Top 5 Mistakes Writers Make on Facebook and How to Avoid Them
I have a very special guest to introduce to you today. My long-time friend, critique partner, and co-writer on my Amazon novel is here to talk to you about Facebook.
Lisa Hall-Wilson is passionate about making the world a better place one get-off-your-butt-and-do-something article at a time. She’s a call-it-as-she-sees-it truth teller and freelance writer, history nut, and dog-owning cat lover. She writes dark fantasy, makes Facebook a happy place for writers, and blogs Through The Fire because no experience is wasted when you share it to help others. She tweets, but Facebook is where she hangs out (www.facebook.com/lisawilsonwriter).
Take it away, Lisa…
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I can’t believe I’ve never guest-posted here before. *waves* If you hang out with Marcy at all, you know she loves Twitter. Twitter is her happy place. If I need to get a message to Marcy fast, I send her a Tweet. Facebook is my happy place.
How are your Facebook manners?
There are a number of unwritten rules about using Facebook to build author platform that writers indiscriminately break and abuse all the time. And they’re not trying to be rude, they just don’t know–they’ve been listening to traditional marketers, but I want to suggest a different way. A lot of the methods authors use to sell their books on Facebook feel like spam, are annoying, and aren’t effective. Here are my top 5 Facebook etiquette rules writers break (and yes, these have all been done to me):
#5 – Sending out mass private messages to all of your friends to announce your new book. After all 300 of your friends have congratulated you on your book release, your ego is puffed up and I’m ready to hurt somebody because my message box has exploded. If people have notifications from Facebook sent to their email, you’ve also inundated their email as well. And the only thing they can do is leave the conversation, and that action is made visible to everyone. Seriously, this is what a status update is for.
But not all my friends will see that status update. No, but here’s the reality. Not all of your friends WANT to read your book. Hard to believe, I know. Spamming them won’t help your cause.
#4 – Posting the same link to your Amazon page over and over. The squeaky wheel does not get the grease–they get ignored. Create a custom tab, write blog posts that offer value, and mention your book at the bottom of post. Facebook is not a great place to sell books. For writers, Facebook offers the most value in driving traffic to a blog or website, in building brand awareness, and creating community/tribe.
#3 – Requesting to be added as a friend indiscriminately. Privacy is super important to Facebook users, and getting friend requests from people they’ve barely connected with online is akin to what happened to poor Bilbo in The Hobbit when he opened the door and dwarves kept falling uninvited into his quiet, ordered, everything-makes-sense life.
If you send a friend request to someone who doesn’t have any, or many, mutual friends, Facebook will ask if they know you. They’ll honestly say they don’t know you, and you’ll be reported for spam, because to everyone on Facebook who isn’t a writer, friends are people they’ve met face to face. And I get how extroverts see this as just being friendly, but consider Facebook your shy, has-five-locks-on-the-front-door neighbor. Build a relationship first in groups, on blogs, and on public status updates. Don’t be that first date who suddenly grows an extra pair of hands on the dance floor.
And you know what? No one wants to feel like they’ve been friended just so you can sell them something. They’re looking for genuine, authentic interactions.
#2 – Creating a fake event about your book, and then force-inviting all your friends. It doesn’t really matter how subtle or crafty you think you’re being. It’s transparent what’s actually going on, and it’s spam. Force-inviting all your friends to someone else’s fake book event is also spam (and yes, this has also happened to me).
But wait, it gets worse. Events with no end date are my personal pet peeve because the spam just keeps coming…forever. Keeping those who have declined visible isn’t cool. You can’t even sneak out the back door to avoid hurting feelings. Traditional marketing says this is how you promote an event. Facebook users call this intrusive, annoying, and report you for spam. I get force-invited to fake events weekly. WEEKLY!
#1 – Posting too often. Blitz posting on Facebook is like having dinner with friends and there’s that one guy who keeps interrupting everybody and monopolizing the conversation. Yeah, annoying, right? How long before you just ignore them? Or worse, you avoid gatherings where that guy will be. Don’t be that guy. Sharing photos seems to be the worst offender, but it happens with status updates too.
