Facebook Marketing for Book Authors - Get More Fans and Book Sales by John Kremer
108 Great Websites for Book Authors Copyright 2013 by John Kremer
All rights reserved.
Open Horizons
P. O. Box 2887
Taos, NM 87571
575-751-3398
Web: http://www.bookmarketingbestsellers.com
Note: The original version of this report was written over three years ago. While Facebook’s look and feel (and some of its features) have changed since that time, the essence of this report and it’s 9-point action list is still valid. Table of Contents
05 . . 9-Point Facebook Marketing Action List
07 . . Introduction
08 . . Reasons You Should Use Facebook for Marketing
11 . . 7 Ways to Use Facebook to Create and Promote Books
13 . . Create a Facebook Profile (Join Facebook)
14 . . Create a Facebook Fan Page
14 . . Choosing a Category
15 . . Choosing a Subcategory
19 . . Using and Promoting Your Fan Page
20 . . Editing Your Fan Page: The Secret Promotional Tools
24 . . Facebook Raves and Rules
26 . . Great Business Page Examples You Can Model
28 . . Facebook Fan Page Design
29 . . Facebook Promotions
30 . . 21 Ways to Get and Retain Fans
34 . . Facebook Engagement Tips
35 . . Facebook's News Feed
37 . . Facebook Tools
38 . . Invite Your Friends
40 . . Tell Your Friends
42 . . Facebook Social Plugins
48 . . Facebook Events
52 . . Facebook Groups
54 . . Facebook Questions 56 . . Facebook Photos
57 . . Facebook Emails
59 . . Facebook Apps
60 . . Popular and Useful Apps
62 . . Facebook App Promotions
64 . . Facebook Ads
69 . . Sample Facebook Ad Results
69 . . Additional Facebook Ad Resources
71 . . Facebook Sponsored Stories
73 . . Facebook Contests
74 . . Facebook Deals
75 . . Facebook Insights
77 . . Facebook Marketing Insights
79 . . One Key Final Note
80 . . Success Story from a Book Author
81 . . More Resources for Using Facebook 9-Point Facebook Marketing Action List
I am assuming that you already have a Personal Profile page on Facebook – one that you use for yourself as a person. If you don't have that, go do it now. It takes about five minutes to set up a Personal Profile Page at http://www.facebook.com .
Now, if you have a Personal Profile page already, here are the 9 actions steps you should take to begin marketing you, your book, your ideas, and your company on Facebook.
It will take you one to two hours to set the Fan Pages and accessories for your Facebook Marketing Campaign. It will then take you anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes a day to maintain and grow your campaign. How much time it takes will depend on the level of activity you choose to engage in – and how many Fan Pages you decide to set up for you, your book, your keywords, and your company. I am currently spending about 10 minutes a day on Facebook.
1. Create a Fan Page (see page 8 for details) - It takes about one minute to set up a page. Then another half hour or so to write a post or two, add your profile image, fill in your background (address, phone, etc. plus any history you want to share), add any photos or images you want to add (book covers, photos of you speaking, etc.), etc. The final action you should take here is very crucial: Like your page by clicking on the Like button at the top of the page.
2. Collect Likes or friends (see page 23). Promote your new page on your Personal Profile page as well as via your blog, website, newsletter, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.
3. Join Groups (see page 43). Join a few groups and begin to socialize a little. After being in a Group for a few days, you can ask people to Like your page via your signature. Spend five minutes a day scanning the activity in the Groups you join. Comment where appropriate.
Later, you can also create your own Group, but wait a few weeks or months before doing that so you know what kind of Group you want to create and how you want to set it up and operate it.
4. Create Events (see page 40). Add Events for any activity you are doing on the Internet or in the outside world. Let people know about your speaking appearances, blog tours, teleseminars, publication dates, upcoming TV spots, seminars, etc. Events are an incredible way to promote you and your book to a much wider audience on Facebook (via your friends, and their friends, and their friends). Try to add one or two Events each week.
5. Add a Facebook Activity Feed or Recommendation Feed to your website and/or blog (see page 36). These Feeds add visibility for your Fan Page outside of Facebook and can be a great way to get people involved with your website or blog as well (since a number of your Facebook updates will focus on what's happening on your blog or website). This takes about 10 minutes to set up via cutting and pasting a little code into your website or blog. And then it's automatic from then on. 6. Add Facebook Comments to your blog and/or website (see page 35). You can generate the interactivity of Facebook on your website or blog. I now use Facebook Comments on several pages of BookMarket.com, including the home page. This adds great web 2.0 features to your website – and gets Facebook people interacting with your website or blog.
This takes about 10 minutes to set up on a few pages, plus a few minutes a day monitoring a conversations happening on the pages you've set up with Facebook Comments.
7. Add Like buttons or Share buttons on your blog (see page 34). This allows Facebook users to share your website or a specific blog post with their friends on Facebook. This takes about 10 minutes to set up on a blog. And requires no additional activity on your part.
8. Test Facebook ads (see page 56). Test a Facebook ad. It takes five minutes to set up and allows you to reach a wider audience on Facebook. You can target by user likes or user demographics. And you limit how much you spend testing ads. The best use of such ads is to drive people to one of your Facebook Fan Pages.
9. Ask Questions (see page 48). At least once a week ask a question or set up a small poll. Questions or polls are easy to do on Facebook and should require only a few minutes to set up once a week and a few minutes a day interacting with any responders to your question or poll.
I do cover other topics in the following pages, but these 10 steps are the most important. These steps can be set up in an hour or two and, from them on, require 10 to 20 minutes of follow-up each day. Introduction
Note: There is a Table of Contents at the very end of this report (page 71).
As you know (if you haven't been hiding in a cave or attic during the past few years), Facebook is the hottest Internet phenomenon right now, especially now that it's added Fan Pages, which Facebook now simply calls Pages.
More than 750 million people belong to Facebook worldwide. That's a huge audience of potential buyers for your book, ebook, information product, real-world product, service, idea, or cause.
More facts:
Facebook is the #2 most visited website in the world (after the Google collection of sites).
Facebook adds more than 500,000 new users every day.
55% of their active users log on to Facebook every day.
About 70% of Facebook users are outside the United States (incredible global reach).
Facebook gets 100 billion hits a day.
Users spend 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook.
People click the Like button on Facebook more than 3 billion times every day.
More than 30 billion pieces of content (links, news stories, blog posts, photo albums, notes, videos, etc.) are share every month.
The average Facebook user has 130 friends.
The average user created 90 pieces of content on Facebook every month.
The average user is connected to 80 community pages, groups, or events.
Over 2.5 million websites have already integrated with Facebook.
250 million Facebook users currently access Facebook through their mobile devices.
People that use Facebook on their mobile devices are twice as active on Facebook than non-mobile users.
A Facebook fan can be worth up to $136.38 per year in extra sales: Reasons You Should Use Facebook for Marketing
Here are just a few reasons why Facebook is the hot new way to market books, products, services, ideas, and causes:
Creating a Fan Page takes minutes. You don't need to know HTML. You don't need to buy a domain name. You don't need a web host. You don't need to know how to use FTP. There is no delay waiting for your website to propagate through the Internet. You are live within minutes.
Facebook Pages create branding that Personal Profile Pages don't. You should own your brand on as many social networks as possible and, at the very least, on the most popular social network worldwide.
Facebook is great for SEO. Google is now fully indexing Fan Pages (it's still not doing that for Personal Profile Pages or Groups). Your Facebook Fan Page content will now be available not only on Facebook but also on Google and other search engines.
You can create huge lists within days or even hours. Now, most Fan Pages don't have large follow lists, but it is possible to create huge lists fast. Some people have created lists of 10,000 to 200,000 fans in three days or less.
Facebook is about creating relationships , making connections, and earning trust. Facebook is great for engaging your audience in two-way conversations. Don't just sell, sell, sell. That's not the dynamic of social media. Think of it as offering free hugs rather than shouting via a megaphone.
Facebook pages are the new opt-in email lists for Internet marketing. Email delivery rates are tanking. Email open rates are tanking. Email response is far less than it used to be. But Facebook is still a very responsive medium.
Facebook ads are effective. You can buy lots of traffic for under a penny per click (if done right). When you set up an ad, Facebook actually tells you the potential reach of your ad as you set it up.
You can reach millions of people in any niche, location, or passion. Facebook allows for incredible targeting via demographics, locations, likes, and a lot more.
There is little competition since so many people are still doing a bad job of using Facebook pages and ads effectively. It's still very much a growing and vital market.
Communicating with your list (fans) can be short and sweet . You don't have to write long emails. You can simply add a photo or video with a short comment. Indeed, you can't write long posts via the news feeds. Short is what works.
Delivery is instantaneous. When you do a Facebook update, it goes out right away. No delay.
Response times are quick. Most people will respond to your updates within minutes. And then responses can trickle in for days after that (but rarely for more than days, since updates disappear in the news feed timeline).
Your audience is spending tons of time on Facebook . The average Facebook user spends 55 minutes a day on Facebook. That means you have many chances to catch them live with your updates.
Facebook offers a quick entry into mobile marketing since many users access their Facebook news feed via mobile phones. Indeed, as noted above, Facebook users who access via their mobile phones are twice as active on Facebook as web users.
You can drive traffic to your key website via Facebook Fan Page updates, notes, videos, and more.
Facebook provides many tools to help you market to their audience: groups, ads, likes, discussions, apps, and more.
Facebook Insights provides you with all sorts of statistics on who is visiting your page and interacting with it.
Facebook is a circle of trust . That means users trust what they see on Facebook more readily that what they see on Google, on blogs, etc. One drawback: Facebook controls your content on the site. At any time, they could take away your page and all your interactive capabilities.
Many businesses are now wondering whether they should abandon their websites and simply focus on promoting their Facebook page. Personally, if I were a local business, I might very well take that action and focus on a Facebook page to promote my business.
In March 2011, the Rockville Central blog (which covers the Maryland town it is named after), stopped publishing new content on their website and replaced it with posting on their Facebook Page. What they found after two months is that more readers were interacting with their stories via comments and likes than ever did on their website. Their updates were netting about 2,000 impressions per article versus about 600 views via their old website.
