Do you have a Facebook Framing Page?

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Framerpicture
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Re: Do you have a Facebook Framing Page?

Post by Framerpicture »

Facebook, Twitter, blogs etc are all things which I've been considering. What currently puts me off is the hours of work required to maintain and keep an upto date and profesional presence.

Our new websites should finally come to fruition later this year and I realise that to keep these current and managable ,will mean plenty of extra man (or women) hours. This means employing yet more staff. This member of staff will be responsible for
both the web site, new media, and direct maketing.
Even for a 20 hr a week member of staff we would need to take at least an additional £35k a year to just cover wages and investments in web sites etc

The other thing to consider is if you have capacity for more work 52 weeks a year- Obviously we have plenty of capacity this time of year,but from April to December we keep very busy. I'm hoping with my recent investments in new workshops and machinery I could run a twilight shift or double day shift if so required.

As Kev says, there is lots of information on using social media out there.The FSB are running a free seminar locally next week on this very subject.

If what Jim is offering, along with his other online training ideas were to be included in Guild membership, then I would have to consider joining again!

But having seen the guilds website I think your safe there Jim! Good luck with your new venture I will definately be having a look at it
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Re: Do you have a Facebook Framing Page?

Post by kev@frames »

ups! sorry will, removed my post while you were replying lol.

I was just saying that there are 100s of PLR articles, courses and how-to do "social media" on the internet doing the rounds in the war room warrior forum, blackhat seo forums, and internet marketeer groups. I'll be very interested to see what new stuff jim has come up with particularly relevant to framing businesses.

We looked at this, and I came up with more than 50k needed in additional T/o to make it worthwhile doing in house.
outsourcing would be the way to go.

We don't need additional marketing, social or otherwise, at the moment either, as we are always up to capacity and consistently up year on year.

Jim saying we're finished if we don't embrace social media?
pffft. You are selling social media courses Jim ;)
Nice try.

someone once told me the same thing when I didn't buy a fax machine off them.

Social media is probably useful to some, but I think its stretching it a long way to say we are doomed without embracing it!

If I do ever need it, I'll outsource it. No time as it is, you see.

And like Merlin I'll continue to use facebook and Linked in for non-marketing, personal uses meanwhile. That way I use it, it's not using me.
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Re: Do you have a Facebook Framing Page?

Post by Merlin »

Gesso&Bole wrote:All I'm saying is don't get left behind.
That is a completely different slant on the story from:
Gesso&Bole wrote:I would go as far as to say that if you are not embracing the 'new media' you are not going to be in business for very long.
Good way of advertising for your business though.
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Re: Do you have a Facebook Framing Page?

Post by technoframer »

I can't stand the new social media, it is invasive, time consuming, can turn into slanging matches, prone to personal security problems and a number of other nasties that I can't just think of at the moment.

However, the reality is, this is the way a huge proportion, perhaps all, of our young people communicate and socialise. As this age group ages they become a larger proportion, year on year, of the retail population. This was made clear to me recently by a friend, a driving instructor, who is very good at his job, has never advertised and has relied for the past 30 years on word of mouth to get customers. The last few years has seen his business decline considerably. He does not have email, uses the internet once a month perhaps and doesn't trust "electric" banking. I also know another younger instructor who uses the internet and social media effectively, and he has very little problems finding customers. Obviously the predominant market age here is 17-20 year olds, but to me it was a very effective lesson that things are changing, and the fact that your business is doing well now does not mean it will be doing well in 12 months time.
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Re: Do you have a Facebook Framing Page?

Post by mikeysaling »

cannot understand why i still get lots of business using my donkeys years old website (aol press) !!!!! hand made by mwa. only do medals - no customers skills whatsoever - i'm a grumpy old b...... - if it don't ring true i won't do it - basically i'm the 'service' providor from hell ! I have an attitude problem and if i frame your medals then you done good !!

the last thing i would do is punt for custom on FB or Twit .....

rant over -- also i have gone on enough 'courses' in my #anking career to last me a lifetime and the last thing i need now is someone telling me how to conduct my business - those that can do - those that can't teach ........................ I did used to administrate.

and - pardon my ignorance - what is all this networking carp all about ! can anyone show me it does anything except for those that have a nefarious service to sell ! If you got a good product it will sell - tell me about the car you drive is it japanese or german and how much dya know about the guy that made it except that it its a good product !
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Re: Do you have a Facebook Framing Page?

Post by GeoSpectrum »

technoframer wrote:...predominant market age here is 17-20 year olds...
How does that age group compare with the age groups that purchase the various available framing services? I would suspect that most bespoke framers sell to an older group; those whos use of social media is limited perhaps? On-line sales of acrylic blocks canvas prints etc might sell to a younger group who may use the 'new media' a good deal more. Of course ans the opoulation ages then we will need to adapt.

Who knows this demographic stuff the FATG?

Anyway, it all depends on your bit of the market and your business model; if you sell mainly to the older groups the use of social media in your marketing may be less relevant than those who sell on-line for example.

If anyone putting together a course how to use social media should consider a module how we go about analysing our business needs to see if we even need to bother in the first place. The 'how to' bits are probably available for free somewhere.

