Cautionary Tale For the Use of Facebook Ads and Boosts from @dochappycamper #WWoW

Welcome to Tammy's Tidbits. This is the feature that morphed from the Writer's Words of Wisdom posts I've done over the last three years. It started out as a group project between four of us that has since fallen by the wayside. All of us have been so busy and have tried to share what we've learned with our fellow authors along the way, but it's been hit or miss. I'm hoping to change that!

If you've been a follower of my WWoW posts, you may recall my advice about trying out Facebook ads and boosted posts. I've shown you that you don't have to go with the recommended budgets that Facebook recommends. In fact, you can choose to boost a post or create an ad or as little as $1/day. With that being said, I've found Facebook isn't so kind to those of us on a tight budget. They don't like give promotional opportunities away for peanuts or free.

Let's face it. Facebook is a business and as such they desire to make money to keep their investors happy. It's why you see so many ads on the sidebars and in your newsfeed. As an author, you too desire to make money. Part of your profits come from what's left over after paying for your editor(s), cover artist, and other fees. Your marketing budget is part of those "other fees" category. Using Facebook and other social media to help promote your work, without being spammy, can be a difficult when faced with the sites in question blocking you from being able to use the ads and boosts.

I write erotic romance and erotica under 5 of my 6 pen names. There's BDSM, LGBT romances and ménage. These topics are not considered "family friendly" according to Facebook guidelines so more often than not, any ad I create will be dismissed because the cover models are showing too much skin, the book promotes "alternate lifestyles that many find offensive" or...get this...the ad has too many words relative to the photo and other elements in the ad.

*blink blink*

Yes, you did just read that. Too many words will get you into trouble as much as too much skin. I've been able to get around most of this by choosing images that feature models with clothes on or objects that can pass by as "non offensive". Unfortunately, my House of Taboo page for my pen name Lia Michaels is BANNED from being able to do any ads simply because of the "promoting alternate lifestyles" bullshit Facebook rule.

I let that go because I'm not changing what Lia writes or promotes on her ADULTS ONLY page. It's set up so only 18 year olds and older can see it no matter who shares it. This doesn't matter in the eyes of the FB Morality Police. Still I let it go until my 89 year old great aunt posted about a post that popped up in her newsfeed from a PORN site showing full on genitalia. She reported it to Facebook as offensive and received a response that blew her mind.

The genitalia post did not violate any of their rules or Terms of Service.

*blink blink*

A photo of a fully naked body showing genitalia is okay to put up in the newsfeeds but not a book cover that has a couple with bathing suits on?

Can you guess why the porn site was allowed to slide past the Morality Police?

MONEY

They paid the big bucks to be able get those sponsored ads for their porn site to show up in the newsfeeds of 89 year old great grandmothers. To test out if my theory was correct, I agreed to so a Facebook ad promoting my Sassy Vixen Publishing page. Facebook has continued to hound me to do it and even created an ad that I just had to agree to. I chose a budget of $1/day for $10 days. This is 1/5 what they suggested I pay.

I clicked the "promote page" button to finalize the ad and it went live. No review process at all. They simply sent the ad live and waiting for a click. As soon as someone liked the page, they charged me the $1 for the day....and then they pulled the ad.

"Your ad wasn't approved because it doesn't meet Facebook's ad policies by advertising adult products or services. We don’t allow images or videos that show nudity or cleavage, even if it’s portrayed for artistic or educational reasons."

Click HERE to see the "offensive" page.

 

There isn't anything on that page that hasn't been there from it's inception, and it's the same page Facebook continues to ask me to promote for $5/day. The original logo for my company was of a scantily clad Vixen. She is clothed but sexy. Facebook never had issue with her before.

The new logo doesn't have a human in it at all. The only logical conclusion here is that Facebook wants more money from me and will enforce their rules in order to get it. Meanwhile, they allow blatant violators slide by because of their bribe....errr....higher advertising fees.

Honestly, as a writer of adult fiction, I'm getting used to not being allowed to use marketing tools available to others. Honestly, it's their loss. I cater to a large market of ADULTS who wish to see this content. I follow all of their rules to the letter to make sure my pages and posts are not seen by under aged individuals, and yet still get shoved in the basement away from the eyes of those who may be offended by a photo of a side boob.

My advice still stands for ads and boosted posts. Use them! Don't give them the price they suggest. Start off small to find your target audience. If you write adult fiction, find alternative photos to use. Instead of an ad for your book, boost a post about your blog instead. Any kind of increase in the number of people who see your posts will drive more traffic to your page and to your book.

Don't give up! If Facebook still declines your ads and boosts, ask your friends and fans to comment on the post. Have them share it on their walls too. The more it's shared, the more Facebook shows it to others. I share almost all of my page posts this way. After five author pages share a post, I can go from 11 people viewing up to nearly 300.