Sharing too frequently monopolizes newsfeeds and hurts your Edgerank. When you post a dozen photos in a short period of time and you get 3 likes on each photo, it is less effective than if you posted the best one and got two dozen likes and comments. You’re undercutting your Edgerank.
Posting too often is a one-way highway to Facebook hinterland. Once you’ve been hidden, how do you reach that person and let them know you’ve reformed your ways? You can’t.
What other annoying marketing ploys do writers use on Facebook?
I’m doing a Facebook blitz this week to help promote my six-week class, Using Facebook to Build Author Platform. Yesterday I was on Jenny Hansen’s More Cowbell blog posting about how to drive more traffic to your blog with Facebook, and tomorrow I’m over at Jami Gold’s blog talking about whether you should have a page or use your profile to build platform.
As thanks for hanging out, I’m giving away a free written critique of a Facebook author/writer page to one commenter on each blog. Leave a comment on each blog to triple your chances of winning! Winners will be selected on Friday.
Marcy here again: I hope you’ll check out the newly released mini-books in my Busy Writer’s Guides series–Strong Female Characters and How to Write Faster–both currently available for 99 cents.
I’d love to have you sign up to receive my posts by email. All you need to do is enter your email address below and hit the “Follow” button. You can also join me on my Facebook page.
Mar 06, 2013 @ 11:29:55
Whew! I just had to go back and count my posts for a few days. It looks like I average between 2 and 7 posts a day on my author page. I don’t think that’s a lot. Compared to what I used to do…it is though.
I’m with you, Lisa. I just can’t get into Twitter. I wish I could, but it stresses me out. I love Facebook though.
With some exceptions. And if I had a real choice about notifications, I wouldn’t mind those either, but yes…events and mass messages mean way too many notifications.
I also am uncomfortable with the whole friend thing. I have added quite a few fellow authors…but not until I got to know them at least a little. I have a list of requests that I won’t accept (but I don’t want to say I don’t know them because I don’t want them banned for ten days).
The worst though, was that early on, I DID accept requests from people I didn’t know. I wound up blocking most of them because EVERY post the put out there was about their books. And they put out a lot of posts on a daily basis.
I’m not a salesperson, and I don’t appreciate hard sells…from anyone. I do say some things about books on my author page, but I try to limit it to things like voting for possible book covers, or when a book hits the top 100 on Amazon, or I get a really nice review…and of course when I have a new release. But those don’t happen often. And I would rather build relationships with the people there than drive them away because I can’t shut up about my books.
Very good advice…again. 🙂
Mar 06, 2013 @ 14:20:32
Kristy, it’s a combination of how often you post, and the frequency of your posts. Updating or posting more than…say 4-5 times a day is a maximum guideline. There’s a bit more flexibility if your fans are scattered over several time zones, but 4-5 times in a 12-14hr period is a good guideline.
Mar 06, 2013 @ 11:42:07
Great tips, Lisa. There are a number of people I would love to send this to. The thing that annoys me is the author who posts a link to his/her blog on every group he / she belongs to. I belong to all those groups so I get 4-5 notices about a post. I end up deleting all the notices and never going to the blog.
Mar 06, 2013 @ 14:22:28
When they cross post all at the same time, for sure. Then those posts clog your newsfeed. I don’t think cross-posting to different groups is a bad thing, but certainly consider how many of the same people you’re hitting. Try to space it over the course of the day. Repeating yourself on Facebook (if your post appears more than once in a newsfeed at any given time) is considered quite rude.
Mar 06, 2013 @ 13:06:52
You’ve listed my biggest pet peeve. The fake events! I thought it just bugged me because I’m not really an online person. I can’t understand those fake Twitter events, either. To me a gathering or event is something that has to happen live, in person. I have friends who use the invites thing to let people know about real events like birthday parties and such. So, at first I thought I was being invited to real things. Now I just ignore the invite. I don’t accept or decline. So far it has stopped me from getting a ton of messages about it. Is there any other way to opt out without worrying about hurt feelings? I’m sure hoping that a lot of people read this post. And stop those fake events. 🙂
Mar 06, 2013 @ 14:32:28
Agreed. But it happens ALL the time unfortunately. Something else that’s been happening more lately is getting an invite to like someone’s page. That’s fine. One invite. But the weekly followup emails — not cool. Ask once and let it go. Badgering people to like you to pad your like count will only tank your edgerank in the end.
