How to use Facebook to promote your book and yourself
Content:
- Introduction
- Getting Started
- What Content Should You Share?
- Making the Most of the Key Features
- Main Things to Bear in Mind
- Conclusion
Introduction
Using social media is a great way to promote both you and your book. It gives you the opportunity to share and discuss your thoughts and ideas on a more personal level with people who are interested in you and the work you do. This guide will explain what content to post and how to get the most out of Facebook, including how to use its key features for self-promotion.
We spoke to Mike King, who is the Books Content Marketing Manager at Taylor & Francis, for his advice and experience using Facebook. He emphasised how large your potential audience could be through Facebook:
“Facebook has over 2.9 billion monthly active users (MAU) — this compares to 310 million MAU for LinkedIn and 436 million MAU for Twitter. Put simply, there is a greater chance of more people finding out about you if you have a presence on Facebook. If you couple your Facebook presence with a promotion strategy, there is more chance of reaching a wider audience that shares your interests (or is interested in your product).”
Getting Started
If you are new to Facebook start here:
To create a Facebook account, visit www.facebook.com and complete the short form on the home page which will ask for your name, email address and date of birth. You will then be asked to enter a code which will be sent to your email address. This will confirm your email address,which enables you to move on to the next stage: Creating your profile.
Now that your account is set up, Facebook will highlight different areas on your profile to put in more information, upload a photo of yourself and add ‘Friends’ to your network. This is where you can incorporate personality and information about your book into your profile.
A brief explanation of Facebook terminology:
Friend:
Upon creating your Facebook account you will be presented with a list of people you may know to add as a friend. Once you click 'Add Friend,' the other person will be notified and they will have to confirm they know you or are happy to be on your network.
Post:
A post is when you write a statement or upload a photo or video which will show on your wall and the newsfeed.
Newsfeed:
This is the homepage where all of your friends’ posts will show. It continually updates every time you refresh the page.
Like/React:
When you see a post that you like, you can click the little 'thumbs up' button underneath the post to show that you have seen it and it has resonated with you, effectively 'liking' the photo. You can also hover your mouse over the 'thumbs up' to choose from a variety of reactions, including Like, Love, Care, Haha, Wow, Sad and Angry. Select the one that you want to ‘react’ with to the chosen post.
Comment:
If you want to write a comment on the post there is a small box underneath the like button enabling you to do so.
Share:
If one of your friends has posted a particularly interesting photo, video or article you may want to share this information with people on your network, in which case you can click the 'Share' button. This will then post the selected photo, video or article on your profile.
Groups/Pages:
Join community groups that relate to your subject area. Groups enable each member to post and have conversations with each other, which is a great opportunity to network with people in the same field. Although most groups don’t condone advertising within them, you may find that you build up a rapport with several of the members which then leads to adding them as friends. Not only will you be connecting with professionals, but also students, amateurs and hobbyists who are more likely to buy your book if they have had contact with you on a personal level.
What Content Should You Share?
It’s best to have a business Facebook page — this is an option available to anyone who has a Facebook profile, and allows you to keep your personal life separate from your work.
You can keep track of both profiles while logged into your personal account, and Facebook will notify you of any activity happening on your business account. This will make it easier to rationalise what you’re posting, how relevant the content is to your work and to behave and reply in a tone that’s suitable.
King explained, “This also enables you to take advantage of many options for promotion without having to blur the lines between your ‘personal’ following on your Facebook profile (friends and family) and your ‘professional’ audience (anyone interested in your book). This allows the page to organically gain followers. Posts on your business page can be boosted or advertised if the author chooses to do so.”
Find out more information on setting up your Facebook business page using this link: www.facebook.com/business/pageset-up.
Images
Facebook users are more likely to engage with content that features an image. If you’re able to share an image or photograph with your post, this will maximise the potential interaction. A photo or image can tell a story or convey emotion instantly — without sharing a single word. So, why not take advantage of it? We recommend only posting high-quality images for optimised engagement.
