#4 in a series of 8 blog posts dedicated to providing real-world social marketing tips and content ideas for some of the most common industries and small businesses.
You were smart to start a craft business online. Low overhead, flexible working hours, and complete creative freedom. But you need another element for success: a good marketing plan. Make sure that social networking is a core part of that plan. Facebook and Twitter are no longer optional add-ons for a good marketing strategy. They’re at its heart.
Getting started on Facebook couldn’t be easier… or more essential to panning online gold. Create a profile that contains the best copy possible to make your business look not just good, but hot, hot, hot. After your personal profile is in place create a Facebook Business Page for your company.
How? Easy. Scroll to the bottom and click “Advertise”. And, get ready to jump for joy… it’s absolutely free! Click on the Pages tab and upload a logo and input some copy that portrays your craft business in the best possible light.
Also, we have developed some exciting social media strategies within our Internet Marketing Strategic Initiative Packages that you might find ideal for what you want to accomplish. ~Andrea
Then, just as you would in other venues, start reaching out to potential customers by “sharing” your business.
Your first contacts, or “Facebook Fans” as they’re called, will probably be real friends and family. But even the most social of entrepreneurs will need to expand well beyond that right away.
Don’t be indiscriminate, though. One of the worst things that can happen to an online business is to initiate a spiral of negative word of mouth. Spend some time tailoring your message and your list to optimize your chances of positive word of mouth.
You can reach out to crafters with similar interests – jewelry designers, doll makers, potters… whatever your business line(s) happen to be. Some will be competitors, others will just be interested amateurs who love crafts as you do. Ask them to spread the word, and give them helpful tutorial content, free samples, and more to encourage them to follow through.
Twitter is another superb way to spread your message, and can sometimes work even quicker. But you trade off speed for volume. Twitter is intended more for real-time communication. It’s sort of like Internet chat on steroids.
Twitter is a great social networking tool for online craft business owners who want to announce things that are happening right now. Having a sale? Tweet it. Discovered a new material or technique? Share your enthusiasm in up to 140 characters of text.
Use Twhirl to manage multiple accounts if you have multiple craft-related businesses, such as glassware and textiles. You don’t have to be tied to the computer all day, though. Use Twuffer to queue up tweets that will go out whenever you want.
In all these cases, you want not only to reach the audiences that populate these sites but drive them to your websites. Here again, use a little discretion, but always make sure your friends know where to find your business. After all, there’s no point in building a better mousetrap – or mouse earring – if no one knows where to buy it.
When you’re ready to take your marketing campaign to the next level, here are two learning resources for you: Fantastic Facebook Fan Pages and my free Twitter ecourse.
Both Facebook Pages and Twitter are where you can –
- Share pictures, pictures, and more pictures! Let me say it one more time: PICTURES. Use the Facebook Photo application to create and update photo albums with wonderful images displaying your skill and creativity.
- Step it up a notch by creating videos of your most popular and newest creations. Zoom into the details of your products that make them stand out from the rest. Record all sides of them as you’re describing what they’re seeing. If you haven’t done it already, invest in one of those very affordable Flip camcorders. Become familiar with downloading them to your computer, and uploading them to Facebook.
- Provide tips on how to store the products when not in use or being displayed.
- Provide tips on how to ship the items
- Do you offer a repair service if something gets broken? Remind them how they can get the product back to you for repair.
- If not, perhaps you can offer some repair tips for them so they can take care of minor repairs. How about providing some repair video tutorials? Even written tutorials will be helpful.
- Provide gift ideas – the holidays are close. Do you offer a special discount if someone purchases more the one item (one for themselves and one or more for gifts for others). This is a great time to encourage multiple purchases.
- Give an incentive if you can, perhaps you can provide free shipping if their order is over a certain dollar amount. Or throw in gift wrapping as your freebie.
- Craft businesses typically had/have origins at craft and gift shows. Maybe you could provide a list of shows in your area, your state…even better – multiple states or regions.
- When you’re attending a show, take pictures or even videos. Take your Facebook Page Fans along for the ride. Tell them about your plans, your experiences, the excitement, the surprise bonus you never expected to find. By all means, if you’re going to be displaying your products at some shows you’ll want to let everyone know where you are going to be at. You might even get some unexpected visitors that happen to be in the area. How great would that be!
- Share ideas about the best ways to display and use your products.
- Don’t forget to share a nice backstory. Let your visitors know how you got started, what inspired you, a timeline of your progression.
- Inform visitors of product options you provide when someone orders from you. A variety of colors, sizes, shapes, special features, etc.
- If you’re interested in doing this sort of thing – how about turning your knowledge into revenue? Hold workshops and classes, even create video tutorials. Then you can announce your new offerings to your visitors.
- Do you donate to a charity? Why not get your visitors involved and offer a percentage of their purchase to the charity or cause. Here’s another idea on this front. What if you organized a donation drive with your online community? Perhaps you could be the gathering place for handmade toys and other objects that could benefit those less fortunate. You and your fans could come together to support a common cause.
- Don’t forget to describe to your visitors how your product fills their need. What is it going to do for them?
- Since you have products, you’re in a prime position to hold a monthly contest where the winner receives something you’ve made. Use Twitter and your blog/website for contests. Facebook has some fairly strict rules for contests and promotions. Keep running this for as long as you like.
- What about sharing a list of online craft directories? Ask for input from your page fans, see if they can contribute to this list.
- I’ll bet you’ve tried quite a number of materials to finally get your products just right. How about providing some reviews on materials that have not lived up to their advertising, or those that have made your crafts come to life and were exactly what you needed. This could also be a great conversation starter with other crafters visiting your site.
- Do you have any tips on what to do with your leftover materials? Is there the possibility of providing your visitors with ideas on how to recycle what they don’t use from projects?
- I’d like you to think less “online craft store” and more “online crafting community”. Encourage the sharing of ideas, materials, issues, troubleshooting, resources, etc. It should be a place everyone wants to visit so they can participate in conversations and contribute some of their valuable content. It could be one big happy family! When like-minded people get together, wonderful partnerships and joint venture opportunities happen. Doors open. Deeper connections are made. Doesn’t that sound like the community you’d like to build?
- If you know of some other crafters that have products which compliment yours, why not share these resources with your visitors? Perhaps the other crafters could refer visitors to you as well. Now would be a great time to set up a referral or affiliate program. What a win-win situation all around.
Social Media Ideas and Tips series include:
- Social Marketing Ideas for Coaches
- Social Marketing Ideas to Promote your Craft Business
- Social Marketing Ideas to Promote your Real Estate
- Social Marketing Ideas to Promote your Travel Business