media communication is about connecting with specifically targeted audiences”

Phil Dunn's Bio

Phil Dunn helps companies sell more and communicate more effectively with clear, compelling marketing and advertising writing. He's also co-author of The 7 Essential Steps to Successful eBay Marketing

Phil Dunn's Tip

When you get right down to it, social media communication is just about connecting with real-life, flesh-and-blood people. Yes, there are pixels, keyboards and Internet connections between us. But relationships are relationships, after all. And social media is not about collecting oodles of followers that have no specific relevance.

So, let’s assume you’re already set-up on Twitter, Facebook, Linked-In and such with some connections and followers. One of the best things you can do is ask your people (those with experience or interest in the paper topic, of course) if they would comment on your paper and offer suggestions, improvements or criticisms.

Use their ideas to improve the paper, thank them profusely, send them the paper with their improvements highlighted, and let them know specifically how they can help spread the word about the paper (you might even reward them with a book on the topic, a Starbucks card or something you know they like).

Remember, social media channels feature explosive scaling factors that help you touch exponentially more people than you imagined. By enlisting the help of those in your circle who are passionate about the particular topic, you’ve effectively empowered and developed a “hub” person to push the campaign forward. If you cultivate these kinds of relationships, you’ll get a big hub factor ROI when a 100,000 follower person in their Twitter group notices your idea and pushed it forward… and so on.. and so on (obligatory 1980’s shampoo commercial reference… apologies).
Of course, those who have the expertise and enthusiasm to comment on your paper will also have the connections into populations you expect to target. Growth of the promotion is organic and robust from that point on.

Phil Dunn Recommends

• How to Write a White Paper – A White Paper on White Papers
• Writing White Papers: How to Capture Readers and Keep Them Engaged
• The White Paper Marketing Handbook  ClickInsights: Tips on how to use social media marketing for promoting white papers

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