5 Things Writers Do on Facebook That Make Me Automatically Unfollow Them

By Jody Hedlund, @JodyHedlund

To be honest, I wish I didn't have to write a post like this. But lately I've had a slew of really annoying Facebook interactions and as a result have unfollowed some writers. Lest those writers think I'm calloused or too good to mingle, I thought I'd offer an explanation for my seemingly rude behavior.

First, I should start by saying that I have two Facebook accounts: my Personal Page and my Author Page. Obviously I have my author account as a place to share updates about my books, contests, and other reading related stuff. But my personal account is "public" and so I rarely turn down friend requests there, although creepy requests from strange males with strange names are usually a NO.

One of the main reasons that I accept most friend requests on my Personal Page is that when readers look me up on Facebook, they may run across my Personal Page first and send me a request without realizing that I have an Author Page. And since I like interacting with my readers and want to maintain an open and positive aura, I accept their requests rather than send them a message to go over to my Author Page instead.

Needless to say, having an open policy poses some problems. But then again, I have similar problems on my Author Page too.

What are these problems, you might ask? Basically the summary of the problem is "ad calls." An ad call involves annoying people that call your private phone number and try to sell you a product. Sometimes they're really pushy and the only way you can end the conversation is by hanging up on them.

There are writers on Facebook doing the same thing as the old-fashioned ad call. They look up people with the specific intention of selling their books. Unfollowing one of them on Facebook is a little bit like hanging up on an ad call. You hate to do it and be rude, but when people are pushy in your personal space, what choice do they leave you?

Here are the top 5 things writers do on Facebook that make me "hang up."

1. After accepting their friend request, they post on my timeline leaving a blurb about their book along with a link to an online bookstore.

2. After accepting a friend request, they send me a "personal" message explaining their life situation, what lead them to write their book, and how I might enjoy it. And of course, they leave either a link to an online bookstore or invite me to visit their website and learn more about their book.

3. After accepting a friend request, they tag me and about twenty other strangers in a comment that is–yep, you guessed it–about their book (or indirectly relates to it somehow). And not only do they tag me, but they continue to tag me on future posts.

4. They leave a message on my Author Page saying they "liked" my Facebook Page, and they would be obliged if I would head over and "like" theirs in return.

5. They tell me that my books look good and that they're looking forward to purchasing them. In the meantime, they suggest that I might enjoy purchasing their books too.

I want to point out that obviously, there are some VERY genuine writers that I've met on Facebook. The kinds of behaviors I've mentioned above are the exceptions rather than the rule. Most of the time, most writers get the idea that the effectiveness of ad calls or cold sales pitches died long ago, if they ever were effective.

However, for those who friend new people on Facebook simply to sell books, the "friendship" request feels more like a slap in the face, like you're showing interest in others for what you can gain rather than genuinely connecting.

So if you're offended that I unfriended you, please know that your tactics are offensive too.

What do YOU think? Have you ever had someone friend you on Facebook only to try to ram a product down your throat? How did that make you feel?

Paid Promotions: Has Facebook Turned into the Grinch?

Has Facebook Turned into the Grinch?

By Jody Hedlund, @JodyHedlund

As you know, your comments on Facebook (for both your Personal Accounts and Professional Pages) do NOT go out to all of your followers. In other words, if you share important updates or news on Facebook, only a fraction of friends and followers will actually have that update show up in their news feed. (If this is new information to you, go HERE to read all about it!)

Yes, this Facebook phenomena has long troubled me. But like everyone else, I've been helpless to change the downward spiral of Facebook's way of doing things.

What has become apparent over the past couple of years with the severe limitations in comment reach is that Facebook wants to make money. Their goal is to get people to PAY to "promote" or "boost" their comments (and yes, this is true even on your personal page!).

I've accepted that. And for the most part, I don't pay Facebook to promote any comments to my hard-earned followers (who by the way, follow me willingly and actually want to see my updates but usually don't realize they're not seeing them because of Facebook's stingy posting method).

Recently, however, my publisher put the ebook for A Noble Groom on sale for $3.49 during December (which is a good deal since the ebook is usually $9.99). I wanted my followers and friends to be aware of the sale and be able to get the book at the really good deal.

So I broke down and decided to pay for a Facebook comment boost.

I have over 5300 followers on my Page. So as I browsed through the costs of boosting a post, I picked a promotion I thought would reach the majority of my followers. I decided the $20 promotion would reach up to 6,400 people versus the $5 promotion which would only go to a maximum of 2,100 people.

