# SOCIAL MEDIA for AUTHORS SERIES: Facebook Pages



## jonfmerz (Mar 30, 2009)

As promised/alluded to, I've gone ahead and started an ebook series about using social media to maximize an author's online presence and reader interaction. First up in this planned series of at least five mini-books is Facebook Pages. Designed to help anyone from the get-go on getting one, and customizing it with several easy add-ons, Facebook Pages covers the following items:

Get a Facebook Fan Page
Author / Logo Photo
Write Something About
Edit Page
Put Up A Post
Info
Photos
Discussions
Suggest To Friends
Key Customizations
Get A Static FBML Box
Cover Images & Links To Buy Code
Placement
Other Page Apps
Networks Blogs
Like Buttons
Like Box

Only 20 pages long, it's chock full of stuff you can use now to hopefully improve your bottom line. Hope you all find it worthwhile.


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## David McAfee (Apr 15, 2010)

Cool! Thanks, Jon! I will grab this tonight when I get home.


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## Brenda Carroll (May 21, 2009)

I've had to read Facebook for Dummies in order to learn how to navigate on Facebook.  This sounds great.  I'll have to check it out.  Thanks, Jon.  OH BTW, did I tell you I read the Brank of Khosadam and found it quite enjoyable.  No one tells stories like that anymore.  I'm hoping to find time to write a review on Goodreads or somewhere for it soon.


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## jonfmerz (Mar 30, 2009)

Thanks David!

Thanks Brendan, let me know what you think of it.  I wrote it with the idea that anyone would be able to do what I outlined in the book without a lot of tech-savvy.  Hopefully, I was able to deliver on that.


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## jonfmerz (Mar 30, 2009)

Thanks to DB Henson for posting a snippet about this on the blog: http://dbhenson.blogspot.com/2010/05/does-your-book-have-facebook-page.html


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## daveconifer (Oct 20, 2009)

I read this through yesterday and started building my Facebook fan page last night.  If only all the manuals I have to use were written this clearly!  

When my page is ready I'll post a link here.  It's always good to be LIKEd...


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## jonfmerz (Mar 30, 2009)

Thanks Dave - much appreciated!  Let me know when your page is ready!


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## D. B. Henson (Apr 27, 2010)

Jon - I meant to let you know when the post regarding your book went up on my blog, but life interrupted and I didn't get the chance.  I'm glad you found it on your own.

I hope the post was to your liking.

D.B. Henson


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## David McAfee (Apr 15, 2010)

Jon,

What are the odds of getting this in a printable PDF?


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## jonfmerz (Mar 30, 2009)

Thanks DB!  Very pleased and grateful for the exposure!  

David - yep, not a problem.  I'll be putting it on to Smashwords pretty soon and if you've already bought it on Amazon, just forward your receipt to me and I'll send you out a .pdf no problemo.

Thanks!


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## daveconifer (Oct 20, 2009)

Here's my Facebook fanpage.  Let me know what y'all think.  I followed the guidebook.  That is, until I got to the last bit.  By then the second glass of wine kicked in so I'll finish that tomorrow.

I hope this link works.  Hopefully I'll pick up twenty-five fans and then I can grab a shorter, niftier URL...

edit: I couldn't get that link to work.  If you want to check it out on Facebook just search for "daveconiferfanpage"

Thanks...


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## Jeff (Oct 28, 2008)

daveconifer said:


> I couldn't get that link to work.


http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#!/pages/daveconiferfanpage/123626070988552


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## daveconifer (Oct 20, 2009)

I'm such a dope, can't paste in the URL for my own page.

Thanks Jeff, and thanks for LIKEing my page!!


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## Jeff (Oct 28, 2008)

daveconifer said:


> I'm such a dope, can't paste in the URL for my own page.
> 
> Thanks Jeff, and thanks for LIKEing my page!!


I would have preferred to be a fan - but what the hey.


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## jonfmerz (Mar 30, 2009)

Nice work, Dave!  Great landing page and it's very cool to see that it worked out great for you!


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## cheerio (May 16, 2009)

great book


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## daveconifer (Oct 20, 2009)

Here's the review I just posted on Amazon for this book...

