Saturday, April 14, 2012

How to Network Your Business with The Craft Show

Lot's of new people and businesses join The Craft Show every day. Because of this we like to revisit from time to time, the best ways to network your business with us.

Our Facebook Page

We have nearly 30, 000 friends, fans and business on our fb page. It's a great place to get your business seen. Networking on our page is free and easy. There are multiple ways to meet others and grow your businesses fan base.

1. Post your business page on our wall for others to see.
2. Visit others that post and introduce yourself and your business.
3. Like and comment others that post (people love to see this).
4. Be social.
*TCS Tip: numbers 2, 3 and 4 are the absolute best way to network.

5. Join our networking events.
 We post feature businesses daily.
 Feature pages are paid sponsors that keep our page open. We also feature pages for free from time to time that we see participating by liking and commenting on the pages we post.

Other events include our famous "Networking Cruises".
 (see how to cruise on the FAQ page on this blog). Our cruises have brought hundreds and even thousands of fans to pages since we opened in April 2011.

Shout outs.
We do random shout outs daily for people that are active on our page. Its our way of thanking people for participating. Our shout outs are posted on Twitter as well as our fb page, giving 2 venues for businesses to get noticed.

Our Blog and Website

This blog along with our website www.thecraftshow.org receive lots of pageviews each month. We occasionally have events where we do blog posts that feature businesses and have Banner advertising as well. These banners show on every page of our blog and are another great way to get your business seen. (click on the Our Services tab above) to see how you can add your banner.
On our website, you can become a member (free) and be friends with hundreds of others. There is a members blog there as well where you can post specials or general news about your business. We have a cool feature on the main page of the website as well. It's a create your own ad feature. Very inexpensive with 2 sizes. The small ad is $2 a week and the large is $2.50 per week.

Some do's and dont's of networking.
DO be social
DO like and comment others posts
DO always tag your business page when commenting
DO be active
DO follow rules when using others pages to promote your business

DO NOT post negative comments
DO NOT expect to get something for nothing- Be fair to others
DO NOT use other pages to advertise your business that aren't designed for it
Remember, what you say on a social network cannot be taken back, so always think before posting.

Last but not least
Businesses need networking pages. Besides ours, there are lots of great ones out there to use. Use them wisely. Pick one to use or pick them all. It's your business and you do whats best for you. But remember, networking pages need you to participate by being fair, following the rules, be active and have fun while building your fan base. People notice the difference between someone who is fair and honest and someone who isn't. How we all act is a reflection of our businesses. And as always, networking isn't easy, but we try to make fun ways to do it. And it takes all of us to do it correctly to make it work.

Have a great day and week ahead,
TCS