How do you use Facebook for your shop?

[SalemStyle]

My shop's FB page is a hair short of pathetic. Most of my "fans" are people I know so I find it hard to post as a business when they clearly know it's me.

How often do you post on your businesses facebook page?
What do you post about? (Besides new listings)
How do you keep fans engaged with your page/shop?
Anything else I should know?

thanks!

[Former_Member]

I try and post at the weekends and when i have new listings.
I have found photos with my daughter playing with the chalk boards gets the most viewings and people sharing the link.
Also its a lot of fun for us to do on a saturday morning !

I have invited friends and paid for the ads this got me 100 friends for about $15.00. But only get a few to come to my store.

Created a store on facebook no joy yet.

Set up a giveaway and promoted is lol 1 person applied lol guest he will win !

Hoping to get to 400 views then i can try the promoto tool .

tried everything else :)

[ColorMyWorldCrochet]

I will post to Facebook when I list something new but I try to say something interesting about the item when I post it. I also noticed if I post it as a regular photo with a link to the listing, it gets more views then if I just post the thumbnail that comes up in the post preview.

I will sometimes talk about a project in progress. Those posts usually get a lot of views and some comments.

Once in a while I will promote other shops on my page.

One of my most popular recent posts was just a collage of all of the recent items that I crocheted. People really seem to like photos.

I also post crochet or fiber related links that I shared from other pages.

Oh and one time I accidentally posted a photo of Jonathan and Drew Scott in kilts (from the Property Brothers on HGTV). I meant to post it on my friends page. That post got more views than some of my others! lol

[Babiease]

I do pretty much all of the above but do post an occasional personal comment about being a busy mother of three boys. Also, since I sell baby items and also a mother I post parenting related links. Some are preparing your nursery to a good recipe or product.

[Former_Member]

I do a lot of the same, too! I once accidentally posted a picture of my new nail polish color (which was a really cool dark blue color) and tagged my sister (she does my nails) on my page instead of my timeline. I, too, got many views on that, but also got some new likes from my sister's friends. I even got a few sales from one of those friends! ;) Too funny how that happens.

I do want to start posting some articles instead of my progress on projects, or photos of finished products. I have noticed that a lot of people have been liking my photos that I've been posting of some of my new beaded/sequin ornaments in process...they seem to be fascinated by the process! :)

[TOMgirlApparel]

Someone just told me to make a list of everything you would want your potential customer to know. Then post one item from that list at a time with an interesting picture and link. I am giving this a try, I hope it helps :)

[Former_Member]

I post work in progress, custom orders and workshop pictures. I also take pics of my boy playing with my beads and making a necklace.
Also, I surf the net about 15 minutes each day and save images in a folder, for later use. They might be funny, inspirational, motivational or cute. Every once in a while, I post one and it gets a lot of attention, more than my posts on my business!
I sometimes post recipes or links to a new blog I've found. Links to a fun product here on Etsy. I just ordered a heat pack and I posted a link.
I read somewhere that the key is balancing all of your posts and that the ratio 80%fun/20%business seems to go a long way..

[SalemStyle]

thanks everyone! Definitely going to put in some "real life" posts to make things interesting :)

[BZFingers]

Here are two good articles about FB
http://www.handmadeology.com/planning-for-facebook-how-to-post-a-steady-stream-of-exciting-and-engag...
http://www.handmadeology.com/planning-for-facebook-how-to-post-a-steady-stream-of-exciting-and-engag...

[Former_Member]

They're useful links. I'm guilty of only sporadically updating my FB page, Thanks!