Is Facebook worth it??

[heatherglen]

Have any of you with Facebook pages noticed the area at the top? They now want us to pay to promote every post, status, picture we put up. I have over 350 likes on my page, but my posts only reach an average of 10. I like Facebook because of how many people are on, but that's not really doing me much good anymore. Is there any other social website that you guys use with success?

 

[Genny]

I've had people find me because some of my products were pinned on pinterest.

Also, when you post a link to one of your products on a post on FB, put it in the comments section instead of your post. You get more viewings that way.

I've got some followers from following people on Etsy, even though my shop's not on Etsy.

Do you have a Youtube channel? (I don't think you do, otherwise I'd probably already have seen it LOL). If I had a good video camera, I'd definitely have a Youtube channel.

 

[heatherglen]

Yeah, I'm starting to use the comment section thing a little more. I also starting using my personal page a little more to get people over there. It's just frustrating the hoops we have to jump through, but I guess it's better than paying!

I'm on Pinterest all the time, but haven't noticed much out of that. Of course, I could try less pinning and more advertising!

I have a YouTube channel, and have never uploaded a video. I spend all my time watching/following everyone else. My husband and brother keep saying I need to put on some videos, maybe I'll take their advice sometime. Need much better camera!!

 

[la-rene]

I read a blurb about social media promoting and it said, that it may look like bad form on Pinterest to pin your products continuously and that you should get a group together and do reciprocal pinning for each other. I think that sounds fair.

 

[melstan775]

Social media is all about group and viewer engagement. Facebook is having a hard time monetizing so they are doing more pay features to try to raise funds. Pinterest is where it is at. Have several boards- one for you calle new Products, and others so it doesn't look like you're only posting your own stuff

 

[Genny]

I forgot to mention, that I don't pin my own stuff on pinterest. (I thought there were rules against that on Pinterest?)
A lot of times just by pinning other people's products and they find out about it, they look through your items & pin the ones they like. I've also done the group/reciprocal pinning that la-rene mentioned.

 

[heatherglen]

Yeah, I have a huge amount of followers on Pinterest, but it's not doing very much for business. Maybe I'm going about it wrong. Hopefully I can get this Facebook thing to work for me. Does anybody use Twitter? I've never even been on it.

 

[danahuff]

I think you pin your own stuff on Pinterest. Artists and photographers do. I can't find anything in their terms of service that say you can't. Using Pinterest to share your soaps is a good idea. I also second posting YouTube videos, making and cutting videos especially. I think seeing the soap made generates interest. I kind of consider Etsy a social network because you can favorite products, make treasuries, and favorite stores.

Of the social networks I use (Facebook, Twitter, Etsy, Pinterest, YouTube), I would have to say YouTube has been the most successful in terms of growing large numbers of subscribers more quickly. I would still recommend Facebook, though. So many people use it to engage with companies and products they like.

 

[misskat22]

I use facebook, I was reading a blog about social media recently and apparently facebook is only showing a certain percentage of posts from pages, so if you want more people to see what you're posting you need to post more often. There's also a 'pages' option on the side bar now (under news feed on the left) and they're grouping page posts in there, so people may be missing what you're posting because the don't look under this tab to see what the pages they've liked are posting. So, maybe try posting a bit more (I did and am getting more views) and even reminding your fans to look under that tab once in a while to keep up to date on their favourite pages

 

[heatherglen]

I use facebook, I was reading a blog about social media recently and apparently facebook is only showing a certain percentage of posts from pages, so if you want more people to see what you're posting you need to post more often. There's also a 'pages' option on the side bar now (under news feed on the left) and they're grouping page posts in there, so people may be missing what you're posting because the don't look under this tab to see what the pages they've liked are posting. So, maybe try posting a bit more (I did and am getting more views) and even reminding your fans to look under that tab once in a while to keep up to date on their favourite pages

Thanks! Posting more is probably a good idea. I also suggested interest lists, you can add whatever pages you want, and keep it organized. I have several, including a "support handmade" list where I put other soapers/handcrafters so I can support everyone I can.

 

[drksoapcompany]

I get a few sales through Facebook, so I guess its worth it. But mostly it helps get your name out to many people for quite a low outlay (and also its VERY targeted). I budget a few euros a month in it and so far I feel its been worth it. The most important thing is PHOTOS - pictures do indeed speak thousand(s) of words on Facebook! EDIT: and as Heatherglen mentioned, regular ENGAGING updates work much better than sporadic updates.

 

[VanessaP]

You also need to figure out what the best time is to catch people online to see. Most FB users won't scroll back hours and hours to catch up (I do, but that's because I follow a lot of Doctor Who fanpages ) so you need to have timely posts. Don't post at 9am on a Monday when many people will be at work. Don't post at 2pm on Saturday because people are probably out running errands or enjoying life outside the computer. Its going to vary for your followers, so you'll have to look into that.

Be engaging. Don't just post pics and say that this product is now ready for sale in your shop. I like to watch AHRE's FB feed. Every morning, they post a quote of the day and generally one non-quote per day unless there's a problem at the warehouse. Does it work? Well, just in the last 3 months, they've gained over 5,000 followers. They regularly ask us what we're going to do for the weekend, what have we made lately, etc.

 

[MaitriBB]

I get a few sales through Facebook, so I guess its worth it. But mostly it helps get your name out to many people for quite a low outlay (and also its VERY targeted). I budget a few euros a month in it and so far I feel its been worth it. The most important thing is PHOTOS - pictures do indeed speak thousand(s) of words on Facebook! EDIT: and as Heatherglen mentioned, regular ENGAGING updates work much better than sporadic updates.

If you have a Wordpress blog that you use regularly, you can add a plugin that automatically tweets or posts your entries to FB. That's what I do. Every time a post goes live on my blog, it sends out a tweet, and my Twitter is set up to automatically post to my FB. One post and done!

 

[Ruthie]

http://www.soapalooza.com/blog/2013/06/how-do-i-link-my-facebook-account-to-my-facebook-page/

Here is a blog on linking one's soap page to the regular fb page. I'm just starting on my soaping page, so I am still learning, but thought this was helpful.