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Indispensable!, May 16, 2010
By dave conifer "Amazon Author Central: http://w... - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: SOCIAL MEDIA FOR AUTHORS SERIES: FACEBOOK PAGES (Kindle Edition)

As a little-known writer I've been aware for some time that I need to take advantage of all available resources, including and especially Facebook. I even tried working with Facebook a few months ago, setting up a page that was ridiculously bad. I just didn't know how to make Facebook do what I wanted to do, and really, I didn't know what I wanted to do in the first place.

Along comes this book. I had a good feeling about it because I'd already seen that the author was a skilled promoter with a slick, enticing Facebook page in his tool bag. I bought it, read it through once and then sat down at my computer with the book at my side.

A few hours later (yes, just a few hours!) I had a better fan page than I could ever have imagined. The author lists and describes the crucial components that a fan page should have and then lays out clear, concise and detailed instructions on how to build these components. Many manuals of this sort are good on the big picture but fall short because the instructions on how to implement features are vague and therefore useless. Not this one. There was never any doubt about where to go, what to click on, what to choose, etc.

To anybody who needs to use Facebook for promotion this book is indispensable. I'm looking forward to the next installment of the SOCIAL MEDIA series!


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## Imogen Rose (Mar 22, 2010)

Here is mine, please do let me know what you think.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/PORTAL/243074017116?ref=ts

How can I make it better?

Imogen


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## Imogen Rose (Mar 22, 2010)

Jeff said:


> http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#!/pages/daveconiferfanpage/123626070988552


Oh, I like your "on Amazon" tab... need to find out how to get that up!


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## Imogen Rose (Mar 22, 2010)

daveconifer said:


> Here's my Facebook fanpage. Let me know what y'all think. I followed the guidebook. That is, until I got to the last bit. By then the second glass of wine kicked in so I'll finish that tomorrow.
> 
> I hope this link works. Hopefully I'll pick up twenty-five fans and then I can grab a shorter, niftier URL...
> 
> ...


Dave, how did you get the "on Amazon" tab up?

Imogen


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## David McAfee (Apr 15, 2010)

jonfmerz said:


> Thanks DB! Very pleased and grateful for the exposure!
> 
> David - yep, not a problem. I'll be putting it on to Smashwords pretty soon and if you've already bought it on Amazon, just forward your receipt to me and I'll send you out a .pdf no problemo.
> 
> Thanks!


I haven't yet, Jon. I was waiting to ask about the PDF version before I bought it (I don't like reading on my iPod). Will you let me know when the PDF is up on Smashwords?


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## daveconifer (Oct 20, 2009)

I Rose said:


> Dave, how did you get the "on Amazon" tab up?
> 
> Imogen


You have to add an FBML box to the page. Then you can use html code to do whatever you want. It's a lot like setting up a signature here on Kindleboards. I just added the picture links and moved text around. (I learned how to do it from the book). I came up with the "On Amazon" name myself! It's laid out pretty clearly in these instructions. Otherwise I wouldn't have had a clue.


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## Imogen Rose (Mar 22, 2010)

daveconifer said:


> You have to add an FBML box to the page. Then you can use html code to do whatever you want. It's a lot like setting up a signature here on Kindleboards. I just added the picture links and moved text around. (I learned it from the book). I came up with the "On Amazon" name myself!


Thanks, Dave. Your FB page looks great!

Imogen


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## jonfmerz (Mar 30, 2009)

I'll let you know when it's available on Smashwords, David!


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## daveconifer (Oct 20, 2009)

I Rose said:


> Thanks, Dave. Your FB page looks great!
> 
> Imogen


I've put new content on there two days in a row. I better pace myself. I'm not that interesting.


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## R. M. Reed (Nov 11, 2009)

I have been avoiding the social media, not being social. However, I will soon need to start building buzz for my horror novel, so I should learn how to navigate Facebook and it's ilk. This looks very useful.


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## jonfmerz (Mar 30, 2009)

Thanks for the comments and recent reviews all!  Glad to know the book is useful for you all!


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## daveconifer (Oct 20, 2009)

Now that I'm getting more comfortable on Facebook I'm trying to resist going on the offensive.  I don't know the protocol -- if I were to select random members from a page that dovetails into one of my topics, is that spamming?  I think it probably is.

I was thinking of trying to draw people from some of the Disney pages to check out Snodgrass Vacation (my Disney spoof).

Is that a no-no?


