As authors, we end up with lots of friend requests from people we don't know personally, so we need to step outside the box to separate fans from our real family and friends, but to stay in touch with them as well.
I mentioned a few of my techniques to some of the Seekers, and they wanted to know more about how I turn friends into fans.
I mentioned a few of my techniques to some of the Seekers, and they wanted to know more about how I turn friends into fans.
Accepting Friend Requests
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| These Friend Requests are fictional. Do you recognize any of them? |
Let's start at the beginning. You have a bunch of friend requests waiting for you to Confirm or Decline. My policy is never to accept friend requests immediately. I wait several days in case someone's account has been hacked. I search for their name in the Facebook search box to try to determine if it looks like the profile has been hacked. If I don't see anything suspicious, I take a quick look at their profile, looking at what they talk about, and look to see if we have mutual friends. If all looks well, I Confirm/Accept the friend request.
As I worked on this post, I accepted a friend request that's been pending for several weeks, simply because I've been busy writing and haven't had time to check them all off. This person--we'll call her Sue--and I have mutual friends. Sue lives in my home state, but over a hundred miles from me. Also, one of our mutual friends is one of my biggest fans, so I can only assume she found me through our mutual friend.
Add to Another List
Now that I know Sue lives in my home state, I'm going to add her to a couple of special lists that I've created. You'll find the "Add to another List" option under the Friends tab. What kind of lists do you want or need? I have several, but if you're an author (or an aspiring author) start with Fans, Local, State (mine is Mississippi), your High School, or College, etc. Other ideas might be Best Friends, Editors/Agents, Media, Bloggers.
Check all that apply. If you don’t know the person at all, assume they are a FAN. Fan is your friend. If you don’t know them, but all their friends are local to you, and you see on their profile that they are within 20-30 miles of you, check Fan & Local.
Now that Sue and I are friends, I Stop. :) Well, not literally. I can be friendly with her, chat it up. Post on her wall, maybe invite her to visit my webpage or like my Facebook page. After all, she did send me a friend request, so I can only assume our connection is books. My books, hopefully.
Second Reminder to Like Facebook Page
Every few months I invite my new friends to like my Facebook page. But not ALL my friends, just the ones I've marked as Fans. If another author sends me a friend request, I don't message them asking them to like my page. Although, I have goofed up and sent those messages out, either not recognizing someone as an author, or by accident, but I try not to bombard my writer friends.
Note: To toggle between your profile and any pages you own, use the inverted triangle in the far right hand corner at the top of your Facebook profile.
We're several steps into our Turning Friends into Fans post, and I doubt I’ve told you anything you didn’t already know, so let’s step it up a little bit. :)
Remember the new categories under "Add to Another List" you created? Specifically, the "Fans" list where you didn't include other authors, editors, and agents and known industry professionals? While on your author page, not your profile, click on the "Invite your friends to like this Page", then chose "Fans" and send everyone an invitation to like your page. You can review the list and select/deselect manually, or you can just send to all.
Don’t assume all your friends know you're an author. You can include a simple message like, “We're friends on Facebook, but did you know that I'm an author? I'd love it if you'd like my FB page so you can stay informed about my latest books.”
What else can you do with your specialized Lists... Well, you can invite Locals to Book Signings as I did for this event recently. Sebastopolooza Booksigning & Giveaway 2017. I invited about 500 people to the festival because I knew they were local. And I had a LIST and I knew how to use it. Sure, some couldn't attend, but some could. And they knew I'd be there with my books because they got an invitation.
And, for fun, I created a Seekerville Event last night and invited some of you. Give us a shout out if you got an invitation to join us today via the Facebook: Turning Friends into Fans Event.
So, there ya go. Two ways you can create lists in Facebook and use them as needed. Maybe there are other great ways you can think of to use these lists. Other than Local, State, Fans, what other categories can you think of that would make turning friends into fans a worthwhile endeavor?
