Facebook and Your E-book

With a market reach of over 500 million users, it is not difficult to understand why many e-book authors look upon Facebook as an opportunity to market their e-book products. However, marketing your e-book on Facebook is not as easy as it looks.

Unlike other forms of advertising, social media marketing is built around the concept of social interaction, a two way dialogue where information is shared between individuals or peer groups. The thing to remember about social networks like Facebook is that they empower users to question, challenge and offer opinions on a diverse range of topics, including your e-book.

While Facebook may offer e-book authors the opportunity to promote their e-book to a wider audience, the issue of how to manage social discourse should never be far away from the author’s mind. If managed badly, authors could quickly find their e-book generating negative press which could adversely affect sales. And herein lays the conundrum for authors looking to market their material on social networking sites.

The key to successful social media marketing is to think ‘relationship’ rather than ‘promotion’. When it comes to planning your e-book’s SMM strategy, try to establish a set of goals that take into consideration the following:

· Know your audience – where do they hang out and why? Get to know them

· Connect – how do you plan to connect with your audience? What channels and tools will you use and why?

· Opportunities – what opportunities can you create for dialogue? What topics, other than your e-book, are likely to engage your audience?

· Position – how do you plan on finding common ground with your audience? Don’t burden them with the ‘I’ syndrome. The constant use of ‘I’ will simply drive your audience away. Empathy is the secret to finding common ground with your audience.

· Time – How do you plan to manage the social interaction balance?

Once you’ve established your SMM goals, try to be an ‘ambassador’ in your market niche. Respond to criticism positively and not defensively. Remember, your audience will have an opinion on what you have to offer, good or bad. Whatever their opinion, take the opportunity to thank your audience for their input. This will create a positive twist on any negative criticism you may receive by turning it into an open appreciation of your audience’s time and energy in reading your material.

Social networking sites are about interaction, not promotion. So interact in a way that builds your credibility as an e-book author who listens rather than promotes. Sales will come after you’ve built up enough credibility with your audience.