Rose of Sharon Jewelry

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.

After yesterday’s mild rant about the Rose of Sharon Jewelry Birthday Club, I’m feeling better. Mostly due to the ROSJ Facebook Fans sharing and caring – thanks to everyone!

But I also got some encouragement from the short comments, sent by new subscribers. The power of a thanks is curative!

I was up until 1 a.m. working on the manual updates to the Birthday Club database and read every comment. Some people were grateful that at least they would get one birthday gift this year! Others wanted to learn more about Rose of Sharon Jewelry. One lady commented on what a great marketing idea this was. (Hopefully I’ll be proving her right.) A guy left a note saying he would give his gift to a friend.

A new day, less stress and still have 400 new members to add to the club membership.

Don’t forget only a few days until the Rose of Sharon Jewelry Easter Sale on our Christian jewelry ends. Save 15% and free shipping until 4/4/10.

Our free newsletter/marketing tool – the Rose of Sharon Jewelry Birthday Club – was a small success its first year. When several freebie sites posted a link 3 weeks ago, we were hit with over 2,000 subscribers in 3 days! Never in my wildest dreams did I think we would be “mined” and shared like this.

The Birthday Club was created to encourage interested Rose of Sharon Jewelry blog readers and handmade jewelry lovers to keep in touch. Our web site is clear about what the club is – a marketing newsletter.

As a thank you to members, we give you a free (shipping included) pair of handmade earrings or,  if you prefer, a generous jewelry discount coupon during your birthday month. The only requirement is you must return to the site, “buy” the earrings (the coupon covers all costs) and provide us with a mailing address. This is pretty standard practice for any type of email marketing. We do not sell, share or otherwise use the info provided except for our basic marketing emails and you can unsubscribe immediately at any time.

We are a small partnership of women working together to market our handmade jewelry so supplying over 2,000 pairs of earrings will be beyond our budget. However, I decided that we are honorable so we should do our best to fulfill our promise. But after this weekend, I’m having some serious second thoughts.

Traffic – Yes.  Marketing Value – No?

While I do love having the traffic and many people sent thanks and wonderful comments about our jewelry, there is a dark side to this goodwill marketing effort.You see I have several Google alerts which forward me whenever Rose of Sharon Jewelry is mentioned. That’s  when I started reading less than positive messages about our club and free jewelry offering. I also started noticing that a mathematically impossible number of April birthdays were supplied by subscribers.

The word of mouth in freebie forums has been a bit ugly. I have read posts where people set up fathers and brothers and anyone else so they could get free jewelry every month. Many people thought this offer was a scam and would only receive the earring after a purchase or would require expensive postage – all untrue if they had actually read our Birthday Club enrollment message.

I’m a freebie participant too but I think I will rethink this as frankly, I’m really conflicted and upset. I am proceeding with setting up the subscriber base. There is some significant manual data entry required as our Constant Contact form was not fully implemented.

The purpose of this post is to share the important lesson of “be careful what you wish for.” Hopefully, you’ll be able to avoid the pitfalls of offering freebies as a marketing incentive.

Any thoughts? I’d love to hear some feedback.

Many artisans and craftspeople use models in their product photos but are they doing it “safely”? Are you getting a signed model release when you snap those shots? It isn’t a “law” but it is good business practice to obtain legal consent before using someone’s image in your advertising and marketing.

A model release form is a simple single page document where the model (or legal guardian if you are photographing children) agrees that you have the right to use their image for business usage. Some professional photographers actually “pay” their models a dollar to solidify this agreement.

But she’s my sister-in-law? He’s my best friend? While we like to think that disagreements won’t arise – the fact is they do. With a signed model release, you don’t have to fear that someone could legally prohibit you from using their image after you’ve designed an ad campaign or sent out product releases. And should your model become a “recognizable person” you might find yourself in hot water later on.

If you have a prepared model release and explain its purpose, you’ll find most people will willingly sign. Be sure to keep these releases in your file for later reference.

The take away here is to obtain a model release before you use the person in your business photography – just to be safe.

If you’d like a model release form for your own use, complete the contact form on the Rose of Sharon Jewelry site and I’ll be glad to email you the version I’ve used during my marketing career.

While this may seem a silly recommendation – do the right thing and obtain a release. It’s only your integrity at risk.

Using the image of a celebrity (even if they are deceased) in your marketing/advertising/promotion is a NO-NO! Their livelihood is tied to their image and legally they “own” it. A picture of Elizabeth Taylor or Lady GaGa used in a way that implies they endorse you or your business may seem like a great idea – until someone decides to object.

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,

The “creative title” you give yourself tells a story. Words set an image and affect how potential customers approach you. When introducing yourself, how do you describe yourself and your  creative work? Do you say you’re a busy Mom trying to earn some extra money, a Artisan with original work, a single gal with expensive hobbies or a devoted Grandma who does some crafting to keep busy?

How you present yourself tells people how you value what you do. Earning money from your talents is an honorable career. Don’t undermine your image by diluting your work story with “poor me” talk – I’m just trying to make some extra money, I need to pay for my hobbies, etc. By definition, if you are selling your creative work – then you are a professional. And you do not have to have formal training!

For example, people often mistakenly believe Artists are more talented or produce more “important” work than Crafters. In spite of multi-millionaire Martha Stewart working diligently to advance the image of Crafters, many of us still have to “upgrade” our titles.

Professionals have “titles” that have perceived value (notice the word perceived does not mean actual). Unfortunately, that’s the way the world works and if you want to earn money from your art/craft/creative work, you need to be sure you are representing yourself as a valuable, creative talent.

For many years during my early writing career, I never told people I was a writer. I was just a Mom, a wife and freelancer. A wise Life Coach made me introduce myself every morning to my bathroom mirror. I’m a professional writer who specializes in….

She also made me carry my business cards everywhere and to assertively introduce myself to as many people as I could for 2 weeks. That was a hard task for me! It made my knees shake every time. BUT, at the end of the 2 weeks – I knew I was a professional writer and published author.

So when I launched Rose of Sharon Jewelry, I proudly announced to everyone that I am a professional Jewelry Artist. I’m not a Grandma stringing necklaces, a wife making money on the side or a woman hoping to pay for her bead addiction – I’m an ARTIST!

So this week, rework your story, update your Twitter, blog, Facebook or MySpace profile to reflect your position within the creative world. Announce proudly, who you are (not who you are in relationship to others). Put it on your business cards and get out there and tell everyone!

Good Luck!

P.S. Never be embarrassed that you want to be paid for your work! What you do has value beyond money but money is a good start. LOL

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.