The Facebook Page Promo Conundrum

As authors, we are all in the same boat. We are always looking for ways to sell our books, peddle our wares and force ahead in our quest for the Best Sellers lists. While there are many different approaches that can be taken, arguably the most important, or rather the largest place for us to do this is Facebook. The power of social media is at a peak, and Facebook always has been leading the charge.

There are, according to my approach, and that of several successful authors I know, three main ways to get your books and name seen via FB.

One is through your own profile and author page.  This seems self-explanatory, but I have been watching my stats these last few weeks, while I have been big on the promo pushing, and while many of my posts average around 80-90 views, approx 20% of my total page likes, anything I posted with a link in was seen by less than half of that amount.

It wasn’t until a friend of mine told me that FB somehow limit or restrict the viewing of posts with links in that it dawned on me that it wasn’t my fault that the numbers were down. Well, not entirely. 

What I now do, is to post my teaser, the hook if you will, and then leave the actual link in the first comment (advising readers of this fact). With this method, my posts with links in them are now reaching that same (approx) 20% mark. It might not be much, but it has double the potential audience size.

The second method, and one that is the simplest of them all, Groups. Facebook groups are the perfect place to flaunt yourself. Just make sure you read the guidelines, you don’t want to break the rules, and many groups have selected promo days, or a specific place for links to be placed. I have a spreadsheet filled with links for all of the groups I am in then twice a week I hit them all with a link. I am not saying this guarantees sales. It does increase them for some, but for others maybe not. It does however, get your name seen, and that is the first and most important thing. People need to know who you are, and that you exist.

Groups are straightforward, and even I think I have a pretty decent handle on them.

Pages on the other hand, these little blighters have me stumped. Hold on, hold on, slow down there with the name calling. I know what Pages are and I know how they work, but I am talking about using them for promotion, and the best approach therefore.

There are two options, on is to post yourself on the page.Many people are happy for you to do that, however, in a great many instances, these posts do not stay on the page long and are shunted to a sidebar where they are listed as ‘Recent Posts by Others’. These are no very easy to see, and the link needs to be clicked to see what was posted. I other words, it is not ideal.

The other option is to send the page a message, asking if they would like to post for you. Giving them both the hook and the link. This would mean that they post your link and that then stays on the page as a genuine post. Thus getting you more coverage. However, I have over 120 pages on my spreadsheet, and when I hit them up for links, only a small few, shall we say 30% of them actually respond to my messages. Okay, assuming that a few will read it and post without returning a message, I could go to 40%. Still, that isn’t great.

What approach is the best one? Post under my own name and be another ‘Recent post by other’ and at least appear on every page I contact, or continue to message and take the 60-70% hit, but know that at least on the pages that did post for me, more people are going to see it?

How do you promote on Facebook?  Is there a right way or a wrong way? One thing is for sure, I am damned well going to find out!