Mar 06, 2013 @ 13:20:37
I’m another on the annoying events wagon. It drives me nuts. I feel bad declining, so I just ignore them, but then I keep getting notices about them constantly. Very irritating. I also don’t like events that last a month. A week, sure, but I hate getting notices about the same thing for a month or more straight.
Mar 06, 2013 @ 14:26:22
Agreed. Even if they post an end date on the event, those that run more than a couple of days or a week can get annoying with the notifications. The notifications turn into spam all on their own. However, there’s a recent change that allows you to remove the event from your calendar. Waiting to see if this turns off the notifications as well. It’s a little x that appears next to your name in the invited list.
Mar 06, 2013 @ 13:30:54
Great tips and topic, Lisa. I’d much prefer to work with Facebook than feel as though I have to conquer it.
I’ve never experienced fake events, for which I’m grateful. I’m adding that one to my who-thinks-of-these-things list.
If anything, I may post too infrequently: 2 or 3 times per week, currently, unless something catches my attention as a must-share. I have hidden more than one person from my profile – including my own sister (!) – due to excessive posting of pictures. I love pictures. I’m all for them. But 12 or more in a row, 2 or 3 times per day? Too. much. When I want to see what that small group of people are (is? haven’t had enough copy to decide which noun is the subject) posting, I go to her timeline.
I’m really looking forward to your next post in this series.
Mar 06, 2013 @ 13:32:23
*their timelines, not “her timeline” (please refer to mention of coffee)
Mar 06, 2013 @ 14:30:03
People are a bit more forgiving of this from a profile than a page. It’s very easy now to report a page for spam. But posting more than once every couple of hours would get pretty annoying fast – especially for those who don’t have a lot of friends or don’t follow a lot of personalities. Their newsfeed will move fairly slow. They can check once a day and see all their updates.
Mar 06, 2013 @ 14:11:15
Darn it, I’m going to have to take this class! 😀 I’m definitely not using Facebook to the full potential.
Mar 06, 2013 @ 14:28:18
LOL Well, you haven’t broken any of these rules with me… You know, there’s a lot more to Facebook than people realize. There’s a lot to making it work for you.
Mar 06, 2013 @ 16:55:27
Great post, Lisa! I haven’t had problems with #5 (thank goodness!), but I’ve seen #3 and #2 WAY too often.
#2 is my all-time Facebook pet peeve. I’m VERY protective of my overwhelmed email inbox and Events party-crash the poor thing all the time–at *least* weekly. Grr.
As I’ve mentioned to you before, I wouldn’t have a problem if unresponded invitees weren’t automatically subscribed to every single Event status update. One email notification with the invitation, fine. Endless status updates in my inbox until I respond, not fine. *sigh*
However, to show I’m not indiscriminately hateful to FB, I *will* say that I like how the new Following feature means I don’t have to friend those strangers in #3 to avoid seeming rude. 🙂
Mar 06, 2013 @ 19:49:07
Well – and the notifications on events are precisely the reason when a page creates an event you can’t force invite anyone to it. Creating an event from a profile allows you force invite friends — and it’s spam. Events created from a profile are for personal events – birthday parties, Partylite stuff, friends getting together.
Mar 06, 2013 @ 17:13:11
Can you elaborate as to what you mean by “fake Events”?
I get probably 4 event invites a day from FB, and sometimes that many from goodreads, for things like book releases, virtual launch parties, cover reveals, free promotions, book carnival events, etc.
I don’t know if they are fake or not, but it is incredibly frustrating to be invited to something, find 6 or so emails in my inbox because people are posting on the wall of the event, and I have to manually go unsubscribe to the group in order to stop the deluge of email.