If you don't have a website yet, you might want to start your Internet marketing by creating a Facebook Fan Page and following some of the opportunities discussed later in this report. 7 Ways to Use Facebook to Create and Promote Books
Here are some of the ways that Facebook itself suggests you can use best practices to promote your business via Facebook:
Foster product development and innovation - Facebook allows you to learn about your target audience and to understand their interests and friends. For this reason, Facebook can be used to generate new product ideas and innovations. Our platform tools allow you to build entirely new social product experiences like an online store that displays only your friends’ favorite products. You can also enlist your Facebook community to help crowd-source your next product idea.
Generate awareness - You can leverage Facebook’s tremendous reach and targeting capabilities with Facebook Ads and Sponsored Stories. These products offer the benefits of earned at the scale and predictability of paid. That’s because they are shown with stories about friends who have already engaged with your business on Facebook. This is the new word of mouth and it’s twice as effective at driving awareness.
Drive preference and differentiation - On Facebook, people discover your brand through trusted referrals from their friends. Then drive preference by interacting with and rewarding your fans. Think of your Facebook Page as a key touch point that you can leverage to bring your brand to life for your customers in real time.
Increase traffic and sales - Facebook turns purchasing into a social decision by enabling people to show what they like and have purchased, both online and in the physical world. On Facebook, you can create viral promotional events, publicize offers or run Deals. Every time someone RSVPs, clicks, or checks-in, that action gets shared with all of their friends. This combination of word of mouth and your ability to deepen engagement with your customers at the point of purchase (either on your website or in store) is incredibly powerful at driving traffic and sales.
Build loyalty and deepen relationships - Facebook is fundamentally about relationships. The people who like your Page are saying that they want a relationship with you. This connection allows you to build and deepen relationships with your most loyal customers and allows them to spread the word about your brand to their friends. Because of the information people share about themselves on Facebook, you can create highly custom and personalized experiences to drive engagement and loyalty over time.
Amplify recommendation and word of mouth - Everything you do on Facebook is viral because all actions are published into the News Feed and are lasting. People expect to discover things on Facebook through their friends. Rather than thinking of driving recommendation as an independent objective, sharing should be built into all of your Facebook activities and campaigns. Gain insights - Facebook allows you to learn about your customers both by observing their actions and by engaging with them directly. It is a great place to learn who your customers are and what they think about you. Facebook makes it easy to incorporate your customers into your product development cycle and marketing campaigns and iterate quickly. You can do all of this in real-time, globally.
Additional resource - Top 10 Tips to Leverage Facebook to Gain Book Sales - http://www.pantheoncollective.com/tpc-technical-blogs/top-10-tpc-tips-to-leverage- facebook-to-gain-sales Create a Facebook Profile (Join Facebook)
To make use of Facebook's social networking power, you have to start by creating a personal profile on Facebook. I presume all of you have joined Facebook already so I won't cover this in any detail.
Create a Personal Profile Page
Creating a Personal Profile Page is almost always step one. From there you can create as many Fan Pages as you want. I know many people now who use their personal profile page only for family and close friends and use their Fan Pages for sales and promotion, but you can certainly start by making friends via your personal profile page.
That's what I've done so far. And I have a list of more than 1,725 people who will likely be interested in all the new Fan Pages I will be creating soon.
I have received consulting jobs, interview invites, JV opportunities, media attention, and more from my Personal Profile Page as well as my Twitter and LinkedIn profiles. And created some great personal friendships as well.
And, wonderfully, my Facebook profile page has allowed me to keep in great touch with my sisters, nephews, nieces, and more.
But, as noted already, Personal Profile Pages are disappearing as a business tool as the new Fan Pages have taken over – and rightly so.
Get your personal vanity URL
If possible, get the vanity URL for your name if you can, a URL such as http://www.facebook.com/johnkremer which is both easy to remember and helps to maintain and enlarge your brand (in this case, your name).
You can set up a vanity username by going to: http://www.facebook.com/username .
Facebook Help - Note, if you ever need help with any Facebook questions, go to Facebook Help: http://www.Facebook.com/help . Create a Facebook Fan Page
Facebook Fan Pages info – http://www.facebook.com/facebookpages
Create a Fan Page – http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php
Facebook Fan Pages Resources – http://www.facebook.com/FacebookPages?v=app_7146470109 – Offers resources and tips on creating and marketing Fan Pages.
Throughout this report, I'll use the term Facebook Fan Page to refer to professional pages on Facebook and to distinguish them from personal profiles. But, note, Facebook now simply calls them Pages.
To create your own Facebook Fan Page, simply go to the Create a Fan Page link above and follow the instructions. It takes about 10 seconds to create a raw fan page. Of course, it will take then you some time to brand it with your logo, add some content, set up extra tabs, etc.
Choosing a Category
The first thing you see when you click on Create a Page, is the graphic below where Facebook presents you with choices on how to define your page. Take time to make a decision on how you want to define your page. Remember: You can make separate pages for you as an author, your company, your book, your website, or your keyword topic (among many other choices).
When you create a page, you can fall under one of six categories. Your options are:
Local Business or Place Company, Organization, or Institution
Brand or Product
Artist, Band, or Public Figure
Entertainment
Cause or Community
Which category you choose really depends on the page you want to create and the subcategory you want to fall under. Again, the category and subcategory will vary depending on whether your page is going to represent you, your book, your company, your website, or your keyword topic.
Choosing a Subcategory
Under each of the six main categories are many subcategories. You need to pick the subcategory that truly represents the Fan Page you are creating.
1. Unless you are only a local book publisher selling only to people in your area, you would not choose the Local Business or Page category.
2. For Company, Organization, or Institution, there is a subcategory of Media/News/Publishing . You might choose that if you want to set up a page for your publishing company.
Note: If you don't create a Fan Page for your company and you list your company in your Personal Profile page, Facebook will create a default page for your company – an ugly, uninformative page. So I created a more informative Page for Open Horizons: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Open- Horizons/183582861677049 . I won't be doing much with it, but it already serves its purpose by featuring a prettier Page for my company.
3. Internet marketers recommend that you choose Brand or Product and then select Website as your subcategory if you are an affiliate marketer because you want to be sure your fan page isn't taken away because you are not the owner of the brand, company, etc. Note: There is no subcategory for books.
If you are promoting a keyword topic (for example, tattoos or crocheting or dog training), you'll also probably want to select the Website subcategory – especially if you are sending people to a website designed around that topic.
I just created a Book Marketing Bestsellers Fan Page under this category. Check it out here: http://www.facebook.com/book.marketing.bestsellers . This Page promotes my BookMarket.com website and my specialty: marketing books. 4. Under Artist, Band, or Public Figure, there are two subcategories that apply to writers: Author and Writer. Choose Author if you want to promote yourself as a book author via a specific Fan Page. The subcategory of writer applies to other writers (freelancers, magazine writers, copywriters, etc.).
Author is the category I chose for my thejohnkremer Fan Page. I chose http://www.facebook.com/thejohnkremer because my Personal Profile Page already had the vanity URL of http://www.facebook.com/johnkremer . You can't duplicate Facebook URLs.
If you are a different sort of public figure as well as a book author, you might choose a different subcategory to reflect your primary status as a public figure. 5. If you want to create a Fan Page for your book, then choose the Book subcategory under the Entertainment category.
Here is a new page I just created for 1001 Ways to Market Your Books: http://www.facebook.com/pages/1001-Ways-to-Market-Your- Book/136414283104094 . And I got 26 likes in 15 hours, so here's the vanity URL version: http://www.facebook.com/1001WaystoMarketYourBooks . Again, as soon as you get 25 likes, go for the vanity URL.
6. If you want to create a Fan Page for a Cause or Organization, select that category. Under the Cause or Organization category, there are no subcategories.
Once you've selected the Category and Subcategory for your Fan Page, you have to give it a name.
Then click on the box to agree with Facebook Pages Terms. The first time you create a Fan Page, you might want to read those terms.
Finally, click on the Get Started button. Your new Fan Page has been created in less than a minute (once you made your decision where you wanted to fit). Now you can start to add content, customize the look and feel of the page, add your logo, and tell your friends about your new page.
As you can see above, I do believe in creating multiple pages: you (as an author, expert, dancer, singer, speaker, or whatever), your book (at least your main book), you company (if you have one), and your subject or website. Using and Promoting Your Fan Page
Start by creating and promoting one Fan Page. Note: Facebook Fan Page vanity URL names are going fast so many of the good ones are already taken (just like website URL names) so you need to act fast on creating and promoting your Fan Pages.
On your Fan Page, you can post excerpts from your book (to solicit comments), post your cover or news release for feedback, set up a poll, share photos of booksigning events, share videos, etc. Post testimonials, weekly Q&A, a topical FAQ, etc. to stir things up and get people involved in your Fan Page. Ask questions, do a survey, offer a one-day sale on your book (or an excerpt).
Almost anything you can do with a website, you can do with a Fan Page – but you have access to an audience of 600 million to play with on Facebook.
The more often you post or add content, the larger your fan base will become. And the more active it will become. That should lead to more hits on your main website as well as more book sales.
Note: The major search engines, especially Bing, are now including tweets and Facebook content in their search results. That could result in more traffic for you as well. Ultimately, you'd like to dominate the search results for your keyword, book title, author name, etc. If you have an active Facebook Fan Page, Twitter profile, YouTube channel, and website, you can have four or five listings on the first page of Google for key search terms you want to dominate.
Google is already factoring in mentions of websites from Twitter, Facebook, and other social networking sites. These mentions can increase your traffic and your page rank. The more people who like your Facebook Fan Page and who retweet or repost links to your content there, the higher your Facebook Fan Page and your website will rank in search engine results.
Note: You can create as many Fan Pages as you want, so you can have one for you as an author, another for your book, another for your topic, etc. BUT don't create more Fan Pages than you can actually maintain.
A study done last year by Sysomos found that of 600,000 Facebook Fan Pages, only 4% have 10,000 or more fans, less than 1% have 100,000 or more fans. If you want fans, you have to promote!
Get People to Like Your Fan Pages
Liking a Fan Page is similar to subscribing to an email newsletter or a Twitter feed. If you like a page, you'll see that page's notifications or posts on your news feed.
Once you've created a Fan Page, here are a few tips from Facebook on how to use your Fan Page to build greater awareness and encourage word of mouth:
Encourage people to Like your page.
