Facebook

 

Facebook

Let’s start our social media tour with the big guy. Well, big guy for Gen Xers. Many of you probably know and use the app. As a writer, it’s the best place to find readers.

Facebook is a social media platform where users can post messages, pictures, videos, just about anything to share. Friends can post comments and replies. It’s an interactive environment with many layers. Not only can you post, but you can chat with friends, join interest groups, read news, find out the weather, and more.

Getting started is easy. Create an account by just signing up. Search for people you might know and send them a friend request. Search for writer and reader groups and join the fun. Boom, eight hours later you made dozens of friends, five interest groups, and played twenty different games.

But as an author…

Here are my two cents. Facebook has the readers. Most users are over thirty, but these people read, have money to buy books, and time to chat online in fan groups. If you are a YA or children’s author, Facebook probably won’t have your readers. But you might find their parents. Facebook is designed for user interactions, advertisements, and information. Authors can use these elements to promote their books and brands.

How to use Facebook as an author.

•  Set up an Author Page. (This differs from a Profile.) It’s a business page where fans can find you. Keep it set to public so that anyone can find you. Invite your fans to the page either through direct invites or when they like one of your posts. Use this page to promote your books and brand through interesting posts, ads, memes, videos, pictures, etc. Post every day. It might sound like too much work, but it’s worth it. Because of Facebook algorithms, some of your fans might not see all your posts. Having many posts to interact with will keep the page hot in the algorithms. The more comments on your posts the better you will do. Encourage people to click Love, Care, Laugh instead of just Like (thumbs up) when enjoying your post. The other reactions besides Like move you up in the algorithms. (Or they did, at the time of this post.)

What to post on your author page? Everything, from personal stuff (not too personal though, like your home address or pics of your babies) to cover reveals, to book sales, to vacation slides, to pet pics to… You get the idea. This page shows the world (of Facebook) who you are and what you are writing. Find a style and be consistent. Post those cat pics every Saturday. Use Wednesday as a tease on Hump Day (especially if you are a steamy or erotic writer), do a TGIF meme on Friday, or whatever your style.

• If you have a large fan base, create a fan page (Group). It’s a page for your fans to hang out, discuss your books together, and have some interactions with you. A fan page is for the readers to talk, not you. (Of course, you need to monitor it. Maybe create a spin-off group for spoilers. Be sure everyone plays by the rules.) I know a few authors who’ve had luck with these pages, gained new readers and had fun interacting with fans.

• Learn to create ads through Facebook. Because the app is full of readers and is far-reaching, Facebook ads are a great way to find new audiences. Best advice: Take a class on Facebook ads with a reputable person. I’m still trying to figure them out. A few other romance authors teach wonderful classes on how to make ads and make them pay. It’s worth the cost of the class to reach new audiences through an app where you already established a presence.

• Team up with other authors. A Group for your genre with other authors allows you to share audiences, give more content to readers, and expand your reach. Plus, it’s super fun. I’m a reader in some groups, but I help run a romance group where we have guest authors, contests, parties, play meme games, and more. It’s a nice small set of authors sharing and reaching out to our fans. They are perfect for when you are still establishing your fan base and might not have enough people for a fan Page. Plus, opportunities abound to help other authors and get help yourself. Plus, readers love these groups, especially ones that give out free prizes!

Facebook can be a powerful tool for an author, but not everyone likes or is on the app. Next week, we will discuss Twitter.

 

 

 

 

Social Media for Writers

 

My blog friends, 

I have an idea. Give a listen to my proposal and let me know what you think.

We’ve worked through about twenty-five apps so far. Yes, some posts were just links to check out, but we covered some serious ground. We’ve talked about grammar, organization, writing programs, marketing, graphics, and more. I hinted at some social media sites such as BookBub, Goodreads, and Book + Main. But we haven’t tackled the big social media apps.

I’m guessing if you can find my blog, you have some grasp of social media. After talking with a good friend about Instagram, I wondered if I could help writers with social media apps, too.

Here’s my plan.

I’ll post one per app on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Twitch, Pinterest, Linktree, YouTube, Discord, and maybe a few more. I’ll do the what-is, how-to, and for-authors in one post. We’ll focus on the “how does this benefit you” side of these apps. Some are probably familiar. Others might be completely unknown. (Fortunately, I have two teenagers to assist me.)

Why am I backpedaling? Again, the conversation with my friend and the class on TikTok given by my publisher got me thinking. As authors, we need to market ourselves, our brand, and our books. Social media is the best way to get your name out there. I’ve learned many tips and tricks from classes, authors, and my teens about how to use these apps to my best benefit.

What do you all think? A couple months of social media or should we focus on marketing and writing programs?

Let me know what you think in the comments on either the blog, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. I’d love to hear your opinions. (Or tell me what other apps we should explore.)

Thanks!

Love,

Ginny

Mailchimp for Authors

 

 

The biggest take from Mailchimp is: make a newsletter. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve heard from successful authors that newsletters are key to sales. They allow you direct contact with your readers.

So, what do you need to start your newsletter? Glad you asked. (I’m not the guru of newsletters. I’ve taken a few classes and can pass on all the advice I’ve received.)

