Friday, May 25, 2012

Creating Facebook Apps to Promote Books by Jennifer Hudson Taylor

Now that Facebook has made so many changes to the timeline, and virtually eliminated Welcome landing tabs to prompt visitors into "liking" your page or making a purchase decision, we have to be more creative. One way to get around this obstacle is to create third-party apps promoting your books, campaign launches, and contests.

It's very simple--more so than it sounds. I found an awesome article on Social Media Examiner that explains in detail how to do this and provides a tutorial video that will walk you through the steps. You can set up one app for free, but you will have to pay a small monthly fee if you want to set up additional apps. Right now, for me, one is enough.

If you would like to see an example, go to Author Jennifer Hudson Taylor Facebook page and click on the app that says Jennifer's books. This is an example of what you can do and how you can integrate your blog/website onto your Facebook Page. All the links and buttons are interactive and people never have to leave Facebook, but they have access to all your books and how to purchase them right there.

Here is a link to the article:
How to Use Facebook Apps to Increase Fan Engagement

What are your thoughts? Will you try to set up a new app to further promote your work? Have you already? What service did you use?

10 comments:

Jackie Rodriguez said...

Thanks for the helpful tips, Jennifer. I am so excited about you coming to our East Metro Atlanta Christian Writers in September. :)

Jennifer Taylor said...

Jackie, You're welcome. I'm looking forward to coming as well. Looking forward to meeting you.

Paula said...

Thank you for this very helpful post!
It's timely as I'm updating my website and fb presence.

Sadie and Sophie said...

Thanks for sharing this, Jennifer. BTW, I "liked" your author site. Nicely done!

Jennifer Taylor said...

Paula, I'm glad it was helpful.

Jennifer Taylor said...

Sadie and Sophie, Thank you!

sally said...

Very helpful post!

I have one tab set up on my page, but I didn't know we could have more than one. I Googled it and found out we can set them up for free, too. But I'm still trying to get my free one to work, so maybe paying for these would worth it. :)

Rachel Leigh Smith said...

I found a free app to add my blog feed to my author timeline, but don't have a reason yet to do anything else.

Tiffany Amber Stockton said...

I actually found a way to customize the tabs with unlimited free options, but you need a secure web site to host the dynamic content. Not a problem for me with my design business site, but it would be a hiccup for most average folks.

One thing I'm doing is offering to design the tabs for others for a flat fee, then applying that toward my secure license annual fee.

I'm sure it will get easier as time passes, and Facebook will eventually integrate the customized tabs into the page options. Or, other companies will provide apps from within the Facebook framework.

Regardless, these are some great tips, Jennifer. Thanks for sharing.

P.I. Barrington said...

Wow, this is great! I need helpful information like this since I am technically challenged! Thank you so much for this!
Patti