Create great content that encourages sharing. Keep it fresh (that means to add new content on a regular basis). Post video content to stimulate sharing.
Use a publishing calendar that includes exciting product announcements and promotions.
Be active in two-way conversations.
Integrate Social Plugins and the Graph API with the Like Button on all your websites, blogs, and ezines.
Use Facebook Ads and Sponsored Stories to create word of mouth at scale.
Be sure to get your vanity URL once you have 25 likes. Go to http://www.facebook.com/username and follow their instructions. It's simple once you have the 25 likes. Note: The likes prevent people from simply sitting on vanity URLs without making any effort to use the URL.
Editing Your Fan Page: The Secret Promotional Tools
The key to using Facebook Pages is this: Learn all the ins and outs of the Edit Page link. Start by clicking on the Profile tab at the top right hand side of your Facebook Fan Page. Then click on Edit Page . That's where the gold is.
Facebook hides a lot of promotional tools under the Edit Page button. Many Facebook users don't understand the power of these tools. Many don't even realize that the tools exit.
Be sure you get to know the tools under that simple little Edit Page button. Here's where the gold is!
When you click on the Edit Page button, you'll be taken to the editing page. On the editing panel, you'll see the following options at the top left:
Under the Manage Permissions tab (whose content you can see on the right side of the above image), you can set the following:
The page visibility for your Fan Page (just admins or everyone).
Restrictions for countries or ages, if that is needed for some reason.
Whether the Wall Tab on your Fan Page shows only your posts or all posts (including those of visitors).
If you include posting privileges for anyone, be sure you monitor your Wall.
I just had an author promote her book on my Wall, but without even liking my page! Now, if she had liked my page, I'd accept the advertising, but to do that without liking the page is just plain rude. It violates all social media accepted practices.
The Default Landing Tab (what tab content shows when people first visit your page), crucial for setting a Like requirement before people see more content. What page tab do you want people to see first? Usually it would be something other than your Wall.
The Posting Ability of users – Can they post content, photos, and videos?
Moderation and Profanity Blacklists, where you can define which words are not allowed to be posted on your site. You can not only block profanity but also spam words you don't want featured in comments or wall posts.
And where you can delete the page if you don't like it and want to start over. Under the Basic Information tab, you can reset your Category and Subcategory, change your address, provide personal or professional information, change your email address, change your phone number, and add more website listings.
Note: The information contained here changes depending on your Category and Subcategory, so be sure you have chose the right categories.
Under the Profile Picture tab, you can change the image that shows up as your main profile image as well as the image that shows up as your thumbnail photo when posting. Note: The thumbnail image that shows when you post content to your page is set from the main image, so make sure the thumbnail smaller image is included within the larger main profile image.
See examples below:
Note how the smaller thumbnail image is taken from the main profile image of my Bestseller Launch Formula page. Note: Be sure to friend the BestSeller Launch Formula page so you can get messages on Facebook pertaining to this course: http://www.facebook.com/pages/BestSeller-Launch- Formula/117331128349497 - and so we can change the URL to a more easily remembered URL. Thanks.
The Featured tab allows you to feature certain pages and page owners in your Fan Page profile.
Note: Use this feature to highlight some of your other Fan Pages. Or to highlight pages of your friends, co-authors, or partners.
The Resources tab allows you to connect to best practice guides, advertising on Facebook, selecting a username once you have 25 likes, use social plugins, link your Page to Twitter, and access the Pages Help Center.
The two most important links on your Resources page are Tell Your Fans and Send an Update. We'll describe how to use these two resources in greater detail in the Facebook Promotions section of this report.
The Manage Admins tab allows you to add or delete people who can contribute to your Fan Page. This can be useful when you have co-authors for a book page like the following Show Me About Book Publishing book page: http://www.facebook.com/ShowMeAboutBookPublishing .
You can also add as Admins your co-workers in a business, managers, PR people, social media experts, or anyone else who is working on a page or an active contributor. The Apps tab allows you to add and delete apps used on your Fan Page. If you want to add more tabs and capabilities to your Fan Page, the best and often only way to do that is through apps.
Here are a few of the apps I have on my thejohnkremer Fan Page: Photos, Notes, Links, Events, Video, John Kremer Tips, John Kremer Welcome, John Kremer Resources, Tweets to Pages, Discussion Boards, and Questions.
We'll talk more about apps in the Facebook Promotions section of this report.
The Mobile tab allows you to send in page updates via email, text messages, or the Facebook iphone app. The page tells you how to implement all three of these ways. If you are an active texter or travel a lot, these options are invaluable. Make sure you set them up for your Fan Pages.
The Insights tab gives you access to Facebook analytics (they call it Insights), which allows you to get an overview of Likes, active users, post views, post feedback, unique page views, and much more. Again, we'll be talking more about this in the Facebook Promotions section of this report.
Note: You can monitor all the Fan Pages you set up on your Personal Profile Page. Just click on the Pages link on the left side of your profile page. That link will take you to a page where you can view the activity, notifications, and some stats for all your pages. Facebook Raves and Rules
The seven tips featured below are adapted from Facebook Laws of Engagement by John Haydon ( http://www.johnhaydon.com/2011/04/facebook-laws-of-engagement- nonprofit-marketing ).
In this article he describes how to use Facebook to grow your group of fans and create more interaction with potential customers.
1. The Law of Engagement – People generally learn about new pages via the posts or likings of their friends (which shows up in a person's news feed). If you trust your friend, you also check out the pages he likes – and are also more likely to like that page as well. So one of your first jobs is to get new visitors to engage in your page.
2. The Law of Native Language – Don't use jargon, acronyms, brochure-speak, too many big Latin words, or gobbledygook on your Facebook page. Talk human. Be human. If you talk to your visitors as if they were true friends, they will soon become true friends.
3. The Law of the Flock – There is an old proverb: Birds of a feather flock together. What this means on Facebook is that the average person has 130 followers who likely share many of the same interests. If you can get your Facebook fans to engage on your page, there's a good chance that some of their 130 followers will also get engaged in your Facebook page.
Although you might only have 500 fans, those fans also have on average 130 fans. That means that your potential audience is 65,000 (500 x 130). So encourage the flock to be engaged.
4. The Law of Reason – Give your fans reasons to come back to your Facebook page: book giveaways, management tips, featured fans (interview fans and share tips), and more. Note: Facebook users will like your page if you give them value in return - a reason to be engaged with you and your page.
5. The Law of the Stage – Your Facebook page is a stage. That's why you don't share what you ate at lunch on your page. You share valuable information and insights. You share inspiration. You share collaboration and sharing.
Note: Being on stage also means that your fans will react more strongly to a positive story rather than a negative one.
6. The Law of Blessing – Your fans may not trust what you say, but they will trust what your fans say about you. Your job isn't to convert people directly, but to create a situation where your fans love talking about you to their friends.
7. The Law of Relevance – If something related to what you do hits the news, your fans expect you to comment on it. If you do comment, the engagement grows exponentially.
An example of an organization that handled one recent controversy incredibly well is the Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford Connecticut. Earlier this year, NewSouth Books published an edition of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn that replaced the word "nigger" with "slave" (which is incorrectly used to refer to a freed man) and removed the term "Injun" completely. The Mark Twain House and Museum had a wonderful and thought-provoking conversation on their Facebook page. A perfect case study of how to deal with a difficult topic . – Erica Holthausen
For a great set of video tutorials on creating and using a Facebook fan page, see John Haydon's Inbound Zombie website at: http://inboundzombie.com/facebook- booster-video-tutorials .
The tutorials include the following videos. The ones in bold are the ones I found most valuable.
How to select the best category for your Facebook Page.
How to upload an avatar to your Facebook Page.
How to configure your Facebook Page wall settings.
How to block offensive comments on your Facebook Page.
How to add applications to your Facebook Page.
How to toggle between a Facebook Profile and a Facebook Page.
How to edit the name of your Facebook custom tab.
How to create custom tabs with iFrameEngine (costs money)
How to update your Facebook Page from your cellphone.
How to post wall updates to a subset of your Facebook fans.
How to send targeted updates to your Facebook Page connections.
How to tag other Facebook Pages on your wall – a cool way to get featured on other Pages' walls.
Three ways to add admins to your Facebook Page.
How to create an alias URL for your Facebook Page (one people can remember more easily than your default URL).
How to add a Like Box to your website or blog.
How to use Facebook Insights to measure fan growth and engagement.
Great Business Page Examples You Can Model
Ben and Jerry’s – http://www.facebook.com/benjerry - 3,062,484 likes - Note their easy attitude. Simple warm statements. No major hype. Updates every two or three days. Coca-Cola – http://www.facebook.com/cocacola - 31,047,018 likes - Their default page features a strong invitation to like it but with no real incentive to click the Like button. Their wall allows posts from fans, including links.
Check out their House Rules tab for a Terms of Use statement that you could model for your pages. Very legalese, but perhaps useful for some authors.
They have a Discussions tab but no discussions.
Their video page is loaded with videos: music, ads, etc. iTunes – http://www.facebook.com/iTunes - 15,641,528 likes - When I visited the page in mid-June 2011, the page defaults to their Win Tickets to Harry Potter promotional page. Their wall features automatic updates via iTunes US Publisher.
Jones Soda – http://www.facebook.com/jonessoda - 749,742 likes - Their default page features a gray overlay that shows what viewers can access if they click on the like button.
They allow people to post with links on their wall. And they don't seem to monitor their wall since I saw a negative comment on their wall when I visited.
You should monitor your Wall comments if you allow others to post to your Wall.
Their Discussions area features 103 topics. Some topics are active.
Oreo – http://www.facebook.com/oreo - 21,500,011 likes - Their default Oreo Moments page features a call to click Like above, but no reason to do so. They don't allow people to post on their wall.
RedBull – http://www.facebook.com/redbull - 20,746,177 likes - The default page is the Red Bull tab where you have to like Red Bull before you can see the videos hidden underneath. Red Bull has a number of related pages : Red Bull Skydive Team, Red Bull X-Fighters, Red Bull Records, Red Bull Music Academy, Red Bull Air Force, Red Bull Racing, Red Bull Racing Team, Red Bull Scenicruiser, Red Bull Cliff Diving, Red Bull Illume, and more. Check out why they have different pages and how they use each page.