Here we go:

• A PO Box or business address. Before you sign up for Mailchimp, have a business address. On Mailchimp, your street address is included in any newsletter. Again, if you don’t want fans at your house…
• A logo/brand. Before making a landing page or newsletter, make a brand for yourself. Find/create/buy a graphic you can use commercially and pick a font for your name. Remember, branding is about you, not just your books. Be sure the info/colors/style choices match who you are as a writer. I write steamy contemporary, but not erotica. My font is curly, and my logo is a drawn heart. Simple, easy to remember, and on-brand with my covers.
• Content. Plan your campaigns for new releases, cover reveals, vacation photos, guest content from other authors, etc. Randomly sending out “Buy My Book” emails gets old fast. Use personal stuff if you can, like pet pics and hobbies, but perhaps not family photos.
• A landing page. Be sure to include GDPR/Internet commerce law questions to comply with all legal restrictions on using email addresses. It also gives your customer a friendly welcome. You can also use the landing page to either gather more information or perhaps do a lead magnet to reward readers for signing up. A lead magnet is a giveaway of some sort. Some authors use a free book, chapter, swag, or an original story not available anywhere. Readers love free stuff, and a free book wins every time.
• A list of contacts. Your mailing list is essential to marketing to people who want to hear from you. Mailchimp makes it so easy to create and maintain. It does all the work for you. If you completed your sign-up GDPR/Can-Spam/Internet commerce law compliant, every contact chose to be on the list. Back it up once a month. That list is pure gold and completely in your control as a business. It’s great to have a presence on social media, but Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. have their own agendas. Any of them could disappear instantly. There’s the possibility of losing out on huge customer bases if your social media crashes, you get banned, or someone hacks your data. But that list of contacts, regularly backed up, is yours to keep, to use as you will, and to maintain contact with your loyal readers.
• Sign-up Link. Mailchimp will provide you with a direct link to your landing page. Copy that link and post it everywhere on your social media and website. Especially your website. People go there specifically to find you. WordPress has great plug-ins to create places on your webpage for newsletter sign-ups. Facebook will also allow you to add a button to your author page that links to your newsletter sign-up. Always give this link to readers if you do Facebook takeovers, blog hops, or any other personal promotion. You might not catch that reader during your takeover. But when they receive your wonderful newsletter with your books, your hobbies, and your pets, you can win them over then.

Hopefully, that will get you all started with newsletters. And don’t forget to team up with other authors to do newsletter swaps and share audiences.

Mailchimp is a great app for this service, but there are others available. Most work on these same principles. As an author, I cannot recommend enough for everyone to get a mailing list and publish a newsletter.

How To Mailchimp Part 2

 

Last week, we rushed through creating a newsletter. This week we’ll highlight some of the other features on Mailchimp. Again, there are so many things you can do with Mailchimp. I can’t possibly get to them all.

Templates

It’s a great idea to create a template for your monthly, quarterly, weekly newsletter. (Though if you are weekly, you don’t need me.) A template of your newsletter with your layout, logo, links, and other data already added makes it even easier to send out. A few clicks versus building an entire layout. Click on Email template and choose one that will work for most of your newsletters. Click on the top box to enter your logo, banner, or standard picture. Click on the social media tags and add all your links. (This is the best part of a template—not having to find all those links.) Don’t worry about the info at the bottom of the template. When you create a campaign, Mailchimp will automatically add that data (address, email, etc.).

Segments

Find Segments under the Audience menu. This allows you to divide your customer list based on their interests, ages, location, etc. You can split up your audience to target them better. Click on Create a Segment. Next choose which audience members and what criteria to use. Choose Any or All contacts that match the criteria including Date Added, Sign up Source, and Campaign activity. You can segment your audience in many other ways. Each criterion for division has different choices. If you click by Date Added and choose After the Last Campaign was sent, you can send just the newest members of your contact list a message. Maybe a personal welcome note or a lead magnet (a freebie like digital content). We’d have another eighteen-page post if I went through all the options for segments, but questions you ask from your landing page/sign up can determine how you can segment. Hit the Add button to narrow the field further with more criteria. Once complete, hit Preview Segment to see the subscribers who meet your request. Click Save Segment or go back and revise. You can also send a campaign for email or postcards right there. You can export the segment into a CSV file for backup.

Webpages

Click on the Webpage option on the left-hand menu. Choose how you wish to start—Design, Selling, or Services. I’m starting with Design as I’m not planning to sell books or services from my site. Choose a name for your webpage and click Edit My Site. Click on Edit Page to design the elements. Like the newsletter creator, the webpage creator allows you to click on elements on the page and edit them. Uploading your images is easy. Text and images are edited on the right, similar to the newsletter. Each pre-made element can be edited to add data, such as the buttons. Click on a button to add a link. On the bottom right is the Sections menu to speedily get you to a section to edit. Just click on your choice.

Back on the management page, other options include Style that has various color schemes for text and backgrounds. The cookie manager puts a disclaimer about how cookies work and lets the viewer know you are using them. It’s important if you are using a Pixel to let people know you are gathering information. Like WordPress, Mailchimp will host the site with their name in your domain name. Having your newsletter, mailings, marketing, and website all in one place can be super convenient.

As I write this, I see Mailchimp has a major announcement coming. If it counteracts anything from the last two posts, I’ll give you all an update.