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Ha! I got the invite
ReplyDeleteThis post both excites me and terrifies me. Yet, I am PDF printing it. Wow, you have an amazing analytical mind. I'm reeling. Who knew??? Really?? Who knew??
Truly, I want to thank you and hug you and then slap you because I can see this is going to take up a large chunk of my "extra" time soon.
Yes, it is time consuming, and if you have a lot of friends, it's a bit mind-boggling to think about adding them to lists to get caught up.
DeleteI have 30-40 local peeps that I've been friends with for years and need to update some of their lists. I just do a few at time.
But always try to add new friends to my lists.
I got the Facebook invite but didn't realize it...lol! I marked myself as "going" and here I am :-)
ReplyDeleteI've never really needed lists on there so I wouldn't be a good candidate for creating them. It sure is an interesting post though, Pam!
But you're here now, Trixi, and you're one of the reasons we do stuff like this... to get the word out about books, sales, giveaways, and Facebook parties! :)
DeleteYou know what Pam? You're right....I need to go "share" the event on my page!! :-)
Deletelol
DeleteHi Pam! This is a post that I'll print to refer back to. I guess I'm not on FB enough to know all of these ins and outs. In the past, I've found myself put into a group that I didn't even ask to join...what's up with that? Have a great Thanksgiving!
ReplyDeleteGood morning, Jill! Yes, I've been added to groups that I didn't join either. As far as I know, people can still do that on Facebook, and it's not one I'm fond of.
DeleteYou can search for ways to keep people to from adding you to groups, but I haven't tested it. I have occasionally went to my gazillion groups and thought What???, and then started unfollowing those that I have NO interest in whatsoever...
Or just start spamming them with book promo and get banned. (that's a joke. Kinda. Sorta. Maybe...) lol
You are ridiculously clever, Pam! Dagnabbit...
ReplyDeleteWell done! Your amazingly wonderful analytical mind isn't a secret... the job you held for so long made that apparent, and I love when you talk breakdowns and spreadsheets, because you know I'm not wired that way... but you're always willing to share your ideas and I love that about you.
Great post, great ideas! Thanks, Pammers!
We're all different in the way we approach things online. A Computer Science degree shaped my thought processes, I guess. I've forgotten most of the programming languages I learned, but the theory and processes are helpful even now.
DeleteI'm sure there are a lot of easier ways to do some of the things I've explained, but if there are, I haven't found it. And until I mentioned it in a group setting, I just figured everybody did something similar, or at least knew the process :)
It's fun to learn new stuff. I mean... who KNEW there was such a thing as a Labradoodle? Not me! Until I met you! :)
Wow, this was so helpful! You said: "We're several steps into our Turning Friends into Fans post, and I doubt I’ve told you anything you didn’t already know..." Well, I definitely didn't know most of this, including the little inverted triangle thing. Thank you! Will be printing this post out and studying it some more. Happy Thanksgiving!
ReplyDeleteOh, thank you, Laura! I was afraid the post might be boring! When I was walking through the steps to explain the process, I remembered how hard it was for me to figure out how to toggle back and forth between my profile and my page(s) at first, so decided to add that part. Glad it was helpful! :)
DeleteI got an invitation through Facebook for this Seekerville event! What fun. I knew about the lists you could, but not how to extensively use them as you do, Pam. Great post! Can't wait to put some of these tips to work!
ReplyDeleteI wish I'd started at the beginning because I've had to go back and add people to my most important Lists (again, Fans and Local). It's been time-consuming, but worth the effort. Enjoy creating your lists! :)
DeleteGood morning Pammers. Wow, I loved this post. I kind of knew some of it and accidently did a few of these things, but now I know how and what to do with purpose. I was wondering why you had a separate fan + local list and now I know. I love that you can invite your local friends to an booksighning event. Thank you my tech friend.
ReplyDeleteSandra, my Local list (for lack of a better word) is my most used list. How do you reach out to locals when you're having an event? Sure, you can send out a newsletter, but that's not something you want to do constantly.
