As a professional speaker that just published his first book, loving husband, and devoted father of 2, Tim Johnson knows what it means to be “stretched too thin.”

Since the publishing date 6 weeks ago, Tim has had a heck of a time trying to balance his professional and family life.

Communicating with customers who bought his book and scheduling speaking engagements have kept Tim’s nose glued to his MacBook’s email screen.

Searching out new markets for higher book sales and drafting out his next speaking series have roped him down to his office chair by the arms.

Until this happened…

He found that he could increase his productivity and reach 4x using Facebook. Here’s the skinny…

1. Create a stellar personal profile

In order to foster transparency in social media, Facebook requires any fan page to be tied to an individual’s personal profile. So logically, this is where you need to start building your audience.

If this has frustrated you, as it has many others, don’t worry – this works to your advantage!

As you are well aware, being an author or speaker isn’t just about selling books or strategies, it’s about selling yourself as well. And this is what social media does best.

Understanding this, Tim created a solid Facebook profile in less than 5 minutes. Here’s how he did it:

– Quality Cover Image: Just like the cover of his book or the intro to his presentation, Tim chose an appropriate cover image and profile pic. Whether it was stunning, heart-warming, or thought provoking, Tim’s goal was to leave the viewer with a little piece of intrigue about who he was.

Tip: Make sure the cover photo is at least 850 pixels wide (display width of cover image) and 315 pixels in height, otherwise your image could look grainy. This can detract from your page’s overall feeling.

– ‘About’ section: Tim understands the need for personal connection and credibility with his readers and listeners. He found, however, that this was one of the easiest things to do. Since he had already written plenty of succinct self-biographies to place in the pages of his book, Tim simply cut-and-pasted his favorite one right into the About section of his Facebook profile.

Tip: Being an author or speaker, you probably know that humans naturally relate and respond to stories. Tell people your story of how and why you became an author or speaker. And just like in your book, make your story as exciting for the reader as it was for you!

– Photos: Authors and speakers are always out trying new experiences and learning new things. Tim frequently sharesa few, high quality pictures with his audience, and they love him for it! They reward him with comments, Likes, and shares to their own social networks.

Tip: Let your fans journey with you through your own life’s wild experiences (but they don’t want to see all of them)! Take a cool trip or have a great afternoon with the fam? Maybe think about posting just one quality photo that sums up the experience, instead of a whole album.

Keeping your personal profile connected and relevant is very important for staying in contact with family and friends- maybe some readers will even friend-request you. But, it’s important to remember that this profile is about you first, and your works second. That’s why you need a fan page.

2. Build a beautifully branded fan page

Tim realized that he could free up an immense amount of time by making a fan page for his book and speaking series. Now, instead of spending countless hours replying to emails from readers and listeners, social media is taking the bulk out of the work.

By creating a beautiful and functional fan page, Tim provided a community where his readers and listeners can congregate. Now, instead of his inbox being clogged, questions and compliments from followers are going directly to his fan page in the form of comments for their friends to see as well!

Imagine, the only way to get that kind of exposure before was to have that person send you an email with their and your entire contact list CC’d on it!

Thinking about what would attract a reader to his book in the local Barnes & Noble, Tim remembers what is on the back cover – recommendations and acclamations from critics and fans about his great work. After thinking about all the positive feedback, he thought, “This HAS to be on Facebook!”

So, Tim created an app called “Critics’ Consensus.” He added a comment stream from both Facebook and Twitter on the same page. Now, every fan can see the feedback from Facebook as well as Twitter, and even make an interaction of their own, right from the same place!

Tip: You might want to consider creating individual apps on your fan page specific to each character or strategy in your book/presentation. This gives your fans the ability to comment and talk about the different aspects of your work.

3. Seduce fans and create a profitable following

Because Tim has created both a solid personal profile and a dazzling, social-friendly fan page, he has two communication tools at his disposal. He can now focus on using these to attract more followers.

Tim’s personal profile and fan page play their own respective roles.

Using his personal profile Tim focused on the following:

– Building his Friends list – Tim started by browsing his contact lists, using email addresses to find and friend-request all personal connections through Facebook. Then, he moved to the various Facebook groups he was a part of with a little message, like “Hey, we’re both members of XYZ group. Let’s connect here on FB!”

– Updating friends on personal life – Tim continued to stay connected and relevant with his own social network by providing interesting stories and only a few awesome pics from his last vacation to the Bahamas.

Using his fan page Tim gained a lot of followers and exposure by focusing on:

– Making ‘share-worthy’ posts – In order to increase interaction on his posts, Tim realized that the quality must be as high as possible. He posted intriguing quotes from famous people, as well as his own book, asking fans their thoughts on it. He gave his fans fun infographics and tips on how to make their lives easier or more efficient.

– Updating fans on upcoming events – To promote book signings, Tim made an app displaying the upcoming locations on an interactive Google maps graph, as well as a status offering a personalized letter in the front page of his book for the first 15 people that arrived.

To promote upcoming books and speaking series, he made a ‘fan gate’ on his fan page, giving people who Liked his page a sneak-preview to upcoming strategies and ideas.

Want to do it on your own fan page?

Keep reading. You’ll be done in 60 seconds…

First,  update your ‘About’ section and cover photo to something high quality and thought provoking. Every highly paid speaker is branding like mad on their Fan Page Timeline.

Next, go to heyo.com and easily connect with Facebook via the Login or Get Started button. Click the Create a New App button at the top, and you’re a step closer to being a bestseller.

After choosing a name for your app, pick a layout for your fan page from our gallery of stunning templates. Or, simply start with a blank page.

For this part, let’s try a different example, more storybook-like…say, J.K. Rowling anyone?

So, Ms Rowling has logged-on to Heyo and created an app on her Harry Potter fan page called ‘Meet Harry.’ On this app, people have the chance to view drawings of Harry from her books as well as pictures of him in the movies.

Ms Rowling simply clicks and drags the Image widget from the toolbox down onto her page, uploads the Harry picture with the brightest lightning bolt, and then resizes however she wants.

In order to open the app up for interactions, she places a FB comment stream right underneath the picture by quickly dragging and dropping the Comment widget onto her page, and then moving it wherever she wants. But she doesn’t stop there. She then takes the Twitter widget and places it on the same page, opening up both social media outlets right under one roof.

After that, Ms Rowling ups the excitement by adding her favorite Harry clips right onto the fan page. She easily grabs the YouTube widget from the toolbox and drops it anywhere she wants on the editing page. Then, she enters the URL of the video she wants, and it shows up right there in a completely resizable and moveable box!

Using the Google Maps widget, Ms Rowling provides updates for anyone interested on all the places Harry visited in the UK while he was on holiday from Hogwarts 😉

Next, Ms Rowling knows how powerful just one Like can be, as a user is recommending her work to their own vast social network. So, she creates a Fan Gate for her app, asking people to Like the fan page before they can access the app and broadcast to all of their friends how awesome her fan page is.

Meet David A. George

David A. George I'm a UX + Growth Marketer passionate about people, music, intelligent UX, Android, and breathing underwater. I'd love to connect with you on LinkedIn, Twitter, and on my website.