Similarly, you should aim to post on a regular basis and publish a steady stream of content, whether it’s your own images or sharing other peoples’ videos, posts or ideas. Followers and friends want to be consistently engaged, so post updates about what you’re up to.
Video
Video is fast becoming the most important media to post online, so if you’re able to film something relating to any events, activities or promotions you’ve got going on then do so — you will get the most engagement from your followers this way. Short and sweet is the motto for posting videos on Facebook,1.5 minutes is recommended to ensure maximum engagement. Similarly, high resolution is your best friend when it comes to video content. Aim for 720-pixel resolution or higher, if possible.
Topics
A great focus is to post about current affairs or ‘hot topics’ to garner follower attention. For example, in April 2019, the first image of a black hole was captured by scientists, which was an incredibly important and exciting moment for people all over the world — especially if you and your audience work in the field of physics. This exciting historical moment illustrates the ideal type of topic to highlight. Important note: Try to keep topics related to your dedicated field or book.
Your audience will also find these types of posts exciting and may relish the opportunity to engage with you and swap thoughts on the matter. By sharing relevant news, you’re also able to provide them with up-to-date knowledge of the industry and you’re providing a service worth following.
Sharing other peoples’ content
If you don’t have any content to post yourself, you can repost someone else’s that has resonated with you, and talk about your opinion or how it relates to your book and/or research. Just make sure that you don’t post anything that you wouldn’t want to engage with yourself.
“Building an engaged community involves constantly giving out a high-quality stream of content... Community building requires a genuine passion for what the community says it is about, a degree of dogged perseverance and the constant building of trust. If you provide the audience with what it wants, you will reap the benefits — but it will take the commitment of time.”–Aleksej Heinze,Gordon Fletcher,Tahir Rashid and Ana Cruz.
Tone
It’s also worth noting that unless you’re a political writer, it’s best to keep the subject of your posts politically correct and as uncontroversial as possible. We spoke to King about the topics and the tone of conversation authors should adopt:
He said, “The tone and frequency are very much down to the author and subject. If you are known for being jokey, a more serious tone might be inauthentic and vice versa. If the topic can get away with a light tone — the arts, gaming, etc. — it might be off-putting to take a serious tone in the content. Similarly,a serious dark topic (such as some areas of politics) wouldn’t get away with a frivolous tone.”
Making the Most of the Key Features
How to use the Facebook Live Feature
Facebook Live is a fantastic tool, as it makes it possible to reach your audience easily, spontaneously and in an authentic way. It allows you to make connections that would otherwise be less likely.
You might also want to think about using this tool at book launches, conferences or talks to enable your friends to see an event that they are unable to attend. For added engagement, you can use this feature to do a live question and answer session so your friends can comment and react to the video as it’s recording. Through this feature, you can then respond to any questions they add as comments straight away.
To get started, simply go to the Create post bar at the top of your newsfeed and select the button that says 'Live' with the camcorder next to it.Once the camera is open, add a short description of what you are live streaming (for example: Join me for my book launch today!) and then start recording by pressing the Start Live Video button.
You can broadcast for up to 4 hours, however, make sure to only record when the main eventsare happening to keep your audience engaged, as no one is going to be interested in watching guests arrive at a book launch. Afterwards, the video will be published to your page or profile so that friends or fans can watch it at a later date.
How to use the 360-degree photograph feature
Taking a 360-degree photograph at an event or conference is a great visual aid to help your followers (and those attending the event/conference) find you. You can take a 360-degree photograph using various apps which can be downloaded through any app store.
If you don’t want to download an app, you can just take a panoramic photograph of your surroundings which can be viewed in a similar way. Once you have your photograph, upload it to the newsfeed in the same way you would with an ordinary picture. Facebook will recognise that this image is different and it will enable the 360-degree feature, which allows you to swipe up, down, left and right to see more of the venue or location. Whilst this isn’t something you have to do, it’s a fun and engaging post that truly makes the most of what the platform can offer!
