by: Stephanie Burkhart
In today's
Internet savvy world, there are numerous social networking sites you can use
for promotion. They include Twitter, Triberr, Blogspot, Wordpress, Pinterest,
and Facebook.
Facebook is a
great way to appeal to the Internet audience.
Do you remember
the basic thought about your marketing spheres of influence? There's you, the
people you know, and the people you don't know. Facebook, in theory, allows you
access to the people you don't know. (Though they've made it tougher over the
years due to their algorisms)
A Little about
Facebook:
Founded in 2004
Headquartered in
Menlo Park, California
As of Sept 2012,
Facebook has over 1 billion users (however 8.7% are fake)
Using Facebook:
One must establish
a personal profile to use the site. You can add "friends" to your
profile and customize your privacy settings.
As an author,
artist, or publisher, you can establish a "fan" page. This fan page
is a great resource to post updates, new releases, giveaways, new covers, and
reviews.
Stimulating
Interest and Conversation:
Ultimately, you
want to hook readers and keep them coming back. The best way to do this is to
ask questions which stimulate conversation. I might suggest topics that appeal
to current interests staying away from politics and religion which can be
polarizing.
Some example
questions include:
What book are you
reading now?
What's the latest
movie you saw?
Chocolate or
Vanilla?
What's your
favorite summer fruit?
You could also
host daily trivia question. Topics include:
Cooking
Movies
Music
Games
Olympics
Sports
You get the idea.
The point is to
keep people coming back and generate interest in your product.
Time
Facebook has many
features that require a lot of time so I might suggest using a time limit when
at the site so you can focus on other marketing endeavors. 30 minutes might be
a good place to start and you can gage the rest from there. Use a timer with an
audible tone to help you keep track.
Other Features:
Facebook has other
features you can use to include photo albums, tags, a news feed, chat, poke,
messages, likes, games, and gifts.
Question for you:
What Facebook features appeal to you? What marketing/promo efforts work for you
on Facebook? I'd love to hear your ideas.
Author Bio:
Stephanie Burkhart is a 911 dispatcher for LAPD. She's a Cub Scout mom, loves
chocolate and adores coffee. Her latest book with 4RV Publishing is "First
Flag of New Hampshire," a YA mystery.
You can find her
at:
WEBSITE:
TWITTER:
FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/StephanieBurkhartAuthor
GOOD READS:
YOU TUBE CHANNEL:
http://www.youtube.com/user/botrina?feature=mhee
PINTEREST:
http://pinterest.com/sgburkhart/
Steph--I think you've covered the bases. Although, I'm still in a learning curve, which has not reached the zenith yet,I have learned some ideas.
ReplyDeleteMy FB account is all about ME. I don't include or involve my grandkids or any relative I have. It's only a promo tool, although I do have fun on it often. (that's the main use for FB.)
Fun--I try never to say anything negative, unless it's in fun, poking fun at poor parkers (my pet peeve,) or rude clerks, etc.
Never--do I talk about politics. I've unfriended 6 people for strong political views that become outrageous and hateful. I do have a few friends who come from both sides, and if they post something political, I may read it, but rarely even Like, and certainly not comment--but won't delete unless the person slips over into hate-filled rhetoric.
On the left sidebar of the NewsFeed, I discovered the lists for Pages I Have Liked--other authors--and take a few minutes to comment or Share their posts.
Whew. Anything more than this is over my head!
The best way I use FB is just to make myself known. And I'm doing that fairly well, I think.
The second best thing is posting an excerpt in an unusual way...I used the "He said-She said" for on novella and it got quite a few hits.Two sentences...that's it.
Also, I take some time--no more than ten minutes--to Like or comment on other FB member's posts..that gets attention, too--remember, that's my goal.
Keena taught me how to reply to a comment so that the person gets a message that I did so. Now, I love that feature and use it all the time. It takes a few extra seconds--but worth it.
Celia, you said something that resonated with me - Facebook is about ME.
DeleteFor the Millenial generation, I think they definately can wrap their ideas and thoughts around that concept, because they were raised mostly by believing it was all about "me." For me, a member of an older generation (Gen X) it can be a challenge, because I think talking about me can be very dull. I'm very humble to an extent. If you show me a geninue interest in the writing and I can talk for days, but I definately need to work on selling my "Brand." It's not something that comes naturally to me.
Yes, I like the newsfeed and use Pages I have Liked. It's some important to share other posts. That's cheap and it's how word of mouth gets out. I need to work on that. If anything, I lack time. I need more time to focus on marketing efforts.
