Facebook can be used as a low-cost marketing tool for books by building a large fan base of potential readers, positioning the author as a thought leader in their field, and driving pre-sales through contests and giveaways. Successful authors use Facebook to engage with fans, share information about appearances and their work, and integrate it with other marketing platforms to promote their books. Creating a Facebook author page or group allows authors to connect with readers and start conversations that can create evangelists for their books.

1. Facebook Your Low Cost Marketing Secret Weapon Attracting attention for your book without breaking the bank Cindy Ratzlaff

2. WHY FACEBOOK? Facebook has 300 million users ~ 50 million joined in the last six months If Facebook were a country, it would be the 4 th largest in the world ~ by 2010 it could surpass #3, the U.S.A. Bing and Google both index Facebook pages and increase your searchability There are more than 450 million Google searches per day and Facebook Pages should be an important part of your overall SEO strategy

3. Goals for using Facebook to promote yourself and you book Build a large fan base with awareness of you as an author as well as your book title and jacket. Position yourself as a thought leader in your area and increase the perceived value of your book. Drive presales through contests, giveaways, teleseminars and webinars and create compelling reasons for people to pre-order your book to drive pre-sales and impact bestseller lists. Use Facebook and other social mediums as a funnel to bring new visitors to your home base: your blog or website Create evangelizers for your work ~ passionate fans who eagerly await your next book.

4. Gary stages contests, posts video, and gives fans multiple ways to connect with him. His goal with this page was to drive pre-sales.

5. Gary integrates all of his marketing platforms so well, it’s worth going to his website and checking out his promotions.

6. Chris uses his page to talk about his appearances and he really engages with his fans, answering their questions and providing value.

7. Phil uses his page to keep fans informed about his media appearances and capture e-mails address for further marketing.

8. Because Mitch has multiple books his fan page is about him, not just one book.

9. Mitch highlights his newest book with a tab and in-depth information about the book, encouraging fans to pre-order.

10. Facebook Groups were very popular. PostSecret has more than 41,000 members in this group. The admin can e-mail them to their Facebook inbox BUT this doesn’t automatically show up in the members steam.

11. New York Times bestseller Their Fan Page has more than 500,000 fans Updates publish automatically to the stream Google and Bing index Fan Pages which increases author SEO

12. The Power of FREE Scott uses a free e-book as a way to build his e-mail database and he markets his book via e-mail to those people as well as connecting with them on Facebook

13. You can customize your Facebook Fan Page Tabs and create one just for your book

16. It’s a Conversation Attraction first, sales second Engage in a conversation with potential readers Create evangelizers for your book Position yourself as a leader Broadcast new, hold contests, give away excerpts, offer unique opportunities Be the conversation

17. Cindy Ratzlaff Twitter: @BrandYou Facebook: Brand New Brand You YouTube: CindyRatzlaff http://CindyRatzlaff.com Twitter: @SupremeSocial Facebook: SupremeSocialMedia http://SupremeSocialMedia.com