Monday, August 6, 2018

How Authors Should Craft A Facebook Post That’s Effective




So many people post on Facebook, looking to promote their book or author brand, but only some get real results, meaning they grow their connections, their posts travel far, and they see something materialize from it, such as book sales, invitations to speak, or bigger media coverage.  How can you produce the best posts on Facebook, the most popular social media platform?

Let’s first begin with the obvious.  Make sure you are consistently putting out good, timely, well-written content that sticks to themes related to your books and that tie into what’s in the news and what you have the experience, education and knowledge to speak about.

Next, let’s make sure you’re on a reasonable schedule of posting.  By varying the length of your posts – and the frequency – you can always be pushing your brand out there.  Posting twice a day on FB may be a good number.  If you sometimes post a visual and not much text – or you re-post someone’s post – you can consider posting a third time per day.  The key is to post often enough to attract attention, but not so much that you’re a nuisance to others or where the posting becomes burdensome to you.

Your posts can’t be “Buy more books” nor should they be about what you ate for lunch.  They should be about writing and your creative process; relevant advice, tips, strategies, or helpful resources related to your book's themes; stories shared from your career experiences; and other relevant things.

Other possible post ideas include:

·         Share a blog post – by you or someone else.
·         Show a funny or interesting image.
·         A quiz.
·         A case study that highlights an accomplishment and explaining how it is relevant to others.
·         Commentary on related news.
·         Discussion of something you recently did – attended a conference, spoke at an event, celebrated something.
·         Provide how-to advice.
·         List resources.
·         Do an interview with someone.
·         Sharing a video clip.
·         Make a declaration about something important.
·         Question an action or viewpoint.
·         Analyze data.
·         Highlight something outrageous.
·         Review a related book.
·         Share a first-person, eye-witness account.
·         Things one shouldn’t do or say.
·         Something contrarian or provocative.
·         Share a secret.
·         Make a prediction.
·         Share links to your writings.
·         Show something personal that humanizes you but lacks controversy or strong opinions on religion, sex, or politics -- unless they are relevant to your book..

Follow some best practices of good writing such as:

·        Show, don’t tell. Do not merely say you fell in love. Try this:  “It was at that very moment that I knew my heart could not beat for anyone else, that my body could not be consumed by another man, that my soul would be lost without him by my side.”

·         Use familiar yet surprising analogies.  Sure, you can compare someone or something by making the topical references – “He was as wide as he was tall.” Or you can say: “His ever-expanding waistline seemed to grow at a pace faster than that of Jeff Bezos’ wallet after Prime Day.”

·         Embrace the active voice over the passive.  This means state things in the present/future vs. the past, and it also means emphasizing things in a certain order within a sentence so you can write with verve and impact.

·         Avoid using clichés, stereotypes and tired phrases.

·         Make sure you don’t misuse or confuse your words.  Uninterested and disinterested are not the same thing.  Nor are canvas and canvass.  Nor are amoral and immoral.  Be aware of when to use can and may, fewer and less than, and who vs. whom.

·         Share stories that only you can tell, calling upon personal experiences in a unique presentation style.

·         Chances are what you say is neither news nor new, but you can say it better than others have said it.

·         Lead the post with the most important aspect of your ideas – and bring out the best words to give them shape and importance.  If you don’t draw them with in the first paragraph they will move on.

·         Write your post with a purpose – and passion.  If you end up not loving your post, don’t settle for mediocrity.  Ditch it until you can pen something really good. Set a high standard for yourself.

·         Avoid redundancies – utilize the free site wordcounter.com.

·         Make your post tight -- trim unnecessary words or fluff.

·         Infuse personality into the post – share emotions, hopes, fears, desires, and joys.

Lastly, if you feel anyone could’ve written your post, don’t bother publishing it.  Let it reflect who you really are. It must contribute to what’s out there – otherwise don’t bother.


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Brian Feinblum’s insightful views, provocative opinions, and interesting ideas expressed in this terrific blog are his alone and not that of his employer or anyone else. You can – and should -- follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels much more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2018. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s Independent.  This was named one of the best book marketing blogs by Book Baby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs and recognized by Feedspot in 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. Also named by WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” He recently hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America and participated in a PR panel at the Sarah Lawrence College Writers Institute Conference.

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