How to market your book and build your author platform using a chatbot

​In this series, I’ll show you several ways to use a chatbot to engage with your readers, expand your fan base and put a smile on people’s faces! Today, the focus is on building a bot campaign to market a book on Facebook.

Bots are still a massively underused tool so incorporating them into your book-promotion strategy now will help you to stand out. 

This post featured in Joel Friedlander's Carnival of the Indies #86

What’s a chatbot?
In short, a chatbot is a computer program that simulates human conversation. I built my own chatbot in August 2017.

Yes, it's a computer program but it's helping me digitally with my business so I wanted it to have a face and a name that I could work into my chatbot marketing campaigns.

I called it Lulu and asked my friend, illustrator Rachel Holmes, to create the design. I think she did a great job of putting the art into artificial intelligence ... this is what Lulu looks like! Cute, isn’t she?

Here are a few things you should know about the chatbot tools I’ll show you:

• They’re versatile – allowing conversation, navigation, delivery and engagement
• No programming or coding knowledge is required
• Forget Tay – you retain complete control over the interaction
• They’re tons of fun!

Building your bot
My preferred bot-building platform is ManyChat. It’s straightforward to navigate and I appreciate being able to run four simultaneous live campaigns free of charge. 

There are restrictions with the free version – for example, you can’t automatically transfer subscribers to your mailing list – but you can still do a huge amount without spending a bean.

In this article I’m focusing on how to use the Facebook comments growth tool for book marketing. To follow my lead you'll need to have set up your own ManyChat account and linked it to your Facebook Page.

The ManyChat Facebook comments campaign 
Where to find it: Growth tools > New growth tool > Other growth tools > Facebook comments.

Potential goals: Pre-launch promotion, fan-base engagement, mailing-list growth, sample-chapter delivery, conversation, landing-page link, and bookstore pre-order.

Here’s an image of the fake book I've knocked up for demonstration purposes. In my sample promotion campaign, I’m offering fans the opportunity to enter a free draw. The winner will have their name assigned to a key supporting character.

​Let's see how we can use a chatbot and a Facebook Page to deliver this campaign and achieve the goals outlined above.
​
The strategy
Here's how it works. Facebook wants to keep people on Facebook – the longer people stick around, the more likely they are to click on paid ads. And if advertisers generate leads with their ads, they’re likely to buy more. That means more money for Facebook.

Facebook also wants to provide a good user experience because that will encourage more people use the platform.

Users who are having a good time will feel informed, engaged, entertained and helped. Facebook's algorithm identifies content that ticks those boxes and prioritizes it. Key indicators are likes, shares, comments and time spent engaging with a post (e.g. when watching a video).

The more engagement you create on a Page post, the more Facebook will reward you for your neighbourly behaviour by pushing your content beyond your existing community (friends, followers and likers).

Comments are the powerhouse behind this campaign tool.

A great way to generate a comment is to offer something in return. I've given away free ebooklets and checklists that help writers with self-editing, and fellow editors and proofreaders with professional development.

If you promote your book on Facebook by posting a nice piccy and a link to your website where there’s, say, a free sample chapter, you’re pushing people off Facebook. But if you offer that same sample right there on Facebook, you’re keeping your visitors on Facebook’s land. And so you’ll be rewarded with increased audience reach. 

ManyChat’s Facebook comments growth tool allows you to do exactly this: a trigger word in the comments tells your bot to deliver your freebie to the commenter via Facebook Messenger. Your fan doesn't have to leave the platform to get the goodies.

The offer – ideas for you to steal
Your offer must be strong enough to compel someone to comment. Here are some ideas for you to try:

• entry into a free draw for the commenter’s name to be assigned to a character in the book (this is the offer I've chosen for the sample campaign in this article)
• free ebook (a short story, novella or other book you’ve published)
• sample chapter
• discount voucher/code
• invitation to a book signing/reading

The build
There are two core elements to the build – the onboard ManyChat tool and the Facebook post. 

1. ManyChat
I recommend starting with ManyChat. Here's how to create a campaign:

• Set up your campaign: Growth tools > New growth tool > Other growth tools > Facebook comments.
• Give you campaign a name. Scroll down the page and enter the trigger word you'll be instructing your commenters to writer on your Facebook post (it’s not case sensitive).
• Save and click on Next.

