Promote Your Writing Using Facebook

Facebook can be addictive, especially when you realize what a great tool it is for driving traffic to your blog, Web site or other online writing.  You can use it to announce events, send messages to certain Friends about new products or posts, and so much more.  It’s also a great tool to promote your Bukisa articles!

SIGNING UP AND FINDING FRIENDS

First sign up for a Facebook account.  It’s easy, and you decide how much information or photos (if any) to share.  Be sure to input your real name so old Friends can actually find you.  Add your blog address as your web site (or even your Bukisa address!).  Next, start finding Friends.  Options include:  

1. having Facebook tap into your e-mail account to send people of your choice and invitation to join Facebook
2. having Facebook check your e-mail account to see who may already be on Facebook who you might know
3. searching by your high school
4. searching by your college
5. searching by a company where you work now or where you used to work

 Once you have a few friends, you can check out THEIR Friends to see if you know anyone in common that you may want to invite as a Friend of yours.

 As for networking, go ahead and join some Facebook Groups by searching for things like “freelance writers” or “online writers.”  It’s also fun to search for some of your favorite authors (books and magazines) and “friend” them.

 STATUS UPDATES

To drive traffic to your profile, fill in the Status Updates (e.g., “Kerrie is:  discussing a heated issue at thekerrieshow.com” or “Kerrie is writing about abusive relationships for Bukisa [then add the link]”). 

 If you have a Twitter account, link it to your Facebook account so when you make Twitter updates, they also go to your Facebook friends.  You get a lot more coverage that way.

 CHRISTMAS AND NEWSLETTERS

Put your Christmas letter and photo on your Web site or blog and send the link to all your Facebook friends using your Inbox.  Watch how many you send at once, because Facebook limits the number of e-mails you can send at one time from your Facebook Inbox.  Consider sending out a mid-year (or monthly) family/professional update in the same manner.  Make sure it contains new information, or your “updates” will get old fast.

 E-BOOKS

When you publish a new e-book, change your Profile Photo to your e-book cover.  Then when anyone has contact with you or views your Status Updates, they’ll see your book cover and maybe even ask you how to buy it or search for it on the Internet.  Don’t forget to post Status Updates regularly about your e-book, perhaps posting a teaser sentence with a link to the purchasing site for your e-book.

 BUKISA

You can also use Facebook to drive traffic to your Bukisa articles by changing your Bukisa account settings to post the link to your new Bukisa articles to Facebook when you upload them.  Your new article information shows up as a Facebook Status Update, and anyone who happens to be checking their updates will see what you are up to.

 OTHER ARTICLES

These days, lots of magazines also post articles online.  If you get something published online, put a link to it on your Status Update so you can gain some fans.

 TRADITIONALLY PUBLISHED BOOKS

The Events option in Facebook is great for sending an Event (like a book signing or the release of your book in bookstores or on Amazon.com) to all your Friends.

 MISCELLANEOUS TIPS

You can also send private messages to all of your Facebook Friends using the Inbox on Facebook, but don’t do this too often or it will get annoying.  I would suggest only doing this for big news, like the release of an e-book you have published that is of general interest. 

Don’t forget to post your exciting writing successes on your Facebook writing group pages, also. 

Change your Profile photo often.  When you do, it alerts your Friends, which hopefully makes them interested in checking out your Profile, which contains a link to your blog or writing site.