By Glynnis Campbell
When it comes to promoting books, attracting followers, and building reader relationships, no social network beats Facebook. But the never-ending Wall and nonstop Notifications can turn into a time-consuming and seductive distraction from writing.
It doesn’t have to be that way. With careful planning, you can spend just twenty minutes a day on Facebook and keep your readers engaged and happy. Here’s how I do it . . .
Use The Profile
Most authors prefer Pages to Profiles. There’s no limit on Followers, and it’s easy to separate private and professional personas. I prefer to use my Profile. I have an Author Page. 
But unless I allow Facebook to extort Boost money from me, Page posts only reach a small percentage of my Followers. So I direct readers to my Profile instead and never post anything I wouldn’t want the whole world to see. I maintain close to the maximum number of Facebook friends. When I have space, I add only those who are solidly in my target audience—historical romance readers who are active on Facebook. Sure, I’m limited to 5,000 Friends, but they’re a high quality following.
Form A Family
When Facebook began throttling back the reach of Page posts, I pinned a post on my Author Page inviting readers instead to join my Facebook Group—Glynnis Campbell’s Readers Clan. Now my readers feel like family, and they never miss a post.
Avoid the Wall
Until I’m done with all my writing for the day, I don’t spend a lot of time scrolling down my Wall. There are just too many intriguing articles, grandbaby photos, and cute cat videos to consume, and I can’t afford to get sucked into the Facebook vortex.
Breeze Through Notifications
I quickly scan my Facebook Notifications and only click on comments on my own posts or posts in which I’m tagged. I don’t worry about Liking anything unless it’s directed at me. If someone asks for a good holiday romance and a reader comments with “You’ve gotta read A Yuletide Kiss by Glynnis Campbell!” I always thank them, by name. If a fan posts a video of a Scotsman in a kilt doing yoga on my Wall, I click on the laughing emoticon. And I make a special point of thanking readers personally for Sharing my promotional posts.
Share the Author Love
I Share similar authors’ posts about new releases or sales. This kind of targeted cross-promotion is invaluable.
Sing Happy Birthday
Facebook has made birthdays easy, and readers love to get greetings from authors. With 5,000 Friends and 365 days in the year, that means an average of 13 birthdays per day. But with Facebook’s handy birthday notification box, it doesn’t take long to type out 13 nice greetings.
Just Say No To Facebook Ads
I know I’m in the minority, but I don’t use Facebook ads. Instead, I belong to several Groups in my target market, and about once a week, I copy-paste key promo posts announcing new releases, special sales, and giveaways in each Group.
Be The Group You Want To Join
I’ve formed three categorical Groups of my own—Scottish Historical Romance, Viking Historical Romance, and Native American Historical Romance—to attract my target audiences and to build good will and create cross-promotion opportunities with my sister romance authors.
The Once-A-Week Promo Post
I copy-paste promo posts announcing releases, sales, and giveaways once a week—to my Profile, Page, and Reader Group, as well as to several targeted reader Groups.
The Daily Non-Promo Post
Just like picking up the daily paper or scanning the top news stories on Google, I want checking for my daily posts to be a habit for the reader. The main form of engagement I use on Facebook is these themed daily posts, which I announce at the beginning of each month on Facebook and in my monthly newsletter. I spend a couple of hours the month before—usually on a spare weekend night—creating the posts and choosing accompanying photos so that they’re all ready to go.
These posts entertain readers by enticing them to reply to a question or a choice. For August Hotties, readers had to decide who was hotter—Chris Pratt or Chris Hemsworth; Ryan Reynolds or Ryan Gosling. For Halloween, I asked for ratings on a different frightening film each day. This month, all the questions can be answered with a number—”How many coffee mugs do you own?” “How many clocks are in your house?” Readers feel engaged, because I’ve expressed a personal interest in them.
I copy-paste each of these posts three times—once to my Profile, once to my Page, and once in my Readers Group. My Facebook feed also appears on my website. Included in every Facebook post is a link to my monthly giveaway. For extra chances to win—and extra Facebook engagement for me—entrants can share a special promotional Facebook post I’ve created in the raffle software.
By doing daily reader-engagement posts and limiting promo posts to once a week, I maintain a seven-to-one ratio that keeps my Facebook author presence from becoming just more “buy my book” spam.
The Schedule
So how do I spend just twenty minutes a day while giving the impression I’m hanging out all the time on Facebook? One secret is timing. I can spend ten minutes in the morning, five minutes at midday, and five minutes in the evening, and to readers, it seems like I’m always there. Here’s how it breaks down…
AM (10 minutes)
- Copy-paste daily post to Profile, Author Page, and Readers Group
- Send birthday greetings
- Check notifications for Shares/Comments/Tags and Thank/Like/Comment back
- Answer Instant Messages
- Visit Scottish Historical Romance, Viking Historical Romance, and Native American Historical Romance Groups to check for spam and occasionally update pinned post
- Once a week, copy-paste promotional release, sale, or giveaway posts to Profile, Author Page, Readers Group, and in targeted Groups
MIDDAY (5 minutes)
- Check notifications for Shares/Comments/Tags and Thank/Like/Comment back
- Answer Instant Messages
- Share similar authors’ release or sale posts
PM (5 minutes)
Repeat Midday steps
Whether you’ve been avoiding Facebook like the plague or are fighting a social networking addiction, you can benefit from trying a schedule like this. You’ll be able to make the most of your time online and save valuable hours for writing!
Glynnis Campbell is a USA Today bestselling author of swashbuckling action-adventure historical romances. She was once in an all-girl band on CBS Records and has done voiceovers for the MTV series “The Maxx,” Diablo and Starcraft videogames, and Star Wars audio adventures. She makes her home in Los Angeles with her high school sweetheart/rock star husband and loves playing medieval matchmaker, transporting readers to a place where the bold heroes have endearing flaws, the women are stronger than they look, the land is lush and untamed, and chivalry is alive and well.
She is always delighted to hear from readers, so please feel free to visit her website at glynnis.net, email her at glynnis@glynnis.net, and follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Amazon, and BookBub.
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