An Intro to making the most of your Facebook Business Page
by Diane @ Adien Crafts
This post was written a while ago for posting this month to coincide with a Hub Initiative. These are very unsettling times for everyone, but if you have decided to keep your shop open and are selling then it is maybe a good time to focus on how to get customers to your British Craft House shop and offer them the best service you can.
We have many Sellers who are new to using Facebook as a selling tool, so this is aimed at them, there are many ‘old hands’ too with successful Facebook Pages so it would be great if you could also join in and pass on your expertise.
I have been selling via Facebook for many years now. Approximately half of my British Craft House sales have come via Facebook and I often hear the comment, “I can’t sell via Facebook, my page is dead, I don’t get the interaction etc”.
Love Facebook or hate it, the fact is it is still extremely popular for selling and most importantly buying so why not make the most use you can of Facebook as a selling tool and funnel customers to your British Craft House page. I tend to use Facebook as my shop counter space if you like, just as in a bricks and mortar shop this is where I chat and ‘sell’ to customers before taking them to the checkout which is my British Craft House shop.
In these days of one click shopping, can we help you pop up windows, and instant purchasing, it’s important to be available, your Facebook page will not be a success if you pop a post on in the morning and then disappear expecting it to magically get lots of responses. You all know how successful and pro active The Hub is for all of us Sellers, well that’s because it is managed so well by Dottie, it’s a busy chatty space which is ‘live’ … you won’t normally have to wait hours for a response to a question, and interactive posts get people involved and create a Community.
So, how do you build your own Community, and how do you convert this to sales in Your British Craft House Shop? There is no substitute for time spent building your following, and we can go into further detail on how to do that in later posts but just to cover a few simple basics today.
- If you wish your Facebook visitors to purchase from your British Craft House shop, then your Shop Now button at the top of your page needs to direct them there. This is pretty fundamental, one could rename the button “This Way to The Checkout” as basically that is what you are saying. If you have online shops elsewhere which you don’t want to lose the links to, then consider using Link Tree which gives you the option to add numerous links people can follow.
- Under Settings in Facebook add your URL of your shop under website details.
- Add your Shop in your personal profile as your place of work if possible, this is important when you are commenting on other shop pages that they can see your shop name and hopefully return the visit.
- Facebook likes busy pages, it likes regular Users . Regular posting and regular interaction with other pages will see an increase in your reach, which you can view under ‘insights’
5. Add a Good Morning post, maybe ask a question in your post that invites interaction, let your personality show … you are behind your counter now, pulling up the shutters, and ready to invite your customers in. I use collages in my morning post as a rule, but post whatever you prefer, and I always add the link to the item featured in my British Craft House Shop in the first comment. There is no point showing off your lovely creation and then not directing to where it can be purchased.
As in a Bricks and Mortar shop put on your Smiley face and try to be engaging, if you are having a really rubbish day and just want to rant, then leave it – only my opinion but a moaning post does not get me in the buying mood. If you are enthusiastic and in love with your product pass this on, and DON’T BE SHY … if your product is fabulous, tell people! They can’t touch it, pick it up and examine it so tell people how wonderful it is, and why they need it, who they could give it to etc, no need for modesty, your enthusiasm for your product will be infectious!
6. Once you have created a post, what now? Well, until you have built up a busy following, a good place to start is The Hub. We are adding a post this week to link with this Blog. Once you have set your page up with direction to your TBCH shop, then add a post, popping the link to your item in the first comment. Copy the URL of your Facebook post by clicking on the photo and copying the https:// link from the top of the page and post it in the HUB thread, instructions will be given on the post itself re commenting on others. This will be handy for you to practise visiting other pages and commenting, and for others to visit your page. As a bonus a lot of sales are made to other Sellers so you never know!
There are 101 more things we could cover regarding Facebook pages – this post has covered the very basics to set up your Facebook page to link to your TBCH shop and create a post, and once everyone is happy with that we can cover more areas if anyone is interested… building up your following, tagging other pages, what to include in your post etc. Hope to see lots of posts added on The Hub, please feel free to comment below with any specific issues you would like covered in further Facebook Blogs.
Many thanks to Diane for creating this post & sharing her tips!