Thursday, November 12, 2009
What an awesome resource Facebook is!! I discovered it as a social site just a few months ago, but didn’t recognize it as a brilliant marketing tool until weeks later! As an individual, I’ve got a few hundred “friends.” These are people I love, like, know or just have known. They’re folks who I care about and visa versa. They are the people who, when shown something that I’ve done entrepreneurially, always respond cordially, positively, or constructively. Their opinions of what I do, always tend to be good. While appreciated, this type of feedback doesn’t necessarily help me. As Steven Pressfield of ‘The War of Art’ puts it, their reviews of my work are not “legal tender in the real world.” It’s nice, but not ultimately what I need. Their opinions (which, admittedly I still seek regularly) while comforting and ego-stroking, are just that. They are the comforting and ego-stroking opinions of the people who would never consider telling me if I had a totally bone-headed idea. They wouldn’t dream of crushing my dreams and aspirations with real, uncensored, and potentially devastatingly critical comments. Why would they? They’re my family & friends.
This is why I’ve taken next step. I’ve created an independent profile for both my Tyed Art Graphic Design business and my LittleLDS brand. This company and brand both have their own respective Facebook “fan-base” and they are invaluable to me! Neither of them have nearly as many “friends” (or “fans” in their case) as my personal Facebook profile does, but for the purposes they serve, they’ve got plenty. In fact, their meager numbers are what make them highly valuable and suggestive!
Although many of the fans are people that I know, the majority of them are people that I do NOT know. These are the fans that are most valuable to me. Why? Because these are the people that are truly interested in the content of my business and brand! They wouldn’t be fans otherwise. They don’t know ME, and they don’t care about ME! Hence, their REAL value! They are my legal tender, my real-world indicators and my compass. I can use these people (collectively and individually) to gauge how I’m doing as a business and brand. The more fans I get, the better I’m obviously doing. When people unsubscribe to my fan pages, I know that I’m not working hard enough. This motivates me to work harder! The bigger my Facebook fan-base grows the more exposure I get to my business & brand… and exposure means possible income!
I’ve been posting regularly themed posts on both pages since their inception. These posts are kind of like the “bits” that late night talk shows do to keep their shows entertaining and unpredictable. They’re meant to change it up and keep things fresh and from getting boring. My posts are carefully planned out and time-released. All of them are designed to stimulate interest in the business or brand respectively and/or to establish an intended reputation.
For example, on my Tyed Art Graphic Design page, I rotate the TYPE of posts. Some days I post a “Did you know?” post. In these, I provide a researched and little-known fact about a famous logo design. Aside from being interesting, providing this information actually portrays Tyed Art, Inc. as a purveyor of logo wisdom and information… a specialist and an expert, if you will. Other days I post about logos that I’ve done in the past to showcase my work (bringing the portfolio to them, one at a time). Some days I’ll just give a quick snippet about what I’m currently working on as a Designer. Some days I show off my other non-logo artwork. The fan base is slowly growing, and almost completely with people I don’t know.
For one of my rotating LittleLDS page post-types, I post comics from the Latter-Day Side that I’ve been developing over the years. These comic posts do several different things.
First, they’re humorous, so they get a quick chuckle. But this chuckle can be viral. Anytime someone reposts that comic (because they thought it was cute, can relate to it, or because they know someone else in their Facebook network who would appreciate it) I get instant and free exposure to their entire friend list. The comics all have the LittleLDS.com signature in the corner which leads them to either the fan page or the official website. Either way is good for me.
Second, the Latter-Day Side comic, which I know full well gets viewed by non-LDS Facebook users, can give some insight into our culture. It says that we can have a sense of humor about ourselves as a people. On other days, with LittleLDS, I post contests or giveaways. Sometimes I just post relevant LDS news topics or ask thought-provoking questions. On Mondays I post simple FHE activity suggestions having to do with the LittleLDS coloring pages themselves.
Marketing this way on Facebook has been extremely insightful. It’s given me a really great education on what does and doesn’t work out there. The idea here is to engage the audience, to get conversations going and to cast my net wide.
I’ve done a lot of research regarding Facebook marketing. I’ve discovered whole manuals on how to engage Facebookers and how to use the program to cross promote. There’s still a lot to learn, and Facebook is really just one tool of many that can be used to market.
This is why I’ve taken next step. I’ve created an independent profile for both my Tyed Art Graphic Design business and my LittleLDS brand. This company and brand both have their own respective Facebook “fan-base” and they are invaluable to me! Neither of them have nearly as many “friends” (or “fans” in their case) as my personal Facebook profile does, but for the purposes they serve, they’ve got plenty. In fact, their meager numbers are what make them highly valuable and suggestive!
Although many of the fans are people that I know, the majority of them are people that I do NOT know. These are the fans that are most valuable to me. Why? Because these are the people that are truly interested in the content of my business and brand! They wouldn’t be fans otherwise. They don’t know ME, and they don’t care about ME! Hence, their REAL value! They are my legal tender, my real-world indicators and my compass. I can use these people (collectively and individually) to gauge how I’m doing as a business and brand. The more fans I get, the better I’m obviously doing. When people unsubscribe to my fan pages, I know that I’m not working hard enough. This motivates me to work harder! The bigger my Facebook fan-base grows the more exposure I get to my business & brand… and exposure means possible income!
I’ve been posting regularly themed posts on both pages since their inception. These posts are kind of like the “bits” that late night talk shows do to keep their shows entertaining and unpredictable. They’re meant to change it up and keep things fresh and from getting boring. My posts are carefully planned out and time-released. All of them are designed to stimulate interest in the business or brand respectively and/or to establish an intended reputation.
For example, on my Tyed Art Graphic Design page, I rotate the TYPE of posts. Some days I post a “Did you know?” post. In these, I provide a researched and little-known fact about a famous logo design. Aside from being interesting, providing this information actually portrays Tyed Art, Inc. as a purveyor of logo wisdom and information… a specialist and an expert, if you will. Other days I post about logos that I’ve done in the past to showcase my work (bringing the portfolio to them, one at a time). Some days I’ll just give a quick snippet about what I’m currently working on as a Designer. Some days I show off my other non-logo artwork. The fan base is slowly growing, and almost completely with people I don’t know.
For one of my rotating LittleLDS page post-types, I post comics from the Latter-Day Side that I’ve been developing over the years. These comic posts do several different things.
First, they’re humorous, so they get a quick chuckle. But this chuckle can be viral. Anytime someone reposts that comic (because they thought it was cute, can relate to it, or because they know someone else in their Facebook network who would appreciate it) I get instant and free exposure to their entire friend list. The comics all have the LittleLDS.com signature in the corner which leads them to either the fan page or the official website. Either way is good for me.
Second, the Latter-Day Side comic, which I know full well gets viewed by non-LDS Facebook users, can give some insight into our culture. It says that we can have a sense of humor about ourselves as a people. On other days, with LittleLDS, I post contests or giveaways. Sometimes I just post relevant LDS news topics or ask thought-provoking questions. On Mondays I post simple FHE activity suggestions having to do with the LittleLDS coloring pages themselves.
Marketing this way on Facebook has been extremely insightful. It’s given me a really great education on what does and doesn’t work out there. The idea here is to engage the audience, to get conversations going and to cast my net wide.
I’ve done a lot of research regarding Facebook marketing. I’ve discovered whole manuals on how to engage Facebookers and how to use the program to cross promote. There’s still a lot to learn, and Facebook is really just one tool of many that can be used to market.
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