Should writers respond to comments on Facebook Ads? #WriterWednesday #AuthorToolboxBlogHop #BookMarketing
[image error] All writers know we shouldn’t respond to negative reviews no matter how strong the temptation is to explain yourself (or your book or your motivation) to the reader. But what about comments in general? Especially those pesky negative ones. Should a writer respond to those? In specific, what about comments on Facebook ads? These ads look like any other post in your Facebook timeline, which means viewers are free to like, comment, and even share. And comment they do.
How should you the writer respond to such comments? Ignore them? Delete them? Respond? Here’s my lawyerly answer: it depends on the comment.
Positive Comments. I’m a big believer in responding to positive comments. You never know where it will lead. You may turn a potential reader into a super fan. There’s no need to think up some fancy response to each positive comment. I use the same standard response – just to let the reader know I saw the comment and appreciate her.
[image error]
Questions. It doesn’t happen a lot, but you will get questions about the book. Make sure to check your Facebook notifications often in case the question is about different versions of the book. I often get questions about the availability of the book in other markets or other formats. I respond to those quickly – before the potential reader loses interest!
The Nasty Comments. This is a no brainer. Nasty comments that have nothing to do with your book can and should be deleted. The tagline for my novel Searching for Gertrude is: How far would you go for the woman you love? When I use this tagline for my Facebook ads, I inevitably get some man responding with a comment like: Not far at all! I have no compunction about deleting these types of comments. The comment has nothing to do with my book. Delete. Delete. Delete.
Negative Comments About The Book. Whether these should be deleted or not, is more difficult to answer. Many writers will tell you to delete them as you are paying for an advertisement and this is not helping you market your book. I, however, think differently. I believe potential readers have a right to hear what other people are saying. I also am well aware of readers now being cautious about buying books that only have raving reviews. (I admit – I’m one of those readers. Twenty reviews and all five-stars? Someone’s got a lot of awesome friends is what I think.) But should you respond to such comments? I have decided not to. I just leave them, hoping potential readers don’t take them too seriously.
[image error]
As should be obvious from the above, you can’t simply make a Facebook ad and then forget about it. How do you respond to comments on your ads?
~~~~
This blog post is part of the #AuthorToolboxBlogHop. This is a monthly blog hop hosted by @raimeygallant. Make sure to stop by the other author blog posts in this month’s blog hop to fill up your author toolbox! Just click on the graphic to take you to the list.
