Tips For Marketing Your Handmade Business On Facebook For every big success story on Facebook, I also hear more stories of, 'Oh, I tried that, but it didn't work so I gave up. Giving up is the single biggest mistake you can make! It takes time and consistency for Facebook to work for any business! Marketing on Facebook really does work! Facebook is the most visited website and social media platform in the world, using Facebook correctly can mean a significant boost to your awareness, engagement with customers, list building and your sales. But it takes work and effort. It won t just happen! So here are a few tips and tricks to help you build, brand and market yourself on Facebook. 1. Create a Facebook page for your craft business. If you want to market your business on Facebook you need a Facebook page. For one, using a profile for business is against Facebooks terms and conditions and two, a page gives you a lot more control, information and opportunities for your business. (If you are accepting and sending out friend requests, that is a profile.) Pages are much more effective at getting your message out there, even with declining organic reach. (Organic reach is free). A page can advertise on Facebook, a profile can t, and you can also get insights for a page so you can figure out more about your audience. We will consider Facebook advertising later, it is one of the most powerful marketing tools available online right now! What if you use a profile just for your business? You can use Facebook's migrate tool to switch from a profile to a page and best of all, you get to KEEP all of your followers. Here's the link: https://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php?migrate 2. Promote your business page. Start by inviting your friends and family to like your page. A word of warning here, only invite those who will actually engage and interact with your page posts. Facebook have a very clever algorithm which it uses to decide who to show your posts to. The more popular a post (basically the more reactions, comments and sharing it gets) the more of your Facebook followers will see it. Created for A Handcrafted Business 2017 1
3. Facebook is about quality of likes not quantity. It is far better to have a lower number of fans who respond to your posts than to have huge numbers of fans who never take the time to interact with you. Also remember to occasionally share your Facebook page posts to your profile, make sure your friends and family know what you do, so they can chose to support you. 4. Sort out your profile and about section! In your about section on your profile add your Facebook page as a place that you currently work. This will add a link on your own profile giving everyone a chance to quickly and easily find your page. Also take a little time to craft your Facebook page about information. Make sure you share your love and passion for what you do, even share your handmade story so your audience can get to know you. This is not the place to tell the world about your pets and family, unless it is relevant! 5. Pop your fan page URL (and website/etsy link) in your email signature. Now every time you send an email, it's another chance for recipients to find your Facebook page. 6. Have you got a blog? If so, blog about your Facebook page. Don't just ask your blog readers to like your page instead, give them at least one compelling reason why they should. Tease them with future offers and news. Remember to add a link back to your Facebook page on your blog or websites too. 7. To succeed on Facebook you need to get out and be seen. This means engaging with other Facebook pages and in groups relevant to your business. When you comment or post include your Facebook page in the comment when appropriate. Tip: If you type the @ symbol followed by your page name, you can usually add a link to your page easily without having to cut and paste your page url. This creates a visible link to your page with each comment, just be careful you do this selectively, some groups do not allow this. Avoid being spammy. The best rule to follow is to add a link to your page when it makes sense and compliments what you are saying. If in doubt leave it out. As long as you have your page linked in your profile (see no. 3) then if someone wants to find your page, they can. Created for A Handcrafted Business 2017 2
8. Promote your on all your other social media platforms. Tweet about your page. Ask your Twitter followers to like your fan page. Again, offering them a good reason why they should like it will greatly increase your response rate. Remember to encourage your Facebook fans to find you on other platforms you use regularly as well. 9. Have a strategy. Why should people become fans? What do you want to use this platform for? Basically this comes down to how you plan to use your Facebook page. Facebook is a social platform, so it needs to be friendly, useful and, well, a social experience. Maybe it's to be the first to see new makes, to see behind the scenes, to get discounts or to have a chat. Think about how Facebook fits into your sales funnel. 10. Add your page URL to YouTube. Do you create videos to promote your business? Then add your Facebook page URL link to your videos, either at the end of the video or at the beginning of the video description. Tip: If you use video always upload your videos to Facebook, don t use the YouTube link. Facebook give far better reach to videos hosted directly on Facebook it is all part of that clever algorithm! 11. Post frequently. If you forget about your page, your audience will forget about you. Post once or twice a day with photos, good info, and advice updates, WIP, behind the scenes and with questions. Don't make it all about you and your products. Also post about events, news, and your industry, basically anything that is relevant to your business. And whenever you can, inject a little humor into the mix. 12. Ask your likers to react or answer your question/post in the comments. This encourages engagement which Facebook see as a sign that you are doing something right, and you deserve to be seen by more people. This means your post gets seen by more people, which can lead to more interaction and new likers. You shouldn t ask every time, and never out of desperation. Instead ask a question like Which colour do you prefer, red or blue? Pop your answer in the comments below. But try and be more imaginative and relevant to your craft! Created for A Handcrafted Business 2017 3
