Face Book.....good For Marketing Your Leather Business?

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

I know an artist who is killing it in sales, and he sells many of his works off of his FB page. One thing he does is that he keeps his phone, and laptop next to him while he works. That way he can respond instantly to the comments made on his art. He starts with pics of a rough sketch, and may ask "Who is it?" if it is a portrait of a famous person. By doing this he starts to draw in the fans as they start posting their guesses. He continues to post progress pictures of the painting until it is done, which may be from a few hours to a day later. I have seen paintings sell within 15 minutes from when he posts the final pic with the price. BTW the paintings are in the $300-$500 range. His higher end paintings- $700 to $10,000 are sold through his gallery, but FB plays a big role in sales.

[artycpt]

That is a great marketing idea. I need to be more active on my facebook page. I tend to just post completed projects but I like the concept of works in progress and making it interesting for those who view the page.

[JinxedDream]

Facebook is a great tool. I know people who's entire business runs on FB, including leatherwork. And we're talking international sales. If done rit, it can make or break you. I've helped several people set up pages. Its huge for sales, I trade and deal more over FB these days than anything else. Horses, show cattle, tack, goats, textbooks, all on there.

[Chit]

Hi

I recently started a facebook page and I do agree with many of you guys that it is a good marketing tool to get new fans or to direct traffic to your selling website.

I believe beyond posting your personal works, the key is to think of creative ways to engage your fans.

I did a simple promo to give away a card wallet this week just thanking my fans for their support, asking them to share my photo and choose a thread colour that they will like.

And Im pleasantly surprised that it has kind of went viral: I had 3000+ more views, 15 more new likes and some enquiries. Im still very much learning the craft and still new to this whole business thing, but it has been encouraging.

You can check it out here:

http://www.facebook....&type=1

Edited April 12, 2013 by Chit

[cowboy bowhunter]

Since my last post i do 90% of my sales on facebook. I went to school for marketing and know how to advertise. But facebook has been great. I don't have a website just a facebook page. If you know what to do on facebook you can make good money selling on there.

[Warpe]

I have just started a website for my business (Gallant Gunleather) and did a lot of reading on the value of Facebook. As stated by several, it will get you orders that you may not have ever gotten. The one thing to do reseaech on before you put out any money, is their paid advertising. Depending on your needs, it can be nothing but a money pit, but for others it may be cost effective. Make sure you run the numbers on how much each like or visit is actually paying you dividends.

[JustKate]

Those of you who know me personally will readily agree that I am no marketing expert. But one thing I have learned is that no marketing strategy should rely on only one venue for promoting your business. I know people who call their business "an Etsy business", or "an Ebay business", and lately I've heard "a Facebook business" as well.

Facebook is a great tool, but it should only be one tool among an array (or at least a couple) of tools used in conjunction with each other to create a total marketing strategy. Not only can you multiply the results by using multiple venues, you avoid the mistake of making your entire business dependent on one other entity, which may or may not continue to serve you in the future. There are numerous large marketplaces online now, where you can get your work seen by large numbers of potential buyers.

That said, what Chit mentioned about finding creative (and relevant) ways to engage your Facebook visitors has also proven to be the key for me. The more your visitors interact with you (i.e., "Like" a post, leave a comment, share, etc.), the more other people are seeing your posts. Use your stats to determine which posts are engaging people the most, and keep making more posts like it. That will also attract more people to "Like" your page. Then when it's time to promote something you're selling, you've got an audience that is eager to see what you have to offer, simply because they are the ones who are already interested in what you sell to begin with. I love the integrity of that.

Edited July 28, 2013 by JustKate

[Chit]

Check out this useful link for infographics of facebook's edgerank algorithm : http://mashable.com/2013/05/07/facebook-edgerank-infographic/

Basically, (good quality) pictures are the way to go!

[CeilingUnlimited]

I too have done really well on facebook! I am in a small niched market,and there are other pages that openly sell items within that market from other People looking to sell their stuff. So I post many of the things I make,and People are buying it up! I also post that I take order's as well,and have had a TON of success with that as well! One thing I like to do,is offer gift certificates as well as adding a small freebie product if they buy a certain item etc. The possibilities on facebook are endless! I get PM's all the time from People asking me if I can make this or that,and I've done a lot of business that way too! I've also had many People post positive feedback and recommend my items to other People by posting publicly on quite a few of the facebook selling/swap pages I deal with,so its a great feeling to know that there are People out there in facebook Land that do want to buy....you just have to put yourself and your items out there,and be confident in what you are doing,and of course honest communication with buyers is paramount when selling on facebook.

[Lucky Dog Leather]

I use a facebook page as part of my branding and marketing program. There are a lot of moving parts on the social media end of branding and marketing and facebook can be an important element. I also use twitter, pinterest and I have plans to add google+.

The goal is not just direct sales but keeping an open and friendly channel of communication open with my customers. I definitely get sales through social media outlets but it also helps with credibility. People feel like they have access to the people who have designed the products and actually make them so we don't come off as some random company seeling stuff we bought in China and marked up.

It is also great for getting feedback from customers and people who may not have purchaces but are still interested in what we have going on.

In addition, being active online helps with search engine optimisation. The better we do at that, the more people can find us through google searches.

It is always a work in progress but if you can and want to put some time and consistancy into it, you can get good results.

Lucia~

http://www.luckydogleather.com