DIY Social Media: Promote Your Book on Facebook
Social media can be a great outlet to promote your book, as well as yourself, to audiences everywhere. On October 22, our first “DIY Social Media” series blog offered tips on promoting your book on Twitter. This week, we want to take a deeper look at another social media platform: Facebook.
As of March 2013, Facebook had 1.1 billion users. With that kind of potential, Facebook is a playground of opportunity for promoting your book.
The first step in this process is to log in to your personal account and create a Facebook page for your book. Creating a Facebook page for your newly published book is a great way to spread the word about your work and to generate a following on this social site.
To do that, follow these steps as provided by Faceboook.
Invite your friends and family to “Like” your book’s Facebook page. As they begin interacting and sharing your page with others, you’ll build “viral reach” throughout the Facebook community, which will help build your audience.
Below are some additional tips and suggestions to help you build an impactful Facebook page for your book.
Profile picture – It’s simple: you made a Facebook page dedicated to your book, so be sure to use a quality image of your book cover as your profile picture. That way, whenever you write a post or leave a comment on your page, rather than seeing your personal picture, a person will see your book’s cover next to the post or comment. This is an easy and subtle way to remind them of your book.
What to post – Be sure to stay current and regularly add posts to your page. We talked in an earlier blog about not inundating your friends with posts about your book; rather add relevant and informative posts to your page that aren’t constantly pushing them to buy a copy. These posts a news or current events article about your book’s topic, or something intriguing about the literary field in general. Of course, when your book hits certain milestones, such as the sale of 100 copies, use the Facebook page to announce the news! Just remember to keep your posts short, sweet and to the point.
Make purchasing easy – If page visitors are excited about your book and want to purchase it, make it easy for them! Be sure to include purchase information and a URL in the “About” section of your page.
Create an event –. Alert your Facebook friends about an upcoming book event or public appearance by creating an event on your book’s page. You'll be able to list all of the important information about the event, and even request RSVPs if you’ll need them.
Give an inside look – Choosing excerpts from your book to post to your book’s Facebook page is a great way to give your audience an inside look at what your book has to offer. If you wrote a book that is very image- or illustration-heavy, consider uploading a few images to your page with a short explanation about each picture. But don’t give away too many plot points; just tell enough to intrigue them and leave them wanting to learn more.
Seize the moment – ‘Tis the season to promote your book on Facebook! With the holidays right around the corner, take the opportunity to promote your book by informing potential readers where they can buy it for themselves or for their family and friends!
As you can see, there are many ways to market your book via Facebook. Just be creative and use your imagination to reach out to the vast number of people who regularly use this social site!
Copyright Dorrance Publishing 2013