I invite fan questions to my Facebook fanpage. So if you have a question, head on over and post it. It just might get featured here on the blog, too!
How often should we post to our author pages so that we’re connected with our subscribers and fans but not overdoing it? If there’s no “news” to post, what’s a good way to stay current?
This was a great question that came to me via my fanpage. Since I’ve been a writer for 12 years, many of my online friends are also writers and authors. They often ask me for advice with their fanpages. This was a great question for writers but the same answers can be applied to other industries.
So how often to post?
In general, I say 2-5 times per day is the sweet spot and be sure to spread it out, rather than make 5 posts in succession in a big rush. If it’s an author page, you can share updates about what you’re currently working on, teasers for upcoming writing or posts on what fellow authors are doing.
A good rule of thumb for posting is:
1 post about yourself,
1 post from/about someone else but in your niche and
1 post meant to increase engagement (like a question or poll to your readers).
I see too many writers/authors who just spam their feeds with everything they publish and nothing else. People can get that from an RSS feed. They want real engagement from you, not a broadcast of everything you publish.
So what do I mean by “real engagement”? Well, here’s the thing; you need to do more than just self-promotional posts all the time. You need to ask your fans questions- invite conversation. You might ask questions about what they like to read, if they are writers themselves, how they organize and manage their time or get inspired.
Post a poll, share pictures and writing prompts or anything else that you think would interest your fans. Every post you make should not be your promotional info and when you do share things like blog posts or book snippets, find creative ways to do it- such as with a creative image and an intriguing sentence or two about what you’re sharing and why they should care.
So why do we publish this many times per day? Is it too much?
Just think about how fast things scroll through your newsfeed. Posting at least once or twice a day makes sure people remember you’re there.
More active pages can get away with posting more. You have to kind of play it by ear. The other rule to fanpages is “Don’t post just for the sake of posting” so I would say if you’re just making a post to meet a quota, then skip it.
But if you know something would be valuable to your readers, then go for it! Creating content for your fanpage should be a deliberate process; not something you just do on the spur of the moment at random. This is why it is very helpful to have a content creation plan.
Are you an author with a fanpage? Drop your link in the comments so we can show your pages some love and tell us how you keep your fans engaged!
