Does anyone have real success using Facebook?

[JoArtyJo]

Hi- just wondering whether anyone has any real success on etsy as a direct result of their Facebook page?
I have a page for my shop with over 1000 likes. However I have really neglected it and not used it in over a year. I never really felt like it did much for my shop, but didn't put much effort in at all really- I find it hard to use and could have spent more time figuring it all out.
At the moment I don't do any promoting for my shop- but I am about to launch a new colouring book so was considering starting to use my Facebook page again to drum up some interest.
However I hear lots of negative stuff about Facebook, so was just wondering if anyone was having success with it?
Thanks!

[izyandoly]

Something has changed on Facebook recently. It seems like you have to pay to get your postings promoted in front of people. I can't explain why sometimes I can see that the post was seen by 200 people vs 30 another day. I spent the last little while trying to build up my following there as well. I have over 1000 likes now too. I had read that after 1000 likes you should see that following continue to grow. I can't say that has been my experience. I post there more than other places, but direct sales seem to not as much as I would like for the work that I do put into it. I feel like I am struggling with social media all over actually. It seems hard to get new business from any direction really.

[BloomingOak]

I use a lot of social media: twitter, facebook, tumblr, pinterest and sometimes other sites like craftori or wanelo. While few people see my Facebook page due to how FB hides pages from people who don't interact, FB is the only site from which I actually get sales. I think it's because the people who like my page are really my target market. It's not a lot of sales, but it seems like if a sale comes from another source other than Etsy search, it is because someone saw something on FB and either wanted it or it generated a custom request. Long answer, but for me, Facebook is successful.

[Former_Member]

I have not had any success using Facebook. I just added fanpagelogy but have not had enough time to attend to it as I should have.
_svala

[Former_Member]

I have had quite a bit of success with Facebook.

I don't have a facebook account but many of my customers do and they've posted reviews of their purchases on their pages. From those I've had a number of sales.

I track my sales by asking my customers how they found my shop and many have told me that they've seen my work on Facebook on a friend's page.

[Former_Member]

I find my facebook page quite frustrating, as I don't seem to get seen by many people when I post things. I've discovered that you get more views on your page if you comment and don't attach a picture. Difficult when your trying to promote and sell something!

I think I should do more tracking like crochetgal does and ask customers how they found my shop.

[reVetro]

We've had lots of success with FB, and we cross-promote with IG the same product but with a different photo. We get a lot of interaction, and introduce a lot of new items on each so we see the success rate as our items sell. We've learned to be creative with our posts, too. It's key… most of all it's free advertising, so you gotta stick out and be noticed.

Like a lot of things these days, one just has to keep up with the changes… whether it's on Etsy, Facebook, Pinterest and all the other Social Media tools.

Green wishes.

[TheBohemianDream]

Facebook doesn't really help me and I have over 3000 followers. I use it every single day and post stuff all the time. Some people are active followers, others just don't care. Unless you pay or have way more followers.. it doesn't really do that much somehow. Still, I want to keep my Facebook page up to date for those who care :) and well, eventually everything that you post on your Facebook page will also be visible in Google obviously, so keep on posting!

One thing that has given me a lot of traffic is Pinterest! Wow, it really boosted my traffic a lot. The most traffic from all the social media that I use. I almost have 5000 followers and is growing with 100 a day. I use it all the time and my work gets re-pinned all day. Very pleased :)!

[RomaMiaTradingCo]

I'm kind of over FB in general. I'm not a big fan of how they have changed things and you getting seen; however, you do get what you pay for.

If you don't want to pay for FB promotion, than be prepared to work really hard at getting seen on it.

I personally don't have a lot of success with it, than again, I haven't poured the time or energy into it to see the success from it.

[ConcertinaPress]

I found hooking up my Facebook page to my instagram and sharing instagram pictures onto FB was an easy way to keep my FB page updated without having to log on - but I agree with what everyone else said where FB isn't really worth investing a lot of time into, unless you pay to boost a post.

[JewelMeShop]

I find facebook time consuming. I have no success but I've never tried to pay to boost a post.

[Former_Member]

This was a link shared in another team that was helpful in explaining why FB doesn't seem to work for me, and why to NOT pay for boosts (which gets likes from click farms, which is totally worthless).

www.booooooom.com/2014/02/25/end-facebook/

The second video makes a good comparison between YouTube and Facebook, and why FB's treatment of every person, page and business as an advertisement is ultimately flawed.

- - - - -

Needless to say, I don't find FB worth my time. Granted, I only have 67 fans, so that's not saying much!!

Tumblr has been my biggest social media success, with thousands of incoming views and a number of direct sales. It's also been great to be featured on other people's blogs and to have my own blog.