Starbucks – http://www.facebook.com/Starbucks - 23,266,014 likes - Their default page is their wall, which features comments from fans. Check out their Video tab, which features a lot of videos, all uploaded to Facebook.
And they allow links. Meg Patel posted the following on their wall:
Hi! Check out this new LIKE site. You can like anything you want and share it with your friends: http://bit.ly/lt8Wp3
Uno Chicago Grill – http://www.facebook.com/UnoChicagoGrill - 99,178 likes - They seem to monitor their wall carefully. Each individual restaurant has its own Facebook page with Deals and posts from visitors. Victoria Secret – http://www.facebook.com/victoriassecret - 14,167,181 likes - Note that their Facebook page defaults to their Spotlight tab when you first visit. That page promotes their iPad and iPhone apps, mobile alerts, email newsletter, Twitter page, and YouTube channel.
Zappos – http://www.facebook.com/zappos - 131,021 likes - Zappos does one really neat thing: They feature their Fans of the Week as their photo logo at the top right. The logo changes every week. Their default Zappos page is fairly empty with a bland call to likeness: Gain access to exclusive content! – but no word on what that content is.
9 more great Facebook marketing stories: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/9- facebook-marketing-success-stories-you-should-model
Again, once you've created one Fan Page and made it popular, you can start to create many specific fan pages. For example, if you are the expert on prostate cancer surgery or post op survival, you could create a prostate cancer fan page.
Facebook Fan Page Design
There are a ton of design options for creating your Fan Pages. The focus of this report is on marketing, but here are some resources included in the Facebook Marketing Resources page of the BestSeller Launch Formula Module 3, including the following:
Facebook 101 by Amy Porterfield: Facebook-101-transcript.pdf
Easy Fan Pages , aka Fan Page Iframe Domination - This is a free WordPress plugin that you can use to create Fan Page apps using Facebook's new iframe capabilities for Fan Pages.
How to Build the Perfect Fan Page by Tim Ware: How-to-Build-the- Perfect-Fan-Page.doc
Other websites and services:
Facebook Like Page Builder - http://bookexpert.likebuild.hop.clickbank.net – Free membership site where you can build a Facebook Fan Page in under 60 seconds. Watch the video for details. Allows you to create a Fan Page where people have to Like your Page before seeing more content or getting a free report. Facebook Promotions
Facebook now has an algorithm-driven news feed, which means that just because someone is your fan, they won't necessarily see your wall posts or status updates. The default news feed shows content that Facebook thinks you’ll like, based on how you have interacted with content from people in the past - and how your friends have interacted with that content.
If you want your fans to notice your content, it better be engaging and social, funny or controversial, moving or motivating. That's the kind of content that will get you comments, likes, and shares – and that's what your fans will notice.
If you’re not paying attention to your content engagement scores within your Facebook analytics, start now. Test your content to see what creates the greatest engagement with your fans – and their friends. 21 Ways to Get and Retain Fans
1. Use Facebook Social Plugins (described later in detail). Please them on your website and blog. Use plugins like the Like Box to engage your Facebook fans directly from your website and blog.
2. Invite your ezine subscribers. If you have opt-in email lists or an email newsletter, make sure to invite your readers and subscribers to Like your page. Give them reasons to visit and participate.
3. Tweet about your page. I've found that simply tweeting for Likes, especially when you are first starting out, is a great way to get Likes. Also, note that you can link your Facebook Fan Page to Twitter so all your posts are also tweeted.
4. Add your Fan Page to your email signature . Include the link to your Fan Page in every email you send out.
5. Integrate Facebook Apps . Facebook apps, both free ones and ones you create (or have created), can really liven up a Fan Page. And make Likes and user interactions go through the roof.
6. Integrate Facebook Comments. Another social plugin, you can use Facebook comments in place of or in addition to your normal blog comment capability. The neat thing about Facebook Comments is that they not only appear on your blog, but also on the Walls of commenters as well as in the News Feeds of their friends. Very viral.
7. Create a compelling welcome video. One way to engage people right away on your Fan Page is to include a welcome video. Tell a story, share a joke, talk about the history of your company or book. Also include videos on a Video tab. Lots of videos. Facebook people like videos. And share them with their friends.
Check out the video on science guy Steve Spangler's welcome video on his Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/stevespangler . 8. Embed Facebook videos on your website. Facebook's video feature allows you to load video content that you own to your Fan Page and then take that source code and embed the video on your blog or website. This video feature used to have social links to your Facebook Fan Page, but that capability seems to have been taken out by Facebook – at least in the videos I've uploaded via Facebook.
9. Feature photos. Lots of them. And tag the people in the photos. Feature photos of friends, photos from events (both ones you give and ones you attend), photos of people that work in your company, beautiful photos, photos of current events, etc. Tag them all. Again, like videos, photos are viral. People share them. Their friends share them.
Note: Photos and videos get more space in posts and New Feeds.
10. Place a Facebook Ad. We'll talk more about this option later in this report, but just know that Facebook Ads can be run very inexpensively. And you can set daily limits on how much you spend. The best use of such ads is to get people to interact with and Like your Fan Page. Facebook Ads should not be just sell, sell, sell, but should incorporate the social aspect of social media.
Note: Facebook users who see your ad can Like the ad or remove it from their page, so they can vote on your ad in two ways: Yes or No.
11. Run a contest. The best way to run a contest is via an app that has been approved by Facebook. That way you won't violate any of their contest and sweepstakes rules. We'll talk more about this feature in greater detail later. The great thing about contests is that they go viral. They get shared. As does your Fan Page.
12. Get Fans to join via mobile SMS. People can join your Fan Page via text message simply by sending a text message to 32664 (Fbook) with the words: fan thejohnkremer (or your username) or like thejohnkremer . Note: The mobile phone user must have connected his mobile phone to Facebook previously in order for this to work. This feature is incredibly useful when you are speaking or appearing on radio or TV. Just ask listeners to pull out their cellphone now and text the message.
13. Feature your Fan Page in ads. If you advertise in magazines or newspapers, include your Fan Page URL in the ad. You can also use QR codes in your ads that link to your Facebook Fan Page.
SmartWater featured their Facebook Page (facebook.com/smartwater) in magazine ads where they asked readers to tell them about "your inspired ideas" as part of a contest to find the smartest person alive – "a visionary, an innovator, the biggest game changer so we can award him $50,000."
14. Feature your Fan Page in print. Include your Facebook Fan Page URL or QR code on your letterhead, business card, T-shirts, shopping bags, brochures, newsletters, and display signs in your place of business. I have a QR code printed on T-shirts for when I speak (also gets people talking as you go through airports, restaurants, etc.).
15. Use Suggest to Friends. This is a tool that Facebook provides so you can suggest your new Fan Pages to your friends on your Personal Profile Page. Be careful how you use this. Again, as with any social media, your engagement with friends and followers needs to be monitored so you don't offend people by over-promotion. Suggesting to friends can be seen as overpromotion.
16. Ask Questions. On your Fan Pages, you can ask Questions, which are essentially mini-surveys or polls. It's a great way to engage your fans. Again, whenever they answer a question, their activity gets posted to their News Feed so their friends can also see that they interacted with you. If the question (or their answer) interests their friends, those friends might also visit and Like your page.
Here's a question I asked on my thejohnkremer Fan Page:
17. Join Groups and interact. If you join Groups, make sure they are ones related to your true interests. When you post to a Group, be helpful not promotional. We'll talk more about groups later in this report.
18. Create a Group . You can also start up your own Group or Groups and invite others to join the Group. It can be a great way to include a sub-section of your fan base in something special. Create a fan club, a discussion group, a topical group. Lots of options.
19. Use the @ tag in posts. On your Personal Profile Page, you can send messages that link to your Fan Pages by starting a post with @bookmarketingbestsellers or whatever your Fan Page name and then include a message. When you use the @tag, it creates an active link to your Fan Page that anyone's personal followers can click on and thus be taken to your Fan Page.
You can also use the @ tag to include links to any other person or Fan Page on Facebook. It's a tool you can use to get noticed by other people you want to connect with.
20. Post on other Fan Pages. This can be an effective way to get attention not only of the Fan Page owner but also of any other visitors to the Fan Page. Personally, I wouldn't do that
Of course, you can also post on the Walls of your friends – or strangers. Again, I wouldn't post on strangers' walls. Here's a post that came through my News Feed from a friend. Note how he got around Facebook's character limit for posts. He simply commented on his own post. He was thus able to make a longer point he could not have made otherwise – and got featured on other people's New Feeds multiple times.
21. Comment on other people's posts. You can also comment on other Facebook Fan Page posts – or the posts of your friends. Just as useful as blog commenting. Facebook Engagement Tips
A survey from Buddy Media reported at emarketer.com found that you get 27% more engagement in shorter posts (under 80 characters), 20% more engagement when you post outside of business hours, an 18% increase when you post on Thursday or Friday, and a 15% increase in posts that end with a question. So . . . post a short question on Thursday night for an 80% boost in engagement!
Actually, of course, it doesn't work that way. You can just add up all the increases in engagement to get an 80% increase. But I would guess you might increase engagement by 40% if you incorporated all four boosters.
Note that there is an 18% decrease in engagement for posts on Saturday. That's curious to me because I've heard many Internet marketers say that the weekend was the best time to post links that could result in sales since more users have time to explore links more carefully on the weekend. Facebook's News Feed
When you post to your Facebook Fan Page, anyone who has liked you will receive an update in their Personal Page News Feed. And their friends will also see their friend's activity in their News Feeds. That means that your updates not only reach your fans, but also the friends of those fans.
Even with as few as 500 fans, you could be reaching as many as 65,000 people (that's 500 fans times 130, which is the average number of friends a user has).
The key to using this viral effect is to make sure you create messages that engage people rather than sell them.
The other key to using this viral effect is to make sure your post is actually noticed in their News Feeds.
The key is to know that Facebook users can filter their News Feeds and other incoming messages in the following ways:
Top News – Top News is the content feed that comes via your engagement with friends and Fan Pages. Facebook shows you what – from your previous use (comments, Likes, and interactions) – you've shown you like most.
Top News is the default News Feed for most Facebook users.
Most Recent – Features the most recent news from any friends or Fan Pages.
