Rose of Sharon Jewelry

Would love to have readers share their favorite handmade products on the Rose of Sharon Jewelry Facebook Fan Page! Over 1,400 fans will see your wall post plus it will go out to the Rose of Sharon Jewelry Twitter feed.

The rich green Malachite beads in this memory wire bracelet creates a cuff look but it’s much more comfortable to wear. Dawn made this from Betty’s stash!

Green Twist is featured in our A.F.F. Jewelry Collection at Etsy.

Thanks for stopping by again. Don’t forget to check out the newest releases in the Rose of Sharon Jewelry store.

Last week I posted a Tantrum on changes re: Facebook custom landing pages. Here’s an update on FB’s apology and reversal of their rules.

To recap: Facebook via a forum post shared that custom landing pages would only be available on fan pages with 10,000+ fans and/or where the company was purchasing FB advertising. This meant that literally thousands of small businesses would not be able to set a custom call-to-action Welcome page tab as the default “home” page for their fan page.  Read my prior post on this change.

Ending small business access to the custom landing page happened without any prior notice. Pages simply weren’t being shown as the “home” page any longer. No notice just a forum post!

While this change may seem insignificant, in the FB world where everyone is scrambling for potential customers, the custom Welcome page levels the playing field a bit between businesses such as Rose of Sharon Jewelry and Kay Jewelry.

The news came just as I was authorizing Jenni at Suga Pink Designs to create a Welcome page for the Rose of Sharon Jewelry Fan page.

The next evening Matt Trainer (FB Development) left this message in the same forum.

Hello,

As of last night, we’ve removed the recently-added authentication requirement for setting custom landing tabs on Pages. The requirement was instituted as part of a Pages quality initiative, and we apologize for the inconvenience this caused to our developer and business community. We are re-investigating the situation, and will not make any further changes without first giving our community standard notice and lead-time.

Thanks for all your feedback,
Matt Trainer

While this doesn’t mean the rule won’t be implemented in the future, it does mean that the business and social marketing people who felt this was unfair were heard.

So I’m back to getting a new Welcome page for the Rose of Sharon Jewelry Fan page . I’ll announce it as soon as it goes live.

If you are interested in your own custom Welcome page for your FB fan page, I’d recommend Jenni at Suga Pink Designs

Facebook just announced that only fan pages with 10,000 fans can set their “home” page to a custom tab. All our calls to action Welcome pages created to increase your fan base will just be another tab that no one will ever look at.

Facebook just stopped custom tabs from being the opening to a fan page without telling us! Okay so we aren’t paying customers but we are a critical part of the Facebook business model – without such a big user base, all those paying ads would be worthless.

A Facebook Developers forum just had this post today -

Hello all,

We apologize for not messaging this earlier. Facebook recently made a change requiring that Pages be authenticated before enabling the ability to set a landing tab beyond Wall or Info. To be eligible for authentication, a Page must have greater than 10k fans or the Page admin must work with their ads account manager. If you are already working with an account representative, please contact that representative to begin the authentication process. If you do not work with an account representative, you can use this contact form to inquire about working with an account representative.

Also, for advertisers who don’t have a representative or 10k fans, and want to run ads and land users on a specific tab, you can still do so with standard Facebook ads by making their Destination URL as the URL incl. your tab.  Unfortunately, this currently will not work with "Fan"  ads.

Thanks,
Matt Trainer

Give me a Break!

You’d think that after the recent privacy uproar that they would put more thought into how they are evolving Facebook. I’ve long felt that they are slowly moving to a pay-for-service model so perhaps if they piss off the little people – only those left will be willing to pay.

This sounds like a book topic – How Facebook Got Arrogant and Greedy, The rise and fall of a social media giant.

I don’t want that to happen but a few years ago who would have thought that MySpace was going to wither away and experts are already sharing that Twitter isn’t nearly as powerful and useful (as a marketing tool) as we’re lead to believe.

My Advice

Start a blog and make it the center of your social networking world. You own it, you control it and the Constitution protects your freedom of speech. Just use sites like Twitter and Facebook for a part of your outreach – not the basis for building a business.

Sorry if there are typos or errors in this rambling post. I’m just mad and you should be to if you use Facebook to promote your business.

