Although I looked at Stephen King and James Patterson on Facebook, I decided to criticize Alison Kent's page. As I have already had some experience with Alison Kent and her blog, I decided to take a look at her Facebook page. Though her blog was a fascinating and very fun, it lacked elements that allowed it to stand out in a search engine. For example, her blogs name was "Blah Blog," which really has no connection to the romance novels she writes and promotes. However, my hopes are high for her self promotion on her Facebook page.
Alison Kent's Facebook opens up to her smiling face in front of a lovely pink backdrop. Although I personally am not a fan of pink, the picture itself is very inviting and definitely gives a romantic feel. Good start! This goes wonderfully with her work as a romance novelist. Next, I decided to look at her "about" section. This is very important. It is necessary to create an image for yourself as not only a person but an author. In her about me she briefly describes her successes as a writer and talks about her new project, writing about cowboys in Texas. She lives in Houston and has a husband and three dogs. Her about me was short and sweet, however I was looking for a bit more in regards to personality and personal information. Needless to say her about me left a bit to be desired.
I browsed her about page a bit more and she redeemed herself with her personal interest and contact sections. She lists her hobbies of reading, gardening, her love of cupcakes, and favorite authors. This gives both personality and information to the reader of her page and helps her to stand out. One other really important thing that she did was list all of her social networking sites such as twitter, goodreads, tumblr, ect. This helps promote her works and spread her popularity.
Since she writes romance novels, there is a certain audience that is her target. Since (in general terms) most men do not pick romance novels as their first pick, I would say that her audience is mostly consumed by females. In saying this I think that there should be a some posts made that other women can relate to personally or professionally. I think that the way she connects to her audience is through the promotion of her actual work. And by this I mean the "eye candy" that is on the covers of a few of her novels. There are also a few other humorous posts made about the evolution of women's underwear and silly stuff that women would get a chuckle out of. I would say that she could heighten her connection with her audience if she were to involve little silly quizzes to see what romance character you would be or a poll on certain romantic plots. This interaction would gain her more followers.
A very good part of Alison's blog is that she has variety. She uses pictures from other sites, posts articles she likes, and makes posts when authors she likes release a new novel. This allows for a certain level of comfort and relateability between herself and the readers. It develops her personality and helps establish her interests. This is a must for being a successful Facebook page.
Overall, Alison Kent's page is a success. I would give it 3 stars out of 4. Although I am not interested in romance novels very much I am able to see how funny and relateable she is as a person. Furthermore, since she is a published author, I could potentially learn a lot from her and her posts.She accurately and effectively promotes her other social sites as well as her published work and upcoming events. This page is a wonderful promotional success!
Kent, Alison. Facebook.com. October 2012. <http://www.facebook.com/author.alisonkent>
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