Here's the promotion I picked:

 

Here's the 'boosted' comment I posted on Facebook:

So how did the promotion work?

TERRIBLE!!

The boosted post only reached 1738 people. When I paid the $20.00 I was under the impression that I would AT LEAST get within the range specified (2400-6400). Not only did it fall short, but it didn't even come close to reaching all my 5300 followers. The reach of 1,738 was in the range of the $5 promotion.

Here are the results:

I was REALLY disappointed. I felt like I wasted $20.00. Because the truth is, the boosted post didn't do ANY better than my usual posts. Most of the normal comments I make on my Page reach that many people or more.

Of course, I sent a complaint to Facebook about what happened and asked them either for a refund or to increase the reach of the promotion. I have to give them credit for responding within the day of my complaint. But I was extremely disappointed (again!) with how they handled the whole issue.

Here's how Facebook responded to my complaint:

"We appreciate you letting us know about the discrepancy you've been seeing between estimated and actual reach. We're aware of this issue and are working to make our reach estimates more accurate.

The reach you see when you promote your post is an estimate, not a guarantee. Your promotion may be seen by more or less people than indicated originally, but you'll only be charged for the actual reach of your promotion. 

We apologize for the confusion and appreciate your patience as we continue to improve our reach estimates.

I reviewed the details of your campaign to confirm that all advertising services you were charged for met the conditions you selected when you placed your ad. After reviewing your account I can see that your ads were delivered as requested, so we can't offer you a refund at this time." (Emphasis mine)

So, in summary, I was NOT given a refund. The post was NOT promoted to the range that they originally said. I was NOT just "charged for the actual reach" of my promotion. I was basically given an apology for the "confusion" but told it's MY fault and that I have to live with it.

Recently, I've had a slew of awesome customer service. I had to call Audible about a missing credit, and they responded positively and immediately. I was SUPER impressed with how they handled the problem.

I also had to return a song on iTunes because it wasn't what I expected. And even though I didn't talk to anyone live, they responded positively and immediately also, without ANY questions or haggling.

In light of such positive experiences, I'm not only frustrated with the stingy way Facebook boosted my paid post, but I'm also incredibly frustrated in how they responded to my complaint.

Shouldn't Facebook be in the business of making happy customers who want to continue using their services? If they have confusing advertising, shouldn't they go out of their way to correct their mistakes? If they give a range, shouldn't they try to promote it to the middle or high end? Why not be generous? How would that hurt them?

Maybe bigger companies and corporations have better luck with Facebook Paid Promotions because they can put more money behind the promotion. But if Facebook is offering lower costing promotions to those of us who have small businesses (like authors), then I for one think they need to be fair, don't you?

I'm sorry to say, that Facebook reminds me of the Grinch. And a very stingy Grinch at that.

What's your Facebook experience been like lately? Have you paid for a promotion of a comment? How did it work for you?

P.S. I've posted my annual Christmas Letter over on my family blog: Hedlund Happenings. I invite you to stop by for a personal glimpse of my family and life! In the meantime, have a Merry Christmas! I'll be taking a short blogging vacation. See you back here on Tuesday, January 6th!

How Should Writers Handle Facebook Frustrations?

By Jody Hedlund, @JodyHedlund

Did you know that Facebook has been using a calculation called EdgeRank to determine which of our followers get to see the status updates we post?

In other words, whenever we post something on Facebook (whether on our Personal Account or our Page), not ALL of our followers get to see what we post. Our comments will only show up on a VERY small percentage of newsfeeds (determined by some algorithm through EdgeRank).

Sadly this big-brother type of control is not new with Facebook and has been ongoing for some time now.

However, what IS new is that those of us who have Pages can choose to PAY to promote our comments to MORE of our followers through a new “Paid Promotion” feature that Facebook recently unveiled.

Those writers with Pages may have noticed the link "Promote" at the bottom of each status update. The link gives you the option of paying to promote that particular comment (and from what I understand, payments are not cheap for effective promotion).

In other words, we have to PAY Facebook to get our comments to show up in the newsfeeds of those followers we’ve already worked hard to obtain and in some cases may have even used paid advertising to gain (i.e. through Facebook ads).

