Author marketing clinics, seminars and workshops always tout the “latest and greatest” social media tools which will generate book sales. It wasn’t long ago that Twitter was lauded as the “key” to easy book sales. Lately, there’s a new “it” social media network and it’s Facebook so of course, the author marketing seminars are now filling seats with promises of revealing the “secrets” to using Facebook to sell books.
On Facebook – you can have a personal page – where you can choose what information to share with your “friends” – or you can have a “page” where you share everything. This public profile page is called a “Fan Page”. Instead of connecting with you “personally” on Facebook – the public profile page allows people to become your “fan” rather than your “friend”. As an author, you should of course have a Facebook profile for your personal connections – and a Facebook fan page for your books.
One recent “promise” made by a popular seminar is to answer the question “Why a Facebook fan is worth $71.84.” That claim is in stark contrast to other industry research. Brian Morrissey reported earlier this year in AdAge that the Value of a ‘Fan’ on Social Media is only $3.60 based upon a study done by Vitrue which determined that, on average, a fan base of 1 million translates into at least $3.6 million in equivalent media over the course of a year.
So while your book’s Facebook fans may not be worth several times the price of your book, the Vitrue study does show there is real value in using Facebook to promote and sell your book.
So how do you get Facebook fans for your work? Once again – the best author websites are blogs which allow you to easily add an appealing image to your blog’s sidebar widget to encourage your blog’s readers to join your fan page, include a link to your Facebook Fan page and VIOLA – you’ve just implemented one of the most effective tools around to attract fans to your Facebook Public Profile.
Like every other social media tool you can put to work selling your books, remember to view your public Facebook profile as a communication tool which allows you to easily connect and communicate with your book’s readers and prospective book buyers.
