Authors should try to get at least 500 friends on Facebook

Getting to 500 Friends

If you don’t have friends added to your friends list, being a part of a social networking site is rather pointless. On Facebook, you can be average or you can be a superstar. Obviously, since you are using Facebook for promoting yourself as an author and your published books, you want to be a superstar.

First you should note that fewer than 200 friends on an author Facebook page isn’t a bad thing. In fact, it’s an average thing. However, again, you want superstar status, so this won’t do for you.

Once you have 500 friends, you are considered popular.  People will gravitate to you.  You will be in a better position to get the word out about your book and your book subject.  When you have between 800 and 1000 friends, you’re essentially a Facebook celebrity. Eventually, that’s what you should be working toward.  For now, let’s concentrate on becoming popular, with 500 friends.

Do not use automated software that adds friends to your Facebook friends list. This defeats the purpose of social networking. Instead, do it the ‘hard way’. You will come to realize that the hard way really isn’t hard at all.

The first thing to do is to join all of the groups that you can find related to your book subject or genre. There are plenty of them out there.  Here is a great link to a video about how to find groups on Facebook: http://youtu.be/9UDE-rOxJ9I.  Following the guidelines in this video, you should have no trouble finding many groups related to your book subject or genre.

Each time you join a group, send a friend request to all members of that group.  You will need to email each one separately.  You might say, “I see that we are both members of such and such group on Facebook and I would like to add you to my friends list here at Facebook.” Or you might say, “I realize that you do not know me personally, but I see that we have xxx in common, so I would like to add you to my circle of friends.”

Not all members will accept the request, but the majority of them will. This can be a little time consuming, but it is well worth the effort in the end. Try to add NO MORE than 20 new friends each day.  Anything more than this might raise spammer flags with Facebook.

Once you’ve exhausted the groups, find other groups that are related to your subject or genre. For example, if you are in a mystery novel group, find mystery game groups, and start adding members as friends.

It does take a concentrated effort on your part, but it is well worth it in the end, and if you are dedicated, you absolutely will have more than 500 friends or more.

Facebook is a great tool for authors

Some of the most famous authors have found that the social networking site is more than just a way to connect with old friends and to meet new friends, it can also be used as a valuable marketing tool.

Authors around the world have found that Facebook allows them to interact with people on a more personal level, which in turn builds even greater trust and stronger relationships with readers and potential readers.  It has even been said that social networking, especially through a site such as Facebook, is more effective than marketing to one’s opt-in list in many ways.

In my opinion, all authors should have a personal Facebook account in their author name (not a business account but a personal account).

Once this is setup, here is what you should do to find friends (and potential customers):

1.  Start with the people that you already know. You want to get that friends list populated fast. You can use the Facebook feature that will search your email accounts at Gmail (http://www.gmail.com), Hotmail (http://www.msn.com), and AOL (http://www.aol.com). 

If it discovers some of your contacts are Facebook users, it will give you the option to send those people a friend request.

2.  From there, consider other social networking sites that you belong to and the friends that you have there – even if they are not in your email address book. Check to see if they have an account on Facebook. Write a message in NotePad so that you can copy and paste. It should be very short and to the point.

You may need a couple of different messages. One might say “I know you from such and such forum or social networking site and I would like to add you to my friends list here at Facebook.” Another might say “I realize that you do not know me personally, but I see that we have xxx in common, so I would like to add you to my circle of friends.”

Look for people that you know from other social networking sites, social bookmarking sites, microblogging (Twitter, at http://www.twitter.com), forums, and even blogs that you commonly read, as well as people who read your blog. Also consider adding other authors, including authors who are in the same niche that you are in.

From there, you can use the search features to find people in your general area as well as people who have interests that are in common to yours. Just add them even if you’ve never had any contact with those people in any other online or offline venue. Look at the friends of your friends. This is an excellent way to grow your network as well – the thing that you have in common is the original friend.

Just remember that every person you add to your author network is a potential customer, a customer, or a business associate, and you definitely want your network to grow as large as possible, as quickly as possible to get the most benefit from Facebook.

Next Week – Facebook for Authors – Part 2

Getting to 500 Friends