Are you using social networking to market your products?

Good day my friends :)

Are you using social networking for your business? If you are, you know that it's a great way to get the word out about your products and services. And, you can be as successful as you want to be when using Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Linked In, etc. The Craft Show uses all of these, plus this blog and our website.

We've been on Facebook for about 10 months and have grown to over 27,000 friends who own homebased businesses. We created The Craft Show to help give exposure to these businesses. We'd like to share some observations we've made that may help in your endeavor of growing your fan base on Facebook.

TCS has been fortunate to be able to see how lot's of people try to promote their business on Facebook. We've seen some do it with more success than others. What we've notice the difference between the two is the successful ones are definately more "social" than the others. This is what we believe is the biggest key to success. People who interact with others are definately more likely to grow faster. Interaction can be as simple as liking someones post, or commenting (in a positive way) about a what someone has posted. Think about it: you post something on your page or someone elses, how do you feel if it just sits there and eventually falls off the page with no likes or comments. Do you wonder if, 1. anyone saw it? 2. it was seen but no one cared? or 3. it was seen and someone didn't like it? Makes you wonder doesn't it?

On the other hand, how do you feel when you post something and see that people have liked or commented on it? I know for sure this option brings a smile to your face. Why? Because now you know someone is paying attention to your posts. It's not just disappearing into the FB black hole.

So how do you get people to interact with you? It's simple, interact with them. Too many times people sit back and wait for others. Don't do this. Be proactive. Be "social".

Another observation we've made is, some people don't want others to post on there page. We've had emails from people that have been on our networking events that have told us that they posted on another page that was on the event and were told to remove their post. As much as we hate to say this, it is their right to do this. It is each business owners discreption to run their page how they see fit. In our opinion, and it is just our opinion, this is not a good way to do business. Again, FB is a social networking site and this isn't being very social, is it? You should encourage others to participate on your wall. Be "social".

Negative comments or posts are not a good way to advertise. Competion in business is fierce. There are many, many businesses that are doing the same thing as you and we are doing. When competing with others in your field, there is a temptation to say something negative about their business. A word of warning: DON"T DO IT! This will leave a bad taste in the mouths of potential customers.

Networking is about people helping people. Show people you are willing to help them and you'll make a friend. Again an observation we've made: not everyone is willing to do this. We see it everyday when we do our networking events. Most participate by helping others, but some are strictly in it for themselves. I'll lay odds on it that the ones who participate and help others, will be more successful in the end than the ones who don't.

In closing:

Be proactve, be helpful, be polite, be positive, be fun and be "SOCIAL" :)

Have a great weekend friends,

TCS