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## jonfmerz (Mar 30, 2009)

Depends Dave.  Plenty of authors go out on to the Kindle pages out on Facebook and promote their stuff.  The Disney page might be a bit of a stretch, unless you first join and spend some time posting on other threads before you mention your book.  If you've spent enough time showing you're a member of the community, I don't think it would be as bad as just showing up and posting about your book.  Then again, the page might also have a zero tolerance policy on that stuff.  My suggestion: get in touch with the admins who run it and see if they might be interested in doing an interview with you about the book, what made you write about Disney, that sort of thing.  Work it to your advantage.


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## daveconifer (Oct 20, 2009)

jonfmerz said:


> Depends Dave. Plenty of authors go out on to the Kindle pages out on Facebook and promote their stuff. The Disney page might be a bit of a stretch, unless you first join and spend some time posting on other threads before you mention your book. If you've spent enough time showing you're a member of the community, I don't think it would be as bad as just showing up and posting about your book. Then again, the page might also have a zero tolerance policy on that stuff. My suggestion: get in touch with the admins who run it and see if they might be interested in doing an interview with you about the book, what made you write about Disney, that sort of thing. Work it to your advantage.


Awesome idea!


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## daveconifer (Oct 20, 2009)

I Rose said:


> Dave, how did you get the "on Amazon" tab up?
> 
> Imogen


Imogen, I looked at your page. I need to add a "reviews" tab pronto! Nice work. It's nice not to be skeered of Facebook anymore...


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## daveconifer (Oct 20, 2009)

jonfmerz said:


> Depends Dave. Plenty of authors go out on to the Kindle pages out on Facebook and promote their stuff. The Disney page might be a bit of a stretch, unless you first join and spend some time posting on other threads before you mention your book. If you've spent enough time showing you're a member of the community, I don't think it would be as bad as just showing up and posting about your book. Then again, the page might also have a zero tolerance policy on that stuff. My suggestion: get in touch with the admins who run it and see if they might be interested in doing an interview with you about the book, what made you write about Disney, that sort of thing. Work it to your advantage.


Jon, I sent a friend request to an administrator of a Disney page with 5,000 fans! I told him that I love Disney (which is true) but that there are a few parts of the book that are a bit irreverent (also true but only fair that I tell him). He confirmed me as a friend, for what it's worth, but he didn't give me the go ahead to tell his fans about my book yet. I'm hopin...


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## Imogen Rose (Mar 22, 2010)

daveconifer said:


> Imogen, I looked at your page. I need to add a "reviews" tab pronto! Nice work. It's nice not to be skeered of Facebook anymore...


Yes, the reviews tab is a good one!


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## Sharlow (Dec 20, 2009)

Question. I already have a personal Facebook page. I've been some what promoting my book there. Should I have a fan page as well for my book like you guys are doing? Or should I just leave things the way they are?


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## daveconifer (Oct 20, 2009)

Remember how I said I'm trying to learn the boundary between promoting and spamming on Facebook? I just launched an experiment by posting a borderline spam message about Snodgrass Vacation on a Disney page. I told them a little about the book and invited them back to my fan page. I had previously contacted the page administrator to ask permission and all he did was friend me.

I'm 85% -- no, wait, 87% sure that I just spammed. But I need to prime the pump somehow so I want to figure out how to pull people in so I can tell them about my books.

edit: I suppose a positive result would be new LIKES for page while a negative result would be a) removal of my message from the Disney page wall *and/or* b) A nasty message from the administrator of that page.

I'll report what happens...

edit 2: I should go over to that page and see if my wall comment was deleted, or if there has been any reaction to it. But I'm too scared! What a wimp! I should have waited until I had a glass of courage...


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## PhillipA82 (Dec 20, 2009)

Nice content!

Thanks


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## daveconifer (Oct 20, 2009)

PhillipA82 said:


> Nice content!
> 
> Thanks


Thanks! I learned pretty much everything I know about Facebook from the guide that inspired this thread.


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## jonfmerz (Mar 30, 2009)

Dave, let me know how that goes with the experiment and thanks again for the kind words about the guide I wrote for using Facebook Fan Pages.  I hope everyone has a chance to put its advice into action!


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## jonfmerz (Mar 30, 2009)

This has been selling very well this weekend, so I thought I'd bump it in case any are still looking for help.  Thanks!


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## jonfmerz (Mar 30, 2009)

Thanks to everyone who has been picking this up - great to see so many of you utilizing Facebook!


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