I know a lot of authors on Facebook, but not too many are taking advantage of fan pages, where you can promote your business or service or book. One of the dilemmas of Facebook is deciding whether you want to focus on personal relationships – family and friends – or friend everyone you can who’s interested in your book or subject. The result can be a mish-mash of personal and business.
Fan pages allow you to separate the two. Consider keeping your profile page for personal stuff and create a fan page for your book or business. Here’s some advantages to having a fan page:
- Facebook fan pages are indexed by Google and other search engines. Personal pages are not indexed. Having your fan page show up in search results helps your visibility on the web and could drive traffic to your web site.
- You can add links to your website on your fan page. You can’t do that on your profile page.
- There’s no limit on how many fans you can have. Probably the biggest “Awww, isn’t that a shame!” problem on Facebook is that you can only have 5000 friends. A bigger problem in my opinion is that you wouldn’t know hardly any of your 5000 friends and can’t interact with the people you do know. So, a fan page would allow you to interact with would-be clients and prospects and you can use your profile page to keep up with friends and family.
- Import your blog to your fan page. Give your legions of fans something to do when they go to your fan page: Let them read your fabulous blog.
- Upload photos of your events. I love this idea because again it gives people a visual – and an incentive to attend your next event if your photos capture the fun of your event.
- You can email your fans through Facebook about new events and stuff. You don’t want to overdo this one unless you want to see your fans running for the exit. However, used sparingly, this could be a terrific way to let them know about new promotions and events. And don’t forget to throw in an occasional freebie as a thank you.
To create your fan page, scroll clear down to the bottom of your profile page and click on the Advertising link. Click on the Pages link and follow the prompts to create your page. To build your fan base, consider offering an excerpt from your book, a free report, or whatever you can dream up.
And enjoy the next time you can preface a remark with “As I was telling my fans last night…”
