Help With Social Media Marketing

Self-marketing your handcrafted products is pretty much a given. Unless, of course, you have a larger budget than most of us do, you will have to do all of the marketing yourself. There are a couple of ways for us normal folks but most of it boils down to your social media accounts. Yes, you can spend money on Facebook ads or Google ads but that really adds up pretty quickly. And if you don’t have a loyal clientele yet creating a few public social media pages may help you get the word out on your products.

First, you will need to pick a minimum of three social media accounts to create posts on. The biggest, for now, are Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Although, I have never gotten much response on Pinterest I have created a page on Instagram and am getting more interactions from that. There is also Google+ pages that may or may not be a good choice but we are not having much of a response from that as we would like. Yes, you will have to spend a little time on the computer every couple of days to set up postings to each of your social media pages. And you will have to follow people, like posts, love on Instagram, etc. Each of these has an app you can add to your phone and Instagram is “app posting only” type of program. Since most handcraft artists have a smartphone to take credit cards while showing their items in person. Adding a couple of social media applications shouldn’t pose a huge hardship.

When creating your social media accounts you want to use an email associated with your business and not your personal account. You can get a free email from GMAIL, YAHOO, AOL and others and name it after your business and not your name to use for signing up. On Facebook, you can add a public page to your personal account that is separate from your family and friends account. We do suggest that you make your personal Facebook page for Friends and Family only and the Business Facebook page Open to the Public. The Facebook app allows you to switch between your personal and business pages easily for easier posting. You can, of course, follow each page you create from your personal account to share those posts with your family and friends. And you can “Like AS Your Page” if you find something on your personal page that you would like to link on your business page. Facebook links your personal friends on your pages for you to “Invite” them to “Like and Follow” your public pages but they will have to actually do that to begin receiving your public posts in their own newsfeeds.

For Twitter, you can create a Business account with your business email and they give you a few more options when you create that account. You should decorate your page and fill out all the fields so that your customers can reach you. The Twitter app allows you to attach each of your accounts for easier tweeting. You can follow each of your accounts and share postings between them. The followers do not cross over to any other accounts. Each one is on its own so share “ReTweet” your business posts onto your personal account to get more followers. You followers on one will have to follow the others to see those tweets in the future.

On Instagram, you can also create a separate account for your business and one for your personal use. The App for that one allows you to switch between identities prior to posting. And you can “love” each other’s posts. The followers on one page do not automatically cross between the two so you will have to keep “loving” their posts and perhaps they will begin to follow that page.

Once you have built up a following on each you can post links directly to your online items. DO NOT just post links and pictures of things that you sell. You will need to post things like a picture of you creating your latest items with a little explanation of what you’re going. Pictures of your studio, pictures of you at crafts fairs, a little video of what you are creating or goofing off with other craftspeople. You can even post how-to information or short lessons in your craft. So, you might want to post a product in the morning and an update or how-to in the afternoon.

Stayed tuned in March we will be explaining the joys of Hootsuite.

Till next time enjoy your day by creating something wonderful.