[PrairiePrimitives]

The only marketing/selling luck I've had on Facebook is selling groups. I've had pretty good luck in some of them!

[Former_Member]

I think Facebook is about time. Something like direct person to person advertising. My best sale came from facebook. That person didn't even know I had an Etsy shop

[SangriaSilverDesigns]

I posted a link to a youtube video explaining about click farms and lack of organic reaches in another thread: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVfHeWTKjag Today was a prime example for me: I posted a picture (not a direct Etsy link) of a newly created necklace. Facebook shows my post was served to ZERO people! I have well over 600 likes! My one comment on it was from a relative. It's a complete waste of time for me.

[MaryPowDesigns]

Facebook has been really difficult lately. Posts aren't being shown to very many people. I'm going to keep using it, but I'm not going to worry so much about what's happening with my posts. I have gotten several sales from my Facebook followers, so I do think it's worth it overall, but I'm not going to stress out about the number of followers I have or don't have anymore.

[Former_Member]

Wow, I love reading how some of you have over 1000 likes on Facebook! That's fantastic. How did you manage to get so many users interested? How long did it take for you to do this? Please share! I'd love to learn from you.

[SangriaSilverDesigns]

My number of followers goes along with why Facebook doesn't work for businesses. I paid $5 for a spot and that's where I went wrong. It's not all people that like your shop. You get the "I like you, you like me..." and then the click farms from Timbuktwo. Your numbers start out great, but then over time just dwindle down to nothing because Facebook wants you to get desperate and pay for advertising. It's a scam.

Edited to add that I'm speaking for my shop only. Others have had great experiences

[thelonebeader]

Facebook helps me a lot. I have had direct sales as a result of posting my work there.. I try to find ways to keep the audience engaged. I have paid to boost posts on occasion just for fun. The other day, I paid to promote my page for about $5 and got 30 likes in less than 24 hours. I consider it advertising!

[seemomster]

I post on my personal page *and* my FB shop page. I know I've had sales because of my posts on my personal FB page.

[SimpleKnitShop]

I enjoy my FB page and update it regularly with non-product posts as well as product sale posts. It's an excellent way to dialogue with customers and I've received some brilliant product suggestions and feedback from FB. While I don't have a lot of "likes" I do have a high rate of engagement.

[AttentionGetting]

I just read a really interesting article at Inc. magazine how this woman who makes children's clothes became the top seller on Facebook.

Basically, it was by accident. She was designing kids clothes and doing ok. Then she had a company in China make some dresses for her based on her designs and they all turned out horribly. So she put them up on Facebook to her 135 followers and said if anyone wanted to buy them for cheap to just put their address and PayPal email (so she could invoice them) in comments.

She had 30 orders in about 5 minutes. That started to grow her business because all of these people's Facebook followers saw her post via comments. Now she has over 900,000 Facebook fans and a booming business. She thinks the key was that she made it easy for people to buy on the spot by eliminating all the steps involved in purchasing a product online. Plus, she kept these people as repeat customers and referrals.

This was a few years ago when you would post something on Facebook and it went to all of your followers. Now, only a small percentage of your followers see what you post, but you can pay to have the post be seen by more people.

Not saying it will work for everyone, but I thought it was an interesting approach.

[PrairiePrimitives]

Melanie, I've heard that Facebook is changing their rules (this month) and they'll start cracking down on people trying to sell from their personal FB page. So you might want to check on that ...

[PrairiePrimitives]

Here's a test for y'all to try. I assume many of you click the FB button on Etsy when you list a new item ... and are then disappointed when the FB posting gets few, if any, views.

Instead of clicking that button, go to your FB page and upload your product photo directly. Then, as a COMMENT, give a link to the item on Etsy. After a day or so, come back here and let us know if that FB post had any views. I've seen a difference, so maybe you will too!

[Former_Member]

I use FB a little bit differently...I do have a FB page and I use it every day. I listen to Social Media Marketing podcasts and use a lot of their tips like contests, give aways, posts that get people to engage. I post a lot of training advice and tips as well as video of me working and training my dogs. I don't make my FB page all about my products...there's a lot of fun stuff we talk about. A lot of my dog sport friends share my posts and products that I write about. I also market myself to FB groups who are really into selling dog show items and supplies. I have been a vendor at a lot of local dog shows and people are joining my FB page because I have a link to it on my stand alone website. I am starting to hear from people that my products are starting to create buzz with the dog training world because of FB which is kind of cool. I attribute a lot of my sales I've had to FB. But, I have been very careful on the brand I'm building and the content I'm putting out there on it.