Status Updates – The latest status updates from friends and Fan Pages.
Games – The latest Game updates from friends – if they and you are engaged in any Games. Note that Games doesn't show up in my list because I'm not engaged in any Games. Photos – The latest photos posted by friends and Fan Pages.
Links – The latest links shared by friends and Fan Pages
Pages – The latest stories from Fan Pages you've Liked.
Questions – The latest questions posed by friends or Fan Pages.
Limited Profile – Users can select only the posts from friends they select. Users can create more than one Limited Profile.
Do you want to get more News Feed impressions for your Fan Pages? Then post a variety of story types . Share photos, links, and questions as well as regular posts. That will get your posts into more of the News Feed options and create more visibility for you – not only among your fans but also among their friends.
In addition, users can filter their page via the following side panel options:
Events – Features a link to any event invitations sent to you by your friends and Fan Pages you've Liked.
Groups – Features a link to any Groups you've joined, including any you've created.
These tools (events and groups) offered by Facebook can make the entire experience on Facebook much more interactive. Not only can you invite fans to any events you create on Facebook, but also any other online events you host or plan to attend as well as any offline events – such as book signings, speeches, seminars, talks, conferences, displays, etc.
We'll talk more about Events and Groups under the Facebook Tools section coming up next. Facebook Tools
Now, I'd like to cover in greater detail some of the tools Facebook offers to allow greater engagement with your fans as well as greater impressions on potential fans. One of the key reasons why some business are migrating from their own websites to Facebook Fan Pages is because of the tools Facebook offers for true interaction and relationship building. Invite Your Friends
One of the first ways to begin promoting your new Facebook Fan Page is to invite your friends from your Personal Profile Page. For those of you who have had a Personal Profile Page for a long time, you might have accumulated thousands of friends. That gives you an advantage over those people who have just joined, or who have not accumulated a lot of friends.
Many of these friends of your personal page are not really friends or family, but really fans of your work. They really should be fans of your new business, book, or author page as well. So ask them to Like your Fan Pages.
Unfortunately, Facebook does not allow you to invite all of your Personal Profile friends at once, but they do provide the following mechanism for inviting them in small groups.
To invite your personal friends to Like your new Facebook Fan Page, go to your new Fan Page URL as you (personal profile). Then click on the Suggest to Friends link at the top right corner of your Fan Page:
When you click on the Suggest to Friends link, a new pop-up appears that allows you to click on the check box to the left of each friend you want to invite. It's a tedious process if you have thousands of friends, but it's the only way Facebook allows you to Suggest your new page to friends.
Note: This could be something you'd hire a virtual assistant to do – or your teenage daughter – or a college intern. Once you've selected the friends you wanted to invite to your new Fan Page and click on the Submit button, a Recommended Pages tab will show up on the right side of those friends' personal profile pages. They can then click the Like button to automatically like your new Fan Page.
I once read of a workaround that would select all of your friends automatically, but it apparently doesn't work with the new Fan Pages. Alas. Tell Your Fans
Another tool you can use to invite your friends on other social networks or your email lists is the Tell Your Fans tool that can be found under the Edit Page button of your Fan Page profile.
Click on the button. Then click on the Resources link on the left side of that page. Then click on the Tell Your Fans link. The following box will pop up:
As you can see, you can upload your contact files from Outlook, Constant Contact, or any .csv file and Facebook will import the contacts.
A second option is to allow Facebook to find your web email contacts from Gmail, Hotmail, or Yahoo mail. When you select to import a .csv file, the following box pops-up. Note that you don't have an option on what message is sent. It is an automated message created by Facebook.
Note: You need to agree that you have obtained appropriate authorization and consent to send these invitations to the email addresses you imported. So this tool probably won't be of much use to most new Fan Pages. We could just as well send an email directly to our Outlook contacts, LinkedIn people, and .csv files without having to use Facebook's awkward tool. Facebook Social Plugins
Social Plugins – http://developers.facebook.com/docs/plugins - This is the page you go to if you want to add Social Plugins to your website or blog.
Facebook Social Plugins allow your Facebook Fan Pages to be featured on outside sites: your website, your blog, and anywhere else where you can add HTML content to pages you control.
Use Facebook Social Plugins like the Activity Feed, Recommendations, Comments and Live Stream to make experiences on your website or blog more social.
Facebook users are already very comfortable with Facebook. If you integrate Facebook comments, recommendations, and likes into your website or blog, more people will find your site.
Every month more than 250 million people engage with Facebook via external websites.
Since Social Plugins launched in April 2010, 10,000 new websites integrate with Facebook every day.
Over 2.5 million websites have already integrated with Facebook.
The Social Plugins offered by Facebook include the following. You might not use all of them on your website or blog, but you should incorporate some of them. The ones I recommend include the Like Button, Comments, and Activity Feed and/or Recommendations.
Like Button – The Like button lets users share pages from your site back to their Facebook profile with one click. When the user clicks the Like button on your site, a story appears in the user's friends' News Feed with a link back to your website.
The Metacafe video-sharing site moved the Like button above the fold on their site and tripled the number of daily Likes and doubled their referral traffic from Facebook.
This information should guide you on where to place the Like button and why you might want to have a Like button on your website or blog.
Silly Bandz wanted to attain 1 million fans and to allow its customers to interact with its products. In order to do this, it used a combination of Facebook Ads and integrated product Like Buttons on its website. Every time someone clicked on one of the ads or liked one of its products, a story was published back to all of his or her friends, creating a powerful viral effect. As a result, Silly Bandz was able to surpass its 1 million fan goal and learned a lot about the products its consumers are most excited about.
Send Button – The Send Button allows your users to easily send your content to their friends (share your page or post links with friends). People have the option to send your URL in a message to their Facebook friends, to the group wall of one of their Facebook groups, and as an email to any email address.
While the Like Button allows users to share content with all of their friends, the Send Button allows them to send a private message to just a few friends.
Note: The Send Button requires the Javascript SDK, so to implement it, you'll probably need help from someone who understands Javascript.
Comments – The Comments plugin lets users comment on any piece of content on your site. Features include moderation tools and distribution.
Comments are easily shared with friends or with people who like your Page on Facebook. If a user leaves the “Post to Facebook” box checked when she posts a comment, a story appears on her friends’ News Feed indicating that she’s made a comment on your website, which will also link back to your site.
Friends and people who like the Page can then respond to the discussion by liking or replying to the comment directly in the News Feed on Facebook or in the Comments Box on your site. Threads stay synced across Facebook and on the Comments Box on your site regardless of where the comment was made.
More and more Internet marketing gurus are incorporating Facebook Comments into their websites and blogs rather than using the commenting features of WordPress or other content management services. The neat thing about Facebook Comments is that they not only appear on your website but also in the News Feeds of the commenters. Be sure to integrate Facebook Comments into your blog or website. Activity Feed – The Activity Feed plugin shows users what their friends are doing on your site through likes, recommendations, and comments.
The Activity Feed plugin displays the most interesting recent activity taking place on your site. Since the content is hosted by Facebook, the plugin can display personalized content whether or not the user has logged into your site. The activity feed displays stories when users like content on your site, when users share content from your site in Facebook or if they comment on a page on your site in the Comments box.
If a user is logged into Facebook, the plugin will be personalized to highlight content from their friends. If the user is logged out, the activity feed will show recommendations from across your site, and give the user the option to log in to Facebook.
Recommendations – The Recommendations plugin gives users personalized suggestions for pages on your site they might like. Since the content is hosted by Facebook, the plugin can display personalized recommendations whether or not the user has logged into your site. To generate the recommendations, the plugin considers all the social interactions with URLs from your site. For a logged in Facebook user, the plugin will give preference to and highlight objects her friends have interacted with.
Notice how the Activity Feed and Recommendations plugin feature different content from the BookMarket.com website.
Like Box – The Like Box enables users to like your Facebook Page and view its stream directly from your website. The Like Box enables users to:
See how many users already like your Fan Page, and which of their friends like it too. Read recent posts from the Page.
Like the Page with one click, without needing to visit the Page.
See a sample of the Like Box on the next page. Note that you can choose whether or not to reveal your Facebook stream and whether or not to show faces of people who have Liked your Fan Page already. And, if the user hasn't like your Fan Page yet, they can do it directly from your site without going to Facebook – as long as they are signed into Facebook.
Registration – The registration plugin allows users to easily sign up for your website with their Facebook account.
The registration plugin gives you the flexibility to ask for additional information which is not available through the Facebook API (e.g. favorite movie). The plugin also allows users who do not have a Facebook account, or do not wish to sign up for your site using Facebook to use the same form as those who are connecting with Facebook. This eliminates the need to provide two separate login experiences.
Using this plugin, you can capture people's email address, birthday, gender, location, first name, and last name as well as other information Facebook has gathered about them.
You can also add custom fields to capture phone numbers, anniversaries, option questions, and fill-in forms. And use a Captcha for greater security and to ensure the registrant is a human.
Sample questions:
You can, of course, pass all this information along to any database you've created. Some Internet marketers use this Registration process to capture emails they add to newsletter or email promotions lists. For more details on the options you can use, see this Facebook page: http://developers.facebook.com/docs/plugins/registration .
Login Button - The Login Button shows profile pictures of the user's friends who have already signed up for your site in addition to a login button. To include this Button on your website, you need to have a Facebook application ID and know how to implement Javascript.
Facepile – The Facepile plugin displays the Facebook profile pictures of users who have liked your page or have signed up for your site.
Live Stream – The Live Stream plugin lets your users share activity and comments in real-time as they interact during a live event. This is handy for webinar or teleseminar pages as well as live video streaming pages.
Live Stream works best when you are running a real-time event, like live streaming video for concerts, speeches, or webcasts, live Web chats, webinars, massively multiplayer games.
As you can see, you have many options in how you use these Social Plugins, but the key here is to implement at least one or two on your website and blog.
As I wrote earlier, the ones I recommend include the Like Button, Comments, and Activity Feed and/or Recommendations. These are the easiest to implement for ordinary people (nonprogrammers) and, I think, the most effective at producing more likes for your Fan Pages and more visits to your website or blog. Plus, of course, they add great social interaction where there might not have been any. Facebook Events
Facebook Events Help Center – http://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=12574 – How to create and manage events.
