Hi there ladies, I hope you are enjoying your Saturday monring. I have a serious question for you and would appreciate any experienced advice in this matter.
I am considering making a big change and launching a small craft business I can run out of our home on Etsy. I'm starting to do some research on this and when I was glancing at Etsy's page for opening a shop, I saw a question about linking the Esty shop site to Facebook.
I have very vigorously avoided being on Facebook. The plain fact of the matter is I just haven't been interested in having yet one more way for people to guess where/how to contact me. And I'm not sure I want to deal with the back and forth of status updates, "friends", posts on walls, etc. I am unsure, but imagine some of these elements would require my attention on a near-daily basis. (I prefer to do my communicating via email or that old fashioned thingy called the telephone.)
All this said, my question is this: for those of you who have online craft shops, has it been helpful or detrimental to have a Facebook page featuring your company? Have you found an equally effective way of getting your 'message' out about your product elsewhere? I'm very interested hearing about others' experiences with this.
Thanks in advance.
Wow... well, the verdict is overwhelmingly in! I still have a few things to do to figure out if this is a cost-effective idea. Maybe my next post will be 'how do I justify the start-up costs to my husband on a product that doesn't yet exist and has no known market?" ;)
Thanks Ladies!
I have a few friends who have small businesses who have FB and Etsy pages. They link them, but the key to maintaining their annonymity is in having only the company name in the FB page, and never posting personal information about spouse, kids, family, friends, neighborhood, etc. Their FB participation has really helped grow their biz, because it is such an easy forum for spreading word-of-mouth.
I do cake decorating, so I am not on Etsy. But I have to admit, I get a TON of business from FB. I simply post pictures of my work. It shows some people what I can do and reminds others that I still make cakes. FB has definitely help my business grow.
H., you really should be on FB. You wouldn't do it as YOUR name but as your business name. And then you try to get people to "like" your business. Once they do you can use FB to let everyone know about your business. You can put up new items, sales, etc. When you do this everyone that has liked you will see it...and if they "like it" then their whole group of friends will see it. It doesn't have to be a daily thing either.
What I advise you to do is set up a fake FB account. I have done this so that I can "like" many things and not have everyone know it. Then with the fake account you "like" other crafts businesses as well as a variety of different businesses to learn how they market on FB. Nobody will ever trace that to you and obvioulsy you don't even post any pics. This will be the best way for you to both learn firsthand how FB can helo your business as well as give you some good ideas.
I have a small etsy shop, and ALL of my initial business has come about because of facebook. I don't "connect with facebook" but I do occasionally post new items I have created there, on my own wall, shared only with my friends (and then some of them share it with their friends, and so on.) It's got to be the best form of free advertising out there!
Here's a link to my shop if you're interested:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/BabyCakesbyMamaZita
I have done Etsy with my children's Indian clothing line. I didn't like it. It did NOTHING for my business. Facebook helped, but I since took it down because I am taking a break from that to focus on my 2nd daughters physical therapy more. Like Queen says, for Facebook, I opened an account JUST for the business, nothing personal, not even my name appears anywhere till like farther down in the wall area. I cant sell things on the account directly but I give a link to an email that I check frequently during the day. I also do craigslist, local files, and ebay classifieds for advertising. Word of mouth helps and Facebook helps with that as well. I subscribe to over 20 facebook pages dealing with kids items only. Its a great way to show what your doing to the public and get bigger!
I have had an etsy store for 3 years now. It's very easy to link it to your etsy page... very easy. Just create a facebook etsy page, than once your etsy store is up, then it gives you the chance to link. Easy.
As such, it is very, very important, no... crucial... to have some sort of social networking site for your etsy (I have a blog,twitter and facebook!) if you want it to be remotely successful and easy for people to spread your sales and products by word of mouth. Facebook is the Easiest way to connect, so that is what I would recommend!! You don't have to put personal info on there either.
Even if you just pop in onto your facebook once or twice a week to show a new item you are listing or a new sale, to ask a random question to your readers to see what their favorite fall color is or whatever, it really helps.
mine:
http://www.jeweledambrosia.etsy.com
If you look under my banner on the right hand side, it shows where you can like the shop's facebook page, so that is how I get my facebook fans, really.
http://www.facebook.com/JeweledAmbrosia
For facebook business pages, I think you have to have at least 25 fans before you can have an actual name. For example, before the 25 fans, my page link was like http://www.facebook.com/1vgjdb678 or something like that. Once you get your 25 fans, than you can change the name. At least that is how it used to be a year ago, it may have changed since then.
I launched my Art work ''Line'' or whatever you want to call it on Facebook, Etsy and Pinterest.
I have all but stopped using Etsy. I really really dont like it.
I have had the best luck using Facebook. I can control everything. I like how I can classify each piece with a price point specific group of pieces.
Now, I cannot actually sell anything through my FB account. I can through my personal, I would have to register my name through FB and they would expect a portion of the sales. Much like Ebay if I understand it correctly.
I make sure I post my pieces everywhere. For as many to see.
As long as you know going into it will be a bit on the slow side, until you are out there a bit more.
I think Facebook was the missing link to getting my work out there and making a name for myself.
Good luck!!! I Love that I have been able to get my stuff out there!! Even if I never hit the big top with any of it, It has been a hell of a ride piece by piece, just seeing how people who may or may not know me personally, react to each piece, rocks my world.
I would for sure do a FB page. Then go post crazy:)
Start small and don't add facebook at this time. You'll find that managing etsy will be full time. It will require daily maintenance.
My sister has an etsy shop and she didn't do hardly any business for years. It has finally taken off in the last year or so. She did do a FB business page and it's just one way for her to post her creations for those of us that don't go to etsy for anything. I enjoy seeing her items and won't go to etsy to look them up. If I want to see what's she's done I go to her business page on FB.
That is something that can come later.
