Creating a following BEFORE your novel is published? part V

A quick followup to part II, which focused on facebook ads.  Since October fourth, that particular ad had netted me 57 new followers.  Of the 60 people who clicked on the ad, only three decided they didn't want to 'like' my page.

Enough about paid ads.  Here are some things that are completely free that you can do to increase traffic to your page.  I'm assuming you've reached the point where you know what genre you've targeted.  Knowing that, you can search for other pages with the same interest.  Lets use en example: Horror.

As you can see, several other pages immediately come up.  If it has the little molecule icon as a picture, they're no good because they're not regularly updated and the information is fed by wikipedia so skip them all together (I know, it's tempting when thy have 96,000 likes but there is no following there.)

If you find one that looks promising, click on it.  Check out the page.  Do they allow others to post on the page?  If it is only the moderator posting, the answer is no.  Even though you may be able to post on their wall, your post will be removed before anyone can see it.  The other thing to look at is the page's likes (on the left).  Click see all and look through their favorites.  This is a great way to expand your potential network because pages generally 'like' other pages related to their own subject in some way.

I would try and get as many relevant 'likes' as possible.  For time's sake, lets say you reach 30.  Now you need to start trolling those pages for opportunities to insert yourself into their conversations.  Every time you post, they see the link back to your page (as well as everyone else looking at their page, who most likely will be interested in your page because it is a related subject)  I would avoid 'spamming' where new authors drop in, leave a post on their wall saying something like 'come look at my new book" and never say anything again.  Try and build a rapport with the people who post on these pages.  The more they see your name involved in the conversations, the more interested in your page the readers will become.  Soon, those who like their pages will like your page and so it spreads.

Remember to share the love.  If someone mentions your page on their wall, reciprocate.  This can have a snowball effect sending your number of followers through the roof. The more work you do here, the more results you will see. Yes, it takes time and effort for it to happen but in the end, I believe these followers are more likely to purchase your book than those who simply click on an ad and 'like' your page.

Sell yourself, you're a writer so when you post or converse you need to write like a writer.

So next time I'm going to touch on some non-facebook ways to draw a following (back to facebook).

Until then...good luck and keep writing.

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