DeleteI've received invitations to launch parties, book signings and other physical events (as opposed to virtual parties) in far-flung places, and thought how odd that was. You feel weird pointing out that you live 800 miles away. lol
But this way, you really are reaching out to the people who can attend and have shown an interest in your writing.
Oh... and one more thing... once you create your event on your page, you can share it on your profile. That way friends and followers who might not be on your local list might still see the event and attend.
I wanted to make the Seeker "event" example private last night, since it wasn't truly an "event" on Facebook, but an example to show how the process can work, but Facebook didn't give me that option as I created it from my author page, so people on Facebook also saw the "event" and liked it.
But you can create private events through your profile. I've done that for family get-togethers. Generally, even though your being selective about who you invite to a local event because you respect the time of those that you know can't attend, you don't mind who sees the event, so it's not necessary to actually keep it private. But, like I said, if a private event IS needed, it can be done under your profile.
TMI, maybe? lol
Great info, Pam.
ReplyDeleteAwhile back someone hinted to do something like this, but not as detailed. I don't have any fans because I'm not published, but I can see where this would come in real handy. I tend to be a private person and would not want all my family posts going out to the public. And some posts I'd rather go just to writing or reading friends.
Oh, Connie, then do I have a tip for you! ;) And this is under your PROFILE, not pages. It would be nice if these features were interchangeably, but alas, they aren't. Not as far as I can tell.
DeleteAnyhoo... Facebook has some pre-loaded lists of course, and you can use those, and/or create specific ones as well, like maybe your Besties, or just your own Children. Then you can choose who you want to see what posts.
My problem is that I can't ever remember to switch back and forth. A few weeks ago, I uploaded a meme to FB from my phone and chose ONLY ME. Long story, but my phone was full and I couldn't send the meme via email so I could use it in my newsletter. But I COULD upload it to Facebook, then grab it from my laptop and finish my newsletter at midnight, which is par for the course around here. (Now, there's another tip for y'all. I'm the queen of "there's more than one way to skin a cat" work-arounds.)
But, long story short, I stayed on "Only Me" for about a week, wondering why nobody was talking to me on Facebook. lol
I thought of a couple of things that I should have included in the post. I use the Event option sparingly.... maybe 3-4 times a year.
ReplyDeleteLaunch parties, and the Sebastopolooza festival are two that I tend to remind people of.
I'd like to figure out how to send a "postcard" to a select group of Facebook friends, but so far I haven't worked that out.
Also, Facebook does offer the option to create Groups (not the same as creating a GROUP) out of your Friends. This looks like a fairly new feature ... or at least it's new to me. It's under the Message tab. It would be nice if the existing personalized Lists could be used to do this, but, again, I haven't found a way to use the first to create the second. Just food for thought though. It would be cool to be able to send a simple message to a pre-selected group of friends rather than creating an Event. More research is needed. :)
Wonderful post, Pam! I received an invitation to the Facebook event. :)
ReplyDeleteI actually have two Facebook accounts. It drives some people nuts because they keep thinking I've been hacked. I did this about three or four years ago to separate my writer page from my family page. It's become a huge pain. If I'd have known about the different list, I could have saved myself the hassle because I could have tagged who could/couldn't see certain posts like grandbaby pictures. I keep trying to talk myself into deleting the writer page and just doing the one, but I'm afraid I'm too far into it to change without it being a big confusing mess and a lot of work.
Oooh, yes, Rhonda, you're between a pickle and two profiles, aren't you?
DeleteI've thought about creating an account for my husband and myself with both our names, but like you said, I'm afraid it would be too much trouble and too confusing at this point.
And you're also right... I need to be more circumspect regarding what I post online. I guess we all do.
Pam, your author photo is so cute! Today's post is a great tutorial for being a S-M-A-R-T author on Facebook. Thanks so much!
ReplyDeleteMy mother used to say that someone who was a hard worker was a "smart" worker. It's another Southernism, apparently.
