Facebooking Strategy

Once upon a time, there lived an aspiring writer who snubbed his nose at social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter.  He made his friends face to face and worried little if his friends knew his status at every waking moment.  

"How can I expand my reading audience?" he asked one day.  "How can I influence the growth of my collegial network?"  What he snubbed for years became his answer.  Facebook became his friend.

Through conversations with many talented marketing experts and authors in the business, I've compiled some suggestions for those seeking to strategize their Facebook usage instead of being drawn into the time-wasting void that social networks can create.  These suggestions build your brand as well as optimize your time spent.

1.  Stay positive:  Remember that each of your Facebook friends can see your status whenever updated.  Sure, we all have bad days when we need to vent, but Facebook status messages aren't the place for vulgarity, constant whining, or ongoing depressed statements.  Every once in a while will not affect you, but your audience wants a positive brand.  Uplifting status messages builds that brand.

2.  Schedule limited time:  Allow yourself a designated amount of time each day.  Log on with a purpose.  If the purpose is to catch up with old friends, so be it.  If the purpose is to network with new friends, then allow that to be your purpose.  As enticing as the "Which Cartoon Character are You Most Like? quiz is, it's not the best use of your time.

3.  Update often:  Whenever you change your status message, it bumps you to the top of your friends' lists.  This increases exposure.  If you don't want to change your status, change one small component of your profile.  Every change bumps you back to the top.

4.  Avoid what soils your image:  Applications, useless quizzes, accepting that drink, and causes not consistent with your message portray an inconsistent brand.  What you choose to feature on your profile speaks to you as a professional.  

5.  Choose friends with care:  It's enticing to have 1000s of friends, but choose with care.  Friends status messages are bumped to your page.  If Friend #1 is babbling about how wasted he got the other night, and Friend #2 is a young reader perusing your Facebook profile, you're indirectly sending a message you may not want to send.  Also, when friending literary agents and publishers in the business, don't friend them blindly.  Create a brief message to include with the Friend Request so they know a little about you.

6.  Get involved with fan and professional groups in your genre: Plenty of groups have been created to support fellow writers or advocate for the genre.  I've increased exposure to potential readers through participating in groups like this and dropping a message now and again.

7. Create a page for your novel character:  Promote the protagonist of your novel by creating a separate profile for him/her/it.  Use status updates to tie into the book and the Notes app to include witty thoughts from the character's perspective.  For an example, check out the main character, Jenna Durstine, from my novel O.Y.L.:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1145287203&ref=ts

And because he practiced Facebooking strategy, the aspiring writer lived happily ever after.

~Scott Heydt

"Live, Learn, Teach"

www.scotthbooks.com

http://scotthbooks.blogspot.com