Thursday, April 7, 2016

F is for Facebook and Fail


Welcome A to Z Bloggers! As many of you know, I am spending my month putting all of YOU to work! I will bring up a book marketing or publishing topic then ask for YOUR experiences with it. (so be sure to check back later for answers!)

But first, a confession: I had a presentation at work Tuesday and so I've been TERRIBLE getting around to other bloggers—only a few a day. But starting TODAY I will get back to a mix of visiting new and visiting BACK people who've visited me, so hopefully the END of my FAIL.

Now for the topic...


Facebook

Now don't get all “that's old news” on me because I have been on FB since 2007 personally and since 2009 as a writer. But Facebook made some changes last year that made most of the old promo stuff not work. And I have some (well meaning) friends who seem to over-promote (this is more a “missing the mix” thing I think—promo has to be less than 10% of what you do).

But what I want to know from all of YOU is if you've figured out any new tricks to really make it work. Are you managing to drive blog traffic or boost booksales with any new tricks on Facebook?

How do you do it?
What are the new tricks?


Okay, now go visit other A to Z bloggers!

16 comments:

Jan Morrison said...

So interesting that you would write about this today. I was in a state of furiousity last night because of some baloney whipping around fb about a poem in the New Yorker by Calvin Trillin about Chinese food. People were mad because they thought he was serious and because it was doggerel. They obviously didn't know squat about this New Yorker staple. Anyway, not to get into the whole sordid mess but it deeply infuriated me and made me consider whether l should be on fb at all. And I am trying to shop my book so need to. And I work with teenagers and need to. I was truly thinking that the mob mentality is too too much and wondered -does one have to be on the damn thing? A pondering and of no help to you because I haven't the foggiest how to market on it anyway.

Tasha Duncan-Drake said...

When I was promoting the launch of my last book I used a lot of groups. There are load of books specifically for promoting books and it does seem to generate sales, but seems to only really work during a promotional price period. Facebook just tries to make it as hard as possible to do anything without paying them.
Tasha
Tasha's Thinkings | Wittegen Press | FB3X (AC)

Tasha Duncan-Drake said...

That should of course have said 'loads of groups specifically for promoting books' - sorry :)

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

My trick - avoid Facebook.
Sorry, not on it, so no help!

Elizabeth Spann Craig said...

I 'do Facebook' pathetically. But I tweeted a link on Twitter yesterday that was very popular and the post had lots of good tips. Because romance writers are tops on FB:
https://www.bookworks.com/2016/02/how-romance-writers-woo-readers-through-facebook/

Unknown said...

God, I loathe Facebook. I joined it years ago when my kids were teens only to see what they were up to, but now my kids have gotten way too cool for "Mombook" and when I go on it, all I see is selfies from my receptionist at work. Okay, that's not ALL I see, but it's at least 50%! So I'm the last person to tell you about FB tips! Sorry!

Susanne Matthews said...

I agree facebook can be frustrating. Since I suck at promo and have no money to invest in it, it's pretty much all I have. https://mhsusannematthews.wordpress.com

Yvonne Ventresca said...

Social media fascinates me! Here are 3 facebook articles I refer to, but what's interesting is that they offer conflicting advice, so I'm not sure what the right answer is.

https://janefriedman.com/5-reasons-use-facebook-profiles/
http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2015/how-to-best-use-facebook-as-an-author/
http://theauthoronline.com/Power-of-Facebook.html

Happy A to Zing!
Yvonne V

Tamara Narayan said...

I'm not on FB either.

M.J. Fifield said...

I have an author page on Facebook where I post random writing-related things, like what I'm working on at the moment or whatever. I don't really think I'm boosting sales or driving blog traffic or anything else, but I keep the page anyway. Why not?

Roland D. Yeomans said...

FB only helps FB -- sort of like Amazon. I look a bit to see if a friend might need a supporting word. Like many, I just avoid it when I can. :-)

Chrys Fey said...

I have an author page, an author profile and a personal profile. Haha! On my author page, I post anything writing related and all of my blog posts. I honestly don't pay attention anymore if I get traffic to my blog from Facebook. Some of my blog links get no likes, other get 1-2, and then there's some that get 5-6. I consider the latter an awesome amount of likes for a blog post link. lol I've found that when I post about what I'm doing or something that's a little random that I get the best response.

Carol said...

I'm a reader, not a writer, so no help. I will say that I tend to like when authors on facebook let us into their real lives a little - not too much, but enough to make us realize they're real people. Not sure how that helps with book sales, though.

http://carolsnotebook.com

Unknown said...

Facebook are very good at changing the rules. Basically I use it to promote my blog not my book and I have my book on my blog so... Not that it works. I only follow one author page on FB and she does it very well. I'd say only 10% of her posts promote the book. She's very bubbly and engaging so I guess that's a strategy.

T. Powell Coltrin said...

FB has lost its glow for me. People use it poorly and I have no patience for that.

Yolanda Renée said...

FB wants you to spend money, cause the guy who stole the idea for it needs more cash. Gee, do I sound like I resent, hate, am frustrated with FB. You bet, I wouldn't even be there if not for the contract I signed making it necessary. Sorry, I see no benefit to it, at all. Okay, well, maybe it's a great place to hold a conversation, but I don't ever trust that it's private.
Sorry, didn't mean to be a debbie downer! LOL