Not only do we have to PAY to promote our posts to our hard-earned followers, but our followers aren’t automatically getting our updates, even though they freely and willingly signed up to “like” our pages. Instead, most of our followers have to actively seek us out if they want to keep up with what we’re saying and doing. And realistically, who has the time to do that?

Supposedly, if we can get real people interacting, commenting, sharing, liking, etc. then EdgeRank will share our comments in more newsfeeds. But does this really happen?

I thought I’d share a few statistics from my Facebook Page to give you an idea of just how FEW of our fans are actually being reached through our comments under EdgeRank (even with what I’d consider good interaction).

Here’s one comment: Today I got to meet with a Japanese woman who's been learning English by reading my book, The Doctor's Lady. This comment had 73 Likes & 15 Comments and only went to 31% of my followers. 

(Sidenote: These statistics are available to Page administrators at the bottom of each post, but aren’t on Personal accounts. And only Page administrators can see them.)

Another of my most popular comments was this: I DID IT! I finished writing a book today! After spending the past four months immersed in the story . . . This comment had 177 Likes, 52 Comments, & 1 Share and still only went to 38% of my followers.

The truth is, no matter how much interaction my Facebook posts get, it’s still difficult to increase the reach. The large majority of my posts go to about 25% or less of my followers. In light of the small percentages, one has to wonder if Facebook is purposefully making EdgeRank stingy so that we need the paid promotions to reach our fans.

I’m the first to admit I’m no expert in Facebook, EdgeRank, and Paid Promotion. If you want to delve deeper into the issues and learn more, here are several posts that I found helpful:

*FB fans aren’t seeing your posts (and how to fix it) by Cinda Baxter

*For FB page admins: How to reclaim (part) of your missing audience by Cinda Baxter

*A Common Sense, Non-Reactionary Approach to EdgeRank and Facebook Business Pages by Ken Mueller

So what’s a writer to do? Should we give up on Facebook altogether?

Here’s my evolving philosophy.

1. I’m keeping both my Facebook Page and Personal Accounts because my fans can still interact with me in both places. And that’s really what matters. Maybe the news about my books, events, or blog posts won’t reach the numbers I’d ideally like them to. But I can still interact with those who DO see them as well as those who take the time to search me out.

2. For the time being, I won’t be dishing out money for the Paid Promotion aspect. I don’t think I should have to pay to reach my OWN followers with my messages.

3. Facebook may not play as large of a role in marketing and platform-building anymore. If it’s losing its effectiveness and scope for the average author, then we may need to look at how we can utilize our other social media options better (including Pinterest).

4. I'll work harder to keep the social in Social Media. EdgeRank supposedly works best when we're utilizing Facebook on a personal level and forming genuine connections with our followers (versus just spamming our books with very little interaction with our fans).

And isn't that what social media is about anyway? Socializing? Yes, it's easier to throw out posts about our books, blog tours, or giveaways. But we have to remember to do the hard work of interacting and making our posts meaningful to our followers.

What are your thoughts? What do you think of Facebook’s EdgeRank system? Would you consider using Paid Promotion? Or do you think it’s unfair of Facebook to charge people to reach more of their own fans?

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The Great Facebook Debate: Personal Account or Page?

For the longest time I resisted the idea of starting a professional facebook Page. I already had a Personal Account. Why in the world would I need another thing to keep track of?

In Facebook World, most people sign up for a Personal Account. This is the usual, initial sign-up where we add “friends.” We can choose to accept or ignore “friend requests.” We can control who we allow onto our account and our privacy settings. Some of us may reserve facebook for only those people we’ve met in real life, old school buddies, long lost relatives, etc. Others of us pretty much accept anyone onto our account.

A professional facebook Page, on the other hand, is slightly different from a personal account. In “old” facebook terminology, the page was called a “Fan Page.” Thankfully, facebook dropped the “Fan” part and now it’s simply called a “Page.” Anyone can come to our “Page” and “Like” us there. It’s open to the public.

So, yes, I now have a Personal Account AND a Page. Both are free and easy to set up. I debated long and hard about the decision. After talking with my web designer, Kelli Standish, about the entire issue, I decided to give the Page a try. And now that I have, I’m glad I did. Here are a few of the reasons why I chose to open a Page.

1. Personal accounts have a friend limit. Currently the limit is 5000. My personal account rocketed to over 1000 in less than a year during my pre-publication days. After publication it’s possible that eventually I won’t have room to add anyone to my personal account.

