How to create shareable Facebook posts
This is a Guest Post on using Facebook to promote books by social media genie, Frances Caballo. Frances was a reporter before turning her hand to PR and is now a social media strategist for authors.
Engagement – the goal of all of our social media efforts – can be tough to attain on Facebook. Facebook keeps tweaking the algorithm, making it harder for the posts on our Facebook Pages to reach all of our readers.
Darn! Right?
Well, I have some tips for you, and here they are:
1. Post more frequently
I recommend twice each weekday and once each day on the weekend.
2. Mix up the days and times you post
You’ll, of course, want to check your Insights to see when your fans are on Facebook. But you’ll also want to check for when they are most likely to engage, and the only method to find that out is by mixing it up.
3. Write short
80 to 100 characters vs. long narratives. Text overload is rampant these days so if you want your fans to read your post, keep your posts short. The caveat here: some people do have success with very long, personal revelations and that’s great but, mostly, people want to peruse their newsfeeds quickly.
4. Include more personality
People do not buy books from brands; they buy books from writers so don’t be afraid to share information that reveals more of your personality. (Confession: I’ve been deficient in this area.)
5. Be controversial …
… at times. Take a stand on an issue in your niche, genre, or recent events.
6. Add calls to action
Don’t be afraid to ask your fans to purchase your new book. Just use that call to action sparingly.
7. Vary your types of posts
Vary the topics, the length, the types of images you use, and the types of questions you pose.
8. Respond promptly and tag commenters
Try to respond to comments as soon as you can and be sure to type their name (tag them) in your response.
9. Keep things fresh
Consider freshening up your cover image on a quarterly basis using Canva or PicMonkey.
10. Drive traffic from other social media sites to posts your want to receive additional attention
When you click on the date stamp of your Facebook post, you will see that your post has a unique URL. You can drive traffic to that post by using that URL in a tweet or LinkedIn post.
You can find out more about Frances, or read more posts, on her website, Social Media Just for Writers.