Facebook is always changing the game. Just yesterday, they unveiled Timeline for Brands (read our review on Timeline for author pages). It’s a game-changer for business and authors because it shifts the preference from products to stories.

With Timeline for pages and profiles, it can be tempting to ditch the page to focus on your profile. After all, why would you want to put in twice the work to manage two Timelines?

The reason you need to focus on your author brand Timeline is because that’s where potential sales will happen. Your personal Timeline wasn’t created for marketing. Your brand Timeline was. Brand Timelines offer customizable tabs, Facebook marketing opportunities, and analytics.

Understanding your Author Timeline analytics is essential to your success.

Analytics are more than you think they are. Log in to your Facebook account and look at the “insights” on your brand page. If you haven’t taken the time before, you need to familiarize yourself with the data. By looking at analytics, you can discover what it is about your story that is resonating.

• What is getting the most likes, shares, and comments?
• What is driving engagement?
•  How many fans are actively engaged vs. passively just there?
• What kind of post gets the most engagement?
• How many new fans do you have?

Understanding your Facebook analytics is key to your marketing strategy. 

One of the most useful aspects of Facebook analytics is that you can view them in real time. That means if you have a highly trafficked page, you will be able to constantly adapt to what your fans are asking for. If there is a post that is performing well, you can identify and analyze the factors that are making it popular. The same goes to a post that is underperforming. Identify the factors, adapt your strategy, and fix the post.

The happier your fans are, the more likely they will be to purchase your book.

Does this sound very cut, dried, and businesslike? That’s because your writing is not only an art, it is a business as well. There are numbers you need to get published  (find out what numbers they are looking for on your author website) and numbers you need to help sell books.

You need to approach your writing as a business. Best-selling authors know that they can’t expect their books to sell or fans to show up on their own.  The publisher’s job is to get your book published. It’s part of your job to get them sold.

If you don’t have an online marketing strategy, our social media coaches can help you craft one. Traditional marketing barely has a pulse. Social Media, inbound marketing, and search engine optimization (SEO) are all growing stronger every day.

How often do you look at your Facebook analytics? How do they impact your online marketing strategy? Leave us a comment and let us know.