3 Steps to Fan Page Awesomeness

Well, it is WANA Wednesday and here are some nifty platform-building tips from my best-selling book We Are Not Alone—The Writer’s Guide to Social Media. Yes, today is a repost because I am knee-deep in finishing my novel for NaNoWriMo…either that or I licked a taser and fried my own synapses. Right now everything is all a little fuzzy, and my shoes don’t match. I think my shirt is on backward, too. Never mind that. Anyway, YES I am reposting. But you guys need to know this stuff, so there 😛 and I am not a total bum. I have a fresh installment at the end, my weekly Mash-Up of Awesomeness. How else do you think I procrastinate when I am supposed to be writing? Yes! I root out great writing blogs for all of you guys so you can procrastinate productively.

Today we are going to tackle the ever-mysterious Facebook Fan Page. If you are like me and were born a D&D loving nerd, there have been few opportunities to feel more like a loser than the fan page. If done incorrectly, building a fan page can cause anxiety, heart palpitations, and a recurrence of that nightmare where even though you are 36 and have an advanced degree, your high school counselor shows up to your place of employment to announce that your credits never counted and ergo you never graduated and that you start tenth grade on Monday. EEK!

So I feel your pain. But we writers persevere despite because we really, really, really want to be taken seriously…and so we look to the fan page.

The good news is that Facebook has made the fan page a tad easier to endure in that now people can simply “like” us instead of becoming “a fan.” I guess the moniker “fan” just implied too much emotional commitment. But now you have no excuse when it comes to taking that professional leap and creating a fan page.

All writers need a fan page. Period. And I know there has been a lot of debate about this, but I am right and they are wrong, so there :P. Seriously. How many of you new writers out there are planning to fail? Like literally. You woke up this morning and went, Yeah I am so happy about that thousand words I got down on my novel. Too bad no one will read these words until they are packing up my things when I’m DEAD. What? No one? No takers? How many went I just love wasting time. Nothing like watching the months and years of my life slip by with nothing to show for it *cue “Dust in the Wind”*.

So this was my sarcastic way of saying that all writers, regardless the level, should plan for success. Yes, even the newbie who is still trying to scrape her memory for what a heck a dangling participle actually is…and not giggle like it’s eighth grade. Yes, you too. No hiding in the back of the classroom.

All writers need a fan page. Now when you publish that fan page will be up to you. Why a fan page? Well, among many other advantages we cannot discuss today…

  • Fan pages can separate your identity from You Normal Person to You the Author
  • Fan pages can help you establish a pen name
  • Fan pages help others take you seriously as a professional
  • Fan pages will help you manage large numbers of fans in the future with less hassle than and standard FB page

 

I go into all of this in far more detail in my book, so we will are going to just give an overview today. If you are planning on being published, you must have a fan page. Sorry. Whether we like it or not marketing is part of the job description. I know most of us would rather have brain surgery with a KFC spork than have to self-promote, but that’s the cold hard truth. Anyone tell you different and they are lying or selling something.

But the cool thing is that social media is supposed to be, above all else…social. Writers tend to do one of two things when you tell them they need to market. Either they run screaming for the nearest Ben & Jerry’s distributor or they turn into that weird third cousin we haven’t talked to since she joined Amway. So no hiding and no turning into a SPAM bot. I’m here to help you find the balance.

FB fan pages are just a way of focusing all your writer energy and efforts into one spot and allowing others to support and encourage one area of your life. They will also help brand your name, even if that brand is wide Your Name Writer until you figure out whether you want to write about vampires or space aliens or wizards. People can begin to associate Your Name with Writer.  I highly recommend my blog on author branding as a first step.

When I first started writing, I had no clue what genre I wanted to focus on…and some days I still don’t. But that was no excuse not to begin branding who I was so that when someone went, “Hey, you know that Kristen Lamb chick?” People automatically replied, “Oh yeah the writer.” That alone was a great start….and way better than,“Kristen Lamb? The chick who had her skirt tucked into her pantyhose?”

There are right ways and wrong ways to do FB fan pages. Do them incorrectly and you could have more personalities than Sybil running around unattended. You could unwittingly make five times the work for yourself and in the end wind up feeling unloved and abandoned when you have five fans…one is your mother who hacked your password to find out your pen name, and the other four are actually spammers, but you didn’t have the heart to delete them.

So let’s do this the smart way.

First…

Fan pages, even if you use a pen name, should be created off your personal page. In fact, if you do not yet have a FB page, I recommend starting a personal page first. Think of this page like the traffic cop, where you will direct those members of your network who want to support you as a writer to your fan page.

So build your normal FB page. If you already have a FB page, then no need to start over to keep “your identities” separate. For the sake of brevity read my blog from last week It’s a Pen Name, Not Witness Protection. We writers have to have time left over to write great books. Writing excellent books is a lot of work that takes a lot of time. So needless duplicated efforts are bad juju.

Second…

I recommend building your fan page in secret. When you are building the page, there is a function that will make the page only visible to you the administrator. You have to have 25 “fans” before the fan page name is yours fair and square. In this instance, I recommend publishing the new fan page only long enough to get 25 friends, family and fellow writers to “like” you and then the name is yours for good.

Think of this like house renovations. When the contractors come and knock out counters and remove all your toilets is not the time to have a little soiree. Take time to construct a nice page. Add good content. Blogs, articles, pictures of you at your critique group, You Tube videos of you speaking. Make it look nice for when you are ready to launch.

