Expert: Phyllis Zimbler Miller
With over 500 million members worldwide Facebook is a social media giant. And, as such, this is one online place that book authors should definitely be hanging out.
First, though, let’s clarify a couple of things because Facebook is very sensitive to misuse of its site.
The number one thing to remember is that you CANNOT use your Facebook personal profile as your “business” page. The personal profile should be in your name and not your book’s title. And it would be a good idea to have your photo and not your book cover as the profile’s photo.
The number two thing to remember is that Facebook is always changing – its rules, its software, its everything. What I write today can be totally different by tomorrow. Thus it’s a good idea to try to keep up with the major news about Facebook changes.
But here’s what may be most important for book authors who want to use Facebook to connect with potential readers:
Facebook has been continually making its site more business friendly. And business friendly is good for book authors.
In the past there were group pages and Facebook fan pages. These Facebook fan pages have become just Facebook Pages (although some people still refer to these as fan pages). Now people “like” your Page (instead of the old way of becoming a “fan” of your fan page).
And, of course, to add to the confusion, each Facebook Page has several tabs, which are really separate pages with separate URLs. For example, each time you add a “note” to the Notes section of a Facebook Page, it is the same as adding a post to a blog, including a permalink for that note the same as a permalink for that post.
While you can start a group for your book, because of the features that Facebook keeps adding to the business-oriented Page, in my opinion it now makes more sense for authors to create a Page for their book.
While you can start a group for your book, because of the features that Facebook keeps adding to the business-oriented Page, in my opinion it now makes more sense for authors to create a Page for their book.
That said, it is important to realize that, once you create a title for that Page, you cannot change it after you have 100 people who “like” the Page. Spend some time creating your Page title (up to 75 characters including spaces) to include keywords that would resonate with your target readers. This is vital because a Page title is searchable inside and outside Facebook.
Of course, on a Facebook Page it is appropriate to use your book cover as the Page’s photo. And if you have several books, you can add the covers of other books in the photos section of the Page.
You can also add your website’s email optin code to a Facebook Page in order to capture people’s emails directly on your Page. (For an example see the free report tab at www.facebook.com/bookmarketing)
And you can add your Page’s Facebook widget on your website to encourage people while on your site to “like” your Facebook Page. (For an example scroll down the right-hand side of www.millermosaicllc.com for the Facebook Page widget for www.facebook.com/bookmarketing)
(This “like” for a Facebook Page is NOT the same Facebook “like” that you can click regarding updates and comments while on Facebook or blog posts and website pages while off Facebook.)
And then there’s the whole subject of paying for Facebook ads – sending targeted people to your Facebook Page or even your website/blog.
Check out information about this topic at “How to Create a (Targeted) Facebook Ad”
Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) is the co-founder of the social media marketing company Miller Mosaic. Read the company’s social media marketing blog.
Phyllis is also the author of the novel MRS. LIEUTENANT as well as the co-author of FOUR COMEDY SCREENPLAYS and the co-author of the Jewish holiday book SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION.
