27 replies to this topic

[AQCrew]

It's definitely true -- YA is has distinct idiosyncrasies and challenges in terms of PR, marketing, and directly selling it.

 

In addition, we'd like to thank everyone for their contributions to this thread.  What is clear is that FB is not an easy social media game to play and exactly how to play it seems to be varied and nuanced.

 

In terms of whether or not Facebook has promotional value, what is incredibly interesting is that we just reviewed our very first FB posts made a few weeks ago -- before we had any people "liking" our author page.

 

Those first posts all garnered approximately "50 people reached" and various different levels of click-throughs likes and shares.  That bolsters our suspicion that you can actually make posts on your author page without having any likes and mobile users are still being served up your posts if the posts are relevant to them. 

 

Is there value to that?  Yes, we think so... especially since you can make your posts on your author page into mini-floating banner ads (with different photos that include the title and link to your Amazon page, and catchy quotes from your book, etc. and use hashtags and connect them to your Twitter feed and Good reads page) AND especially if they are being seen by a different pool of rotating people each day and NOT just your "likers".  And especially since you can pre-schedule the posts to run on different days, and then never think about it again after that for weeks.

 

If it's an automated advertisement that's completely free, and you're reaching enough people, then definitely there's value there.

[J. Lea Lopez]

This seems really essential to understand.  What are the limitations to what you can do on Facebook with only an author page versus when they force you to use your profile to attend events, comment on posts, etc. 

 

This may also be the reason why some say it's easier to garner likes and friends with your profile versus your author page. 

I participated in a FB party a couple months ago where a couple authors interacted as their Page person as opposed to profile - the problem for me as an attendee was that I didn't get notifications when they posted in the event like I did with everyone else. So I had to keep checking during their timeline to see if there was anything I wanted to comment on. Big pain in the butt.

[Jean Oram]

Here's what I've heard/know:

 

If you like a page, but don't interact with that page, it is less likely that it's posts will appear in your newsfeed. The more you interact (like/comment), the more likely you are to see posts from them.

 

Posting a link in your post on your FB page decreases the likelihood of it getting a good reach. That's why you'll see some authors posting the links to their book in the comments to the post. I don't know if that happens in an event or a group as well.

 

Free books do much better compared to paid books--even sales--if you are posting in book promo groups. Otherwise, I haven't seen any bumps from groups or pages. BUT if you find a high interaction page on FB that deals with your genre and get your book posted there during a 'good' time, and get lots of others to like or comment on your post, it is more likely its reach with be greater.

 

As for the personal profile, it is my author personal profile on FB and it does not include people I know in real life--it is my public persona. Because readers DO expect to friend you and get that closer interaction. (At least romance readers do.) And honestly, I get WAY better interaction on my profile than my page. That's where readers really connect and become...friends. :D I love it! I've met some amazing people through my profile. It's wonderful! Truly! Yet, the page is good, too, because not everyone wants to friend you.

Cali, I like the idea of opening the street team. Mine is tiny and private, because that is what I needed at first and I needed to figure out who I could trust. Now, I am thinking it is too restrictive. So, we'll see. :)

[Jean Oram]

Thanks, by the way, AQCrew for the heads up on the link to an external site via an image that isn't necessarily the preview. Gonna try it!

Here's a tutorial if anyone is curious:

[C. Taylor]

Jean, great points!!  As for the street team, I wasn't actually thinking I'd open the street team, but rather start a seperate "group" that's called something like Cali MacKay's Updates and News Group.  So if a reader wants to make sure they get an update, etc. they join the group.

[Jean Oram]

That's what my street team suggested, Cali. They suggested an open group where anyone can join and it still has fun bits, etc. I'm going to give it a whirl once I get this book off to my editor. :D

 

I think an 'updates' group will work well for you--but won't that essentially be like your newsletter?

[J. Lea Lopez]

I'm also (still) baffled by the reach and performance. I continually get "X post is performing better than 80% of your other posts. Promote it now!" on posts that actually aren't doing all that well from what I can see... just got one for a post with four post clicks, five likes, one comment, and 43 people reached. Meanwhile I got no such thing for a post before that with 22 post clicks, 4 likes, 16 comments, and 574 people reached. I only have 397 likes on my page, too, so that one obviously was doing really well! haha Go figure.

[RSMellette]

And I'm just starting to figure out Goodreads.

 

Oh, yeah... and I should be writing... shhhhh don't tell Matt. :)