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:

Comments

[Jeanine]

Great article Angie! I think facebook is a fantastic way to spread the word about your business without being too "in your face". It shows the personal side of you (like when you send a starbucks to someone or "superpoke") but also allows you to share your new releases (in the photos - you can post pictures of products), post advertisements (with the big profile pictures application) and more.

It would be wonderful to see the traditional manufacturers on facebook - just like many companies use the "my place" feature of scrapbook.com. I think just posting their new products and sample projects would be worth the effort many times over! It is a great way to create a buzz.

[Angie Pedersen]

Thanks, Jeanine! I know I'm interested to know how business owners fare using Facebook as a promotional tool, too - does it bring in newsletter or blog subscribers? Any joint venture leads? Business partnerships? A valuable way to connect with "ambassadors"? I'd love to hear case studies "from the field".