With 2.8 billion active monthly users, Facebook is the largest social media network. So if you’re wondering if you should create a Facebook author page, the answer is a resounding YES.
And, no, you can’t just use your personal page for business — Facebook doesn’t allow it. Besides, you have a limit of 5000 friends on your personal page, and you’re going to have way more fans of your books than that, right?
Just to be clear, having an author website is important too, but you need Facebook to engage with and expand your audience. It’s where you can join groups related to your genre or those based on personal interests; both offer a treasure trove of potential readers.
Of course, Facebook also makes it easy for your fans to share you with their friends and family.
So if you weren’t convinced before, I hope you see why you need a Facebook page. Now we’ll show you how to create one, and we’ll share 15 tips to help you use yours effectively.
How To Set Up a Facebook Author Page
To set up a facebook business page, you must have a personal page first.
Step 1: Create a Facebook Business Page
From your home screen click the “+” button in the upper right corner.
Step 2: Choose the Community or Public Figure Option
This option allows you to select “author” as your category.
Step 3: Name Your Facebook Business Page
You’ll want to use your actual name or pen name, and it should include the word author or writer as well.
Step 4: Upload Profile Photos
Use a professional quality headshot for your profile picture — your readers will want to connect your name with a face. For the larger background photo, use a scene that depicts your genre, photos of your book covers, or promotional material for an upcoming release.
Step 5: Personalize Your Author Page
Fill in every section, and add some personality and flair. Remember, your objective is to connect with people, and introduce them to the human being behind the stories. That means you should also include things about yourself that are unrelated to writing.
Pay special attention to the About section. If you’ve developed a keyword strategy, sprinkle those words throughout your profile where they make sense to help potential readers find your page.
Once you’ve finished creating your page, log on from a mobile device to ensure it looks good on smaller screens too.
15 Tips for Using Facebook Effectively as an Author
Now that your page is live, you’ll want to ensure you’re leveraging its potential to engage and grow your audience. Don’t let this list overwhelm you — you can enhance your page over time once you see what works best.
1. Expand your reach: Ask followers from your personal page to like your new author page and join groups related to your genre to meet potential readers. Add a few personal interests or cause related groups to find like-minded people.
2. Post content regularly: Post at least a few times a week to encourage more engagement.
3. Go easy on the sales pitch: Remember, not everything you post should be about selling your books — stick to the 80/20 rule and keep marketing to about 20 percent.
4. Stay organized: Consider using an editorial calendar to manage what and how often you’re posting.
5. Don’t Hide: Make it easy for fans to find you. Include links to your website, email list, and other social media handles.
6. Respond to every comment: Show people you appreciate their interest in you and your writing. Let them know the feeling is mutual!
7. Use polls as conversation starters: Polls are a great way to engage your readers. Try asking for feedback on a future storyline, character names, or a book cover design.
8. Leverage the pinned post feature: It’s a good way to keep followers updated with related news or updates about new releases or events.
9. Use the check-in feature: Show you’re a real person who writes stories on her laptop at coffee shops, visits independent bookstores, and attends other author events. It makes you relatable.
10. Get creative with page stories: Use them as a creative outlet to attract more fans. Similar to Instagram and Snapchat, you create photos and videos (with filters and overlays) that disappear in 24 hours. Your challenge is creating content that no one would want to miss out on!
11. Leverage page insights: Understand what content gets the most engagement and when your target audience is online.
12. Promote or tag others: Support other writers you admire and follow. Like or comment on their posts and congratulate them on their book releases or accomplishments.
13. Boost key posts: Use Facebook’s advertising feature to promote a certain post on your audience’s news feed — think special offers, announcements, and events. Set a daily budget and the “campaign” will run on autopilot.
14. Cross-promote: Promote your Facebook author page on your other social sites and vice versa. Be sure to include links in your email signature to further expand your reach.
15. Be authentic: It’s the most important tip of all. Your author page should be a window into you, not just your writing.
Embrace the Power of Facebook
Your Facebook author page can be a powerful marketing tool. And when you use it intentionally and authentically, your engaged fans will do a lot of marketing for you.
Make your page the place to be by posting meaningful, engaging content that brings value to your audience’s lives. And just watch — they’ll tell their friends, who will tell their friends, who will tell their friends …
As you start building your Facebook author page, set a few minutes aside to get some personalized guidance from bestselling author Jerry Jenkins. Just take this quick quiz and he’ll provide insight customized for you.