Audience
If you just came across this 4 part series, take a look at Part 1 here. On this Part 2 of Facebook for Authors, we will cover how to find and reach your audience on this social media platform. Although Facebook has over one billion users, they are not all your audience. You are not looking forward to reaching out to one billion potential new readers—in fact, you aren’t even targeting 1% of that!
Experience
When we do consulting, one of the questions we ask is who is your audience. The most common answer we get is “Everyone.” That’s not good enough. Try to narrow down and target your audience as narrowly as possible. Ask questions, such as: Who would benefit from reading your book? What message would entice them to buy your book? Does the audience have a problem that your book help solve?
These and many other questions must be asked before posting anything. Never make a random post. Before posting anything, ask yourself and ask others. That’s the only way to reach your audience with your post.
Your primary audience should be those who already know you. So, utilize all possible platforms to promote your books to your readers. Will the people you know, like and most importantly, share your posts?
Targeting
Facebook used to be a tool heavily utilized by a younger generation. Now, it’s mostly popular among older demographics. Teenagers have abandoned the platform for other social media platforms, such as, instagram and snapchat. So, this piece of information, should guide you on how to target your audience.
If you write books targeting young adults or similar audience with a low Facebook activity, you might need to use a “pinned post” with a link to their most active platform. This helps you to reach a broader demographic even if they aren’t so keen on Facebook.
Facebook Insights
Once you start building your audience profile, you may need to have detailed analytics which would help you better understand your audience and assess your message effectiveness. There is an easy to use Facebook analytics which can be accessed from your Facebook fan page by clicking on the “Insights” link on the top navigation bar.
By clicking on insights, an overview page will appear and the left menu will display several options for you to choose from. These options help you to view your page overview, followers, likes, reach, pageviews, etc. and know your audience on a more intimate way.
You might be tempted to assume you know your audience perfectly well, but don’t draw conclusions till you try-out the Facebook analytics and understand the unique identifiers that will outline your audience.
More than a feeling
Let the data help you determine what type of publications to post and where to target your posts.
If a large percentage of your readers come from Alabama; then you should think about pitching your book to regional publications within that area.
Explaining that your decision is based on Facebook statistics will show that your understanding of data-driven marketing is more than “a gut feeling.”
Next
On Part 3, we will cover the top 4 tips for authors. Don’t miss it.