Guide for Authors: Facebook Author Page

SETTING UP AN AUTHOR FACEBOOK PAGECREATE A FACEBOOK PAGE TO PROMOTE YOUR BOOKS AND YOUR RESEARCH

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A GUIDE FOR AUTHORS

CREATE A FACEBOOK PAGE TO PROMOTE YOUR BOOKS AND YOUR RESEARCH.

Different from your personal Facebook profile, a Facebook page is public and allows you to reach anyone on Facebook. You can interact with researchers and students around the world, as well as promote your book and your research.

SETTING UP A FACEBOOK PAGE GIVES YOU:

f A free, dedicated web page that lets you promote your work to a vast global audience

f A set of tools to help you develop a community around your research and your publications

f A place to share developments and news about your research and your books

HOW TO GET STARTED

NOTE: If you do not already have a Facebook account, you will need to enter your details and create one before you can set up an author page.

Once you are ready, log in to your account

Open Facebook and log in to your account www.facebook.com1


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Once you have logged in, you will see the following options at the top right of your screen

Click on the down arrow and select Create Page.

The screen changes to the one shown below.

To start creating your new author page, select the Artist, Band or Public Figure icon.

When you do this, the icon changes to a form.

Choose a page type


Click on the Choose a Category Menu.

Then select Author.

Now enter your name. This is what will appear on your author page.

Here we are creating a page for a fictional author called ‘A. N. Author’.

You need to agree to the Facebook Pages terms in order to set up a page. Please read these before proceeding.

When you are ready, click on the Get Started button to create your page.

Create a page3


You should now see a section of the page that looks like the screenshot on the left.

Add a description of your page, including information that makes it easy to find. For instance, you should briefly mention your research interests and your present position (title and affiliation). Please note that there is a limit of 155 characters, or about 20 – 30 words. You will be able to add more details of your books and research interests later.

Begin adding content

If you already have a website, you can add a link to it from your new page. If you have no other websites, simply leave this blank.

Personalise your page

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Next, you need to create a web address for your new Facebook page.

IMPORTANT:you can only change this address once after you have created it, so think carefully before proceeding. We suggest using your name if possible. If a page already exists with your name, you will need to think of an alternative.

For instance, if your name is Jo Jones, the page www.facebook.com/jojones may already belong to another author. In this case, you could try ‘jo-jones’, giving www.facebook.com/jo-jones or ‘jo_jones’, giving you www.facebook.com/jo_jones. Alternatively, you could add a keyword such as your affiliation or your research interest:

www.facebook.com/ jojonesdegruyter

If you have trouble completing this page, try looking at the help section.

When you are satisfied with the information you have entered, click the ‘Save Info’ button.


You can now add a profile picture to your page. We suggest a photograph of yourself or something relevant to your research.

You can use an image from your computer or from another website.

Please ensure that you have permis-sion from the copyright holder for any image you use.

This next step lets you add a link to your new page from your normal Facebook account. The link will appear in the column on the left-hand side when you sign into Facebook.

To add the link, simply click Add to Favourites.

Add a picture

Add to favourites

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Next, Facebook asks for informa-tion about who will want to read your page. We suggest leaving most of these settings as they are. You should, however, add keywords to the Interests section. This will help anyone who shares your interests to find your page.

Enter your keywords in Interests.

You can also Browse for existing keywords and get suggestions.

When you are finished, click Save.

Your set up is now complete.

The next screen you see should be the first version of your new author page.

Specify your Audience8


YOUR AUTHOR PAGE

Here is a quick overview of what you will see on your new page.

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Publishing Tools lets you manage what you write on your page, allowing you to publish posts, save drafts, schedule posts and manage videos.

You can update your profile picture at any time

About is a summary of all the information about you and your page

Add Action Button allows you to add buttons to your page that encourages users to

f get Like your page

f Contact you

f Buy something

as well as a range of other options.

Change your account settings

A link to the Help pages

Invite your friends to like your page. You can also do this with ‘8’.

Promote your site, either by contacting your friends or with paid advertising

Write posts on your page here. For longer or complicated posts, you may wish to use the Publishing Tools in ‘1’ instead.

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NEXT STEPS

NEED HELP?

Here are a few suggestions to get you started with your new page:

f Add more detail about you and your interests, using the ‘About’ tab (‘3’ above)

f Invite your friends to visit, share and like your page. (Use ‘7’ or ‘8’)

f Add some action buttons (use ‘4’) to:

f encourage visitors to like your page

f link to your book’s web page so that people can buy it

f get in touch to discuss your book or research.

f Search for pages from other researchers and authors in your field and ‘Like’ their pages. They may well ‘Like’ your page in return. This is a great way to start building up a network.

f Add regular posts with news and links to new content – e.g.:

f book reviews

f conferences you are attending

f papers you have published

f links to additional material for your book

f developments in your areas of research.

f Regular updates will encourage people to come back to your page.

f Add a link to your new Facebook page from your departmental or personal web page.

Remember that you can get assistance from the Facebook help function on your new page.


Documents

Guide for Authors: Facebook Author Page