Facebook events can be set up by a Personal Profile or a Fan Page and function much like a group in that users can communicate with each other in a specific location. Also like groups, Facebook events can be public, closed or private. Users can respond to the host of an event by clicking on I'm Attending, Maybe, or No buttons.
You can create an event directly from the Upcoming Events box on the right-hand column of your home page. By typing your event into the What's the event? field, a form will open. After you add a time, where the event will take place and who's invited, then click on the Create Event button. Your event will be created.
If you click on the Add Details link, you'll be taken to a page where you can add more details: a street address, more information, and detail who's invited. You can also make the event public or private, show the guest list on the event page, and select among your friends to invite only certain people. Each Event has its own page where people can indicate if they are attending or not by clicking buttons on the top right of the page.
When users click on those buttons, a list is compiled on the Event page.
The More info? blank on the Create Event form can be expanded to include anywhere from 1 to 10 paragraphs or more, with links to off-Facebook pages, and more. When you create an Event, make sure to write a compelling description of your event.
Events can be radio interviews, speeches, seminars, webinars, teleseminars, book launch dates, audio podcasts or interviews, book signings, blog tours, Amazon Bestseller Campaigns, video releases, school visits, conferences, shuttle launches, early bird deadlines, contests, networking events, retreats, world record attempts, Internet radio shows, or whatever you want to make an event.
Even a new web page can be an event if you want to make it one. Certainly a new website should be an event as long as you launch it on a specific date.
For individuals, events can be dinners, dates, parties, weddings, baby showers, funerals, get out of jail dates, get out of the hospital dates, divorces, court dates, breakups (if announced ahead of time), picnics, ski trips, vacations, phone calls, etc.
Anything you'd like to schedule between you and a friend or group of friends, fans, or associates can be scheduled as an Event.
The person who creates an event can sent invitees messages directly to their in box, even when the invitee hasn't responded. The only way you can opt out of such invites is to respond with a not attending by clicking on the No button. Some spammers have used this capability to inundate invitees. But this capability can be crucial for people who are organizing big events where they need to be in constant contact with attendees and potential attendees.
If the event is public, anyone can invite others to join in, as Sandra invited me to the following World Record attempt.
Again, there are two kinds of events you can create in Facebook: public and private.
Public Events: Anyone can add themselves to the guest list without receiving an invitation or being approved by an admin. They can see the event information and all associated content (e.g., photos, wall posts, and videos).
Private Events: The event cannot be found in searches. These events are by invitation only. People who have not been invited cannot view the event description, wall, or photos. They will also not see any News Feed stories about the event.
For private events, you can invite specific people simply by entering the names into the Who's Invited field of the Create Event form. Each invitee shows up in the box, like in the form below. To set whether the Event is public or private, click on the lock icon at the bottom right of the form and click on Public or Private.
If the event is public, everyone who likes your Fan Page or is a Friend of your Personal Profile will receive notifications of any events you post in Facebook. Events can be a powerful tool for promoting events and getting people to come to free events or sign up for paid events.
When you create an Event, you can click the Select Guests button to invite any of your friends. An Invite Friends box will pop-up where you can select friends by clicking the little box next to their names or by searching for their names. You can also enter in the email address of friends who are not on Facebook. Facebook will send them an email invite. You can include a personal message that will be sent with the Facebook invite or email. If you have created a Group, you can promote to the entire Group by creating a related event on the Group page. Note: You cannot invite the entire Group if the Group as more than 5,000 members.
Once you've created an Event, you can add a logo and do many of the other things you would do with a Fan Page. Facebook Groups
Facebook Groups – http://www.facebook.com/help/new/?page=414 – How to set up and run a Facebook group.
Facebook Groups provide a closed space for small groups of people to communicate about shared interests. Groups can be created by anyone. Groups can be closed to a limited group (and private) or open to anyone who is invited (you can Ask to Join a Group by clicking on the link to join).
Groups operate similar to Pages but the default settings for Groups allow members to be notified of any new discussions or threads. Also, Group chats can be held and Group docs (documents) can be created.
Group members must be approved or added by other members. When a group reaches a certain size, some features are limited. The most useful groups tend to be the ones you create with small groups of people you know.
In groups, members receive notifications by default when any member posts in the group. Group members can participate in chats, upload photos to shared albums, collaborate on group docs, and invite all members to group events.
It's often better to join a group than create a group. By joining any group, you get most of the benefits of creating a group with none of the responsibilities. But as a member, you are responsible for following group policies regarding commercial messages. Some groups ban any commercials while others set up specific Discussions for commercial content.
Note: Most posts to a group are automatically emailed out to all members as email alerts. So when you post, all members find out about your post.
Marketing via Groups
Facebook Groups are a great way to foster a community around your company and products. While Groups are generally much less commercial than Pages, there’s still room for some marketing. The advantage to Groups is that they can encourage discussion and participation better than Pages in most cases.
Since Groups only allow Personal Profiles (not Pages) to participate, you cannot communicate as your professional Page. That means you have to be upfront when you use your Personal Profile to communicate business messages.
If you are a vendor that sells Detroit Lions themed gear, you could participate in a Detroit Lions Facebook Group and contribute to conversations while infrequently sharing links about funny new products that are relevant to the conversation. If no current group exists, create your own and work to actively cultivate it.
If you sell tile and construction supplies, get creative and set up a Home Remodelers Group or a Handyman Community Group where you can suggest your products where applicable. Don’t create a Group based on your company, book, or product. Instead, create a Group based on the industry or niche your company serves or the targeted audience your book addresses.
The backbone of great groups are the Discussions. Discussions can be started by any Group member and other members of the Group can then add comments and join in the Discussion. For more on creating and monitoring Discussions, see the next topic. Facebook Questions
Facebook Questions currently dominate internal Facebook search for branded queries and can gather a great deal of visibility on a topic.
Use Facebook Questions to get feedback from your fans. Simply click on the Questions link at the top of the page and ask a question.
You can ask any question you like and allow people to respond. Or you can add options for them to click on – like a mini-poll.
Poll for Facebook – http://apps.facebook.com/my-polls – A free app for creating polls on your Fan Pages in less than 5 minutes. It's customizable and easy to use. A fancier way to ask questions.
Questions and polls are great ways to get your fans to interact with you. They create a greater social feel to your Fan Pages.
Below are two polls I created recently for my John Kremer Fan Page. Here are some ideas for asking questions in a variety of ways. These ideas are courtesy of Beth Rogan: Facebook Photos
On your Fan Pages, you can add photos and collections of photos. Start by adding five images or photos to your Fan Page. And tag them so they appear at the top of your Fan Page. For example, in my John Kremer Fan Page, I feature clipped images of five books and reports I sell.
When a user clicks on any of those images, it takes them to a page featuring that image and your description of that image. Write a long description if it's an image of your book. Be sure to include links so people can find out more about your book, speaking services, seminars, or whatever.
Here is what users see if they click on the Book Marketing Magic image above:
After you've set up your sales images, the best photos to post to your Fan Pages or Personal Profile Page are photos of people, especially groups of people. Then tag each person in the photo. When you tag a person, they are notified via Facebook.
Photos are a great way to get participation on your pages, especially as each person comes to see what sort of photo they were tagged in. Then they comment. Then you can comment back. A conversation can often ensue.
Note: 3 billion photos and other images are uploaded to Facebook every month. Every month! Photos are Facebook's most popular application. Make use of it.
Encourage your fans to post photos of your book or product in use – and then tag the photo with your brand (your name, book title, book series, or product name). Fast Company magazine recently argued that brand tagging could overtake the Like button in spreading a brand message. Facebook Emails
Email to Your Facebook Followers and Fans . Did you know that you can send emails to your Facebook followers and fans? You can.
Using a simple mass email to a thousand Facebook contacts landed my author page launch ( http://davidbeem.wordpress.com ) on Wordpress’s fastest growing blogs, proving it’s never too early to begin promoting your work. I was adding FB friends even while creating the first draft of Abyss – friends who are now my base readership as I take my first steps into a new and exciting industry. Better, if a newbie like me can do it – so can you! – David Beem, author of the forthcoming novel, Abyss of Chaos .
The email is sent as an Update to each Fan's Facebook message box.
To access this capability, go to your Fan Page, click on the Edit Page button
on the top right of your Fan Page profile.
Then click on the Resources link on the left of the next page.
Finally, click on the Send an Update link near the center left of the next page.
That will take you to the following page where you can enter a subject for your email and a message as well as attach a video or post a link. Once you've completed your message, you can click on the Send button to send it to all the people who like your Fan Page. Note, if you want, you can click on the Target this update checkbox to limit who among your friends receives any message. You can limit who you send to by location (any country, state or province, or city), by sex, and by age: Facebook Apps
Facebook Applications Directory – http://www.facebook.com/apps/directory.php – You can search for apps here. Features apps in business, education, entertainment, friends & family, games, just for fun, lifestyle, sports, and utilities. On July 21st, that link wasn't working, but you could use this link to search for apps: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=apps
Facebook Applications Help – http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=1095 – The Faq page for Facebook apps.
Creating Apps on Facebook – http://developers.facebook.com/docs/guides/canvas – Provides all the help you need to create and integrate Facebook apps.
People on Facebook install 20 million apps every day. That's over 7 billion apps a year! Apps like Farmville have gone viral with millions of users. While an app you create might not get that much exposure, it's not unusual for an interesting or funny app to go viral – and get thousands, even hundreds of thousands of users.
Facebook apps can be as simple as an app that features a new quotation every day (e.g. my Best Quotable Quotes app: http://apps.facebook.com/bestquotablequotes ), or as complicated as the Slideshare app or the Farmville game.
If you'd like to create your own apps, check out the following program called Facebook Apps Made Easy: http://netodex.com/easyapps/?e=sparkynm . It's an inexpensive program where you can create an app yourself – but note that it takes time to learn how to create one.
Facebook Apps add functionality that isn't offered by a simple Fan Page: Popular and Useful Apps
Here are a few popular and useful apps you might want to install on your Fan Page. These are obviously more complicated than the simple apps I can create for you.
Blog RSS Feed Reader – Offers more functionality and customization for feeding your blog into your Facebook Page. Get the app here: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=5315590686 .
