How to Use Social Media for Your Etsy Shop: FACEBOOK FAN PAGES

Yesterday, I embarked on an epic social media frenzy, and it is already a little overwhelming.  I am familiar with Facebook and Pinterest, but my social media expertise pretty much ends there.  I have had a personal Instagram for about a year and a half, but I never remember to use hashtags. As a result my only followers are some of my real life friends.  I created a Twitter years ago, but I have only ever tweeted out two tweets.  So yesterday it was time to do some research and dive in! Here is what I have learned so far!

Social media is really important for an Etsy business.  Sure, people will find your Etsy shop by searching on Etsy, but those finds will be few and far between.  Also, if you simply post your wares to Etsy and do not advertise them anywhere else, the only people who will ever buy your products are people who already regularly use Etsy.  To be successful, you need to show off your crafts to a wider demographic.  Creating an Etsy account to buy an item that you love is quick and easy and likely will not deter any tech savvy people who see an item that you posted on Facebook and just have to have it!

The tricky part of social media is that each platform is different. Each has it’s own unique demographic of regular users, and each has it’s own best methods for making sure that your posts get out there and get seen. Over the next few posts, I will break down what I have learned so far about each social media site. Today, I am starting off with Facebook!

Facebook –  www.facebook.com/PearTreeStitches

Facebook is great for introducing all of your friends and family to your new Etsy shop.  You can quickly create a fan page, invite all of your Facebook friends, and load up your fan page with pictures of your products and links to your store.

I like to create albums for each type of product that I sell on Etsy.  In these albums, I post my Etsy project pictures with a unique link to that product’s Etsy page in the photo’s description.

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 I try to limit my Facebook posts to twice a day. One in the morning, so that people will see it when they are scrolling through their phones on their coffee breaks at work, and one at around 4 or 5 pm.  I do not want to post more frequently than this because I do not want to lose Facebook fans by cluttering up people’s new feed with my overzealous crafting posts!

I also do not bother to post on the weekends. Facebook fan pages track how many people have seen your post, and I have found that when I post on weekday afternoons, I am able to reach a lot of people, but when I post between 5 pm on Friday and 8 am on Monday, hardly anyone sees my post at all .

Facebook basically boils down to knowing when to post, and making it as easy as possible for your Facebook fans to navigate their way from an image of a product that they like on Facebook to the ability to purchase the item on Etsy. 

So far, I have made 7 sales and ALL OF THEM have happened because one of my Facebook fans discovered something that they liked on Facebook BEFORE traveling over to Etsy to buy it.

I highly recommend creating a Facebook fan page for your Etsy shop! It is a great place to start when you are just beginning to build your Etsy following!

Next time, I will go over using Instagram! Until then, please check out my Etsy shop at: www.etsy.com/shop/PearTreeStitches.

Thank you for reading!