Here are some of the things that I found discouraging about this app. With this app, as well as many of the other free apps out there, I was advertising SOMEONE ELSE'S shop on MY Facebook fanpage. If you notice, at the bottom of your shop listings on YOUR fanpage, there is a featured set of listings that have nothing to do with your shop. It looks something like this:
Have any of you seen this at the bottom of your page?
If you click on this little button, that is on the bottom of YOUR fanpage by the way, it brings up this pop up window shown here:
Now I found this to be very deceiving, as it looks like YOU are the one giving away something from YOUR shop every week worth $50.00. But, thankfully, that is not the case. Thankfully for you, but not necessarily to your fans.
Now this is the kicker. When YOUR FANS click on one of the pictures on the ticker, shown above, they are instantly presented with this pop up window announcing that something worth $50.00 is going to be given away every week. They may, or may not, know that this item is not from YOUR shop. SOMEONE ELSE'S item has the potential to be sold directly from YOUR Facebook fanpage and that SOMEONE ELSE didn't even have to do anything to get the sale. YOU were the vehicle that they used. After that, perhaps thinking that they are going to win something from YOUR shop, YOUR FAN clicks on the button that says PLAY TO WIN. They are instantly presented with yet another pop up window asking them to share SOMEONE ELSE'S item to their timeline.
You guessed it, they hit the green button and~ ta da~ SOMEONE ELSE'S item just got posted to YOUR FANS' timeline!
Is there anything in this post that refers people to MY Etsy shop or MY Facebook fanpage? Absolutely nothing! It all refers to the ETSY THEME APP and SOMEONE ELSE'S ETSY ITEM! How discouraging is this to you?
Now I know I am using a lot of itlaics and BOLD letters here, but I wanted to be sure to emphasize what all of this means. All of this means that YOU are promoting SOMEONE ELSE on YOUR Facebook fanpage, and YOU are not the one getting the benefits of this free app. The bottom line is that YOU are presenting YOUR FANS with an opportunity to be taken off of your page in the tiny beat of a heart, and the glitz of a golden embellished PLAY TO WIN button. The only people that are benefiting from this app are the people that made it and the other Etsy shop owners that are paying to get their items listed with them so they can use YOUR SPACE as a free marketplace.
One other thing I found to be discouraging about this app is that you have to use one of the templates that they provide. As many of you have found out, there is not a lot of selection in this area. I had to use a wedding background because it was the closest thing I could find to match my jewelry line.
OK, OK, enough with the bold letters and italics. I just wanted to be sure that you understand that by using this free app, you may be hurting instead of helping your business and driving targeted traffic away from your Facebook page and, ultimately, your Etsy shop. Why do I care? Because I feel passionate about all people that are brave enough to step out of the regular, everyday world that we live in and challenge ourselves to use our creative talents to become something more. I am part of the Maker's Movement, along with all of you, and I know exactly how hard it is to get in front of a targeted customer and present your talents to them. I know how hard we all work to get those hard earned sales in our Etsy shops. This is why I felt compelled to share this with all of you.
Now I don't want you all to feel as if there is really no way that this can be helped, or that there is nothing to be done about this. There is something else that I want to share with all of you. It is an answer to all of this, and it may just be more than you ever hoped for. It may even produce some sales for you in your Etsy shop.
I have found an incredible app that has eliminated all of this heartache and frustration for myself. It is not a free app, but I truly believe that you get what you pay for. I believe that, with this particular app, you may even get more than what you paid for. This app is called Fanpageology and it was designed by Tim Adam. For those of you that are not familiar with Tim, he is the mastermind behind Handmadeology and it is a wealth of free information for those with a creative business. I will share the links to both Handmadeology and Fanpageology at the end of this post and I really encourage all of you to go and check out both sites. I believe that you will be extremely pleased that you did. Tim has a lot of videos on the Fanpageology site that can help with some of the questions you may have about how it works.
The dark words in this post are links too, but I will post the links to both of the sites at the end, just the same.
Now, what I really want to do is share my experience that I have had using Fanpageology versus the Etsy Theme App. I have gotten over 150 targeted fans on my JKC Creations Fanpage. I have also gotten over 60 targeted fans on my Eternally Nature Fanpage. I just started my Eternally Nature Jewelry Line and I cannot believe that I have over 130 fans and my first sale already! I launched my Facebook fanpage for Eternally Nature on May 2, 2013. I credit all of the success I am having with this to Fanpageology.
In all of the time that I was using the Etsy Theme App, I did not culminate one targeted fan. I believe the reason was because I really had no leverage over people that visited my page. Now, what I mean by leverage is this~ I did not have any incentive for those fans to like my page. I didn't have a way to use a fangate with this particular app. I just had a tab that they could click only to be taken off of my page and promote someone else's Etsy item. Sure, my items were shown to them, but they didn't even have to click the 'like' button to see what I had to offer.
With Fanpageology, I was able to create fangates. I believe that fangates are an essential part to a successful Facebook fanpage. My fans actually have to click the 'like' button before they get access to the discounts and other things that I offer under my tabs. I can create tabs that are cohesive with my page, another plus to this great app! The best part is that it can all be done with the simple click and drag method that we are all so familiar with.
I encourage all of you to take a look at Fanpageology and watch the videos. I can tell you, from experience, that subscribing to Fanpageology has been one of the best decisions I have ever made for my creative business. It has provided a way for me to create excitement for my pages, as well as what I have to offer in my jewelry lines. It has created a way for me to know when I get a targeted fan on my Facebook fanpage. It is extremely powerful and I know it can help you as well.
Now, I told you that I would share the links to both Fanpageology and Handmadeology, so here they are:
http://www.handmadeology.com/
http://fanpageology.com/home/
Please go and check these sites out, but if you only have time for one right now, make it be Fanpageology. I know that being part of the Maker's Movement, you too, can benefit from the power that it offers. Oh, and one more cool thing...If you have more than one Etsy shop and more than one Facebook fanpage, you only have to have one subscription to Fanpageology and it will work for all of your shops and Facebook pages. Now that is something to rave about!
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