13. Speaking of questions: Get your fans involved with your page by starting discussions about your products and services or industry news. What's the best way to start a discussion? Simply ask a provocative question your fans cannot ignore. If you get stuck on what to ask, use the fill in the blank kind of question, such as, If you could have any job in the world, it would be. You want to get people talking. 14. Do not become a troll victim. Now that you're starting discussions, remember to remain professional at ALL TIMES, with no exceptions. If you are perceived as quarreling with a fan, it won't matter if you're right it will only matter that you lost your cool. And if things look like they may get nasty, offer the fan a private way to contact you (phone or email, for example.) In worst cases you can delete comments and block. This is your space! If you can feel yourself getting worked up over something step away from Facebook and give yourself time to assess the situation. Don t respond in anger. 15. Forget the I and focus on the we. Facebook posts should be all about we, not I. For example, We reached 500 likes today, thank you everyone! (This isn t a business we this is including your audience as part of your community we!) 16. Remember to use plenty of photos and videos. Written words are great, but videos and photos tend to get more of a response and get shared. If you can create your own videos, that is even better! Mixing it up and using a variety of post types is best text, image, link and video. Different people will respond to different post types, Facebook tries to show people more of the post types they usually interact with. Again it is that clever algorithm at work! 17. Be thankful. This one takes a little time, but can be worth it. It adds the personal touch! Thank each new person who likes your Facebook page (you can find them by using the New Likes box.) This will really make you stand apart from the crowd. After all, how many people have ever personally thanked them for a Like? You might very well be the first. This is a great way to break the ice with someone. Created for A Handcrafted Business 2017 4
18. Relax. Facebook is not the place for a suit and tie kind of personality. Instead, be fun, casual, funny and make your Facebook page an entertaining, inviting place to be, but at all times remain professional! This is a place for solutions and smiles, not problems and pouts! 19. Brand your page. That large cover image or video on your timeline needs to ROCK! It should effectively communicate the message you want to send to your fans, so spend some time getting it just right. At the time of writing the best size for your page cover pic is 828 x 315 pixels. There are many photo editors online where you can create wonderful, fun cover images including Pic Monkey and Canva. Remember to update and keep this relevant to what is happening in your business right now. 20. Show your face on your page profile image. Many budding entrepreneurs like to hide behind a logo, cartoon image or an example of their work but Facebook is all about being social and getting to know people. This is the perfect place for letting your audience see and get to know you, the person behind your business. 21. Keep track. Use Facebook insights to discover when people are most engaged with your content. This way you know when to post to get the maximum effect. Facebook insights gives you lots of great info about what is actually happening on your page. You can see the age of your audience, where they are in the world, your most popular posts and more. Use this information to inform future posts. 22. Encourage people to return. Facebook check-in deals allow you to offer special incentives when people check in with your page, or have a regular schedule for posting, so people know when and where to find you. 23. Mix it up, sometimes short and sweet and other times post a full blog. Mixing it up means you can test and see which type of posts your particular audience prefers to interact with. 24. Pin your posts. Facebook allows you to pin a post to the top of your page. Use this to showcase something important, such as an upcoming event or a dynamite testimonial from Created for A Handcrafted Business 2017 5
a celeb in your niche. Do remember to update your pinned post regularly! 25. Get busy. None of this will help if you don't get busy and use it to promote your business on Facebook! Promoting your business means spending time networking, talking with others in groups and on their pages. Just be careful you are spending your time talking to people who have an interest in buying your handmade products. 26. Advertise. If you want to reach new people in your niche or reconnect with existing customers/audience, look at Facebook advertising. You can target your niche through careful audience selections, and retarget people you have already had interaction with either on Facebook, through your mailing list or who have visited your website. The wonderful thing about Facebook advertising is that you can start for as little as 1 for one day. 27. Use your Facebook shop! Facebook allows you to add products toyour own shop on your page. You can add these manually or connect to your own existing store on Etsy, WordPress site etc. Automating this means you don t have to update in multiple places, and you can also tag your products on Facebook in your posts. 28. Facebook Live Facebook live is a really great way to talk and connect with your audience, it seems scary at first but it is well worth trying. You can use Facebook live to demo, showcase or simply so people can have a fly on the wall look as you work. 29. Stay Up to-date! Something changes at Facebook virtually every single day! The best way for you to get the most from Facebook is to make sure you know what is happening. One way is to make sure you are signed up for my weekly handcrafted business news email where I highlight all the important social media and industry changes you need to know every week. 30. Finally the best way to use is Facebook is to think like your ideal customer. Be useful to them on Facebook, and they will want to spend time with you. Entertain them and they will gravitate towards you. Remember it isn t all about selling, it is about engaging. It is giving them a chance to get to know you, like you and trust you as well as using calls to action to encourage email sign ups and sales. Created for A Handcrafted Business 2017 6