This is why I never create group events through FB. All you do is make people angry.
Mar 06, 2013 @ 19:51:17
I sort of touched on this with the comment to Jami. When an event is created from a profile the intent is for it to be a gathering of friends. It’s not an announcement. If you’re having an actual – face-to-face pen in hand book launch at a specific location that’s an event. A discussion on Goodreads – not an event. A book launch MONTH – not an event. Honestly, you’re better to create an eye-catching graphic as an advertisement of sorts to announce your book. Then those who support you can share that and it doesn’t feel like spam. If you do it from a page you can pay $10 to promote that post and it still doesn’t feel like spam.
Mar 06, 2013 @ 17:19:55
Great post, Lisa, as usual. Now the trick is to send the link to a selected group of my FB Friends, rather than just Share. You know, some way yo say, “yeah. This means You.” Oh well. Maybe I can share and just say, “If the shoe fits….” Thanks again. Good tips for me to remember as well.
Mar 06, 2013 @ 19:52:24
haha – good luck. Glad you enjoyed it. Looking forward to having you as alumni in this next go-round of the course.
Mar 06, 2013 @ 17:36:50
Best. Tips. Ever! I know so many people who need to read this blog. I love, love, love FB and try to make it my happy place ~ somewhere that’s safe for friends and fans alike to hang out. I don’t post anything controversial, mostly because in real life I’m not inclined to conflict, and I try to make every post upbeat. That’s just my style, but I see so many people use FB as a public forum for whining. Really, I don’t need to know the color of your child’s vomit. Seriously.
As for the fake events, I just ignore them. If someone posts something on my wall, I’ll remove it, no big deal. Unless they do it again, then I’ll send them a private message. Again, no big deal.
Thanks again for the great tips, Lisa.
Mar 06, 2013 @ 19:54:07
Keeping in mind that everything you do on Facebook influences your writer brand is so important. Unless you’re writing about politics maybe avoid that topic. Unless your audience is a religious one – maybe avoid those topics. Not to say that you can’t be passionate about those issues, but your public profile and page maybe isn’t the place to do that.
Mar 06, 2013 @ 17:58:07
I’m going to have to take your class. When is it? I’ve been in FB jail for having the twitchy finger by friending new members of groups I’m a part of. I’ve stopped doing that, thank you Lisa, and check out who want to friend me.
My street team want to do a big FB event for my new book and I’ve said NO and why and explained how it can seriously annoy people with every sneeze and burp on the event. They’ve taken what I said on the chin. I can receive anything up to fifteen invites to author events per day. It was more, but I’ve culled the invites by blocking people. It’s my own fault for not being careful enough of my friending habits, so it’s come to bite me on the butt and it’s all my own fault.
With the posting on my author page, I think that’s okay and people do respond, but I’ll need to keep an eye on the sharing part of the deal. On my main page I tend to chat about things like locking my car keys in the trunk of my car thirty miles from home (did it last Saturday) and of course that got a lot of traffic. And my new glasses yesterday, stuff like that. I try not to mention my books outside of my author page. But readers are posting where I am in lists etc. I hope that’s okay and it’s not bugging people. Please tell me if I’m bugging you and I will stop. I can take it, I’m a big girl, most of the time. 🙂
Mar 06, 2013 @ 18:00:52
I must admit I don’t like people posting on my wall without my permission, especially spam. And for a while I made it that only I could post on my wall. I’ve loosened that rule but my street team admins no not to post on my wall without permission or I become cranky, in a nice way.
At the end of the day, it’s about respect and treating people as you’d want to be treated yourself.
Great post, Lisa. Can I share? 🙂
Mar 06, 2013 @ 19:56:45
There are different etiquette rules for pages and profiles in some areas. It should be completely OK to post on a page’s wall – you want that interaction, it works like social proof (more about that tomorrow on Jami’s blog). A profile, even if you’ve opened it to subscribers/followers, it’s still different. It’s more personal, it’s supposed to be. That’s great that you’re offering unique content in both places, people will follow you in both places looking for that.
