Social networking

[Tabitha]

Which do you do? Is one more effective than the other for you? Pros? Cons?

 

[Deda]

CAUTION!
Shameless Plug for MySpace.
Sorry, I had to do it.

 

[IanT]

<--- facebook addict

I got out of Myspace when all the crazy child-molesters started using it...

I think its changed now, But I still like facebook better

 

[Chay]

Facebook

 

[topcat]

I have a soaping fan page on facebook and it is bringing me some sales and party bookings. I am still working out the best way to use it. I will soon be sending an email newsletter to those who subscribe and featuring that on my fb fan page too. At my soap parties I ask each purchaser whether they would like me to email the fb link to them for them to check out my soap pics...most say yes and some go on to 'fan' me and then re-order.

Tanya

 

[xyxoxy]

I'm one of the last hold outs for Facebook... I keep saying if I had time for Facebook I woud have time for a 2nd job

Still... I think it's only a matter of time. It's how all my friends and now even my family are beginning to stay in contact with each other... and I'm often left out (unintentionally). But I still don't like the idea of being my mom's "friend"... :shock:

 

[supersoaper3000]

Facebook has been good to us, we have a great following on our fan page. Although I don't know how many sales that has translated into (it's not like I have orders flying in everyday) having a 400+ member community has got to be having some impact.

 

[Tabitha]

supersoaper3000,

How do you get people to fan you on facebook? I am thinking about setting up a page but an not sure how to advertse that I have the page.

 

[supersoaper3000]

supersoaper3000,

How do you get people to fan you on facebook? I am thinking about setting up a page but an not sure how to advertse that I have the page.

Shameless, heartfelt begging. :roll:
Pretty much we just asked all our friends and family to ask all their friends and family. It is wild how much it snowballed from there. I guess it was mostly due to the power of the newsfeed, rather than any blog post or mention on our website. Now we have people showing up every day, and I haven't sent an invitation in a couple of weeks.

We really do feel blessed that (other that a little spam) there has been a great influx of wonderful people who are not only supportive of what we do, but of each other as well.

Credit goes to my wife for getting all of that going, and getting an etsy tab going on our page was a dream. Now the pressure is on me to keep dreaming up camera-friendly soap to keep people coming back.

Next we need to learn how to make special offers to FB fans and see where that goes...

So if I may suggest, everyone should post a link here if they get a fan page going. I'll become a fan at least
Shameless self promo: Visit Adirondack Aromatherapy fan page on Facebook!! All the cool kids are doing it...
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Adirondac ... 1742717841

 

[Tabitha]

I just fanned you.

How does that etsy tab work?

 

[supersoaper3000]

The etsy tab is great, it gives easy access to your products on facebook. It is a great free service. Hard to say how many sales this has got for us, but we have noticed at least two sales we made were to people who joined Etsy that day. So either they just happened to buy our stuff on their first shopping spree, or they joined specifically to shop with us.
So far it seems to be having at least some impact.

Please let me know if you get a page going, ok?
We could get a FB network of SMF members all fanned up in no time I bet.

 

[plum]

I find that twitter works great for me, you can really extend your reach through contacts you make there. I don't have many followers yet but its growing.

 

[supersoaper3000]

One more thought on the Facebook fanpage promotion, Tabitha. Regional or public figures can lead to a lot of exposure. For example I make hand crafted soaps in the Adirondack mountains in upstate NY. So we sent fan invites out other, similarly themed businesses or individuals, focusing on ones with the biggest list of 'friends' in the hopes of making more random exposure that way via news feeds.

As I write this, we just passed 450 fans. Our 451st is from Allier, France. I don't know how or why anymore, lol. Friends of friends of friends at this point, I guess.

So invite as often as possible and keep your page active so that it stays fresh in news feeds!

 

[bala]

1.
You can find facebook tab in your etsy shop, "Your etsy" and it is on left side panel.
2.
The easy way in facebook is to invite all your hotmail friends by facebook icon.
3.
Who is your target clients in facebook?
There is always one thing workable in facebook.
Beautiful thing, such as bikini girls, .........
In case of you search "soap" in facebook. Almost same thing come out.
Soap, soap and soap. What else? "wash face perfect"
4.
Your can ask all friend's friend and friend's friend's friend joint you to you to be their fan.
5.
You have to find out why people in facebook?
Shopping? Most of them are looking for new and information.
Such as play game, social, ..........
In case of you don't feed them new things, then .................
end of story.

 

[LotusFlowerSoap]

I LOVE FB for marketing. I started my page at about 7:00 one night and in 24 hours had nearly 300 fans. I did run an ad, which I have found to be really effective in getting fans. Now we're at almost 800 in less than a month, and I'm blown away by the following, interest and number of orders we've gotten from it. I'm not making bazillions yet, but generally get two three orders day, and the average has been about $70-$80 bucks. I've had lots of repeat business already, and the person I'm doing private labeling for came through one of my FB fans.

My website is under construction (what a PITA to get it all listed!), and so FB is the only mass marketing thing I've done. The rest has been word of mouth through friends and such, but I highly recommend FB. Run an ad if you need to. They're not terribly expensive and you can set your budget.

 

[southernheartsoaps]

Facebook for sure!

 

[Mandarin]

I don't care for FB at all. I like Twitter and it works great for my business.

 

[Manchy]

i use fb and twitter, but fb is far better for me. i didn't invite anyone to be a fan, but we have had a steady growth, and around 330 fans right now, after few months of making a fan page.
only thing how i got massive fans at once was running a giveaway for my fb fans. they were supposed to leave their comment, and than i chose 3 of them randomly and sent them some soaps.
i think i'll repeat that. it's great because their comments are visible on the news feed, and i think that was why we got so much new fans at that time.

 

[Tabitha]

I LOVE FB for marketing. I started my page at about 7:00 one night and in 24 hours had nearly 300 fans. I did run an ad, which I have found to be really effective in getting fans. Now we're at almost 800 in less than a month, and I'm blown away by the following, interest and number of orders we've gotten from it. I'm not making bazillions yet, but generally get two three orders day, and the average has been about $70-$80 bucks. I've had lots of repeat business already, and the person I'm doing private labeling for came through one of my FB fans.

My website is under construction (what a PITA to get it all listed!), and so FB is the only mass marketing thing I've done. The rest has been word of mouth through friends and such, but I highly recommend FB. Run an ad if you need to. They're not terribly expensive and you can set your budget.

Thanks for the info about the ad. I will try that on Monday. i did se up a facebook page & now you can interface (hope that's the right word) with twitter. Anything you post on facebook also gets posted to twitter. That's a good thing. So i set a twitter up too.

 

[Tabitha]

i use fb and twitter, but fb is far better for me. i didn't invite anyone to be a fan, but we have had a steady growth, and around 330 fans right now, after few months of making a fan page.
only thing how i got massive fans at once was running a giveaway for my fb fans. they were supposed to leave their comment, and than i chose 3 of them randomly and sent them some soaps.
i think i'll repeat that. it's great because their comments are visible on the news feed, and i think that was why we got so much new fans at that time.

Where did you advertise your FB giveaway?