A plan needs to be in place when self-publishing through the usual routes such as Amazon KDP. For example, if you have a bunch of people on your mailing list waiting for your ebook to be released, then you will see sales of it once it becomes available across the Amazon websites. If you don’t have a plan in place, it could take at least a couple of weeks before a purchase for a single copy registers under your name. Additional marketing efforts are necessary to push sales.
Thankfully, social media has played a big role in allowing aspiring authors to let potential buyers know about their ebook. Even better, the writers themselves can do it without having to pay exorbitant fees to marketing professionals. Facebook remains to be the most popular and effective social media platform for promoting businesses and this includes ebooks. Read on to learn how you can get the most out of a Facebook page for your marketing initiatives.
Create a Facebook page
To get started, you’ll need to put up a Facebook page. Determine if the Facebook page will be named after you as an author, or will focus on just one of your works. The former will come in handy when you begin marketing succeeding books, while the latter will help categorize your readership following, so choose what will best meet your targets.
Make sure your description is good
If you’ve got readers to your Facebook page, one tab they’re most likely to click on is the ‘About’ one. Here they can be find a description of your page and a link back to your website. Ensure you write a description about you and your work, which is engaging and intriguing, and that entices people to look over to the right of the page and click through to your website URL.
Post content based on your target demographics
What image do you want your Facebook page to project? Consider your readership according to their age group, personality, or occupation. You might want to keep the tone of your posts professional if you are marketing an ebook on business. Meanwhile, young adults would be more responsive to visual content such as photos or infographics. Whoever your targeted audience is will help determine what type of cover photo and profile photo you might use. As an example, the cover photo could be the cover of your ebook, while the profile photo could be a decent headshot of you.
Strategically decide on the frequency of your posts
Bombarding your Facebook page with posts will annoy your followers and taking too long to generate content will make them forget about you. It is imperative to strategically schedule your posts in order to have as much visibility as possible. Aim for updates twice a day, once in the morning, and once in the afternoon to effectively reach a wide range of audience.
Avoid talking too much about your ebook
Sure, your Facebook page is supposed to let the world know about your product. However, being self-serving will not help your cause. Facebook users will appreciate interesting and helpful content. In return, they will consider you an expert and they will be more willing to spend for information, or entertainment you can provide them through your ebook. For example, if you are selling an ebook on travelling, you can post practical tips or recommended destinations to capture the attention of prospective customers.
Get others to help promote your ebook
Hopefully you’re also using your main Facebook account to build up an influential list of friends. This could include other writers and authors, and industry experts. These such individuals will also be sharing they own content through Facebook.
Whenever you come across an interesting article, video or podcast that would be interest to the followers of your Facebook page, generously share it, writing a brief note of the name of the producer of the piece of the content and thanking him or her. The producer will notice that you have shared his or her content on your page, and will most likely reciprocate by sharing a piece of your content related to your ebook from your page with his or her friends.
Image credit: Robert Scoble on flickr and reproduced under Creative Commons 2.0