Mar 06, 2013 @ 18:01:55
I adore your Facebook posts! I think someday you’ll convince me to actually like FB. Currently I’ve gone from dislike to moderate affection. I just wish it wasn’t such a time-suck.
I’m with Marcy, I like Twitter because it’s fast. 🙂
On the Engagement front, I want to be sure everyone knows these techniques WORK. I had 3x my normal referrals from Facebook yesterday. Normally, my Twitter traffic outpaces it, but yesterday it was FB all the way!
Mar 06, 2013 @ 18:20:04
One thing I’ve noticed, and feel free to correct me if you’ve spotted a different trend, is that posts about a specific platform do better on that platform. When I share something about Facebook, it does better on Facebook. When I share something about Twitter, it does better on Twitter. When I share something about Google+, it does better on Google+. I think that’s probably because people on those platforms are already interested in learning how to use them more effectively, while people on other platforms like where they are and don’t care as much about the other platforms.
Lisa has also convinced me to like Facebook 🙂
Mar 06, 2013 @ 19:59:05
*sniff* You mean it’s not because I actually rock Facebook? *hangs head* lol I posted yesterday’s link in a couple of groups (where there’s no crossover with members) and I don’t usually post links to my content in those places. It’s OK to post links there, but not all the time so I try to be a bit strategic that way. The hope was that people would see the link to yesterday’s post on Jenny’s blog and then follow the blog trail here today.
Mar 06, 2013 @ 18:02:30
That should be know not to post on my wall without permission – too little sleep!
Mar 06, 2013 @ 18:08:46
I nervously opened this post, wondering how many Facebook sins I was committing, but I’m happy to report I did well… not a one.
Some of them I was shocked about… a fake event. Wow. And I agree about friend requests. I hate when I need to go do research to see who the “friend” requesting me is.
Thanks for the great post.
Mar 06, 2013 @ 19:59:51
Glad to help. Make sure you check out Jami’s blog tomorrow. I’m answering probably the most common question I get asked by writers.
Mar 06, 2013 @ 19:24:04
Lisa, thank you for this FB etiquette. I cannot tell you how irratating it is when someone blitzes the facebook column with ten picture posts at the same time. Nuts, I tell you! I’m with Christine. I’ve got to take one of your classes. 🙂
Mar 06, 2013 @ 20:02:15
Glad to provide a public service. 😀 It is pretty annoying. There are a few people who do that, but I don’t want to block them because I really like them. As a workaround, I turned on the notifications so I know when they’ve posted, but don’t have their posts show up in my newsfeed. That way I only click on the updates I want to see, but don’t get too frustrated by the volume or the clog in my newsfeed. I’m willing to scroll through the notifications to find something I’m interested in.
Mar 06, 2013 @ 20:06:34
Great info. I’m looking forward to learning even more from you next week . . . and beyond.
Mar 06, 2013 @ 20:08:40
((hugs)) Thanks, Steph.
Mar 06, 2013 @ 20:26:16
More good stuff. Looking forward to seeing what you have to say tomorrow.
Mar 06, 2013 @ 22:24:25
Glad you’re enjoying it!
Mar 06, 2013 @ 21:11:47
Great tips, Lisa! That event thing is really annoying me now. Every time someone has an itch they set up an event. I’ve started just declining all of them without even looking at them. I get about 12-20 every single day. And, I’m with CC. I don’t like people posting their spammy buy my books or like my page links on my wall. It’s just rude IMO.
Definitely sharing this post! Thanks again. 🙂
Mar 06, 2013 @ 21:28:28
Posting links to your content on someone else’s wall is super rude. Obviously the list above isn’t exhaustive. lol
Mar 06, 2013 @ 21:26:47
Oh my goodness, yes, yes, yes. These are all irritating Facebook activities. I get the desire to let everyone know about something, but I don’t like the back-door aspect of some of the notifications. Thanks for highlighting this!
Mar 06, 2013 @ 22:23:49
Exactly. Like Kristen Lamb says, traditional marketing doesn’t work when it comes to selling books.
