Facebook can be very powerful if you know how to use it. But, I’ve talked to plenty of indie authors who simply don’t see the effectiveness Facebook can have on an online marketing campaign. If they only knew a few things about what Facebook can do, they just might have a better time using this extremely powerful social media platform.
First of all, there is a personal profile and then there are pages that you can create. A personal profile can only have 5,000 friends. That’s why I suggest you make that into information about who you are as a person, not a book page. Provide information about your work and education. Highlight your interests. Add friends that you really know and even indicate who is in your family. In other words, be real. That is your real profile and it should be only about you.
Of course, you would mention that you are a writer and list all your books. That’s perfectly fine. So, then create a page for each book. Some writers find this a little too much. But remember, the Facebook experience is for you to define. So if you don’t want a page for each book, then simply create an author page where you can list all of your books.
The advantage a book page or an author page has is that millions of people can “Like” your page. You can only have 5,000 friends on a personal profile. But, you can have over a million likes on a page. Likes are very valuable because when a person likes your page, it is indicated on their wall for all of their friends and family to see. That’s the power of word of mouth. Those friends see your page and they might visit. Then, if they like your page all of their friends will see it. This has exponential power to the nth degree.
If you create a book page for each book, put it in the category of Books & Magazines. Then, put it in the subcategory of Book. You’ll find those selections in Basic Information where you’ll also be able to indicate Genre, the ISBN, the description and the official website where you can send visitors directly to where they can buy your book. I would make this your Amazon book page or wherever you sell your book.
If you have a blog, which I highly suggest a wordpress blog that you install on your own domain, you should have an RSS Feed. Using RSS Graffiti on Facebook works like magic to bring your RSS Feed to your Facebook Book Page. Simply type “RSS Graffiti” in the search engine at the top of any Facebook page. It will take you to the App where you’ll be able to add it to your profile and configure it so that the RSS Feed delivers your latest posts directly to your wall. You can have it run the RSS Feed to your book page as well as your personal profile. It’s up to you!
Once your book page is up and running, you’ll want to get some likes on your page. It is an ongoing discussion whether or not the next step is ethical. So, use your discretion. My personal opinion is that you have to start somewhere. There are plenty of people who won’t Like your page or buy your book if they visit and see that it’s not very popular. So, build your numbers at first. Then, let it happen organically.
Join a few Author and Book groups on Linkedin.com. Type “Facebook Like” in the search engine for each group you join. You’ll most likely find a thread where everyone is supporting everyone else. Start going through the list of Facebook Pages and Like them all. Those authors will in turn Like your page and your numbers will start climbing.
The important thing is that when you are Liking author pages, do it as your own book page. Visit the Book Page you just created. You’ll find a link on the upper right hand side that reads, “Use Facebook As…” Click that link so that you are now using Facebook as your book page and not your personal profile. When you Like other author pages, they’ll see your book page as a Like.
Let your numbers start climbing and then, you have two more steps to bring it all together. The first step is to personalize the URL. Visit your book page and click “Edit Page” in the top right hand corner. Under Basic Information, you’ll see Username. Type in the name you want, preferably the name of the book. Then, Save Changes. Your new Facebook URL will be what you just typed. Start promoting that page. Don’t worry about the old link that you might have displayed everywhere. Facebook creates an automatic redirect. So, old traffic will make it to your new URL. (For more information on this, see the IU tutorial here.)
The next step is to add your book page as an Employer on your own personal profile. Visit your profile and click “Edit Profile” in the top right hand corner. Select Education and Work on the left hand side. Where you see Employer, type in the name of your book page. It should come up as you’re typing. Select it so that a link is created from your Profile Page to your Book Page. Once you save the changes, your book page will now appear in your personal profile as a direct link the first thing any visitors will see.
Now, you are finished setting up everything. You can make changes any time you want. But at this point, you’ve done enough to get started.
Stay tuned for Part Two – coming soon!
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Michael Allen is the author of When You Miss Me and A Danger to Society. When You Miss Me is a children’s book to help children who are going through a divorce. Young readers learn how to magically turn those times they spend apart into times they spend together. A Danger to Society is a novel about a man who unfortunately is the victim of a bad case of mistaken identity. He has to fight on his own to clear his name and make things right! Both are on Kindle as well as in print. You can learn more about Michael at his website. [subscribe2]
Good info, Michael. Thanks.
Good points…thanks for sharing them.
Thank you! You are welcome! There is more information in Part Two. The article was split in half. So, stay tuned. There is some great information yet to come.
My goodness some of these are ingenious. Worth printing out and sticking to the fridge. Thanks, Michael!
I'm one of those author's who doesn't get Fazebook … I don't know who is seeing what … I don't know who is talking to whom … I post things on my personal page … nothing but crickets. But I'm open to learn, so I'll dig into your suggestions … as soon as I can figure out what they mean.
Michael – This is such helpful, useful information. Thank you.
Thanks for sharing. Your suggestions are very helpful!