Monday, February 11, 2013

Let's talk about Facebook promoting!

Promoting your book on Facebook is more than just posting about your book all the time. The first thing you want to do is get a Facebook page specifically for your book or series. Then you'll want a cover image and a page profile image.

From there you can begin posting about your book and gaining "Likes."  Here are some ways to gain "likes" on your facebook page:
  • Share your page posts on your regular account too. When people see that you shared "Your Facebook Page's Name Here's" photo or link, they can easily click on the link that goes back to your page and like it.
  • Have a contest. If you have a giveaway when you reach X number of likes, people will bring their friends in.
  • Find Like Exchanges. Some authors create groups or events and invite others to post links to their pages and everyone in the group exchanges likes.
  • Be sure to post links to your facebook page in all your promo blog posts. People can easily find your page and like it this way.
  • Post funny stuff. People love funny stuff and they also share it often. If you post a few funny things each day along with your regular promo posts, people will come for the funny and stay for the book. Funny stuff that is in some way related to your book's subject matter is a BONUS!
I recently discovered something on Facebook, that I need to relay to you guys. Most everyone knows that if you run a facebook page, not everyone sees your posts. This is because Facebook only puts it in so many people's feeds to IDK, cut down on spamming or something? Pretty ridiculous if you ask me. Anyways, lately I've been getting invited to a lot of events. One thing I've noticed is that I receive notifications whenever someone posts something in that event. This happens regardless if I've accepted the invitation to the event or not. I think the only way not to receive the notifications is if you decline the invitation, and most people are too polite to do that.

SO! What does this mean to you? It means that when you hold a facebook event, you'll get more notice if you post updates in the event page. That DOES NOT mean that you should have an event for every little thing and post in it for every little update, but if your book is on sale, having a free day, or if you are going on a blog tour or something like that, you should create an event. Just keep in mind that too many of these might annoy some people and turn them away from you.

Posting links in these events is a good idea. If you are having a blog tour, post the links to those who are hosting you that day. Post each link only once, since people get these as notifications and not in their news feed. If you are having a free day or sale for your book, post links to WHERE they can get your book for free or on sale. If you make it on to a best sellers list while running one of these events, it's a good idea to post to the event a "Thank you," and possibly a link to the best seller list if you'd like.

Another way to promote on facebook is by "liking" and commenting on statuses. When you like or comment on some one's status, they get a notification and your name is what they see. If they see that you are taking an interest in them, they will be more likely to take an interest in you. Not to mention, getting your name out there as much as possible is a great way to promote yourself as a brand.

The basics of Facebook promoting are posting at least once a day on your personal account AND your pages, posting stuff that is NOT about your book (people will get tired of only reading about your book), and conducting yourself in a professional manner. This means no getting into fights in comment fields or attacking someone. Leave that to the amateurs.

Another thing about facebook, is the images that are posted. These days, more than half of the posts in my newsfeed are links with images or just images. These get shared, especially if they are funny or meaningful. You can create image about your book that can be shared. To read more on this topic, go to my post titled What should be in your digital promo arsenal?

Thanks for stopping by! Tomorrow we talk about promoting on Twitter!

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