Celia, I agree - posting a snippet of a novel is always an attention getter. It's so important to have a time limit, too. I need to figure out that feature. That would definately be worth while. Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts.
Smiles
Steph
Thanks for this article, Steph! I've been on FB for years and started my author page last fall. I've tried to find ways to attract people to my author page, but you're right, it takes a lot of time and I don't have much to devote to it. I'll try some of your ideas. Thanks for sharing!!
ReplyDeleteLaura
Laura,
DeleteThanks for stopping by. It's not easy getting your feet wet so speak, but I believe with a little patience and endurance, you'll start to see a payoff.
Smiles
Steph
Thank you, Steph. This is very timely for me as I'm about to "dip my toe" into facebook as an author.:-)
ReplyDeleteGod bless,
Susan
Susan, Glad to help. What I like about the blog and the marketing features we can all share our thoughts about what has worked for us and what hasn't. This helps others when they get to firm up their marketing plans.
DeleteSmiles
Steph
We're all always learning! You never know what will catch people's attention - the other day I got the most amount of views for a long time posting a picture of some pretty flowering bushes in my garden!
ReplyDeleteAngela,
DeleteYes! I've found out that it's the simple things like flowers, or even do you drink the tap water? Conversation starters get them to your page. Then you can post some promo posts but try to keep a focus on conversation starters to keep them on your page. It's then they'll slowly come around to checking out your brand and what you have to offer. It's kind of a slow process and requires patience, but I think once you take off it's rewarding.
Smiles
Steph
I never know when something I include on Facebook will catch followers' eyes. Unless I'm doing a specific promotion, I tend to include pictures of events in the area, or on vacation. Sometimes I just gripe about something, like what's the latest crazy idea FB has. Once in a great while, I put something political on my page, but usually I'll only respond on others' pages that agree with me about political items. Once in a while, I'll make a remark on someone's that doesn't agree with me, but it's usually a person I know. Politics can be a real problem.
ReplyDeleteI did a series about each Friday Lenten Fish Fry my husband and I attended, also put up pictures of the local dog walking club.
Morgan, It's trial and error and you have to find what works for you - what's natural for you. I love to do "history" type posts but also post about places I've been and some of my work with the cub scout's and my son's den. I think if you let your personality shine through that helps.
DeleteSmiles
Steph
Hey Steph,
ReplyDeleteI'm still exploring Facebook, though I started my author page just last year. Growing my author page LIKES is a constant goal of mine.
I enjoy being on FB, which I use for marketing my books, even though I have family and local friends as "Friends" on FB too. Setting a time limit is the only way for me to manage FB participation effectively.
I can't seem to predict which things get the most clicks/comments. My goal is to be myself. Hard to do much else.
Maggie, I think you've nailed it. Be yourself. And be patient. It can be hard in this "instant gratification" world, but in the long run, I think you'll see pay off. Marketing changes - it's dynamic. Marketing books is a different beast from 10 years ago (2003) to even 20 years ago and what worked then is considered "old" nowadays.
DeleteSmiles
Steph
I've had a Facebook page for quite some time. I keep it updated and all that, but I really have no way of gauging how well it's doing. So many people come to the Facebook page wanting to play gomes like Farmville that I have no interest in. I enjoyed reading your article, Steph.
ReplyDeleteSarah, I loved the war games, but they had a glitch and had to reset them and I haven't been back to play them. While I loved those games, they were definately time killers and I don't have time to enjoy them.
DeleteSmiles
Steph
Steph, great information. I've been neglecting FB, but need to get it in gear. Thanks for the reminder!
ReplyDeleteI try to send links to my author page for things like your blog, other blogs I think authors will find interesting, or something along those lines. I try to keep all game and other stuff to the personal one but often I try to remember to tell it skip posting on the games. Before I was focusing on writing I could spend all day there playing games. Now I try to avoid it except to hop on look around scan for a few things then get off. I was spending more time playing games than on writing lol. Today I did take a break and I spent some time on facebook and I played online spades. Sometimes I need a change of pace lol. Thanks for the information Steph. I tweeted and shared your link to facebook. :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your knowledge.As a marketing tool Facebook is really very effective.Facebook ads are more targeted, cheaper, faster, and with less competition. So using Facebook Marketing one can get positive result very soon.
ReplyDeleteThere can be extraordinarily ideas for using Facebook for marketing purposes, and this is the reason why the social media marketers concentrate more on finding easy ways to buy real Facebook likes from the genuine Facebook users. It helps in earning brand recognition, and spreading information about the latest offers as well.
ReplyDelete