Most Fan Page Friday hosts will announce the day with a banner, like this one from SocialBo
Facebook has become so big it can be a daunting prospect for a new author to find and engage fans, and your budget might not allow you to advertise for them yet. Enter Fan Page Fridays!
Many businesses host Fan Page Fridays on Facebook. You’ll see a post announcing the Fan Page Friday on their page (on Friday, of course) and an invitation to share your own Facebook Fan page in the comment thread.
Helpful Hints for Fan Page Fridays:
- Be sure to read the guidelines included in each company’s post. Typically, they’ll ask you to “like” and “share” the post with your tribe, and enter your own FB page url (i.e. https://www.facebook.com/WhereWritersWin)
- You must use your personal profile to share your page and like other people’s pages. Getting a like from a business page profile does nothing to increase your “likes.”
- You don’t have to like every business in the thread, but it’s kind. You can always go back and hide or unlike their page if you find it doesn’t interest you.
- Thank the moderator and share their page, too.
- Don’t promote a specific item or program in your post unless the moderator has given you the specific go ahead in the Fan Page Friday rules. If you abuse this, your comments will likely be hidden.
- Be sure to Like the page of the moderator, not just the post. They are being gracious hosts and liking their page is how you thank them.
The easiest way to find Facebook pages hosting Fan Page Fridays is to visit Facebook and enter #FanPageFriday into the search window.
So, put it on your calendar this week. Search on Friday morning, put your author page link in a few of the threads, and let us know how many new “Likes” you earn on your author page.
Remember though – to keep ’em you have to engage them with content… Happy Hunting!
I agree Shari. The best description I have read to date regarding questionable likes was, “We regard likes as more a high five and congratulations for completing the work. It does not necessarily constitute an endorsement.” After great thought, I understand and can buy into that concept.
Ah, excellent point. There are a few book pages I haven’t liked, whether for questionable content or really poor grammar, but on the whole I’m happy to give a “high five!”
You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.
Ethically questionable. I don’t ‘like’ a page unless I have used the product, read the book, employed the service and feel confident putting my name behind it. I have difficulty trusting likes, as well as endorsements on LinkedIn. I would have a few hundred genuine endorsements than thousands of click-happy likes from people who know nothing about me.
And you’re correct – it CAN be questionable if you don’t honestly like something about the page/biz, but folks sharing your page on theirs (with their tribes) actually does get you to readers who will genuinely like you. No one need like anyone indiscriminately, but it’s a way to make connections. Many, many of ours are made with that, “Oh, I have a friend who’s written a book; I’ll connect you.”
Indeed, it’s those click-happy like folks that make it easier for their many connections to find you 🙂 Meaning, if I have 500 connections but 100 of them have 1,000 connections…