Want to Be Interesting on Facebook? Let Followers See Oz

Original Image via Flikr Creative Commons, courtesy of Anurag Agnihotri

This week, I am taking a much-needed break, but I am leaving you in VERY capable hands. Hey, who do you think taught me to love and ROCK Facebook? One of the biggest fears we all have when getting on Facebook is we will bore our audiences to death. We feel the need to be clever and interesting at all times. Yeah, not necessary, so breathe….

Lisa is here to help!

WANA Facebook Maven Lisa-Hall Wilson

One of the most common questions I get asked concerning Facebook is ‘What Do I Post?’

My advice is: ‘Let Them See Oz’

Your content strategy (yes – that dreaded word usually followed by a wide-eyed stare and a writer mumbling, I need a plan? Nobody told me I needed a plan. I’m telling you – you need a plan) must be varied, and there are a few key components to it – but something readers are always looking for is a peek into your world.

Lisa – My life isn’t that interesting.

Whatever. Writers who shun the spotlight like Salinger, Harper Lee and Cormac McCarthy are the exceptions. Listen, to readers authors are these secluded exotic individuals – celebrities. Don’t laugh. I’m serious. lol – Well, mostly. Readers don’t understand the creative process, they fall in love with our voice, our wit, our insights, our quirky way of seeing things, the questions we ask. They beg for more from the characters they love, the worlds they want to jump into.

And they want to see Oz.

I know Kristen’s into Star Wars and Star Trek and Zombies – but let’s not overlook the classics here. When Toto pulled back the curtain for the very first time, what were you expecting? That ordinary looking man was not what I had in mind – but I loved him even more because he was ordinary.

Readers want to see behind the curtain. They want to see Oz. Fans are tired of marketing’s smoke and mirrors ‘buy my book’ ‘look at me’ bravado. They want to see the real person behind the brand. People want to connect with people – not brands, which is why so many fans send a friend request instead of liking an author page. They don’t care that you’re balding, overweight, or have crooked teeth. You’re A Freaking Wizard!!! That’s still cool. So, give them what they want.

Let your readers into your world (and I’m not talking about putting a shot of your breakfast bowl on Instagram). Readers are dying for a peek behind the proverbial curtain into the writer’s world and the writer’s mind. Whether this is a literal peek – a shot of you in your office or on location researching, or maybe sneak peeks on upcoming work, deals/coupons/sales, insights or editorials on links or events. What makes you happy? What makes you shake your fist at the sky?

But Lisa, I’m a private person. I don’t like to post about personal stuff.

Kristen’s written about that A LOT like here Why Pen Names Suck & Can Make Us Crazy. If you can write like Salinger or McCarthy then maybe you’ll win the author lotto and get to remain hidden in your cave. “May the odds be ever in your favor.” Yeeeeah – we know how that worked out.

Seriously – nobody wants to know what you ate for breakfast, or – being totally honest here – that your toddler finally figured out potty training. You don’t have to be THAT personal. Be yourself. What would you tell a group of friends about yourself in a local coffee shop?

Fans are tripping over themselves for this kind of stuff:

George R.R. Martin says the HBO’s version of the Iron Throne is WRONG

George R.R. Martin, author the Game of Thrones tales now a hit series on HBO, recently posted on his blog about his vision for the actual Iron Throne used in the TV series. He says the show got it wrong! I’m hooked. How did HE envision the actual throne? What did they get wrong? And he has an artist’s rendering of the throne as he sees it – almost.

I’m not even a fan and I clicked through to read this. I’ve never watched the TV series, and I only read 1.5 books in the series because I threw the book across the room the third time he killed a character I had fallen in love with. But I wanted to know what the director/producers got wrong. I wanted to know what HE saw in his head.

This is exactly the kind of thing readers are eager to consume. Above, I inserted a few random examples from best-selling authors using Facebook to connect with readers (not directly sell books). Find an author on Facebook who writes the same genre you do. What are they posting? How often are they posting? How are they ‘pulling back the curtain’ for readers? I’m not suggesting you copy what they’re doing, but use what they’re doing as a jumping off point for content specific to your brand, your writing, your fans.

THANK YOU, LISA!

Make sure you check out her classes over at WANA International. Facebook Start to Finish covers everything and it’s only $30 (it’s a PDF class). She is also teaching Advanced Techniques for Your Writer/Author Facebook Page.

I LOVE hearing from you and I know Lisa will too!

To prove it and show my love, for the month of July, everyone who leaves a comment I will put your name in a hat. If you comment and link back to my blog on your blog, you get your name in the hat twice. What do you win? The unvarnished truth from yours truly. I will pick a winner once a month and it will be a critique of the first 20 pages of your novel, or your query letter, or your synopsis (5 pages or less).

NOTE: My prior two books are no longer for sale, but I am updating them and will re-release. My new book, Rise of the Machines–Human Authors in a Digital World is NOW AVAILABLE.

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