The Book Shelf RFI Makers All Consultants

Our Company  5 Social Media and Marketing Consultants  1 Web Engineer  2 Industrial Tech Engineers  2 Former Fortune 500 Corporate Executives  Came Together 4 Years Ago  Over 100 Major Projects Completed  Successfully Help Local Companies  Average Profit Increase Over 20%

The Book Shelf  Local, independent bookshop and gift store in a college- town of 60,000  Carries textbooks in addition to a wide selection of classic and mainstream/genre/popular texts  Also carries used books and novelty items (booksellersblog.com, 2009)

Current Problems  No Website  No Social Media Presence  Cyclical Sales  Competition with Corporate Stores

Proposed Solutions  Create Website  Support existing blog  Launch Solid Social Media Presence  Facebook  Twitter  Establish Online Reputation Best Practice

Case Study Companies  Sky Light Books  Established in 1996  Local, Independent Book Store – Los Angeles, CA  Common Good Books  Established in 2006  Local, Independent Book Store – St. Paul, MN  Tattered Cover  Established in 1971  3 Local Stores – Denver, CO area  All utilize Websites, Facebook, and Twitter

Website

 Company Website  Informational  Basic (starter web)  Limited information and function  eCommerce  Expand market from local to national  Complicated and expensive to maintain  Combined Informational and eCommerce Website

What is required?  Web Domain, usually company name for better Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Like car license plate. (Custom name)  or  What is SEO? How get listed first in search engine, for example, Google, Yahoo, MSN.  Web Server, space that host web content similar to parking space.  PHP 5  MySQL

Web Technology  Web site powered by Word Press, an open-source content management system (CMS) or blogging system  wordpress.org  Dynamic web page with admin backend  Admin is graphical, so anyone can use  Website contents is controlled via admin portal

Web Technology  Connected to Social Media  Facebook  Twitter  Blog  User input  Users can have their own account or can comment to any post

Example    Both Tattered Cover and Sky Light Books have their own official company website  Website is similar in nature, provide company news and company background information

Advantage  Create professional company image  Searchable in search engine, for example, Google, MSN, and Yahoo  Improve marketing and branding  Create additional means of communication

DEMO

Social Media Facebook

Something about Facebook  General introduction  The penetration rate is staggering – about 85% of students in supported colleges have a profile up on FaceBook.  That’s 3.85 million members. Chris tells me that 60% log in daily. About 85% log in at least once a week, and 93% log in at least once a month. (techcrunch.com, 2005)

Study Case Book Store Facebook Pages  Tattered Cover Book Store  Allows followers to view current status.  Post promotions.  Allow followers to view photos and watch videos.

Study Case Book Store Facebook Pages  Skylight Books  View current events– sales, guest speakers, authors and book reviews and debuts.  Help network grow through personal identification.

Study Case Book Store Facebook Pages  Skylight Books  Support outline book discussions.  The functional delay of the facebook page.  Readers can post book reviews on the discussion board.

Facebook page of the bookstore

Advantage of a Facebook Fan Page  Allows followers to view current status.  Post promotions.  View current events– sales, guest speakers, authors and book reviews and debuts.  Help network grow through personal identification.  Support outline book discussions.  The functional delay of the facebook page.

Social Media Twitter

Twitter  Online Communication Website  Allows One to Post:  Mini blogs (140 character limit)  Pictures  Links  Tweets to other pages

Advantages  Creates a Venue for Promotions  Skylight: use twitter for sales and promotional purposes  One promotion used: attendees received 15% off all books in the store, and 20% off hardcover fiction and graphic novels (Bravo)  This would help with increasing year round business

Advantages  Opens new markets  Allows stores to communicate with others outside of the bricks and mortar  [Twitter] has allowed me to meet and talk with people that I would never have known. (Booksellers Blog)  Increases customer base

Advantages  Creates easy method of communication  With the ability to post up to date tweets  Skylight books uses twitter to hold tweet- ups and live tweet author readings  It promotes customer to store interaction and enables customers to give an up to date rating of the store

Reputation Management  Keep It Professional  Promotes proactive dialogue  Keep Posts Personal  “I am looking for…a sense of that the person passing on that news is going to be part of the conversation, not just an RSS feed pass-through” (Booksellers Blog).  Keep Posts Entertaining  These are a marketing tools

Reputation Management  Keep It Secure  Web admin is password protected  Comment is spam filtered, any foul language is automatically filter and can be process through admin system  Additional password protection can be added using server based firewall and password protection

Budget  Facebook and Twitter are free services, so this is of no cost to The Bookshelf  The only cost is the support of technical consultants (group members).  Options to add advertisement campaign that targets specific audience  Only charges when users select the link to the advertisement.

Budget  WordPress and WordPress Theme   Theme control the look and feel of the website  Web hosting  Recommend getting a paid hosting for better speed and reliability. For example GoDaddy or BlueHost  Web Programmer  We will set up and custom the website for you  We will provide one year customer support, after one year you can purchase additional support for 20/hr

Budget Overview

Work cited  Bravo, Britt. “How Independent Bookstores are Using Twitter.” Cultural Entrepreneurship. n.d. Web. 17 Oct  “Can booksellers and publishers use Twitter to drive business?” Booksellersblog.com. Booksellersblog. February 29, Web. 17 Oct  Common Good Books Facebook screen shot. < Books  “How Booksellers Can Use Facebook.” booksellersblog.com. Booksellersblog, n.d. Web. 26 Oct  Skylight Books Facebook Screen shots.  Tattered Cover Book Store Facebook Screen shots.  Use Facebook." TechChurch.com. TechChurch, n.d. Web. 26 Oct