2. We can get off to a good start. I’ve found it slightly awkward when others decide to start their Page and then ask me to stop following their personal account to follow their page. I’d rather steer most people toward my Author Page right from the start, especially readers.

3. I can keep my personal account more personal. Like most of you, I’ve connected with tons of real-life friends and family on my personal account. I don’t want to overwhelm them with stuff about my book and writing. Occasionally I share news about my writing with friends and family, but only because I’m really excited, not because I’m trying to promote myself.

4. I can direct new contacts to my Author Page. I still get quite a few requests for friendships from people I don’t know—probably because facebook recommended me to them because we have 300 friends in common (or something like that!). I always accept friends that I know through blogging or twitter or some other way. But for those who are complete strangers, I can now suggest they join my Author Page.

5. The Author Page can be more purposeful for my writing career. My Page says right on it, “The official reader page of Author, Jody Hedlund.” Those who "Like" the Page know what they’re signing up for. They expect that I’ll share information about my books, my blog posts, and my writing life. Of course I want to be as personal there as possible. But no one is going to roll their eyes when I post information about my book because that’s what the page is for.

6. Most importantly, I have a place for readers. I want a place that’s easily accessible. I don’t want anyone to have to wait until I get around to “accepting” their friend request in order to connect with me. With the Author Page, readers can immediately come, get the latest news, and join in the conversation.

Personal Account or Professional Page? The debate still rages. Ultimately every author needs to do what works best for them. Hopefully, I’ve given you something to think about as you make the decision for yourself! For a couple other opinions on the matter visit Writer Unboxed: To Have or Not Have a Facebook Page and Using Facebook to Amplify Your Reach (by Jane Friedman).

So, what are your thoughts? Do you have a Page and if so why did you choose it? And if you’ve opted NOT to have a Page and are sticking with a personal account, what led you to that decision?

P.S. Don't miss this week's chance to win a copy of The Preacher's Bride! Click here to answer an easy trivia question and get your name in the drawing!

5 Ways To Use Facebook & Twitter Effectively

Since we're on the topic of cyber networking this week, I can't neglect a post about Facebook and Twitter.

If you've read some of my previous posts on the two, you might have picked up on a tone of skepticism. That was in my early days, before I really understood their purpose and functionality.

However, after months of facebooking and tweeting, my skepticism is rehabilitated. I've gained a new perspective on both. Here's what I've learned. 5 ways to use Facebook and Twitter effectively:

1. Don't tweet or leave a comment and then disappear. In this sense, they are similar to blogging. We can't expect to get much out of such sites if we toss our comments out there and then run back into our safe hole.

I can't respond to every Twitter or Facebook comment, but I try to take some time to personally interact with those who respond to me. More importantly, I try to show interest in the lives of others. Yes, here it is again--the give and take of successful communication.

2. Make an effort to meet new people. I'm not always sure how people find me, but I'm glad they do. I rarely turn down requests and almost always follow back (unless someone looks like a hacker or spammer).While many friends overlap between the social networking sites, I've also met a whole new spectrum of friends in each realm that I wouldn't have met otherwise.

If we want to network, we can't be shy. We have to jump out there, show interest in others, and make an effort to socialize. If we wait for others to make the first move, we might miss out on new friendships.

3. Use the cyber world as a place to express our uniquenesses. I fully realize not everything I say on Twitter or Facebook is life-shattering or world-altering. Some of it might be downright mundane. But the trick, just as in novel-writing, is to take the ordinary and share it in new and intriguing ways.

Maybe we can't expect every comment to have our special flare, but Twitter and Facebook give us a stage on which to showcase our uniquenesses, to establish ourselves as interesting and worth listening to. Debra Schubert recently landed an agent partly because of her unique voice on Twitter. Read her agent story here.

4. Link to other helpful articles or posts. Twitter is an especially useful resource for finding quick links to blogs. Agents and other writers often tweet links to helpful articles. If the title catches my attention, I pop over to scan the information. (This shows the importance of crafting catchy titles.)

I've also found Twitter an especially useful place to link to my own blog. I don't link every day or make that the main focus of my tweeting, but sharing about a blog post can generate more readers. When others find my blog posts helpful or inspiring, sometimes they retweet it (send it into twitter again), which has the potential to bring even more readers.

5. Use social networking consistently and with balance. Tweeting and facebooking don't have to be a huge effort. In fact, with Twitter and Facebook, sometimes less is more. We don't want to tire our followers with our our constant chattering. When someone tweets or comments too much, my eyes tend to glaze over when I see their name.

