The Introverted Author's Toolkit: WLC Facebook "Likes" & Re-Tweets

If you haven't done so already, you should set up your Facebook author or book page. A page differs from a profile in a couple of important ways. You are limited to having 5,000 friends on Facebook; there is no limit to "likes." I'm told this may be important to me someday, though I can't type that with a straight face.

Secondly, a page gives you all sorts of statistics on your visitors that you don't get from a profile page. There are all sorts of resources on the internet for using this data to tailor your content to increase traffic and such.

I just started my Facebook author page a few days ago, so the numbers from it aren't terribly interesting, but they give you an idea of what sort of data you'll be able to glean.

If you're like me, starting out without a huge fan base, you're not going to get many "likes." But there's some sort of complicated algorithm thingy regarding whether people will see your posts on their timeline based on the number of "likes" your page has, so increasing your likes is something you might want to consider focusing on.

There is a "like" sharing program which can be helpful in this regard. It's found at the World Literary Cafe. You will need to create an account before you'll be able to see this page.

First, you add your Facebook author/book pages to the list of links. Then, you choose a certain number of pages to "like" per day (ten is suggested,) and visit those pages. You'll leave a message on the page that you've come from the WLC program, and like the page. That's it. Others will do the same for you. I generally get between three to five likes from the program every day. And if you leave your page link in the message, the person you visited will usually return the favor.

The cool side-effect from this is you will see posts in your timeline from other indie authors & be able to re-post about books you think your audience might enjoy, contests & giveaways they might never have heard of otherwise.

Another feature they offer is Tweet Teams. This is especially useful for getting your message out to a new audience.

Each day, there's a new thread on the RT board. You compose one or two Tweets (read the rules; there's a hashtag & formula you have to use.) Your post will wind up on a thread page with ten other people. You send out at least one of their Tweets, and they return the favor. The random nature of the assignments means you'll be getting a fresh batch of audiences each time you use it, and you'll be introducing your audience to their books as well. It's win-win.

Like with ordinary Tweeting, "BUY MY BOOK!" isn't particularly effective. Quote a good review, or an intriguing line from your story, advertise a contest or giveaway you're having, etc. You're getting a brief introduction to another author's audience. Make it count.

Obviously, you don't want to send out all ten Tweets at once, so you'll need to use a Tweet scheduler like HootSuite or FutureTweets.