Twitter is a wordsmith’s best friend, so it’s no surprise that authors flock to the micro-social networking service to help launch their books. While most book launch campaigns on Twitter go under the radar, every once in awhile a hashtag will hit it big, or at least be so interesting that you can’t help give it some props. There are no hard or fast rules when it comes to successfully building awareness about a book through Twitter, but by looking at two recent examples, we can glean some insights on how to run a successful Twitter campaign.

ROUTE #1 – Connect with the people

Back in September, British author (and Twitter addict with over 1 million followers) Lord Alan Sugar took to Twitter to launch his new ebook The Way I See It, a non-fiction anthology of his rants and ravings about everything. Using the hashtag #thewayiseeit, he called upon his followers to use the hashtag to tweet their rants at him so he could use them to sign copies of his book. For a more in-depth look at the campaign that was considered “the first Twitter book signing” watch the brief video below.

So why did this work? For starters, the author already had a built in audience – which always helps – but what he asked Tweeps to do was already a natural extension of something that happens on Twitter – ranting. That’s it. All he wanted was for people to use the hashtag and to Tweet their rants in 140 characters or less.

The results? Within 24 hours there was a grand total of 350,000 tweets using that hashtag and over 2,500 mentioned Lord Sugar directly. For more, read this article. 

Route #2 – Be Creative

When in doubt, do something funny. Twitter is a place where witty people come together to show how funny they can be. Why? People love it. So it was no surprise that the Random House Twitter campaign for the release of their zombie apocalypse book Zone One by Colson Whitehead was a success.

Utilizing the hashtag #RHZombies, Random House and ALL of their imprints took to Twitter to broadcast the publisher-wide zombie attack.

In total, the hashtag #RHZombies was used 211 times and even noted for it’s cleverness in some major book blogs like GalleyCat and BookRiot.

So, my advice for your soon-to-be-published book? Get your publisher involved! The Twitter campaign for Zone One was led by publishers, who on average usually have more followers and Klout. Getting them to launch a hashtag campaign on your behalf is always a great starting point.

If you aren’t as lucky to have the backing of a big name publisher or are self-publishing,  go the Alan Sugar route and make your hashtag relevant to the world. Be creative but simple. Make sure your hashtag is short enough so people can incorporate it into their own tweets (space is prime real estate!) but creative so that it will incite others to participate in the conversation.

Twitter Coordinates Cleanups with #riotcleanup

Like the riots seen in Egypt and Iran earlier this year, Twitter and social media has been seen as playing a major role in the London riots this week. Although some have blasted Twitter and Facebook for somehow causing the destruction, there’s been a positive use of the medium as well. The morning after of rioting, microbloggers and users tapped into Twitter and riotcleanup.org to coordinate mass cleanups. The result was a mass outpouring of support and community unity in an effort to reclaim neighborhoods.

Avoid the Noid with Nostalgia and a Facebook Campaign

Domino’s mascot Noid was briefly called back from retirement to man a Facebook campaign (we didn’t realize how much we missed those commercials until we found some on Youtube). The hot pizza hater has been the star of an 8-bit Facebook game that rewards high score users with a $10 Domino’s gift certificate (though our attempts were constantly rebuffed with an “out of order” sign). You can still catch him if you can – he’ll be around until August 15^th.

QR Codes Get Cheeky

Brand shilling and sponsorships with sports teams is hardly news – we’ve long become used to seeing the shilling commercials and the logos on stadium walls. But for a bare minimum sport like women’s beach volleyball, what’s an athlete to do? British beach volleyball players Shauna Mullin and Zara Dampney will be sporting QR codes on their bikini bottoms during Visa FIVB Beach Volleyball International. A different approach, but we’re wondering just how close one would have to get to capture a clear shot.

Random Buzzers Up For the Vote at Forrester Groundswell Awards!

We’re proud of our work with Random House on their young adult community Random Buzzers, so we’re pleased to announce that we’ve submitted Random Buzzers to win a Forrester Groundswell Award in the  Energizing Category! Give our entry a read and vote for us!

Fury and Confusion at Facebook get Dialed Up a Notch

Earlier today, Facebook users spawned a mass upheaval with alarming statuses alerting others that Facebook had synced phone numbers and contacts to publish for the public. Needless to say, this left a spew of vitriol accusing Facebook of another invasion of privacy. However, it appears that these warnings are unfounded and bogus. According to this announcement on All Facebook, the contacts one would see are pulled from Facebook’s Phonebook, which has already existed for quite some time.

Facebook has responded to the uproar with this public statement:

 “Rumors claiming that your phone contacts are visible to everyone on Facebook are false. Our Contacts list, formerly called Phonebook, has existed for a long time. The phone numbers listed there were either added by your friends themselves and made visible to you, or you have previously synced your phone contacts with Facebook. Just like on your phone, only you can see these numbers.”

If this still bothers you, you can delete your number from Facebook’s Phonebook or unsync your phone from your Facebook contacts.

LinkedIn Sincerely Imitates Facebook’s Most Unflattering Features

Unfortunately, this is not a hoax: LinkedIn has updated your account with all sorts of new default settings, including opting you in to use your image in their advertising. One small blog post shedding light on the situation was all it took for a social media storm to erupt, causing the company to address and re-consider their position. Kudos to the company for responding quickly – we wouldn’t expect anything less from a social media company. That said, blog posts and banner ads announcing changes to privacy policies are (clearly) not enough to get the word out, so perhaps it’s time for these platforms to stop offending users with the automatic opt-in. Why not use those banner ads and blog posts to announce the new opportunities they’d like the masses to check-out?

Facebook and Google Pelt Each Other with Angry Birds

While the “friendly” rivalry for web dominance between Facebook and Google has been anything but secretive, both companies have made some public moves. Google Plus put the heat on Facebook by tapping into one of its lucrative revenues – its games. Google recently added a “games” tab, rolling out 12 new games, including Zynga Poker, Bejeweled Blitz and the very popular Angry Birds. In addition to allying with Zynga (a major Facebook game developer), Plus offered to take a 5 percent cut of virtual goods transactions, while Facebook takes 30 percent. Facebook immediately revealed its own update after Google’s unveiling: a separate stream of gaming activity which includes a ticker, scores, and updates; the option to add FB games to ones’ homepage bookmark section; and the ability to expand games full screen. We’re pleased at the option of playing Angry Birds on Plus, but we really want to hear about the supposed sequel – Angry Pigs.

4Sq Wants You to Join (and Write)

In an effort to create more content, Foursquare has rolled out the option of creating your very own follow page to leave tips. While current users cannot convert their accounts into follow pages, new users – who don’t have to be brands – can do so. Ordinary joes must meet the minimum requirements which includes posting at least five tips and uploading a picture to their account; helping to compete against other location-content providers like Yelp. We hope someone takes the time to create a page dedicated to tips on free (and clean) restrooms across the city.

Did we miss a bit of buzz? Let us know and join in on the conversation here!

You can view our case study below. We’ll post up a video overview shortly.

There were a ton of great entries from some really talented brands and agencies, so it’s truly an honor to be in such great company. Congratulations to everyone on our team as well as the team at Random House.

More case studies here.