Mar 06, 2013 @ 21:37:51
Awesome advice about Facebook, Lisa! I’m seriously considering taking your class. Loved yesterday’s post on Jenny’s Blog, too.
Cheers hon!
Mar 06, 2013 @ 22:22:59
Glad you’re enjoying it. The post tomorrow on Jami Gold’s blog is the piece de resistance though – don’t miss it 😀
Mar 07, 2013 @ 02:23:54
Great tips Lisa. I’m a firm believer in less is more with postings. 🙂
Mar 07, 2013 @ 16:47:55
Thanks for stopping by!
Mar 07, 2013 @ 04:31:26
Hi Lisa and Marcy,
I’m glad you finally had Lisa talk about Facebook because as you know Marcy, I’m pretty, well…clueless. I’ve already made mistakes trying to navigate this new social media.
Lisa you mentioned not putting up a lot of photos or posting too often. Can you elaborate?
Thanks,
Tracy 🙂
Mar 07, 2013 @ 13:38:40
You’ll want to make sure you go to http://www.jamigold.com today (Thursday) for Lisa’s post on profile vs. page as well.
Mar 07, 2013 @ 16:47:05
Hi Tracy – You really want to avoid appearing more than once in the newsfeed at any given time if you can. As a guideline, I try not to post more often than once every four hours – and when I break the rule I don’t do it very often. You can schedule posts, but remember that people are looking to engage with you.
Mar 07, 2013 @ 14:29:24
I had no idea some of those things were clunkers, though like you’ve I’ve been on receiving end of them. Thanks for the great tips!
Mar 07, 2013 @ 16:47:29
Happy to help!
Mar 07, 2013 @ 16:32:22
One Facebook page that I recommend checking out is FACEBOOK BANS FRIENDS REQUESTS. Here you can find many helpful hints about dealing with FB as well as horror stories from people who have been victimized by FB.
Mar 08, 2013 @ 19:57:34
*whew*… I don’t tend to post in an overly excessive fashion on either my personal Profile or my blog’s fan Page. That’s probably because I don’t hang out on Facebook very much; like Marcy, I’m more a fan of Twitter (although I haven’t been hanging out much over there lately, either). I usually use hootsuite to space out my posts, if I have more than one thing to say on any given day. I was going to ask you how often is “too often” but I see from the comments you answered this as no more than once every couple of hours (or thereabouts). I agree, which is nice, because I’m certainly no expert. Glad to know I was accidentally on the correct path! 🙂
Mar 08, 2013 @ 22:52:09
The winner of the free critique is Tameri Etherton. Tameri, email me at lisa at lisahallwilson dot com or find me on Facebook at facebook.com/lisawilsonwriter and we’ll get you set up. Thanks so much to everyone for the comments. ((hugs))
Apr 11, 2013 @ 18:00:01
People who sign me up to their “special” event are often unfriended. I use Facebook as a place to contact friends and share pictures, not to be roped into a self promotion or book launch. I do have a personal FB page as well as an author page and a personal page under my author identity. And none of my “selves” like to be spammed…we’re funny that way
Apr 11, 2013 @ 18:05:34
I don’t blame them 🙂
Apr 12, 2013 @ 12:31:26
One of the things that drives me insane is people sharing those inspirational pics with mottoes or quotes. I can understand the urge to share photos with a personal connection. They’re like getting out your wallet pics or photo album. But inspivational pictures, which everyone has probably seen around anyway? When we first had email, everyone would send roundrobin jokes just to show they were still in touch. These pictures are the same. If you’re going to share, make it personal! (Rant over…)
Apr 13, 2013 @ 17:25:30
Hi,
I think this message is really wrong. You wat to use every resoucre possible. Just because a few people delete your messages you want to quit. Use constructive criticism. See what you need to improve.
Creative artists- musicians, writers, artists, etc. need to improve everyday.
What are they saying that’s wrong on facebbook, and what are they saying that’s write.
Don’t put the pen down and don’t stop typing.
Feel good about your “Yes” and forget about your “No” and people who “Delete.”
Peace,
Ed