• Now you're in the Auto-response pane. This is where you create the first message that your commenter will receive in Messenger. It’s effectively where they subscribe so it’s important to tell them how they can opt out if they so wish. For the purposes of this campaign, the list of names that the bot collects will be those who are entered into the draw.
• The image below shows the message I created for my mock campaign. To prevent spamming, ManyChat requires that the person carries out another action to opt in. I ask them to type SEND.
• Use the person icon in the black box in the bottom-right-hand corner to personalize the greeting in your message.
• Save, scroll down and select Next again.

• Now you're in the Opt-in Actions pane. This is where you can start to be creative. When creating your message, think about your goals; then add buttons, links, and supporting images to help your customer get what you're offering.
• First, ensure that the middle button is checked in the Sending Options list.
• Then click Edit.

• Now you can create another personalized message and add images, videos, audio, files and buttons. So, if, for example, you were giving away a free sample chapter or ebook, you'd click on the File (paperclip) icon and upload your PDF.

• ​​For demonstration purposes I've kept things simple: an image and a message that tells people when the draw will take place.
• I've also elected to create two buttons: one to allow the commenter to have a real conversation with me on Messenger, and one linking to my book's Amazon pre-order sales page.
• To create the direct conversation button, click on New Button #1. 

• Customize the button text.

• Now use the scrollbar to move down the page. Select Action.

• Select Open Conversation from the menu, and click on Done.

• To create a button with a link to your website (or, as I’ve done here, to the book’s pre-order page on Amazon) click on +Add Button.
• Amend your button text and click on Open website.

• Add the URL and click on Done.

• Now test your setup using the Preview button. You’ll receive a message in Messenger that mimics what your visitor will receive.
• If everything’s working properly, select Publish. 

2. Facebook Page
Now go to your Facebook Page. Create a new post that tells your audience about your promotion and the trigger word they need to write in the comments to get the offer. Including a picture or native video is also a great way to draw attention to your post.

Here's a mock-up design of my sample campaign.

• Publish your post.
• Now head back to ManyChat. Select Growth Tools and click on your campaign.

• Now you need to link the two elements of the build.
• Click the blue Select A Post button

• A window will appear with the Facebook posts available for linking to. If your campaign post is the most recent content on your Page, it'll appear at the top, but scroll down if necessary.
• Select your post; it’ll link to the chatbot build.
• Click the checkbox followed by the blue Save button.
• Now shift the button from Draft to Active. 

• A green button will appear saying Widget Activated. And that’s it – your campaign is live! 

Goal achievement
The mock-up I’ve created here is just the tip of the iceberg. You can be far more adventurous if you wish – it all depends on where you want to direct your visitors, the kind of conversation you want to have, and how many levels you add to the messaging sequence. Here are two more ideas:

• Create a button that enables people to sign up to your author newsletter or mailing list (using the same steps that I illustrated for the Amazon link). That way you can build your audience on your own land as well as Facebook’s while still using the free version of ManyChat.
• Add a short video thanking your commenters for engaging with you.

Here are some additional tactics to consider:

• To build your network, friend the Facebook commenters and ask them to like your Page.
• Say thank-you to each Facebook post commenter – it shows you’re engaged with your campaign and the people who’ve shown interest.
• Use Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Snapchat and your writer Facebook groups to tell your followers about the fun that’s going on over at your Page.
• When you receive email notifications from Messenger that someone’s responded to your campaign, click through to your Facebook Messenger inbox. Sometimes the bot will glitch. Don’t worry – it’s an opportunity to have a direct conversation. You’ve made people smile and they’ll forgive a technical problem if you acknowledge it. I’ve created a gif that I send manually when there’s a fault!

Summary
ManyChat’s Facebook comments growth tool is a fun, friendly and effective way to build Page awareness, increase organic reach beyond your existing Facebook community, and generate excitement about your book.

In future articles in this series, I’ll walk you through how to use a chatbot to build your mailing list, help people navigate their way around your website, and take action on a landing page. I’ll also delve deeper into how you might use these tools creatively to build your fanbase and get people talking about your books.

Until then, it’s goodbye from me and Lulu!

P.S. From 1–24 December, Lulu and I will be having a little festive fun on my own Facebook Page. Do drop in to see what’s going on!

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Louise Harnby is a fiction copyeditor and proofreader. She curates The Proofreader's Parlour and is the author of several books on business planning and marketing for editors and proofreaders.

Visit her business website at Louise Harnby | Proofreader & Copyeditor, say hello on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or connect via Facebook and LinkedIn.

If you're an author, you might like to visit Louise’s Writing Library to access her latest self-publishing resources, all of which are free and available instantly.

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