Friday, November 6, 2009

Lessons In Networking: Facebook Page for your Indie Business?

How can a Facebook Business Page (some call them "Fan Pages") help get the word out about your Handcrafted Items? Think of Facebook as Word of Mouth for the Digital Age. You know the old commercial with the catchy phrase "...and they told two friends, and so on, and so on"? Well, when someone on Facebook becomes a Fan of your Business Page, that information is broadcast out to all of THEIR friends, and so on, and so on.

But where do you start??
Facebook can sometimes be a bit confusing...no worries! Here's a bit of a tutorial to walk you through it.

The easiest place to start is to go to any Business Page on Facebook. Check out the ceejaybags Page here
Go to the bottom left of the page and click "Create a Page for my Business".
  • Select your Category from the dropdown 
  • Name your page with your business name (BE CAREFUL! Check to be sure you are happy with your name, and your spelling is correct.) 
  • Click on the Create a Page button and there you have it.

(Once you have created it, copy the URL for future reference. You'll need it to promote your new page, as  you'll see in a minute.)

TIPS:
If you have a PERSONAL PROFILE on Facebook, edit your profile to include that URL as one of your websites.
Include your Facebook Business Page URL on your business cards, on your online shop pages, and in your email signature.
Make sure YOU become a fan of your page! :-) Then hit "Share" so every one of your friends knows you've created a business page for your creative endeavors.

When you become a fan of someone's page, you will show up as yourself, NOT your Business Page.

Feel free to comment here, or post on my FB Page if you need any help!
Good luck!

14 comments:

Claire Maunsell said...

thanks for doing that - I am slowly piecing together the puzzle that is facebook!

ceejay said...

It's my pleasure, Claire! If you do create a Facebook Page, please come back and leave your link here in the Comments.

Bijoutery said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bijoutery said...

Sorry, tried to post a link but pasted the wrong one! lol
Thanks for posting this, I haven't used Facebook enough yet to know what I'm doing, and this was much easier than trying to figure it out on my own! lol
So lets try this again, my new page is here http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bijoutery-Designs-Handmade-Art-and-Jewelry/168351298315
Thanks again!

mayamade said...

thanks so much for the great tutorial. i now have a facebook fanpage!
here is the link. http://www.facebook.com/pages/MayaMade/304846675233?created

i just did it.

Unknown said...

Great post! I just started mine a couple days ago and am still getting the feel for it!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Shrimp-Salad-Circus/165182143467?ref=ts

Bridget said...

Thanks for the great info, I set one up a few months ago...wanna be my fan?
http://www.facebook.com/pages/BDorsa/148351367162

Hazel Wollbrinck said...

I have been fighting with this for 2 days. Created a page then deleted it because I didn't think it was right. Did it again this morning and still wasn't sure. Just found this and just need to change one thing. Thank you so much for taking the doubt away. here is my page.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/My-Gemstone-Designs/177942290851
I hope I have this right??

Lrc said...

thanks for the tutorial...i just need to copy the link to my business page so I can actually get more fans!

ceejay said...

I'm so glad you've found this tutorial helpful, LRC and mygemstonedesigns! Great job creating your Facebook Pages!

Hazel Wollbrinck said...

Thank you for all your help !!

Unknown said...

Thank you for this post! Facebook is so confusing for me! I finally have my page though not many fans yet.. how do you make a tab on your fan page that links you back to Etsy or to my blog?

Jesspeterson said...

thank you so much for this tutorial!! Just started on mine.. have been meaning to do this for a while.

THE BROWN BOYS said...

thanks for your kind words on our Things With Wings blog!

here's some more helpful advice - if you want your page's url to be just your business name, (ours is http://facebook.com/thingswithwings) - without all of the gobblydeegook after it, you can change it by going here: http://www.facebook.com/username/

note- be sure you've got it right - there's no changing it!

why? it makes it easier for your customers to remember and find you. And you don't have to cut and paste it everytime you want to tell someone about it.

you can add a tab for your etsy shop by going here:
http://apps.facebook.com/myetsy/?ref=mf

you can import your blog to your page by using networked blogs: http://apps.facebook.com/blognetworks/help_faq.php
or
I think you can click on the + at the end of your tabs to add "notes" - but I didn't like using that because pictures from your blog didn't show up on your fb wall, unless people clicked on it.

hope that helps!

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