Keep trying out different things to find what works for you and your brand. What works for me, may not work for you so don't be discouraged. It takes years to build your brand. Take the time to find out the best way to promote you and your work and you'll be happy you did!

Until next time,


Tammy

#WWoW! @dochappycamper Discusses How to Share Your Facebook Posts With Your Fans and Followers #MyWANA #ASMSG

Welcome to Tammy's Tidbit's here at Not Enough Time in the Day. I hope all is going well with everyone and their journey through the world of publishing. New Year's Day 2015 celebration around here is extra special since the collection of stories I'd been working on for six months finally went live. Whew! 

With that under my belt I can concentrate a bit more on sharing more helpful hints here with everyone. This week I'd like to talk a bit about how to get around Facebook's algorithm that determines who will see your posts on your wall and fan pages. As you all have heard by now, Facebook is once again changing the way we get to see posts in our news feeds. They've listened to what the users stated they want and don't want to see on their walls.


Unfortunately, that means even less people will see our posts on our pages. Facebook will be cracking down on posts that look too much like advertising. It's important to have a presence there, but you should try to be social and interact more with your followers. Yes you want to share your book links and let your fans know your new one is ready for them, but now you'll have to figure out more creative ways to do it and not come off like a BUY ME NOW commercial.


I know some of you have no idea what I'm talking about so let me back track just a bit.

If you have a author/fan page you've noticed that only a small percentage of your fans (those who've liked your page) actually see your posts. Why? Because those are the ones who actively engage with you and your posts. They like it, make little comments on the majority of them or even just a smiley emoticon. These are the people Facebook and their computers feel are important and want to be updated about you and your page. 

You can get more views for your posts by encouraging your fans and friends to make comments and commenting on the posts yourself. One way to get your post in front of your current fans and friends is to boost it. For only $5, up to 3500 people can see your post. Of course this depends on your current fan base and friend count, but it is an investment that can really pay off.  Some of these people may not have realized they weren't seeing your posts. If they just click the like button, Facebook will register that as an ENGAGEMENT and these folks will be on the list to see your next posts. The more they like and leave even a short comment, the higher up on the list they go.

Sure, these little boosts may not lead to any sales of your books, but it gets your name out there and in front of the people who WANT to see your posts. These are the people who WILL buy your books if they know about them. It's why many of them liked your fan page to begin with—to get news of your events and new releases.

Another thing that's really helped me to get my posts in front of more people who are NOT my fans/friends yet is FREE. In two groups I'm in, we do weekly post shares. Each of us creates a post/status update on our wall or fan page, then we share the URL of the post in our group thread. Each person participating in the thread will then click on the URL, like the post and leave a comment. We also share these posts on our own walls and pages to our fan base. These additional shares make the original posts more engaging and Facebook keeps the lists growing.

Go ahead and give both methods a try. Use them in combination with each other to get more reach. Either way you do it means you get your name and your work in front of more people and in front of those who wish to see it. Isn't that what social media is all about?

For more information on how to get around Facebook's algorithm, please check out this fabulous blog article by Elyse Salpeter: Facebook – Getting Around the Darn Algorithm…


Before I go, I'd like to address another issue with the new Facebook advertising rules that are rolling out this month. You may have seen several posts from authors planning on deleting their pages and just stick with their private profiles.


While this may seem like the best answer, it's not. Profiles have a friend limit of 5k. Those pages allow you to have more than that following your updates. If you let them follow your profile, you set yourself up for anyone to have access to photos you post there. This is one way those Facebook hackers have stolen pictures and set up new accounts pretending to be others.


Facebook isn't going to suddenly present you a bill if you create posts that are too much like advertising. They may delete the post or the link associated with it. Instead of posting a link in the status, why not put it in the comments? It's still there, but it's encouraging readers to check out the comments and maybe even talk with you there. 


While it's true your ultimate goal is to garner more sales for your books, isn't it worth more if you "meet" people and get to know them as people first? These acquaintances could very well turn into fans for life and in turn will happily help you spread the word about your work.


Go on. Give it a try and have fun on your pages with those who visit. What have you got to lose?

Until next time,

~Tammy

Learn More About Tammy

Tammy Dennings Maggy is a best selling, multi-published poet and erotic romance author with Siren and Sassy Vixen Publishing. Her writing explores many facets of romance from ultimate betrayal to finding your soul mate. Her poetry serves as a companion to her novels and has inspired entire series all on their own. 

Tammy and her alter egos Lia Michaels, Stephanie Ryan and Tawny Savage make up the core authors at Sassy Vixen Publishing. Together they've created the shared world series Temptations Resort. Look for the first books in that series to come out later this year.

Now happily married to her own Muse and soul mate, she continues to live her dream and act as secretary to all her characters demanding to have their stories told.

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