Scrappy Marketing Solutions Blog

Using Facebook to Promote Your Scrapbooking Business

Though Facebook has been around since 2004, I continue to see people joining it all the time.  The digital scrapbooking community particularly has a growing presence (not really surprising, as digi-scrappers would be drawn to the virtual community features).  What I also see is people using Facebook to help promote their businesses.  A recent article on Techdirt highlights different ways businesses can use Facebook as a promotional tool: Facebook Can Be Fun, But It's Also Useful.

I think it's a mistake to discount how useful [Facebook] can be. In my experience the most useful features are not the add-on applications but the basic features built into Facebook itself.

The article goes on to mention specific Facebook features that have promotional uses, such as Facebook groups, photo albums, and event invitations.  I have seen several of my Facebook "friends" use these tools to promote their scrapbooking businesses.

A number of digital designers and digital scrapbooking communities have created Groups to promote their interests - Groups allow you to send mass emails (or "Notifications") out to Group members.  Personally, I'd like so see some local scrapbooking stores, or "traditional" scrapbooking manufacturers create Groups, and use them to post content, such as projects or tutorials.  Then they could send out Notifications that the content was available.

Digital Scrapbooking magazine (link: Facebook group profile) issued an Event Invitation to the CHA Summer Show.  While they are not hosting the actual trade show in July in Chicago (the Craft & Hobby Association is), they used Facebook's Event feature to invite 319 members of their Facebook group to the event.  That nicely ties their magazine's name and brand to the event.

Jessica Sprague (link: Facebook profile), a digital scrapbooking expert and instructor, created a Facebook Page for her Digital Scrapbooking Online Classes.  Then she added photos of layout examples from the classes to the Page.  When you create a Page, that allows you to "Share" the Page's content with your Facebook "Friends".  Those Friends can also become a "Fan" of your Page.  Things you are a Fan of show up on your profile, which just helps spread Jessica's message virally.

Jeanine Baechtold added the Blog RSS Feed Reader application to her profile, and added the feed for the Kristy Valshan blog (she is the "Kristy" half of the company).  This automatically updates her Facebook profile with the latest posts from the company blog.  That allows a little more "mileage" for the blog, within the Facebook community.

What about you?  How have you seen businesses (scrapbooking and non-) promote themselves on Facebook?  What Facebook features do you think haven't been used to their full promotional potential?  How would you like to see Facebook used as a promotional tool?

And while I'm on the subject of Facebook, I might as well post the link to the Page for Scrappy Marketing Solutions:

Blog Marketing: Blog Your Event

Here's a great example of a blog promoting an event: NGS 2008 Genealogical Conference Blog.

This blog promotes the 2008 National Genealogical Society Conference in the States and Family History Fair by highlighting different speakers and sponsors.  Not only does this give blog readers a taste of what they would find at the event, but it also offers insight into the expertise of their speakers.  Highlight posts point out the speakers' history, accomplishments, and memberships - all of which point to their expertise, enticing readers to come check out their presentations.

I also like that the blog provides prominent links to conference registration and hotel reservations - both "above the fold" (before readers have to scroll down to access more content).

A Scrappy Marketer's Hat Tip to local hosts of the NGS Conference!

Rubber Duck Blogging: How to Decide What to Blog About

A question I frequently hear at blogging class is, "What do/should I blog about?"  I usually tell blog students to write about whatever they're working on professionally - what's currently keeping them busy in their business. (Well, there's a bit more to it than that, but that's basically it.)  A recent blog post by Denise Wakeman offers another metaphor: How to Build A Better Blog: Writing Blog Content.

Here at SOBCon08, Chris Garrett spoke about creating content for your blog and blogging efficiency. He mentioned something called Rubber Ducking which I had never heard of.

It goes like this:

You say out loud, to a rubber duck, "I want to write about ________ and this is important because _______."

While I can't say I've ever explained myself to a rubber duck, it does provide a valuable exercise.  If you can explain why a blog topic is important to a rubber duck (or other inanimate object, or an imaginary friend, or whomever...), then you solidify in your own mind why you are writing about it, and its value to your audience.  This mindset will help guide your writing and the points you make in your post.

This actually brings to mind some advice a former English teacher gave me about writing book reports - pretend you're telling a friend about the book.  How would you describe what happened in the book to your friend? 

Explaining something to a friend encourages a casual tone, which can help words flow.  A casual tone is also desirable in blog posts.  Explaining something to a friend outside your niche can also help you determine what verbiage is 'jargon' (known usually only in your industry), and what concepts may need a little explanation.  For example, someone outside the scrapbooking industry - or Mr. Ducky - would have no idea what CHA is, or the role it plays in our industry.  The same may be true of many scrapbooking consumers, who don't have a professional role in the industry.  So explaining that CHA stands for Craft & Hobby Association, which hosts two large trade shows each year - shows that act as the launching points for new products and are hotbeds of industry trends - would be helpful for readers who aren't involved in the business side of crafts.

The more you explain, the more of an expert you appear to be.  And Mr. Ducky might be suitably impressed, and tell all of his ducky friends to waddle right over to do business with you.