Facebook for small businesses

This is meant to be helpful to those just starting out using facebook for their small business, but equally may be useful as a reminder to some.  Not saying this is an exhaustive list, just some helpful things we picked up along the way!

Is is a page or a person?
This might seem like a daft question, but what we've found is that some don't set up a page for their business which means they can't be 'tagged' in posts and we can't direct traffic to them.

How to set up a page:
while logged into your personal account enter this in the search bar: http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php

go through the various choices depending on what you want to set up and there's your page done!
make sure you add some pictures, your contact details, about you etc etc BEFORE you start going after likers - give them a reason to like your page.
once you do start advertising your page you need 30 likes from people not pages in order to secure the URL which means the name then becomes yours - once this name is set it can't be changed, so make sure you search through beforehand that the name is avaiable.  And where possible try to make it short to avoid folk typing in the wrong name when searching for you.
Does your page look pretty?
Pretty obvious question yes?  Well in some cases no.  If you're asking folk to come along and 'like' so make it personal, show people what you want them to see.  If you want to say you're the best hairdresser out there show some of your best work, or your salon with happy customers.  It's sometimes hard to think from the other side so often it's better to ask a friend if they would find it interesting.  It's easy to miss something obvious or simple because you do it all day, every day so always ask for outside opinions.

you're got your page - how do I get the likes?
This is tricky - you require patience now!  There are various sites out there offering '1,000 likes in 10 minutes' however from personal experience I would avoid them.  Why? Because visitors aren't that daft, if you set up 2 weeks ago and suddenly have 500 likes if can look a little odd, better to let it grow slowly and steadily and be able to know that all those likes are there because they are genuine and you get the chance to interact and be seen to interact with them.  If you're in any doubt have a look at our facebook page, full of pics and happy banter. 

However, one sure fire way to get people coming over to you is to share.  Might seem a really simple thing, but if you are the one saying 'wow look what I found when I visited @fredscats' people don't think you only care about yourself.  There are hundreds of pages out there all competing with you, stand out by being lovely!

How to tag posts:
This is one that a lot don't realise but it's dead simple!  Firstly, if you want to tag another page on one of your posts you have to 'like' them so make sure you've done that bit first.  So, using @fredscats as an example pop over to their page, like it and say hello to them so they know where the like came from.  Because in order to raise likes they have to come from a person, Fred's Cats won't know that 'Abi Smith' is 'Hair is Lovely' so what you say is:

Hello from @hairislovely, thanks for the gift today it was really kind of you, see you soon Abi' or similar depending on how you met them.

notice the @ sign?  This is the magic symbol for tagging!  If you want to include a page you must put the @ sign in front of their name, if you have already liked them it will immediately start to find them from your list of likes.  If it doesn't find them, it means you haven't liked them so go back, like them and tag them again.

Also when you share pictures make sure you add a comment to the effect of: 'We just had to share @fredscats pic, it's so cute!' that way you not only share the picture but you tell folk who you are, where the picture came from and you also tell the other person you shared it because it will now pop up on their timeline.  This is what you're trying to achieve, pop up on as many timelines as possible.  Those statistics that mean not a lot?  The reach is about how many people saw your post, and if you are new you won't get it on your own but by sharing and cross promoting you increase their audience and yours.  If you are asking people to trust you as a brand, a business or an enterprise they want to know you will share and help because that adds trust, it proves you're human and not just about yourself.

Hope that helps, but if not please add bits!  Hippo xx

We are having a shuffle around!

We are aware that the Hippo names have probably caused a little confusion over the months, wasn't intentional just a natural progression of things!

It started with the idea that Chez Hippo would make the glass and Little Hippo Presents would be the shop selling the glass and work from other makers and that this side of it would become the community business.  However, it's got a little muddlling over time.  So, we've decided to re-name things properly so folk can follow our logic (or not I hear the hecklers from the back - Sarah, Justine and Rachel I will see you lot after class!)

Ahem, drum roll please .....

The shop will still be called Little Hippo Presents, because after all I am Little Hippo and I am presenting other fantabulous work from superb makers so that name still makes sense.  Plus I get to tweet as #happyhippo #busyhippo and all the other hash tags that keep appearing.

The glass will be made under the name of The Glass Shed:

still exactly the same products, still available from the shop just under a new name is all.  It just makes life easier when we try to explain how the names are split, the fact that yes the Hippo's sell their own product but they are a seperate maker as well and the umbrella organisation is a different entity.  Also if we want to do craft fairs we can now ask 'do you want us as the Hippos, a community group or as The Glass Shed, a separate maker?'

 

Might seem like we're being a bit pedantic over names, but as things progress with Little Hippo and the other projects that are bubbling away it just seemed appropriate to do this - plus it was getting confusing as anything thinking 'am I putting this post as us the maker, or us the shop??' 

 

You may have noticed that the blog name has changed too, it now reads as Little Hippo Presents, again to allow The Glass Shed it's own blog should it want one - though quite what a shed would write about is anyone's guess!

 

Hope that's not too confusing, or if anything settled some existing confusion we previously created!  See you all soon, Hippo xx

 

Useful and Helpful things

This page contains downloads and documents relating to the Hippos, whether as a business or for helpful and useful notes relating to craft fairs.
If there is something that is useful to your group please contact us and we can send you a word format document.  We don't mind folk borrowing our ideas but please, if you do borrow it do us the courtesy of telling people where you got it from! 


Our business plan: Little Hippo- Big Idea

We sincerely apologise for being viable!

Hippo's on a slight rant, so step away now if you are just tucking into your tea and winding down for the evening!

I am getting increasingly cross that people seem to be missing the point of what we are trying to do, or rather what we are actually doing - and more's the point, winning!

We are a community business, in extemely simple terms we take work from other artists and makers and sell it in the shop for a percentage commission of the sale price.  We take this % because we have bills to pay such as rent, card machine and packaging to sell their lovely work to happy customers.  What we are not is a pity case.  We only stock work that is well made, by hand and by brilliant local makers who will hopefully each make the transition from hobby crafter to professional crafter (but only if they choose to - that's their decision to make not ours to impose).  Sellers or Hippo-ettes offer time to support the shop, either in delivering leaflets for events, marshalling cars at events, or working in the shop for the day.  No staff are paid, we all do it to support the wider ethos of the Hippos.

What irks me somewhat is that because we have a great shop, in a great location full of fabulous things that are so well made we are sometimes viewed as a purely commercial venture.  We didn't set out to look like a community business, we set out to look like a good place to come and buy some quality gifts - and not surprisingly, we're doing just that.  Yes we do make money, not much though!  Yes, we do have a very decent turnover, and yes we have hit breakeven after only 3 months trading which is no mean feat in this climate.  But that's because everyone works like mad in the background as a group.  We have to beg, borrow and barter our way through it all.  One of our painters who is world known lends us an easel to stand his work on because we don't have the resources to purchase one! 

However, because we don't look like a 'needy' group, we all work extremely hard at what we do.  We don't ask for charity - of course we'll accept the easel and other such helpful things but we want to be a proper trading community business.  So, my apologies for not putting posters all round the shop showing you all the people that are actually helped by customers loving what they make, my apologies for trading effectively and not requiring external grant funding because we got our budget right, and my apologies for us working hard and not just going cap in hand to councils for a hand out because we can't get our business model right.

Here endeth the rant! I will now go off to find some chocolate and watch drivel on telly while thinking of our next cunning plan to put a Hippo on your High Street too!  Hippo x