What is cross networking? It is connecting with another business or organization and offering to advertise their name to your customers for the same courtesy. In our case, it was on Facebook involving several other pages designed to promote small businesses and help them network. In one busy night alone, we added over 150 new fans to our page.
Now I don't want to leave the wrong impression, that wasn't 150 sales. However, it was 150 new potential customers that now knew we existed and had the opportunity to look at our products. It was also exponentially greater potential for their fans to discover us and potentially make a purchase, and so on! The more people that see you and know you exist, the greater the chance that you will start making sales.
For the Facebook method, the first step would be to start yourself a fan page. You will first need a personal account to create a business page. Once you are signed up, go here and follow the steps to creating your business page. I recommend adding some pictures and as much info as you can to your page in order to attract customers and show them you are active and ready to receive orders.
Once you have your business page started, in the search field type in The Craft Show and like their page. Most of the time they have their wall open for advertising. It's completely free. Just tag your business on their wall (or copy and paste your URL from your page onto their wall) with a short description of your business and ask people to like you. This will start the fans trickling in. Make sure to be courteous and like any pages that are linked on your wall (it IS cross marketing after all). Be sure to return likes with your personal page, as business page likes do not make the 'like' counter rise.
Keep an eye on their wall in the evening hours. The Craft Show does 'cruises' where they 'open a list' or post that they are cruising. This is when the action happens. You will tag your business page under their post (using your personal page), and then tag The Craft show on your business page. Make sure to refresh often, and like all the other businesses on the list. I would encourage you to leave your business tag on the pages that you like (although you don't have to) to be more visible to others. However, make sure that page has not requested that you do not tag yourself wildly on their page. Some people prefer everyone tag under one post on their page to avoid clutter.
On occasion, TCS (The Craft Show) will feature businesses during their cruises, which will visually put you right on top for everyone to like. Serenity in Chains has been featured many times this way, and has been blessed with many fans in return.
Make sure to look around on the page as well. Not only are there other great businesses to look at, but TCS also promotes other networking pages such as Fan Page Promote. Using multiple services will get you fans even faster. Just be sure not to bombard other businesses with a copied post, as Facebook will ban you from posting for several days, or delete you completely.
Thanks for the advice! I've joined other, similar pages, but I never remember to visit them during peak advertising hours..
ReplyDeleteNo problem Mizufusion. We have had so many people ask how we've done it, that I felt it best to share it all at once. It seems like most of the networking pages are active after 7pm EST. I set aside a couple of hours once a week or so to sit on facebook and network. It takes time and work and a lot of clicks, but if I make even one sale, it's worth the effort.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for sharing, I have to try this!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this! Finding new potential customers isn't my strong point at all. I'm going to give this one a shot!
ReplyDelete-Mary
(Time Traveler's Team)
Oh wow thanks! I'm looking to get word out there and every little bit helps! Gonna get cracking on this now :)
ReplyDeletehttp://sj-egan.blogspot.com/
http://www.etsy.com/shop/sjegan
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fragment-Designs/111213522315849
How do you tag something in Facebook? I tried to figure this out this morning for one of their cruises, but couldn't figure it out in time to get on a cruise. I also posted a comment on their page while logged in to my business page, but my profile picture and shop name didn't show up on my comment. Any thoughts what could be wrong there?
ReplyDeleteNicole, You want to use the '@' symbol before the name of what you are attempting to tag. It should bring up a drop down menu that you can select what you are looking to tag. Also, when you do the cruises be sure that you are NOT singed in as your business. You want to use your personal account to do the cruises. You will tag your business on their post, and then go to your business page and tag the cruising network site. Be sure to like other pages during the event, and leave a unique comment on each page including your tagged business. don't just C/P a note over and over, as Facebook will mark you a spamming and block you from commenting (or delete your account).
ReplyDeleteThanks, I think I understand. Any ideas why my profile picture and shop name aren't showing up when I post a comment on their page? I also posted a question in the FB forums about this issue today and the same thing happened...no picture and no name.
ReplyDeleteNicole, in order to show your page 'card' in a post (picture, and description), you have to type in your facebook page's url, and hit the space bar. This will load your info visually.
ReplyDelete