Thirdly…

Hit the Golden Three Hundred. Spend time getting to know people on your regular page. When you hit three hundred (or whatever number makes you feel comfortable) then send out a bulk invite to all of your friends. See, now you will be super glad that you built this baby off your regular page. Why? Because 300 or more is fishing from a way bigger pond! And since you have spent time making the fan page look great, it will be far less awkward for people to “like” you.

Once you make your fan page public then feel free to send people directly to your fan page via buttons or Twitter (all explained in my book). Or, just hang out on the regular page being a normal person. Take advantage of those close networks of family and friends and never discount what great cheerleaders they can be. Interact on the regular page as long as you can. The fan page lacks the two-way communication that you will need, especially early in your career. People generally do not expect to chit-chat with Sandra Brown. They will, however, expect it from us.

But, doing your fan page this way will maximize time, minimize embarrassment and make the best impression. Nothing like a snazzy fan page to get your friends and family to say, “Wow. I guess she really intends to do this thing.” And when you do get an agent and a three-book deal, the hard work on your fan page will already be done, so you can focus on writing great novels instead of starting from scratch.

Until next time…

Happy writing!

This Week’s Mash-Up of Awesomeness

Why You Won’t Finish that Novel (Pick a Reason and then Kick It in the Face) by Chuck Wendig. I LOVE this guy’s blog and could just get lost there all day. He knows us oh so well…and that scares me.

3 Blogging Blunders by the talented Jody Hedlund

GREAT blog. 10 Ways to Create a Plot Twist

Brooke Johnson has an excellent series discussing novel archetypes. This blog can be delightfully paired with a serving of Terrell Mim’s blog on the Hero’s Journey and the Refusal of the Call. And for dessert, a sweet article by Author Jami Gold about our awesome writer family. Awwww.

12 comments

2 pings

Skip to comment form

  1. Argh. Printing this out so we can do a fan page. The good news regarding social media, though, is that we can do all this from the comfort of our home.

  2. Thanks for the shout-out to my blog! I love my tweeps and writer buddies. 🙂

  3. You sure know your stuff, Kristen. Thanks for always sharing hard facts in a “get-your-act-in-gear” way. What I don’t have is time. I need to sleep sometime.

    1. Yeah, but if you think of it, this way gives you time. Heck, I still don’t have a fan page launched. But I am building it steadily until it becomes critical for me to have one and not trying to do some half-@$$ rush job that makes me panic. Take your time :D. and thanks for the comment/compliment. Always makes my day and I am really glad I can help you guys.

  4. Fan page… I had been thinking of this for a while now.

  5. I had a fan page but then deactivated it. Because it did make me feel like a loser in some weird strange way. lol. Great post on this subject!

  6. Enjoyed this article, Kristen. But I’m Twitter centric and don’t do much on my FaceBook account. I was hoping you would tell us what sort of status updates might go on a Fan page. Besides the obvious ones, like: publication date, tours, interviews and reviews in the media. What do you say on a fan page when there is nothing much going on with the book? (Heaven forbid). Was also hoping for a few shining examples.

    You partially answered in the article, where you said to make it fabulous: Blogs, articles, pictures of you at your critique group, videos. But is there more to say?

    1. Basically this is why I recommend using the FB page as long as possible. A fan page lacks the two-way dialogue a regular page has. If you build your fan page off your main profile, you will be able to make the most of it as long as you can. For the most part, FB fan pages are taking the place of web sites, and if you think of them in that contxt then you see there isn’t the pressure to post like a regular page. I think you can use a Fan Page to offer a service to those following by posting good material that would benefit your readers. Yes, you might have an awesome blog, but there is nothing stopping you from posting other great blogs you happen to stumble across. reposting information for others is always a great way to build your network and rally others to promote you in turn.

      I hope that answers your question.

    • John Alley on November 23, 2010 at 9:46 am
    • Reply

    Keeping all the awesomeness in mind.
    Many brands are doing great through their fan pages on facebook but i don’t see many maintaining the quality.
    While surfing on this i came across a website which grades fan pages and tells us about the quality of our fanpages.
    Seemded useful, also might help you out. http://lane12.com/fanpage-grader/
    Have a look 🙂

  7. So excited that you are a fellow NaNoWriMo. I just finished my first novel because of this amazing site!

  8. So now that I’ve discovered you I’m digging through your archives. Cool to the beans. I have been thinking about the fan page for a while. I’ve always promoted so much through my personal FB because I am me after all, but I see your point. Also, you totally referenced The Princess Bride (reminds me of a recent Wiki Wednesday http://t.co/6JmyABA) about someone selling something so you move up three notches on my hero pole from Neat to Sweet. Looking forward to more.

    1. Thanks :D. I am really happy ur enjoying the blogs. Yeah, you need a fan page eventually, but take your time. No rush. The FB page ur using right now will do you far more good. You need to keep the 2-way dialogue as long as possible.

  1. […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by M. R. Mathias and Andrew Mocete, Susan Bischoff. Susan Bischoff said: "And I know there has been a lot of debate about this, but I am right and they are wrong, so there." http://bit.ly/akKyMQ @KristenLambTX […]

  2. […] She also happened to read the brilliant, charming, selfless, and humble Kristen Lamb’s blog about building fan pages. Polly has a lovely page hidden, and every week she adds more pictures and blogs and links. The day […]

I LOVE hearing your thoughts!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.