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.
