And just like that – *poof* – a useful marketing outlet is silenced.
I know I’m not the only one to have had this experience.
This morning, as I started up my computer, I saw an odd request from Facebook. I knew it was legit, so I followed it.
And then, just like that – I’m locked out of my account.
Excuse me? I have never posted anything I imagine is all that controversial, nor in violation of their policies.
How do I appeal? Well, I can do nothing from my account directly either via my PC or my phone. A quick Google search and I found an email account I could send to.
The immediate concern is that I use Messenger a LOT. And not just to communicate with friends all over the country – nope, I use it a great deal for one of my freelance jobs. Like, multiple, frequent, ongoing daily chats.
I imagine that once they perform a review and a human rather than a bot looks it all over, I’ll get my account restored. But since I have been striving to spend less time on Facebook anyhow – I guess that’s been made all that much easier for the time being.
Besides messenger – which allows me to communicate with people all over the world – I mostly have maintained my Facebook account because it’s a useful marketing outlet.
Indie authors and artists could use any useful marketing outlet we can get
As a self-published author, I don’t have the marketing support from a publisher that a traditionally published author has.
Despite the insanity that often permeates and rules Facebook – it is an extremely useful marketing outlet. And that’s applicable via two different fronts.
First – connections with friends. Word-of-mouth has always been an outstanding avenue for marketing and generating sales. And though I have over 1500 friends on Facebook, between duplicates (more than one of my friends has two separate accounts) and the social media site algorithms, I certainly don’t reach them all.
The second way in which Facebook is a useful marketing outlet is by boosting posts. I have both my personal page and my author page. Often, I will create a post about my books and where/how to buy them to both – but boost the author page version.
For $10, I can reach several hundred people over a set time frame. I can boost a post for five days, or a week, and theoretically get more eyes on my books.
I can target who sees these ads – via location, interests, and so on. Hence, my last boosted post was made visible to Kindle readers, those interested in sci-fi and fantasy, and people who live in the northeastern United States.
If I had intended to set up a boosted post this weekend – or if I had one running – it would cease to be. That’s disheartening.
Where do I go with this? I am not without options
All I can do right now is wait. When/if the Meta powers-that-be restore my account, I hope they will explain to me what on Earth happened. If you’re going to shut me out, please at least tell me why?
Meanwhile, I have other choices. I can whine, kvetch, make a big stink, cry, get angry, and/or throw a huge tantrum. I could email that help account I found every hour on the hour until a human being responds to me.
Or I can accept that this has happened, I’ve done all I can to deal with it, and I have other things to do.
It’s all too easy to let the initial, visceral reaction dominate the rest of my experience. I could spend my day freaked out and complaining to anyone and everyone who cares to listen.
Will that do me any good? Nope.
So – recognizing this – I get to choose to move on.
One way I am doing that is by sharing my experience with you.
Temporary or permanent, the loss of a useful marketing outlet can be viewed either as a crisis or an opportunity.
How on Earth is this an opportunity? Because this could be the impetus I need to find some new marketing avenues.
Facebook might be a useful marketing outlet. But is it a good one? Does it sell more of my books and help me advance my career as a sci-fi and fantasy author?
The return on investment (ROI) – so far – says no.
A useful marketing outlet might be a trap
When I began to get more serious about my writing in 2020 – and pushed to write and publish more books – I succeeded in putting out 9 books over 2 years.
I self-published the standalone fantasy Infamy Ascending, published 4 of 5 Void
Incursion sci-fantasy novels, and published the 4 books of the first story arc for my sci-fi Forgotten Fodder series.
Facebook has served as a useful marketing outlet throughout. I’ve boosted multiple posts over the past 2 years to send people to my Amazon author page and check out my catalog.
But did that generate sales? Maybe. But they were so few that I always have spent more money than I’ve made.
Thus, while a useful marketing tool – ROI doesn’t reveal it to be more than just useful.
Yes, that’s disheartening. Unfortunately, even Amazon – home of all my books – has not been the best marketing tool for me. All my campaigns there have cost more than they brought in.
That means that while I have multiple useful marketing outlets – they are not noticeably increasing my brand recognition or sales.
The trap is along the lines of the definition of insanity. As Albert Einstein may or may not have said,
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
It didn’t work before – maybe this time! I feel like the classic Bullwinkle cartoon where he is trying to pull the rabbit out of his hat. “This time for sure!” It’s never a rabbit.
What new avenues are there?
That’s the question, isn’t it? For indie authors, artists, and everyone else on our own seeking to promote our work, gain brand recognition, and earn our living from nontraditional means – what other useful marketing tools are there?
If I knew – I’d be using them. But in losing one – rather than feel devastated by this, I can use the energy to seek what new avenues might be out there.
For example – the ever-expanding metaverse. Despite deep uncertainty about how it will look as it evolves, cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and the other various elements being introduced – the metaverse is here to stay.
Web 3.0 is evolution. Ready or not – here it comes. And as Jayden Sage said on Nova Lorraine’s Unleash Your Supernova podcast, the train is in the station. You can look at it, watch it pass you by when it runs down the track – or you can get on it.
Surely, many a new useful marketing outlet is coming – if it’s not already here. But to say that playing with and in the metaverse is outside my comfort zone is something of an understatement.
However – growth cannot occur inside the comfort zone. Thus – time to look and see what unexplored options are available to me.
The loss of a useful marketing outlet is frustrating and infuriating. But I am choosing to see it as a wake-up call from opportunity. What new marketing outlets haven’t I found – yet?
This is the one-hundred and forty-eighth article exploring the ongoing creative process. Please take a moment to check out the collection of my published works, which can be found here.
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