Calliflower – Offers free conference calls. Allows you to meet and present online. Get it here: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=17733760018 .
Extended Info – Allows you to outline and detail the info on your fan page so it's more readily available. Get it here: http://www.facebook.com/extendedinfo .
Fan Appz – A suite of marketing apps for social media to help Fan Pages connect with, monetize, and grow their number of Fans. Uses top 5 Lists, promotions, quizzes, polls, and virtual gifts, among other things. Get it here: http://www.facebook.com/FanAppz?sk=app_19827163485 .
Flash Player – A Facebook developed app that adds a box to your Page where you can upload Flash files to play videos or games. Get it here: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=4863858535 .
GoodReads – Integrates your GoodReads profile to Facebook. Get it here: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=2415071772 .
Mailing Lists – Allows your friends to opt in to a mailing list that lets you update them easily via email. Create a simple opt-in form using this app. Get this app here: http://apps.facebook.com/mailing .
Marketplace – With Facebook Marketplace, you can buy and sell anything using our easy listing service. You can list what you want, what you have, and see how you know the people who have created listings. The Marketplace application page displays all the most recent listings in your networks, and easy ways to filter and search for what you want . Get it here: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=2328908412 .
Memorable Web Addresses – Allows you to create a short easy-to-remember link address to your personal page, Fan Page, or Group. Something like: www.profile.to/AnyNameYouChoose. Get it here: http://www.facebook.com/webaddresses .
My LinkedIn Profile – Connects your LinkedIn page with Facebook. Get it here: http://www.facebook.com/applications/My_LinkedIn_Profile/6394109615 .
Networked Blogs – Display your blog, blogroll, and any other blog you like to read or would like to share with others. Similar to Blog Friends above. Get it here: http://www.facebook.com/networkedblogs . It also allows Fans to subscribe to your blog.
Note: There are many apps that do similar things. So check out several before deciding which ones you want to install on your Fan Page. Poll – Allows you to create surveys and polls. Get it here: http://www.facebook.com/OpinionPolls .
Promotions - Allows you to offer special interactive promotions such as contests, sweepstakes, coupons, and giveaways to your fans. Get it here: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=48008362724 . Costs $5 to $250 per promotion. And can cost a great deal more if you want a custom promotion.
Scribd – Allows you to share your Scribd presentations. Get it here: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=136494494209 .
Show & Sell – Allows users to set up a vitual mini-store. Costs: $19.99 per month (but has a 14-day free trial). It features the following apps: document display, video channel, photo showcase, map it, RSS feed, Twitter feed, sign up, sweepstakes, donate, volunteer, fan offer, partner pages, video premier, viral wave, and deal share. Lots of opportunities to promote and sell among those apps. Get it here: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=113298085356151 .
Slideshare – Allows you to share SlideShare.net presentations and documents. Get it here: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=2490221586 .
Social RSS - This app lets you add your RSS feed to a boxes tab, a dedicated tab, or your Fan Page wall and it automatically updates your feed to your Fan Page. Get it here: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=23798139265 .
Social Tweet - Allows you to tweet directly from Facebook - and simultaneously updates your Facebook Profile Page. Get it here: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=111757625714 .
Sweepstakes – Allows you to create sweepstakes on Facebook and follow all of Facebook's rules for such contests. Get it here: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=28134323652 .
Testimonials – Allows Facebook fans to endorse your business or fan page as well as find it in the IEndorse business database. Get it here: http://www.facebook.com/iEndorse .
Twitter App – Automatically pulls your tweets into your Facebook status. Get it here: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=2231777543 .
VBroadcast – Allows anyone with a webcam to broadcast live and interact with their audience on Facebook. You can chat with them in real time. Finished shows remain available with transcripts even after the live broadcast. Get it here: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=126457550345 .
VGreeting – Another service from Vpype. Allows anyone to share themed video greetings in Facebook. Overlays for all occasions are offered so you can have a fun look for your short greetings. A very overlooked personal app. Get it here: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=241702502966 .
Visual Bookshelf – Keep track of your favorite books, discover new reading material, and find out what books your friends enjoy! A Living Social app. Get it here: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=2481647302 . YouTube – Allows you to share YouTube videos very easily. Get it here: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=87741124305 .
On most app pages, you can click on the Add to My Page link on the left side to add an app to your Personal Profile Page or any of your Fan Pages.
If you sign up for an app and later want to delete it, click on the Account tab on the top right of your Facebook profile and click on Privacy Settings. From there, click on Apps and Websites in the lower left. Then click on the X box next to any app you want to delete. Note: Anyone can check out your app and then delete it quickly if they don't want to remain connected to you.
Facebook App Promotions
Here are some examples of major companies using Facebook Apps to promote a product, service, or cause.
Facebook noted:
Another example of app integration is Target ’s Bullseye Gives campaign. Target had their fans vote on which of ten charities they most wanted to see the company donate to . By voting, a post goes out onto your Facebook wall and into the News Feeds of all your friends, thus providing Target with valuable exposure. (For custom apps, see companies like Buddy Media , FanAppz , Wildfire Apps , Involver , Virtue , Context Optional .) [ UPDATE : Thank you to Context Optional , the creators of Target ’s “ Bullseye Gives ” campaign!] In the Spring of 2010, Mars Chocolate North America launched M&M’S Pretzel. Mars used Facebook to seed awareness and demand for the new product by developing a custom Facebook app called the M&M’s Pretzel Vending Machine. The application enabled 40,000 of the brand's fans to get a free sample delivered to them and allowed them to invite two friends to also receive a free sample. As a result, Mars distributed 120,000 samples to its customers within 48 hours. Facebook Ads
Facebook Ads – http://www.facebook.com/facebookads
Guide to Facebook Ads – http://www.facebook.com/adsmarketing
Create an Ad – http://www.facebook.com/ads/create
Facebook is now making it easy to place low-cost ads on targeted pages. You can target your city, specific subject interests, demographics fitting your target audience (females over 35, for example; or college-educated men with incomes over $100,000). I've seen many authors and businesses already advertising on Facebook – and apparently doing so successfully because their ads keep running.
Create a Facebook Ads campaign that encourages people to take an action that will be seen by their friends. When you click on an ad or respond to the ad in some way, your friends will see your activity in their News Feed. That means that your ad doesn't just reach your fans but also reaches all their followers as well.
Many people report that Facebooks Ads are more cost-effective than Google AdWords because they currently give a better return at a lower cost.
To advertise, start by clicking on the Edit Page button on the top right corner of your
Fan Page: .
Then click on the Resources link on the left sidebar of the next page.
Finally, click on the Advertise on Facebook link near the top left of the next page.
The following page will show up (after you click on the Use Facebook as (your personal profile): Fill out the page with the title of your add, the copy you want to use, and an image to go along with the ad.
With Facebook Ads, you can target by almost any criteria of information that Facebook gathers: demographics, hobbies, what people Like, income level, location, age, birth date, relationship status, interests, and more. Facebook ads even allow you to target very specific keywords that are mentioned in a person's profile.
For example, you could target Facebook users who have read a specific book (and liked it and listed it in their profiles). That means that if you write novels like Stephen King, you could create an ad for your novel that targets only those people who have read a specific King novel. That's very powerful targeting.
If that works, you can start targeting other writers or books. You can set up more than one campaign as well.
Or you could target knitting enthusiasts in Maine. Or fantasy football players in Los Angeles. Kama sutra enthusiasts in Poland who are over the age of 50. Prostate cancer survivors in Florida. There are tons of ways to target very specific groups.
Your options are showcased in the Targeting section right under the above section. That Targeting section looks like this: Choose the locations you want to target, the demographics (ages and sexes), the likes and interests, and the Facebook connections, the go on to the Campaigns, Pricing and Scheduling section featured on the same page:
You can choose a campaign name (you can run more than one campaign to allow for testing which perform the best), your budget per day, a campaign schedule, and your pricing. Note: You can set a daily or specific limit on how much you spend on ads – so you can control your costs very specifically. Test everything: price, copy, targeted audiences, locations – Everything is open to being tested.
Facebook might suggest a bid per click (generally in the range of $1.50 to $2.50), but you can choose to set your own per click bid by click on Set a Different Bid (Advanced Mode) link.
Note, also, that ads can be run on a per-impression or per-click basis. You can bid on the cost of each impression or click.
There are a number of ad subtypes you can choose from. You can create ads that direct to your Facebook page, or to a site not on Facebook (although most people I know who have used Facebook Ads say that Facebook links get better responses).
You can also create ads to promote a Facebook event, complete with an RSVP link. Ads can be created for FB groups and applications, too.
Once you have set all your criteria, click on the Place Order button or the Review Ad button:
If you choose to review your ad, you'll see something like the image on the next page.
Note: Facebook is always changing its ad placement options and testing new ad formats, so don't be surprised if you don't see something exactly like what I've shown here. Once you've placed a Facebook Ad, be sure to check your Campaign Reports to verify that your ads are producing effectively for you. Currently, you can check your Campaign Reports here: http://www.facebook.com/ads/manage/campaigns.php? .
Note: Any ad you run on Facebook (except for Event ads) features a Like button. If users click on that Like button, it increase the effectiveness of your ads manyfold. By clicking the Like button, the user becomes a fan of your page. In addition, the click adds an update to the user's News Feed. Thus many more people are exposed to your ad than originally see it on their Personal Profile page.
Facebook users can also close an ad (thus deleting it) and also write why they didn't like the ad. You can use that information to write a better ad.
Sample Facebook Ad Results
In March 2010, VisitBritain, began a Facebook Ads campaign to raise brand awareness and attract potential visitors to the UK. The campaign drove customers to the Love UK Facebook group on VisitBritain’s Facebook Page, where it posts something related to the UK to discuss every day. It has learned about its customers, as well as generated a groundswell of opinion and debate about the UK.
Unlike billboards where you have no idea whether people like them or not, VisitBritain appreciates the fact that without a massive spend, it can write a post and know within 10 minutes whether it is resonating with people or not.
Note how they advertised for more Likes by giving an ethical bribe – a $1 donation to the American Red Cross. A costly way to get Likes but if you have tested out your Fan Page and know that every new Like generates a certain amount of desired activity on your website, then the cost might be worth it.
