Given that the number of active users on Facebook reached the 500 million mark in July 2010, most likely you already have a Facebook account, along with your neighbor, your grandma and your college roommate.  With all of the connections you already have on Facebook, promoting your book to your Facebook Friends is easy, but you can also create a Facebook Page for your book (or yourself as an author if you have multiple books).

Here are 6 quick steps to creating a Facebook Page:

1. Within Facebook, make sure you’re in “Home” view (where you read your News Feed).
2. In the left column, above the “Friends on Chat” section, if you don’t see an icon that says “Ads and Pages,” click “more.”  Click on “Ads and Pages.”
3. Click “+ Create Page”
4. In the Official Page section, select “Brand, product, or organization.”  Based on the genre of your book, if there is an appropriate label in the drop down menu, select it.  Otherwise, leave it as “Products.”  If you want to set up your Page as an author page, select “Artist, band, or public figure” and select the appropriate item from the drop down menu.  Enter the name you want for your Page (your book title for example).  Read the Facebook Terms, select the box to confirm you are an official representative and click “Create Official Page.”
5. Confirm your representation one more time. That’s it!  You have set up an official Facebook Page for your book (or author profile).
6. Facebook will now walk you through the following additional steps to complete your new Page:

• Add an image – ideally your book cover
• Invite your existing friends to join your page.
• Import your email contacts to tell your existing customers or subscribers about your new page.
• Post status updates – this is on-going.  You can announce your new page and share news with your fans and potential readers.
• Add a Facebook “Like” box to your own site.
• Set up your mobile phone to manage your page with mobile email or text messaging.

Once your page is set up, you will automatically be a Page Admin.  You can add additional Admins at any time if you have other people you would want to manage your Page.  Managing your page can be done easily while you’re on Facebook checking your daily News Feed.  You can find your page in Facebook by searching by the name of the Page or clicking on the “Ads and Pages” in the left-hand menu.

If you don’t already have a Facebook Page for your book, give it a try!

~Happy Facebooking!