Welcome to Crafty Biz – a series of posts discussing the business of selling your craft or art online.
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So, you are on Facebook, right? It is, after all, the 3rd most visited website on the planet!
Okay, but isn’t FB just for sharing drunken photos of last weekend’s party, or chatting randomly with friends… or playing one of those Farmville-esque games?
Yes, but it can be so much more if you have an online business. Selling online is all about networking – so why not leverage a network that you are already a part of?
Now, there are two options with Facebook – your personal page, and your business page. Both can help your business.
Personal Page
I got my first online sale from my personal Facebook page. My second, too!
A lot of people are cautious about ‘spamming’ their friends and family with business stuff – as you should be. My approach is to upload pictures of my work into an ‘Epheriell Designs’ folder (with a link to my shop in the captions). As I do this, the pics show up in the news stream of all my friends. I’m not pressuring people to buy – just showing them what I am up to.
I think this is important – you don’t want to alienate those who should be your biggest supporters. That’s why you have a FB Biz page to share sales, promotions, etc – and keep the personal page a bit more casual.
On another note – I also have this blog set up to feed directly onto my personal FB page – so my friends and family can see what I’m doing!
For me, and I think for the majority of crafters/artisans, my business and blog are a big part of who I am – so I want to share that with those I am close to, naturally!
Business Page
This is where you can go to town all about your biz. Set your logo as your picture, and go from there. If you know some people over at your personal page that are interested in your work, you can then suggest that they become your fans. This is a way to use your existing network to grow a new one.
Also remember to put a link to your FB page in your shop profile or introduction – and send it out on Twitter, too (you do have Twitter, right?)
Once you have about 25 fans, you can go here –http://www.facebook.com/username/ – to set your FB Page Username. For example, before I did this I could never remember my link, because it was a long string of numbers. But now, my fan page is this – http://www.facebook.com/Epheriell – so much easier!!
I use my FB page sparingly – mostly to announce sales, and to share new product lines. Again, I try not to ‘spam’ people with information overload.
One thing to always remember with any of these social networks – people choose to become your friend/follower/subscriber – they can just as easily delete you if you annoy them!
It’s all about sharing and creating value… so give your fans insights into your new products, special deals and sales – and they will stay fans!
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So – how do you use Facebook to grow your business? Share your suggestions in the comments!
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Hello,
thanks for this, very interesting read on a topic I had been wondering about for a while!
Would it be ok if i asked a question or two?
I was wondering about the way you have your blog “set up to feed directly onto” your FB page. I am presuming you are able to do this from the blog end rather than the facebook end? because I have explored the applications for importing blogposts on fb and have had no luck.
I’ve given up and just post a link of my latest blog posts every time. any other options would be helpful though!
thanks 🙂
.-= pixelatedmushroom´s last blog ..Flowers and flu =-.
Okay – it’s quite easy once you know where to look!
Go to your Settings (in the top bar) and click on Application Settings. Then scroll down and click on Notes. On the right of the page there should then be an option to ‘import a blog’. Click on this and follow the instructions. Hope you get it sorted, and thanks for your comment 🙂
woot! thank you! so simple! I had never played with the notes section much 🙂
.-= pixelatedmushroom´s last blog ..Flowers and flu =-.
Hi!!
haha…I feel like I’ve just gotten back from holidays, where I’m actually about to GO on hols (Redcliffe>Dalby>Mooloolaba>long drive Via Townsville back to Darwin! can’t wait.
anyway…I’ve been tossing up the idea of a fb biz (love the lingo!!). is it time-consuming?? because we all know I’m crap at the online networking stuff!! LOL
.-= Monsoons & Mangoes´s last blog ..upcycled vintage floral apron skirt… girls size 3-4 =-.
It’s only as time-consuming as you make it 🙂 I don’t spend a lot of time on it, I’m sure I could spend more!
I have a personal page and one for my work..
And I wasn’t really into it at the beginning but started posting pictures of new work 2 times a week.. and that got it started .. made a giveaway and got 120 more fans..
Little by little it’s about networking and keeping the site fresh..
This week I did an album of shots of my workshop.. 🙂
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jewelry-by-Natalia-Araya/81310694231?ref=mf
.-= Natalia´s last blog ..Dandelions,work, my sleepy dog.. and I get signs pointing to Guatemala =-.
Hello, this is one enjoyable article! Thank you for posting this. I was trying to find for a site that has this kind of info. I just like very much farmville! Thankful I found this one! I’ll be going in here again for sure! 🙂