On the other hand, tweeting or posting for one day and then disappearing for a week doesn't help maintain the connections either. Everyone needs to find a system that works for them. But I try to make a comment on Facebook approximately once a day and then get onto Twitter for several short bursts on a daily basis. Of course I miss days. Life happens. But for the most part, I try to stay consistent.

That's it--that's what I've learned so far about Facebook and Twitter. What have you learned? Do you find them beneficial or are you still skeptical? Please share!

To Tweet is Sweet

This week we've been discussing the connection factor that blogging provides. I think we can all agree that blogging benefits writers in countless ways--especially with friendships.

But what about connecting through other social networking sites?

In previous posts, I discussed facebook as a way to network (link). At first I was hesitant about joining facebook since I already struggle to limit my online time. However, I quickly realized it doesn't have to be a time guzzler. The comments are short and to the point. Replies, if any, are also brief.

With blogging and facebook, why in the world would anyone need twitter? For the longest time I resisted the tweeting call. Once again, I told myself I didn't need to add one more internet activity into my already overloaded screen time.

Then during one of my first conversations with my new agent, she asked, "Do you twitter? I'll follow you if you do." I stammered, "Er, uh, not yet. . ." I was too embarrassed to let her know I had no clue how twitter worked or even how to sign up for it!

After that phone call, I decided I would at least check into it. After all, if my agent twittered and liked it, then maybe I needed to get on board. End of story: it took me all of five minutes to set up a twitter account, and it takes even less time to tweet.

Now after twittering for a few weeks, I can report back some of the benefits:

• Connect more with fellow writing friends: Some of you twitter too, and it's been really fun to get to know you more personally and stay in daily contact with you.

• Meet new writers: I've connected with different writers that I don't normally see in the blogosphere.

• Keep up with agent news: Since my agent uses twitter as her primary mode of communication of her daily activities, I feel more connected with what she'd doing.

• Promote writing industry news: Many writers post tidbits of writing-related news, or encouraging and motivational quotes.

• Market ourselves and our writing: Often authors post links to interviews, blogs, book release information, and more.

If blogging is a satisfying meal and facebook is a snack cracker, then twitter is like a tiny treat. It's not satisfying in and of itself. But combined with other networking, it's another easy way to build our platforms.

Terri Tiffany recently posted about the importance of searching out new ways to market ourselves as writers. (Read her post here.) For me, twitter is the next step in expanding my writing presence and it could potentially be an excellent marketing tool.

Have you tried anything new recently? What do you think of Twitter? I'd love to hear your opinions about it, both the pro's and con's.

Have a great weekend!

Be My Friend?

How did you do with your weekend writing goals? Please tell us in the comments how you did!

Katie did you finish 4 scenes? Sherrinda did you write 2000 words? Marybeth how did the editing go? T. Anne did you get in 2000 on your WIP? Krista did you edit 2 chapters on book 1 and write 1000 words? Jamie how did you do with your 2500? Jeanette did you write your blog posts and revise 2 chapters? Jeannie, I'm afraid to ask if you finished your last chapter!? Terri did you get close to 60,000 yet? Wendy did you write 500? Everyone else, how did you do? Robin did you get in 500?

Many times writing is a solitary venture. I appreciate having a community of writing friends that can hold me accountable and encourage me. Thank you! (And, yes, I squeaked in my 1500 for the weekend!)

Speaking of friends, I recently joined Facebook. I did so for a few reasons:

• Curiosity: I'd heard it mentioned and wanted to see what the hype was about.


• Agents & Editors: They're pushing it as another way to network.


• Connecting: I thought it might be a fun way to connect with family and friends.

After I joined Facebook, it only took me five seconds to realize I needed "friends" to join my homepage or I would be alone in my corner of the Facebook world. Thanks to Jill Kemerer, I'm not an absolute reject. She linked me to some of her "friends." (Thanks, Jill!)

The whole process of inviting "friends" to join my Facebook page has started me thinking about "friends." Thus, I'm devoting this week to talking about friendships. How can a person have over 1,000 "friends" on Facebook? More on that tomorrow. . .

My question for you today is this: Have you joined Facebook? If no, why not? If yes, what were your reasons for joining?

And, I now have a Facebook widget on my sidebar. Won't you be my friend? *Smile*