Pages

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Promoting Your Business on Facebook by Guest Blogger, Zenobia Southcombe!

Today I'm happy to introduce you to an awesome artist and teacher, Zenobia Southcombe. She is here to share vital information on how to set up a Facebook account for your Art (or any other) business. This is the kind of tutorial I was dyyyyying to have when I first ventured out into the Social Networking World! In fact, I'm sure there are things I never did quite get, so let's read this and learn together, shall we?

Using Facebook
  This article is to help you get started with Facebook to promote your Etsy art / craft business. However, it would also be useful if you are using a different platform to sell your art. There are a lot of articles online that can help you grow your Facebook page (so there’s really no point in writing another one!), and Facebook also has a lot of tutorials itself (you can find links at the end of this article). The aim of this post is for people who are new to Facebook, social media, or online promotion.
Getting Started
1.        Make a Profile Page. You need to do this before you do anything else on Facebook. This is simple to set up, you just need to go to http://www.facebook.com enter the basic information shown below, click “Sign Up” and you’re done! You can then edit your profile, add photos & videos, and add your links.


2.       Make a Fan Page. This is your art business page that people can ‘like’ and share with their friends. On the left-hand column, you will see a clickable link “Pages” with a little orange flag.

Click on this, and at the top of the page is a button “+ Create a Page”.

You need to then choose whether you would like to market your page as a ‘local business or place’ or ‘artist, band, or public figure’. When you click on the chosen icon, it will ask you for more information. If you chose ‘business’, you need to enter the category and physical address of your business (so choose this option if you have a physical shop or open studio as well as your online business). If you chose ‘artist’ then it will ask for a category and name – it is very important to note that the name of your page cannot be changed! So choose carefully.
Click ‘get started’ and you’re done -  a series of pages will pop open, and Facebook has some very clear tutorials about how to add & edit information and photos.

How can I connect with Etsy & my Blog?
1.       My Esty. This app links straight to your Etsy store, and shows your banner, items, pricing, and a button to click to go to your store.

You can find this app here: http://apps.facebook.com/myetsy/?ref=ts
*Note that when you add Apps, you will be asked to log in as yourself, not your fan page. Once you have added all the apps, you can switch back to your fan page by going to Pages > Switch.

2.       Add a ‘like box’ to your website and blog. If you are on Wordpress add a “Facebook Like Box” Widget, paste in your page’s URL, and you’re good to go! If you are on blogger, go to this site: http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like-box/ plug in all the information, and you will get an HTML code. Then go to your blog, add a HTML / Javascript Gadget, and paste in your code. All done!
Where to next?
The following links will help you go further with your page:
This is the absolute go-to for Facebook page help! I suggest that you take a while to read through some of the information on there, and refer back to it as your page grows. I highly recommend looking at the “Pages Guide for Businesses” when you start up.
If you haven’t heard of this duo yet, I advise that you get to know them! They run a show that can be downloaded from their site or through iTunes, and have a wealth of information to share. They have done a few sessions about Facebook, and here is the link to find these: http://artistshelpingartistsblog.blogspot.com/#uds-search-results. The great thing about these is that you can listen as you work!

*********************************************************************************

Thank you, Zenobia! I certainly found that helpful and will be reviewing my own Facebook set-up with your advice in mind!


Please visit Zenobia at her blog and her Etsy shop, and leave a comment to let her know her help is appreciated! 
http://zenobiasouthcombe.wordpress.com/
http://www.etsy.com/people/ZenobiaSouthcombe


9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lovely layout and intro, thanks!

Cindy D said...

Guest blogging - very neat! Well-written and very informative.

I have to admit I really don't like Facebook, mostly because of privacy concerns. Also, I don't like to hurt people's feelings and with FB I felt obligated to keep up with people and things in ways that I normally don't.

If I could create a page for my art that linked to my Etsy shop, but didn't have to be set up with personal information, I might do that. Which is a little silly I realize, since I suppose a lot of personal information is at my Etsy shop (not really tho, unless you buy stuff).

Ok, sorry for all the rambling! Guest blogging - cool! Nice post! I just don't know if I will take advantage of the information just yet. ;)

Sheryl McClure-Pitler said...

Thank you, Zee! It was your original layout - just right, so I didn't have to do a thing but write an introduction. 'twas a pleasure, mate!

Sheryl McClure-Pitler said...

Hi Cindy,
I struggled with the same thing. I pretty much ignore my personal page. My friends (the ones I actually interact with in the REAL world) know this, so they don't bother trying to contact me there. Instead, they use this other neat invention (the phone!) and sometimes go as far as to employ even geekier tech - a live-in-person visit! :)

Cindy D said...

I don't know what you're talking about (a phone? a live-in-person?). I mean really, you have a vivid imagination. You should write some books. Oh hey! I heard you might do that. :D

johndiv45 said...

i often link my Fan page to my Blog. consider it as a update tool and at the same time a promotional tool. Facebook Business Page Tutorial is often a great option.

Swan said...

My daughter just informed me today that if you don't have an e-mail address, you don't exist. Thank goodness I have that covered and I'm not a figment of my own imagination!! :0 However, after I sleep tonight, when I arise tomorrow there will be so much more technology to keep up with! No matter how hard I struggle, I'm still a rookie and I appreciate this kind of tutorial. I'm sure some of you can do this in your sleep or with your eyes closed, but I thank you both for taking the time to make something like this available for folks like me! Thank you! Thank you!

Anonymous said...

@Singing Swan - I'm in my early 20s, and I was told in highschool that if I didn't have some sort of Social Media profile, I didn't exist! I kind of set this out with the challenge for something my mum could follow (not anywhere near a techno whiz, but she tries!), so I'm glad that it has helped! remember to link us to your Facebook page when you are done!

Unknown said...

I enjoyed reading your blog! Thanks for the information.