Facebook is one of the world’s highest traffic websites, and those visitors tend to spend a tremendous amount of time on the site. This makes for somewhat of a captive audience, and yours ads will often get a lot more attention than ads on other websites.
There are a number of subjects Facebook doesn’t allow, so you need to be sure your book, and your graphics, adhere to their guidelines. For example, they don’t allow the advertisement of anything adult related, so if they feel your book is too risqué your ad will not be accepted. They’re also very picky about subjects like weight loss, and most such ads won’t be approved. Dating ads are forbidden without prior, written permission. Your graphics can’t be more than 20% text, so you may not be able to use your book cover. You might have to create a different graphic to promote your book.
One important thing to keep in mind is that the price you pay for your ads is not based on a bid. Instead, Facebook calculates the amount you pay based on a number of factors, such as the number of interactions your ad gets. (Likes, shares, etc.) You can establish a budget that enables you to reach your perfect readers, build your fan base and sell more books—all for as little as a few dollars a day.
Facebook wants to be sure the ads they show are something their users are likely to find interesting. This is why they give cheaper prices to the ads that people prove they like.
Facebook ads and other promotions are not as confusing as they seem at first. If you want a step-by-step program about how to succeed with Facebook marketing, check out this training on Facebook marketing for authors in just seven minutes a day!
So how can you make sure you get the cheapest clicks possible?
The first thing you can do is make sure you’re targeting the right people. It’s a good idea to do a little research before you get started so you can make sure you’re targeting the right keywords and the right demographic. Don’t be tempted to add keywords that aren’t 100% targeted to your niche, because you’ll just hurt yourself with more expensive clicks. Instead, be sure all of your keywords are very well targeted.
The graphic you use for your ad is also incredibly important. The graphic is the one thing that will really draw the eye to your ad, so it needs to be eye catching and still convey what your book is about.
Remember, you’ll need to keep your ad within Facebook’s guidelines. No more than 20% of the graphic can be text, and don’t show too much skin. Even a fitness book should show as little skin as possible. In fact, it may be necessary to create a new graphic especially for the ad. (But keep the ad graphic as similar as possible to your current cover so you don’t confuse readers when they see a different image after they click than they saw in the ad.)
If you write a lot of books in the same genre, you might want to send your clicks to a landing page with an opt-in box in order to build a mailing list you can use to promote your other books. You could offer a free book as an incentive, or perhaps some other incentive such as a free short story or entry into a contest to win a free Amazon gift card.
Once a reader opts into your list, you can send them a link to buy your book with an autoresponder message.
Facebook ads are a powerful way to drive readers to your books. Even if you have never used any form of advertising before, you can create effective ads. Get started here, and you can be building your fan base and selling more books right away!