How to create a story
To share smaller snippets or everyday moments with your friends and followers, use the Stories feature. Your story can be made up of a series of photographs or short 20 second videos which areideal for showing small accounts of your life. Great examples include discovering your book on the shelf of a local book store or opening a parcel with the first prints of your new book. It’s a personal moment that doesn’t need any additional explanation. You can also share links (e.g. to reviews, articles, etc.) via Stories.
Checking in on Facebook
Are you attending an event that you want other people to know about? Click the 'Check In' button at the top of the home page and Facebook will use its location tracker to identify where you are and will post this on your profile/page.This can be helpful if you’re hosting a book launch at a venue or store that you want your friends and followers to know about. By checking in to a business, Facebook will automatically post a map, contact details and a link to the business page making it easy for anyone wanting to find out more information and attend.
How to boost your page and/or posts on Facebook
If it’s within your budget, it’s worthwhile to pay Facebook to promote your page or posts to potential followers. Before you begin this, make sure that your page role allows you to advertise.To boost, simply go to your selected post and click 'Boost Post' (found at the bottom right of your post.) You’ll then be able to select who you want your post shared to and how through the following options: audience, total budget, duration and payment method. The boosted post will automatically include your original post’s images and text. Find out more information about how to boost your posts on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/business/help/347839548598012?id=352109282177656.
Main Things to Bear in Mind
-
Vary the content:
Try posting on a regular basis with images, videos or illustrations. -
Make your posts interactive:
Aim for more engagement by asking a question to create and enable a more personal relationship with your friends and followers. -
Think about when you choose to post:
The time of the day and week matters. Schedule your posts to increase the likelihood of it being visible on as many newsfeeds as possible. -
Don’t forget you’re building an online community:
When you create a Facebook page,you’re forming an online community that needs to be continually managed and nurtured. The more you post and engage with social media, the better connection you will form with your audience and potential fans. -
Promote your Facebook page:
This should always be high on your to-do list. Promote everywhere you can — for example on business cards, flyers and email signatures.
“Ask friends and colleagues to like the page and promote it to their networks. Put it in your email signature, institutional bio and make sure the university includes it in any communications about the author’s book (a press release if they’re doing one, for example). Cross-promote to build up a following through Twitter, LinkedIn, other social channels, email and word-of-mouth to push people to the page.”–Mike King
Handling any negativity
Facebook, along with many other social network platforms, are taking big steps to tackle online negativity by making it possible to report and remove posts if they are offensive or abusive. On every post, there is the option to click the three dots in the top right-hand corner. This produces a drop-down menu to report, hide the post or unfollow the friend.
Conclusion
The features Facebook has to offer makes it a hugely valuable tool for self-promotion, so it’s highly beneficial to set up some time and create an account. As the largest social media platform worldwide,with 2.9 billion monthly active users, there is a massive opportunity to reach a large audience and navigating your way can really make a difference in getting your book out there.
References
Statista.com: https://www.statista.com/topics/751/facebook/ and https://www.statista.com/statistics/272014/global-social-networks-ranked-by-number-of-users/
Backlinko.com: https://backlinko.com/facebook-users
Medium.com: https://medium.com/swlh/ditch-or-keep-the-social-media-rundown-for-writers-d0e3208344d1
E-Consultancy: Social Media Strategy Best Practice Guide: https://econsultancy.com/reports/social-media-strategy-best-practice-guide/?view=full
Forbes.com: www.forbes.com/sites/gilpress/2018/04/08/why-facebook-triumphed-over-all-other-social-networks/#6da5f8996e91
“Digital and Social Media Marketing: A Results-Driven Approach” by Aleksej Heinze, Gordon Fletcher, Tahir Rashid and Ana Cruz
“An Introduction to Social Media Marketing” by Alan Charlesworth