Social networking is hot for businesses – at least that’s what we’ve been told. So I’ve devoted my waking hours to promoting Rose of Sharon Jewelry via Facebook, Twitter and this lonely blog for months.  We’ve been blessed with Rose of Sharon fans and personal Sharon Fullen friends and store traffic is growing rapidly. I’m loving connecting with everyone and sharing a love of handmade arts and crafts BUT

where are the sales?

I’m not a newbie marketer but social networking as a marketing tool is still pretty new. There are tons of “experts” telling us what to do and how sites like Twitter and Facebook can level the playing field for small businesses like Rose of Sharon Jewelry.

What I’d like to know is how well Social Networking is working for your business? How much time to do spend every day in keeping up with tweets and wall posts?

I’m spending so much time talking to everyone online that my studio time is really an afterthought. And that’s not why I launched Rose of Sharon Jewelry.

I’d love to hear from everyone about their real-world experiences and thoughts about their marketing via the Internet.

Thanks,

Rose of Sharon Jewelry was spotlighted by a mutual Facebook Fan.  Thanks Janice for the support.

Hi - You are listed in my Facebook Discussions Board. I created a spotlight on ByHand.Me and included your necklace in it. It was published on Twitter and my Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/jkadesigns. Still working on how to get it listed and the spotlight pictures actually show up on my Facebook page but I did get the link so all fans can see your beautiful work! ~ Janice

The Facebook link love campaign has doubled the Rose of Sharon Jewelry fan base. When we hit 500 fans, 5 pairs of earrings were given away! Thanks to everyone who became a fan. The 5 new fans who won are: Greta Steinz, Sara Duggan, Amanda Gilmore and Pam Granger Gale.

It seems that Facebook is “afraid” of little giveaways with their rules regarding promotions within Facebook. Rose of Sharon Jewelry will continue to have these fun giveaways but you’ll need to participate via this blog of the main Rose of Sharon Jewelry site.

Don’t want to be given the boot by the FB administration so I’ll keep you informed on how to sign-up to win Rose of Sharon Jewelry prizes.

Speaking of Fans!

I was awarded a new fan prize by Fairy Cute. Yummy lip balm! I’m really enjoying how great my lips feel (it’s windy here in Sparks, NV). The vanilla mint is not too minty and stays on, too! You can check her out on Facebook just search for Fairycute!

Thanks!

Welcome to all our new Rose of Sharon Jewelry Facebook Fans.  I’ve been part of a link love campaign sharing networking info with other FB crafters. In a little over a week, I went from 300 fans to 500! And I’ve gotten to meet some wonderfully creative people.

I’ve been busy every evening keeping up with all the “fanning” pages, “following” Twitterers and “hearting” Etsy shops.  Next week, I’ll spend more time really looking at and talking with all the people I fanned.

I believe the link love campaign started on Etsy but it soon had its own momentum. In fact, I’m not certain who I heard it from but I know a good thing when I see it!

If you have a Facebook fan page promoting your creative business, stop by the Rose of Sharon Jewelry Facebook fan page and click on the My Discussions tab. You’ll find a link love  topic where you can start in sharing the link love!

As a long-time marketing consultant, I’m always amazed when I arrive at a Facebook Fan page, a blog, a twitter channel or online store and don’t immediately know who you are and why I want to be here.

I and the Rose of Sharon Jewelry Facebook Fan Page have been busy participating in an Etsy forum-based Facebook link love campaign with tons of creative artisans and crafters “sharing the love” and building network connections. Since the posted invite or networking listing is usually just a URL, I am often a surprised visitor.

Good marketing dictates that a visitor should immediately (you’ve only got their attention for less than 10 seconds) know “Who you are” and “Why the visitor should stay.”

Take a close look at your Facebook personal page and fan page along with your blog, Etsy store and twitter account. Would a stranger know immediately what you are creating/selling?

Don’t forget to include the http:// in your web addresses to make them clickable in many sites, forums, message boards, etc.

Be specific!!! I repeat BE SPECIFIC. Saying you “craft everything” means absolutely nothing. Select a primary focus of your business and concentrate on that. Online marketing is niche marketing. Set yourself apart – create an image – let the world know you make the best ___________________.

So to all my new Facebook Fans who are promoting their own businesses – Make certain no one has to wonder about who, what, where and why when someone comes visiting.

Still confused? Leave a comment here and I’ll continue the marketing lesson or answer specific questions.