I Like You…But Do I Like You?

By Erin Mitchell

I was lucky enough to have a conversation this week with the brilliant author Lisa Unger, and part of it was about Facebook. We were talking about pages generally, and Lisa posed a fantastic question, one I’ve been pondering ever since:

When someone “likes” your page on Facebook, what does that mean?

At first, in a “duh” moment, I took the question completely literally… “That means when you post updates, they show up in someone’s Facebook feed on their home page.” That is not, of course, what Lisa meant. What she meant was far more interesting: What does it actually mean? What does the person who “likes” your page hope to get out of that click?

I’ve been thinking about this ever since, and have come up with some theories.

First and foremost, I think most people who like an author’s page have already read said author’s work. Probably not all of it, though. When a reader discovers a new author she loves, chances are pretty good she will look you up on Facebook. And like your page. Often even send you a note.

I would expect most author pages also get a fair bit of traffic via the author’s website. Same deal as above in that case; she’s liking your page having read and enjoyed your work.

Given this, I’m going to posit that most likers are seeking to interact with you in some form…to ask a question, compliment your work (and, ok, occasionally criticize it), read what other people who like you have to say, and get news about your appearances and/or next book.

It’s also worth noting that since many of the early adopters of Facebook pages were consumer goods brands (think laundry soap), some Facebook denizens think of pages as places to get special offers. So if you have, say, a short story you’re releasing between books or some other kind of additional author-y content, this is a good place to share it. (I’m tempted to talk about couponing here, but will resist.)

People also like an author’s Facebook page so they can talk about you to other people who like you. It’s the same impulse that drives us to say to perfect strangers in a library, “that’s a great book!” or, “she’s a terrific author!”

Last but not least, people like your page because you’re a celebrity. You’re famous. YOU WROTE A BOOK. That’s still a very big deal to readers.

So, to recap: Facebookians like your page because they:

1. Want to interact with you
2. Want more content
3. Want to see what others who like you are saying (and sometimes talk to them, too)

I would also like to think that people like pages because, like (sorry, couldn’t resist), they want to share your books with their friends. But on consideration, I don’t think that’s why anyone likes a page, really. Oftentimes, though, they will in fact share…if you ask them to (and there’s nothing skeevy about so doing).

So where does this leave us? I’ve long been an advocate of authors having pages, particularly authors who count women among their readers. Why? Because the most active page I’m involved with, FridayReads, reaches about 20,000 people every week, and 83% of them are women. In fact, every page I’ve ever worked with has far more traction with women, which could well be a function of my clients, rather than a rule of Facebookland, but I tend to think it’s more universal.

If you have a profile but think you don’t need a page, you’re selling yourself short. You’re assuming that no more than 5,000 people on Facebook will ever care about your book. That’s .0025% of Facebook’s 200,000,000 active users in the United States, more than half of whom log on in any given day. If you’ve gone to the trouble of writing a book, have a little faith in yourself!

OK…your turn. I’d love to hear why you like—or don’t—pages!

And in case you missed the cultural reference in the title, I submit the following...at about 3:30 in:

 

Comments

[William Doonan]

Geez, now I feel like there's just one more thing I need to do. Sometimes it's hard to keep up with all the new pages. I have enough to worry about with my Klout score dipping the way it is.

William Doonan
www.williamdoonan.com

[KQ]

Hitting like, for me, is the digital equivalent of applauding.