‘Framing Business Demographics and how to Continue to Target Your Customers Effectively’ Hummm......sounds interesting...

Jim?
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Re: Do you have a Facebook Framing Page?

Post by Gesso&Bole »

Alan, that is exactly the sort of information that is in my course.

It is also the sort of information that I will be covering (in less detail) in my free seminars at the Spring fair.

The fact that it is only young people on social media is a total myth. The average twitter user, for example is 39 years old, and a professional. The fastest growing part of facebook is females over 40 years old. I will be giving the up to date stats on this at the Spring Fair. Come and listen if you can. http://www.fineart.co.uk/Article/Detail ... 9294574927

But my point is not just about social media in terms of twitter and facebook. But also about how people are shopping in different ways. How people are searching for information. And how businesses need to adjust their thinking, so that they are represented in the places that new customers are going to be looking.

My mother is 79 years old, and this year did all of her christmas shopping online. My father in law who is in his mid seventies has just discovered that he can get all the books he wants from Amazon and Ebay, and is becoming a real bore about it - God help Waterstones! Both are on facebook so they can see what their grandchildren are doing. The architecture is changing, and any business, framing or other, needs to be aware and to adapt to survive.
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Re: Do you have a Facebook Framing Page?

Post by The Jolly Good Framer #1 »

Years ago I guess business owners would have had discussions about whether it made sense to use a printing press to produce adverts.....
At some point all technology is new.... as is ‘Social Media’ at the moment. But remember, its just a tool.... (like a printing press). Use it to your advantage to get more customers - to make more money! If you want – if it suits your business – if you can be arsed even!

Using Facebook and/or Twitter costs no cash.... its free to use which is great... but its DIY so its going to use up your time.... and time is money. and like any type of advertising you need to weigh up whether its going to be money well spent.
If you spend half your working day tweeting and get no new work from it then its a waste of time and effort just like if you advertised in a magazine for a year and got no new work from it.

Times are changing... and to a certain extent Jim is right – you could get left behind! The way the general public are deciding on a purchase and how the are purchasing is changing. Groupon for an example is massive and some businesses are making serious money from it. But 18 months ago no one had even heard of it.

Facebook and twitter are not the be all and end all of social media. There are lots of ways to promote your business 'Socially' and if used right can work well....
Just have a look at what Jim is doing here for example – he's a Master! And I would highly recommend catching his seminars if you can – time well spent!

(And of course, for the more advanced, there's the 'Crozier Method' of publicity.... but we keep that very hush-hush) :giggle:
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Re: Do you have a Facebook Framing Page?

Post by AllFramed »

:)
Very good.

I was told by a man from Nokia a couple of years ago that the increasing female demographic on Facebook was mums checking up on their teenage offspring. Not directly relevant to framing but explains the number.
There's more to the picture, than meets the eye. Hey hey, my my.
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Re: Do you have a Facebook Framing Page?

Post by Framerpicture »

I can definately see the advantages of social media, for me its just a question if its cost effective.

Jim, when you were running a framing business I often looked at your blog and feel you did it very well . Realistically how long did this take each week,with photography and writing text? My other concern would be putting examples of customers work on the web. Do you or did you need to ask permission to do this?
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Re: Do you have a Facebook Framing Page?

Post by kev@frames »

I think some of us have missed the point.
I'll be corrected if I'm wrong, but twitter and facebook (social media) is just a small part of "new media".
Many of us, (like will, merlin, me, several others), have good track records of embracing new media and we have businesses that are elmost entirely new-media driven for gaining new customers, and have seen more than satisfactory increases in sales online year upon year for five, even ten years. We do enough DIY and outsourced marketing as it is, without adding to the list unless we drop something else that is less effective.

Its because we have been in it so long that we don't see most of it as new any more. We just look at the latest small gap in the jigsaw, not the bigger picture which we already have a slice of and most of the bases covered.

whilst twitter and facebook and social networking sites may well be seeing huge numbers of new users, those people don't suddenly stop using search engines (for example), and will not cease using search for the forseeable future. They just use social media as well.
And that keeps the social-media hysteria in perspective, I think.

DIY social media looks too time consuming for me at the moment. But no doubt a freelancer would love the social media work when the time comes. So I just keep my eye on it as another piece of the marketing jigsaw ;)
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Re: Do you have a Facebook Framing Page?

Post by John »

A small group of malcontents can use the new media to organize themselves, recruit new members, reassure each other as to the “rightness” of their cause, and use the media against you. Some of these guys are very skilful at what they do. A seemingly innocent remark here, a snide or possibly humorous comment there, together with a smidgen of innuendo, and before you know it a perfectly honourable institution is struggling.

I suppose it is the pack instinct kicking in, the survival of the fittest, the weakest to the wall, et cetera. If you haven’t built up a strong group of “friends” out there, when these cyber-bullies attack, you may find yourself defenceless.

Please be vigilant!
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Re: Do you have a Facebook Framing Page?

Post by Gesso&Bole »

Framerpicture wrote:I can definately see the advantages of social media, for me its just a question if its cost effective.