Additional Facebook Ad Resources
Facebook provides many little PDF reports to help you choose what kind of ads you want to use and how to use those ads most effectively. Facebook wants you to advertise more, so they do everything they can to help you make your ads successful. These guides run from a few pages up to 29 pages. Facebook Ads: Getting Started Guide – Facebook-Ads-Getting-Started-Guide.pdf
Facebook Ads Manager: Getting Started Guide – Facebook-Ads-Manager- Tutorial.pdf
Guide to the New Facebook Ads Manager – The-New-Ads-Manager-May-2011.pdf
Best Practice Guide: Marketing on Facebook – Facebook-Best-Practice-Guide.pdf
Facebook Ads & Sponsored Stories – Facebook-Product-Guide.pdf
Sponsored Stories for Premium and Marketplace – Facebook-Sponsored- Stories.pdf
The 7 Sponsored Stories Types – Facebook-7-Story-Types.pdf
The last three reports cover Facebook's new advertising option: Sponsored Stories. Facebook Sponsored Stories
Sponsored Stories – http://www.facebook.com/ads/stories – This paid service increase visibility of a News Feed story by highlighting it for the user's friends in the right column of Facebook pages.
Facebook Sponsored Stories – http://www.facebook.com/ads/stories/PremiumAndMarketplace.pdf – Five easy steps to set up Sponsored Stories and the variety of ways you can use sponsorships to drive Likes and traffic.
Sponsored Stories are regular News Feed stories that have been promoted to the right column of Facebook, where users may be more likely to discover new things that their friends are interested in. These stories only show up for friends, so users can learn about places to go, apps to use, games to play and organizations their friends like.
Here's a shortened version of how Sponsored Stories works:
1. Someone likes your Facebook Page.
2. This generates a News Feed story on his Profile Page that his friends might see.
3. Sponsored Stories increase visibility of this story by highlighting it for his friends in the right column of Facebook pages.
The graphic below shows some of the different ways you can use Sponsored Stories. Read over the graphic carefully. Each type is different and targets different Facebook users. Remember: Sponsored Stories cost money. Like Facebook Ads, be sure to set limits on your advertising exposure and test every opportunity to make sure it pays off for you with increasted sales. Facebook Contests
If you run a contest, be sure to read this first: Facebook Promotions Guidelines – http://www.facebook.com/promotions_guidelines.php . These guidelines are very strict, so you have to be careful even when offering free books to the first 10 responders.
Hosting a Facebook Contest – http://www.WildFireApp.com – This is a paid service. Costs range from $5 for basic to $250 for Premium. Using their services should ensure that your contest follows Facebook contest guidelines.
With Wildfire companies & agencies can easily build & launch social media marketing campaigns within minutes. Campaign formats include quizzes, contests, coupons, virtual gifts and more. Easy-to-use design features enable you to create layouts & designs that fit your needs.
Wildfire enables you to simultaneously publish your social media marketing campaign on Facebook Fan Pages, Twitter and your Website with just a few clicks. It's secure, can handle massive traffic and is always up to date with the latest changes of the Facebook & Twitter platforms.
Download your data in real-time and get access to powerful analytics. Analyze user behavior, aggregate demographic profiles and viral campaign information. Find out who your brand ambassadors are and how they spread your brand to their friends.
Also check out the services offered by Shoutlet. You can read all about how to use Contests on Facebook as well as the services offered by Shoutlet by reading the following PDF which is on the BestSeller Launch Formula membership site: Facebook-Contests-by-Shoutlet.pdf . Well worth the short read. Facebook Deals
Find Deals on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/deals – Go here to find Deals offered by other businesses. That will give you a better idea of how to structure your Deals.
Deals Info for businesses – http://www.facebook.com/deals#!/deals/business –
Deals Help Center – http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=18844
You can promote book and product launches as well as other special promotions with Facebook Deals.
Note: Deals are a fairly new Facebook advertising service aimed primarily at promoting local businesses via special coupon or discount offers. It is currently only available in select local markets. Check out the above links to find out more about how you might structure a deal.
For most book authors, Facebook Deals are not likely to be the best or most economical way to use Facebook.
Check out Facebook's own report on their Deals. You can find it on the BestSeller Launch Formula membership website under: Facebook-Deals.pdf
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema created a Deal that incentivized its customers to check in on their mobile device, while at the cinema, to receive a free pint glass and the chance to see a free movie screening. Every time someone checked in, that story got published to all of his or her friends, creating a powerful word-of-mouth effect. The offer successfully drove people into the cinema, with over 5,100 people checking in. Through this Deal, the company distributed nearly 10,000 pint glasses and saw a much higher level of engagement on its Page. Facebook Insights
Use the Fan Page Insights to understand what your visitors and fans are interested in. You can access the Insights for your Fan Pages by clicking on the View Insights link in the right column of the Fan Page.
You can track how many Likes you've had, how many post views, how many viewers commented or Liked your posts, and much more – all ordered by date so you can track whether or not any of your promotions are working.
For example, just a few days after announcing my John Kremer Fan Page, my posts had already had 569 views:
Since that time (about 40 days later), that increased:
That means people are seeing my posts and reacting to them. These statistics keep you motivated because you are attracting attention – and they allow you to change your actions (posts) as you track which posts were most effective because they attracted the most attention.
When you click on the Users tab on the left, you can see the demographics of your Fans. Here, for example, are the age demographics for my first 139 Fans. Note that my followers trend toward the old folks, just like me. Fortunately I'm getting younger, so I should start attracting more of the young folks soon. Also note that I have many more female Fans. But don't tell my wife (I don't let her see these Insights pages.
You can learn a lot more by viewing the Insights on Facebook: What posts they viewed, what media (videos, wall posts, etc.) were viewed, and much more. Be sure to check out Insights on a regular basis to help you refine your Fan Page activity. Facebook Marketing Insights
Dan Zarella recently published a fascinating chart consisting of five Facebook marketing statistics. It makes for interesting reading.
You can easily use all of these statistics to improve your Facebook marketing results.
Send at the right time, on the right days, include certain words (if you can) and make it interesting or fun.
A slight tweak here and an adjustment there can make a huge difference to your Facebook marketing results.
Check out the statistical graphs on the following pages.
One Key Final Note
There's no such thing as wasting time on Facebook . I can't stress this one enough. Understanding the user experience is the most important element to any successful marketing campaign. And with Facebook changes rolling out regularly, it's the only way to understand the complex and wonderful world that is Facebook . – Jeff Ragovin, chief revenue officer, Buddy Media
I used to think that spending time on Facebook or Twitter or other social networks was a time-sucking activity – and it can still be that – but I've noticed that Twitter and Facebook drive traffic to my websites and blogs, raise my Google and Alexa rankings, and drive sales. So now I'm spending more time on both Facebook and Twitter.
The neat thing, though, is that you can get most of the benefits of Facebook and Twitter with a time commitment of 10 to 20 minutes a day. Once you have your Twitter profile set up and your Facebook Fan Pages set up, the daily maintenance doesn't have to take more than 20 minutes a day. Success Story from a Book Author
Here is a success story from Tom Blubaugh, an author who is taking my 15,000 Eyeballs Internet marketing course:
I’ve been on Facebook a while, but I haven’t used it for marketing until recently. I have set up a fan page. Admittedly, it is very basic page--still working on this.
I began by doing posts about the process of writing and publishing my novel Night of the Cossack --a fiction based on history set in the late 1800s and early 1900s in Russia. As the time of actual publication approached, I began sending invitations to purchase my book. The response was disappointing. I concluded my expectations were too high, no one was reading my posts, or no one was interested.
Unwilling to accept any of the three, I sent private messages asking my friends to like my page and sent a thank you to those who did including the link to my fan page so it got double exposure.
I then sent a private message to each requesting they preorder my book, which I would sign for them. I sold 120 copies to 38% of my 320 friends.
After my book was published, I gave them time to read it and then asked them to place a review on Amazon.com. 25% of them have done this and my book is being pushed up in the historical fiction and action and adventure categories.
This strategy has been very time consuming, but I’m now beginning to get sales from those who are buying my book for grandchildren.... I’ve pushed my friends from 320 to 650.
- Tom Blubaugh, author of Night of the Cossack . Web: http://nightofthecossack.com . More Resources for Using Facebook
Facebook Blogs – http://blog.facebook.com – The official blog of Facebook.
All Facebook – http://www.allfacebook.com – A MediaBistro adn WebMediaBrands blog all about Facebook. Alexa rank: 2,135 (June 2011).
Inside Facebook – http://www.insidefacebook.com – Tracks the Facebook platform for developers and marketers. Another WebMediaBrands blog. Other related blogs include Inside Social Games, Inside Mobile Apps, and Inside Virtual Goods. Alexa rank: 5,302 (June 2011).
Facebook Developers – http://developers.facebook.com – Provides tools for adding Facebook to your websites and blogs, adding Facebook to your mobile apps, and creating Facebook apps.
Facebook Developers: Samples and How-tos – http://developers.facebook.com/docs/samples – Provides sample codes for doing social plugins, canvas apps, explore Insights, work with Facebook credits, and more.
Facebook Help – http://www.Facebook.com/help
Facebook Live – http://www.facebook.com/FacebookLive - Official live video streaming channel from the Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto.
Facebook Marketing Solutions – http://www.facebook.com/marketing
Facebook Marketing Solutions: Resources – http://www.facebook.com/marketing?sk=app_4949752878 – Includes industry- specific advertising guides for retailers, the travel industry, and the health industry.
Facebook Platform – http://www.facebook.com/platform – Features news about changes in the Facebook platform.
Facebook Statistics – http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics – Updated stats on Facebook users and usage.
Facebook Studio – http://www.facebook-studio.com – A website to recognize the ways that the marketing community is using Facebook to drive business results.
Facebook Webinar Center – http://www.facebook.com/adsmarketing/index.php?sk=webinarcenter – Free on- demand tutorials about Facebook Ads and Facebook business solutions.
Top 10 Tips to Leverage Facebook to Gain Sales – http://www.pantheoncollective.com/tpc-technical-blogs/top-10-tpc-tips-to-leverage- facebook-to-gain-sales – Ten ways that three authors are using Facebook to market their co-authored book. For more information, contact John Kremer, Open Horizons, P O Box 2887, Taos NM 87571.
Email: [email protected]