DeleteOH MY GOSH, PAM, I HAD NO IDEA!!! Which is a little scary since I've been on FB since 2008!!! So thank you SO much for educating me, my friend.
ReplyDeleteAll I ever do before I accept a friend is check out their page. Generally that tells me all I need to know. And I don't accept ANY men as friends unless I know them or we have a huge number of friends in common, and then I double-check their FB page as well.
I will admit that I'm pretty delinquent about accepting friends on FB (I go for 6 months to a year not doing it except here or there), but you have helped me to see that's not smart.
Question: Do the people whose friend requests I delete KNOW that I have deleted them???
Hugs and THANK YOU!!
Julie
Question: Do the people whose friend requests I delete KNOW that I have deleted them???
DeleteNo, I don't think they do, so you can do that without problem. I decline some for the same reason.
And, like you, I find myself not checking for way too long as well. Then have to binge accept/decline. lol
PAM, thank you for sharing this info. As a reader, I enjoy following my favorite authors pages and attending their FB launch parties.
ReplyDeletePlease enter me in the drawing.
Blessings!
Glad it was helpful, Caryl.
DeletePam, this is great information for authors! It's great to know whether or not our Facebook friends are local when planning a book signing. That's just so cool.
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned checking to see if someone who requests to be your friend had been hacked. What do you see that makes you suspicious that they have?
Janet
Janet
Janet, so glad you asked about being hacked. It's almost impossible for an "amateur" sleuth like me to tell. :(
DeleteSome people have multiple accounts that they themselves have created, but have forgotten the usernames/passwords and instead of figuring it out, they just create a new account. Drives me bonkers.
I first check to see if there are multiple accounts that are obviously the same person. If so, I look to see if they've posted anything about being hacked on their timeline.
If I can't tell, I either decline or just ignore for the time being. One lady I mentioned (a dear friend) has 4 profiles and I couldn't figure out which was the one she was still using. I finally just put it away and later my sister-in-law told me which was the correct one. If it was a stranger, I'd probably just have to decline at that point. :)
Pam, You're no amateur sleuth to me. I just go out and see if we have several friends in common and delete requests from men I don't know.
DeleteJanet
Wow, Pam. I've been using FB friends lists forever to group my friends by category. Never thought of a specific "fans" list, though. Definitely on my radar now!
ReplyDeleteHowever, I have a personal policy of not accepting friend requests from people I don't already have an acquaintance of some sort with (and have good reason to feel comfortable friending). If not, and they're that interested in knowing more about me, they can find the link to my author page right there on my profile.
Glad to share some new tips. :)
DeleteThis is great! Thanks for sharing your methods with us, Pam.
ReplyDeleteWelcome, Amber! :)
DeletePam, thanks so much for this informative post. I'm not published yet, but this info will certainly be put in one of my Seekerville notebooks for later use. I seldom go on FB, and it's only if my daughter puts up new pics of the grandsons, or I get an email from FB telling me one of my good friends has posted something. I have joined a few author pages, too. I'm a very private person, so I'm listed as ONLY ME. My daughter helps me update my profile and preferences every few months. That's as techy as I get.
ReplyDeletePlease enter me in the drawing.
Blessings,
Marcia
Marcia, that was my plan originally, but then others seem to think that it's THE place to reach out to authors. So, I decided to use it in that way.
DeleteBeing careful of the spammers, of course. :)
Pam, this is brilliant! And doing the invitation last night was brilliant as well. (I meant to email you to tell you that!)
ReplyDeleteI have not used these features at all and really must take the time to do so. But I have a question. If you put people on two lists, and then send your invitation to both lists, will they get it twice? I would hate to do that to them.
Great question, Missy! And, no, they only get the invitation to that particular event once. If you forget if you've invited someone to an event and type in their name again, it will say "Already Invited", so that's pretty cool. :)
DeleteOh, good! Thanks! So, now I must think up an event to invite y'all too...
