There’s been a discussion on Facebook in the last couple of days about the benefits or lack of benefits of getting more likes on our fan pages. Also, people are asking if they should pay Facebook for fan page advertising. I’ve found little benefit in the number of likes my page has and I found absolutely no benefit in paying Facebook to advertise my page. I am a proponent of doing the hard social networking work myself to get my book and me known.
Cate Russell-Cole who was my guest on Choices this week just shared her thoughts on this subject. Cate is always finding ways to help her author colleagues out. Here are her wise words on the subject of fan pages.
Help to Solve Your Facebook Fan Page Problems
Posted on February 14, 2014 by Cate Russell-Cole
I used to advertise on Facebook: until they bought in timeline. Then the value I gained from my community building attempts died a cruel death. Everyone with a Page is now in the same boat: unless we throw in more and more and more money, which most of us simply can’t do, we have lost a huge chunk of our hard work. I have seen posts go from 800 views to 50 and I am angry. Many people have abandoned their Pages and I don’t blame them.
There are ways we can partially combat this. For a start, posting the image above to make others aware of what they can do, does help. Every time I post this image, it is seen more than other posts. Other ideas I have found online include:
- Posting status updates which don’t have links in them. They seem to score well with Facebook’s new algorithm as engagement is the key, not just look at my blog or please buy my book.
- Posting images which catch attention. They appear to frequently be shared. Some writers will put in an image that goes with their blog post, but place the link in the comments to work the system.
- Telling your followers frequently to change that box that says Highlights to Posts by Page so they see all your posts. (See image below.) The problem is, that never stays changed!
- Refusing to pay Facebook for ads and promotion when even those who do pay don’t get a fair deal! If you used to pay or do, speak up and tell Facebook you are unhappy and why.
- Encourage readers to use their own categories and not overfill them with Pages, so posts are more likely to be seen. Then check the categories rather than their timeline for new posts. There is no guarantee this will work, but it may help. I am always losing pages I like, so it can’t hurt to try.
- Showing followers/fans how to get page notifications (and take that survey!)
I know it sounds like a lot of work and many repetitive posts, however, if you still want to use Facebook as a promotional tool, the investment may be worth it. Feel free to use any of the screenshots on this post. (Right click on image and Save As.)
If you know of other ways, please tell me in the comments! I’d ˜like’ to know (pun intended!)
Most importantly¦
¦please pay it forward this Valentine’s day by clicking Like and commenting on the pages you’re a fan of. The more support you give, the more you will receive. Spread the love!
This blog post by Cate Russell-Cole is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. You are free to share and adapt it.
Madeline, thank you very much for sharing this post. Facebook appears to be going the way of MySpace, solely out of greed. Whilst advertising did increase my page likes, it did nothing for book sales or community discussion. Now everyone is saying Google Plus is the way to go. Frankly, I find it just as spammy and difficult to work with. Twitter seems to bring best results for me, as long as I use an automated service to account for the time difference between Australia and the U.S.
The very best of luck with your marketing.
My pleasure, Cate. Your good advice is always welcome here.