1000 True Fans – What to do with a Facebook Author Page?

In my quest to find 1000 “true” fans, February’s focus is social media. If you want to get caught up, check out the 1000 “True” Fan Landing Page.

Review of Past Week (Mission 5: Is Twitter a Waste of Time?): My answer…perhaps yes?

Let me explain. Twitter is great for interacting with people (or other authors in my case.) I learn from posts, especially following hashtags. My take on twitter: If you like it, use it. But use it like it’s intended–social…with chatting, interacting, and helping others the best you can.

My BIG DISCOVERY this week: Hootsuite. It makes twitter so much more user friendly. It’s free software that lets your organize your streams (you can do Facebook too.) I have it set up simple, with three tabs/organizational areas. Having Hootsuite lets me interact more meaningful…and quickly. All I do is open it up, scan all my streams/tabs (interacting with whatever pleases me) and then move on. Here’s how my tabs are organized:

• Tab 1 (Account Overview): Includes: mentions, messages, and new followers.
• Tab 2 (Hastags I follow): Includes: Writing hashtags (#amwriting, #writerslife, #indiepub, etc), Reading Hashtags (#amreading, #whattoread, etc), Market hastags (specific to my next novel — #urbanfantasy, #vampires, etc) and blogging hashtags (#bookblogger, #blog, #sundayblogshare, #mondayblogs, etc.)
• Tab 3 (Lists): I have a few lists I follow. Two I made… One is public of all the awesome people I’ve run across on multiple other platforms. The second is private, of those people who I’ve interacted with on twitter and want to follow-up with or interact again. I also follow two other lists, put together by other twitter users… Fantasy writers and Sci-Fi writers.

So…How did this week turn out in terms of mailing list growth (my measure of success)?

Drum Roll…Ready?

Current Mailing List Subscriptions: 38 fans / 1000 true fans (Up 7 from last week…but hold your horses, they weren’t from twitter. I am trialing instafreebies with mailing list integration for one month. I’ll blog about this when the free trial is over.)

This Weeks Mission: What to post on my Facebook author page…and passive growth of “fans”

Facebook is a FANTASTIC way to connect with other writers. I’m in multiple groups that I actively participate in. In addition to this, I love using it to create a smaller private group to coordinate events. My advice: Find a group, request to join, and BE ACTIVE! This is how you make connections.

Back in September, I decided it was time to create a Facebook author page. (Blog about that here.) Since then, I’ve posted 38 times…and struggle every time with what to post. What content should I share on my author page? My blog…and twitter function under my “platform” of discovering how to write…together. My Facebook author page is different. It’s about me as a writer.

Who do I want to be? I’m a little quirky…ridiculous at times. So, I decided to share funny reading (sometimes writing) cartoons. I need to remember that while my blog caters to writers, my Facebook page is more for readers.

Like always, I did some research. Here is some ways to use your author page to connect with and grow your audience. I’m hesitant to just randomly ask people to like my page, I’ve read that this impacts the magical Facebook algorithms on who see’s your posts and who doesn’t (i.e. if less people are engaged, the less likely it is for your post to be displayed.) So my goal isn’t to grow in number of followers, but to grow in quality followers. Because of this, I’m not going out asking for some random page likes.

Here’s some suggested content for an author page: Goal – KEEP IT RELEVANT and ENGAGE THE AUDIENCE. (Also, a big rule of thumb: 20% promotion and 80% non-promotion)

• Ask questions: I’ve had great success with asking for help with taglines, novel covers, and other things relating to what I’m stuck on. I think it would be good to engage your fans to…such as, “Who’s your favorite villain?” “What was the last book you read?” “Which novel made you cry?” Hmmm… I’m going to have to try these.
• Photos of books / book events / relating to writing. I think sharing personal photos, not stock images, is the best way to engage the audience.
• Book quotes: I usually do this in conjunction with a new release or a special deal…Or share a quote from a book you’re reading.
• Upcoming events I’ve posted cross promos and release dates.
• Book trailers / other videos I haven’t posted a video yet, but I know videos are taking over social media.
• Really good or important blog posts. Not everything, but the ones I want everyone to see. I know my facebook followers are not loyal blog followers, but do check out the posts I direct them to.
• Inspirational / Funny quotes & comics: Yeah, that’s just my quirkiness coming out. I have some of this in my newsletter too. I like to do more of these than anything else.

How often should I post? This is another question I struggle with. Twitter you can post a lot. Facebook requires some moderation. (Just as blogging does.) I know I don’t post often enough–once per week…maybe twice if I have a promo coming up. I think a good goal would be three times a week. (With at least two of them NOT RELATED TO MY WRITING OR BOOKS. I don’t have any science behind that, but that’s just my thought. Perhaps daily would be better? I’d love to know your thoughts. I personally think the frequency is individual based on the page owner’s own personality.

Facebook Author Pages have some challenges. For one, you can have 1000 page likes, but when you post, Facebook has some behind-the-scene algorithms as to who sees your posts. (Maybe only 10%?) You have the option to PAY for a post boost, where it’ll go out to all the people who like your page. Yeah, I hate that. That’s why some people use a personal page instead of an author page. I figure, if I have something that important to say, I’ll share it on my personal page and ask my fans to share it too.  (Or bite the bullet and just pay to boost the post if it’s THAT important. Facebook has to make money, too, right?)

And remember: If you get ANY INTERACTION AT ALL, make sure you interact back!

My goals this week: My goals are pretty simple.

1. Post 3 times. One promotional post and two fun posts. (I’m heading over there now…as soon as I hit publish.)
2. Come up with a daily routine to check twitter and interact in Facebook groups — without it sucking ALL my writing time away from me.

Next Week: Blogging!

Let’s learn from each other. What do you enjoy seeing on an author’s Facebook page? What do you post on your own?

(P.S. My Facebook Page is here if you want to watch me get a handle on it.)