Delete:)
I also meant to say that I always check invitations in the same ways you do. I wait a while. Often, if they're fake accounts, they'll be deleted by the time I look at them again.
ReplyDeleteThen I check their pages/posts and their friends.
GMTA! :)
DeletePam, this post is GOLD! I am grateful for the methodical way you approach Facebook. I've ramped up my posts on my author page, but my exposure has gone way down. I understand why, but I don't have much in the budget right now to take out ads. Your suggestions are helpful.
ReplyDeleteI've greatly decreased the number of requests I accept because too often after I accept, I immediately receive a "like my page" request. Kinda drives me batty.
I am going to implement your suggestions, Pam. Thank you for sharing your wisdom!
Jeanne, I agree. That does seem a little forward, doesn't it?
DeleteFacebook pages are odd ducks. Sometimes my posts garner 1000 of hits, and sometimes 30-40. You just never know.
And I have done a few ads. Mostly for new releases and sales. Recently, there was a sale on one of my ebooks and I had promo post that received good organic exposure and decent paid exposure. And it only cost a few dollars.
I love that. Facebook pages are odd ducks indeed. :) I've debated about doing a couple of ads when I have "a high performing post," but I'm not sure if the payoff is worth it. I would be doing it to get more exposure for my page, not because I have a book to sell (not yet anyway...). Thoughts?
DeleteRaising my hand. I received an invite. I love this. I knew there were lists but didn't know how to use them.
ReplyDeleteI hesitate ask to be friends with authors until I have had a lot of contact with them. I usually wait for them to ask me. Is there a particular rule or guideline.
Wilani, that's interesting that you wait for authors to friend you. I can only speak for myself, but I rarely friend other people, assuming fans will seek me out and/or like my author page.
DeleteNow, it's different if we meet at a book signing and I have their contact information, or we become friends HERE in Seekerville. I wouldn't hesitate to friend someone in that case.
But otherwise I wouldn't know to friend someone (a stranger) on the assumption they might like my work. The exception is when we have lots of mutual friends in a church or business setting or something along those lines.
Bottom line, I'm okay with readers friending me. :)
Oh my gosh, Pam! I already need a roadmap to navigate between my personal page, author page, and a group I started. Now I have to divide everyone into groups? I never knew you could do that, but I can see the benefits. Great ideas really, but where does everyone find the time to do all this? My reaction is somewhere on the spectrum between Ruthy and Tina's. I definitely need to print out your post. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI know. It's awful to feel the urge to organize my Facebook friends. Is this a form of OCD maybe? lol
DeleteSeriously, I started my Fans list fairly early in the process of gaining friends, and now I just try to do it every time I accept a friend. My "Local" list came later, so I have to backtrack on that one sometimes.
I'm convinced all the Seekers must be blessed with extra amounts of energy AND organizational skills, LOL. Wow, lots of great info. here - - thanks, Pam. I don't even have an Author page yet on Facebook, but am thinking I need to set one up. However, one of my cats has a Facebook page and he has a nice following! ;)
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing with us, and Happy Thanksgiving!
Hugs, Patti Jo
Patti Jo, I love that your cat has a page! Too cute. You can practice with his. I wonder what kind of lists he'd prefer? :)
DeletePatti Jo, Pam has super organizational skills! She's waaaay beyond me in knowing about these type things.
DeleteGreat tips! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Natalya!
DeleteSome day I hope to implement all of this. Great tips Pam! Thank you! I'm bookmarking this
ReplyDeletePerfect, Kelly! :)
DeleteThis was VERY helpful! Thank you so much, Pam!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Heidi!
DeleteGreat article, Pam!
ReplyDeleteSorry I missed your Facebook event but glad I wasn't too late for your post :)
May God bless you and all of Seekerville!
You didn't miss anything on the "sample" event, Phyllis. Everything was happening here in Seekerville. Glad you made it! :)
DeleteGreat tips and I am like Tina. I will need some extra time!
ReplyDelete