Jim, when you were running a framing business I often looked at your blog and feel you did it very well . Realistically how long did this take each week,with photography and writing text? My other concern would be putting examples of customers work on the web. Do you or did you need to ask permission to do this?
Much of it is about having a system. We photographed each finished frame as a matter of procedure anyway - BUT we made a conscious decision that this was a quick snap, not a professional photoshoot with photoshop work afterwards. As a framer we felt we could get away with this level of photography - a professional photographer obviously would not! All depends on the style of the blog. We then picked out a dozen or so pictures to put on the blog every Friday, and I put a quick description - normally just one line. So the Friday blog would take about 30 mins, plus the time we had already taken for photographing everything for customer records, (well worth the effort, but another subject completely). We then did a Tuesday blog, which was normally details about an artist, or an exhibition, or something happening locally. The trick here is to keep an eye out for this sort of information all the time, so you dont sit down to do the blog wondering what to say. So again, about 30 minutes. Twitter, I spend 15 or 20 mins a day (I scan through the feed since yesterday, answer, or get involved with at least a couple of conversations, and schedule 3 or 4 Tweets to go out at different times of day. Through Hootsuite I decide which of those Tweets should be sent through Linkedin as well, and (although I dont) you can of course put the same stuff onto facebook at the same time. So, in answer to your question, about an hour a day.

Permission for putting pictures on your blog. I got a lot of complaints about this. . . . . ALL from people wanting to know why I had NOT put their picture on the blog! Seriously, be sensible, dont put things up that are personal and private, have a clause written into your order form, saying that you reserve the right, unless the customer says otherwise, and include in your T&Cs on your website that you will remove anything if the owner asks you. With thousands of pictures on there, and using the blog daily to show new customers ideas for framing, I never had anyone asking me not to put their picture on the blog. Infact, most of our hits came from our customers showing all their friends how good their pictures looked on our facebook page or blog (we emailed customers to tell them their picture was ready, with a link so they could see the photo). Many of these resulted in dozens, or hundreds of hits.

Oh, and by the way I do recommend contracting out some of this work, or delegating some (but not all) of the responsibility. I have always taken the responsibility for the information, but having a member of staff demand that information from me by a specific time on a specific day helps to ensure that everything runs smoothly.
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Re: Do you have a Facebook Framing Page?

Post by Jb1 »

All the positives and negatives aside its quite a launch for Gesso & Bole new business
In the true spirit of new media all this publicity hadn't cost a bean!
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Re: Do you have a Facebook Framing Page?

Post by John Ranes II, CPF, GCF »

mikeysaling wrote: ... surely most of most folks trade is local ...
Indeed this is true, especially when it comes to bespoke framing. However, a phone call came the first week of January from a new customer in Tennessee (That's about 750 miles away from Appleton, WI) inquiring about framing a Green Bay Packer stock certificate (NFL Sports). His conversation went something like, I trust you because you must frame lots of these being located near Green Bay... He continued on that he would send this and was happy with the $180 price and description, just over the phone.

Later on, I finally figured out how and why he slected us to entrust with framing this important item? I don't mention this item on our website, but I do have it discussed on our FaceBook Page! :Slap:

That little effort on our Business FaceBook page generated additional revenue and profit that we would otherwise have never seen. People do embrace Social Media more and more each day, with the largest growing segment of the population... 40-55 year old women!

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Re: Do you have a Facebook Framing Page?

Post by Vince442 »

Hi Pete,

I finally got round to setting up a welcome page. However, I can't seem to find a 'set welcome page to default home page' option in the managing permissions section. Am I missing something?

Is this because its now the new Timeline instead of the old format? If so, do you know how to set the 'Welcome' as the default home page in Timeline?

Thanks!
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Re: Do you have a Facebook Framing Page?

Post by The Jolly Good Framer #1 »

on your facebook page you want to change click the 'Edit Page' buton (top right)
then about half way down change the drop down 'Default Landing Tab' to which ever page you want
you have the choice of 'Wall', 'Info' or 'Friends activity'

if you want a dedicated welcome page you'll need to that with an app (I think theres one called iFrame but I've never used it)
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Re: Do you have a Facebook Framing Page?

Post by Vince442 »

The Jolly Good Framer #1 wrote: if you want a dedicated welcome page you'll need to that with an app (I think theres one called iFrame but I've never used it)

Hi Jolly,

Thanks.....its the iFrame I'm using. And reading the iFrame page, it does appear that FB have not got the option now for the app so no doubt in time something will be sorted.
The Jolly Good Framer #1

Re: Do you have a Facebook Framing Page?

Post by The Jolly Good Framer #1 »

ah! just realised....
your page is using the new timeline format.... dont think you can do landing pages!

you might like to read this...
http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/29/death- ... nding-tab/
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Re: Do you have a Facebook Framing Page?

Post by Vince442 »

The Jolly Good Framer #1 wrote:ah! just realised....
your page is using the new timeline format.... dont think you can do landing pages!

you might like to read this...
http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/29/death- ... nding-tab/
Yes, I will just have to ensure the page is interesting enough for people to 'like' :D
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