OLD POST ALERT! This is an older post and although you might find some useful tips, any technical or publishing information is likely to be out of date. Please click on Start Here on the menu bar above to find links to my most useful articles, videos and podcast. Thanks and happy writing! – Joanna Penn
A few weeks ago, I interviewed social media strategist Amy Porterfield who inspired us about how to use Facebook for marketing. Then this Fast Company article convinced me that Facebook will only continue to grow and may even overtake Google for online search.
I already have a basic page for The Creative Penn here, but I wanted to provide free chapters and build a list for the launch of my thriller novel, Pentecost so I needed more functionality. In browsing for options, I found that it would cost between $200-$2000 to get it created so I did a bit of investigation and managed to do it myself within an hour.
This information will save you time and money, so watch the video below or read the text steps to create your own Facebook page for your book or author brand. Click here to Like the Pentecost page so you can see the result.
In the video, I go through these steps:
1) Set up a basic Facebook page here. You do need to be a member of Facebook already.
2) Add the Static FBML app. It creates a blank page where you can add FBML which is basically HTML.
3) Open a new blog post on a WordPress blog and add your text in the Visual screen. Then copy the HTML that has been generated for you. Paste into the FBML page and save.
4) For list building, I use Aweber (affiliate) and they give you the code that you can paste into the FBML page. (More detail on list building here)
5) Set the default of the page by changing the settings on the Wall.
6) Claim your easy to remember URL here after you page has 25+ fans.
If you do set up a page, please leave the link in the comments below with whether these instructions helped you and any other tips you have.
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1 2 3 … 5 Next »Hello Joanna and thank you for your informative post!
Thank you for letting us in on the loop so we can make our pages better than they are! I loved the friendly URL tip and how easy it is to add the facebook mark-up language on the page so we can actually customise it with simple html.
I'm gonna head back to mine now, (which used to be at the end of this long address > http://www.facebook.com/pages/Phlegyas-the-Mind-Juggler/459494545514 but now is comfortably sitting on http://www.facebook.com/Phlegyas.the.Mind.Juggler) and start playing with it. I'm gonna do the Welcome Page trick cause really, landing on the Wall might be OK but probably isn't.
Thanks again Joanna and may I take this opportunity to thank you for the wealth and depth of information you shared with all of us here on the Creative Penn (which, as I have said before, I consider THE most Inspired handle/name).
Thanks so much! Even these little things make a difference!
My name really is Penn, but it took me a while to claim the word Creative :) I'm glad the site is useful for you.
Joanna,
I wanted to create a welcome page for my facebook page and could not really figure out how to get it set up like I wanted. Thank you so much for tip number 3, I had never thought about doing it that way. Great tip.
Good luck to you and much success for your book.
Jenn
So glad that helped. It just occurred to me when I did it myself that it would make it easier. Only for basic pages, but hey, we can all start somewhere!
Thanks Joanna, I'd been meaning to do this for a while, and your post today jogged me over the edge. Here it is, in its nakedness: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Anastasia-Ashman-producer/180650641949492
You and your video also got me to switch my expat+HAREM group to the more-flexible page, another long-held to-do.
(http://www.facebook.com/expat.HAREM.the.global.niche?v=wall).
So, the platform's set up, with more to come. And as I learn what I can do on these pages, their development will inform each other.
PS I found FBML glitchy when I transferred format-heavy pages from my website.
PPS I chose not to use "writer" as a designation but rather "public figure" because writer doesn't even come up as a category when you search pages. Strange, right?
Brilliant! I have Liked it and thought the Anthology page was great. I still landed on the Wall, I don't know whether you changed that.
The FBML transfer is definitely glitchy but it's a start!
Thank you Joanna! Yeah I haven't dealt with the landing page/welcome messages yet but as soon as I'm ready to, I know just what to do! Thanks again for your help.
Awesome! I have been searching online for an easy way to do this for some time now. I've had a Facebook Page for over a year and I've noticed that lots of other authors and companies have the FBML in their page and it really makes a huge difference to the content that can be put in Facebook.
Thank you so much for taking the time to share this with us. :)
By the way, my page is -
http://www.facebook.com/pages/David-N-Alderman/27031009956
I've joined your page. You've already got lots of fans so that's great!
Thanks, Joanna! :) I'll be working on that FBML formatting in the next week, so thanks again so much for the info.
Oh, quick question, the same code should be able to be generated in a Blogger post as well, right, since Blogger converts posts to html?
I don't use Blogger but yes, I think all of them convert to HTML :)
Another great gem from Joana Penn. Thanks for keeping us all informed and inspired.
Terrific Post! I am really into social media right now (like everyone else out there!), especially Facebook Marketing and FBML. It can be hard to keep up to date with such a fast changing innovative topic but I manage to do it through the fan page factory (http://facebook.com/thefanpagefactory ?) and blog posts exactly like yours. Tips and tricks rock. I am trying to learn as much as possible to put myself ahead of the curve. So thank you again!
Enjoy!
Aaron
Thanks, Joanna. You're awesome. This was extremely helpful and I'm quite sure I'll be coming back to listen again. (But I did take notes!) This information will really help me to expand the Facebook author page I've already created. All best wishes.
Thanks for these great instructions, Joanne and for all your great posts. I have a Facebook author page now at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dee-White-Author/169372956427797?v=app_4949752878 but I couldn't get the "FBML" to work.
It came up as a separate tab but didn't have a box for me to add anything. Unfortunately I couldn't watch your vid because it was too big for my satellite broadband to download. Wondering if you might be able to give me a suggestion about how to fix the "FBML" issue.
Thanks.
I really appreciate how much you share your knowledge with other authors and I have put a link to this page on Facebook.
Dee
Hi Dee,
Maybe you could watch the video on someone else's computer. I made the video as it is so hard to describe otherwise! Sorry :(
Hi Joanna
Your timing was perfect! I was sitting down at my computer having just put my twins down for their afternoon nap & was thinking, "I really should set up my author page now I'm published" - and into my inbox pops your Creative Penn email! I couldn't believe it when I read the heading. So, I dived right in and followed your instructions. Like Dee, I had a bit of trouble at first getting the blank box to come up - and to be honest, I'm not sure what finally changed to make it come up - but once that happened I was home and hosed. It was very easy and since I already have a Wordpress blog, the process was simple.
Here's the (almost) finished product: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Karen-Collum-Author/115473181852180 Just waiting to hit the magical 25 'likes' to claim my URL.
Thanks so much for the tips!
Karen Collum
Children's author
SAMUEL'S KISSES out now!
Hi Karen, that's a beautiful picture on your page and I have just joined in. I see you now have the magical number so you can get the easy URL! Well done :)