I'm on Facebook--now what

[kaslkaos]

So I'm on facebook now. Actually, signed up long ago and never used it. Now I've found out I can tie in to Twitter, and blog feeds, so I'm trying again...but I'm clueless. What is the etiquette regarding friends? On blogger and twitter 'friend' or 'follows' get done fairly indiscriminately; it doesn't mean much. On facebook should you only make 'friend' request to people who you actually know, or all people who seem interesting?
What in heck is a 'poke'?
Gosh, I sound like such a dweeb...advice welcome.

[Bringer]

Hi,

Like you I'm on Facebook for a while, but only now I've started to use it a bit more.
I've also created a Fan Box on my blog, but I guess that the fan box links to another profile.
It was a bit confusing creating it, since I had trouble finding the link to.

Kind regards,

José

[RobinZ]

I use it for family mostly but I do have some great clients who friended me along with some awesome fellow artists. Just friend your friends and family, ppl are very open to friending ppl. And just post whatever is natural to you. And respond to anything you find interesting.

I don't use mine for marketing, but I do post whenever I finish a pet portrait or childrens portrait.

I hate the games, etc., and don't poke or send drinks or anything else. So you don't have to do any of those things! ENjoy!!

I have really enjoyed that I have gotten to know my far flung family members better, especially the younger ones.

[McKeeJane]

I use Facebook for friends, family and marketing and LOVE it - but I wish I had done a few things differently in the beginning.

For one, I wish I had made a 'Fan Page' much sooner - if I were you, I would do this now. This is somewhere that people can see and hear about your work without being actual 'friends' with you on your personal profile page.

It's nice because it's hard to know how much to talk about art or to actively market much to your personal friends and family - but if you have a fan page you can contain most of your 'art stuff' to being done from there and only your friends and family that 'fanned' you will get that - and they'll get it because they decided they wanted it.
Then you can keep your posts to your 'friends' more personal.

This works the other way around to - I find myself being, on some of those particularly lonely days, being one of those annoying people who posts every time they sneeze - and I like to, (hey! it's hard being way out in the country painting every day while everyone else is in the real world! so just give me a break, k?) --- but with the fan page, people can choose to not get all of that stuff, hear about my kids, my dogs, my funny husband...and just get the stuff from my 'page'.

Do you have your artwork in an album? Once you get a page set up, put a link to it with each photo of your work - also a link to your blog or site or whatever else you'd like to promote - but for sure a link to your Fan Page. Then find some 'Groups' to join where you can add photos of your artwork. You also can usually post links to your page or wherever else in these groups --- once you do that, you won't have to worry too much about who to 'friend' because people will start 'friending' you after they see your work and/or they'll become fans of your page.

You may want to think about - and this is strictly up to you - whether you want to 'friend' other artists or fans of your work...once you have a page you can communicate through that and you might want to just keep your 'friends' to people you actually know. I don't, but it's something to consider if you're particularly concerned about presenting the right 'image' to your potential market...but want to be free to do or say whatever to the people you actually know.

However you go about it though, remember above all else that no matter what you want to market - in this particular venue it HAS to come from a personal point of view. The whole point is being 'friends' so this is not the place to have anything that's done in the third person. The people who 'fan' you on FB have an expectation of getting a more personal connection with you and your art and too much 'professional speak' is really a turn off.

If you want to, friend me and I can show/help you out with more of the ins and outs of it all...or the parts I understand anyway, I'm definitely still learning myself!

Edit: ...and down the road, when you get tired of reading a hundred posts a day about my goofy kids, you can just push 'Hide' next to my name and they'll stop showing up and I'll be none the wiser, LOL.

[Doug Hoppes]

Hi,

I totally understand the confusion. I use Facebook for two reasons: marketing and keeping in touch with my friends. The important part is to keep them absolutely separate. I only "friend" people who I actively see on a regular basis. Not people that I knew 10 years ago and haven't spoken to since then. Only people who I see/talk to every week/day/month, etc. Otherwise, the wall is too long and I don't really see the postings of people that I care about.

When someone tries to friend me and I don't personally know them (or they are from my past that I no longer keep in contact with, by choice), I generally reply to tell them that I'm sorry, but I limit my friend list, but, if they like my art work, they are welcome to be a fan of my art. That way, they are still in somewhat contact, but I don't have to see every posting about someone who I don't know and postings about people that I don't know.

For my fan page, it's strictly about artwork. Check it out at: http://www.facebook.com/DougHoppesStudio . I post newly completed paintings and purchase information. I post all postings that I put on my blog. I post plein air studies and concept drawings, etc. The purpose is to show people how I go about creating a painting.

I also always include my facebook fan page on all of my emails. Plus, once a month, I send out a suggestion to all of my friends who are not fans to check out my fan page.

[RobinZ]

Doug and Jane, how is having a FB fan page differnt from a blog?

[SCWheeler]

while I set up a Fan page and a personal page.... I find that I AM my art and the two are not separate. Yes, sometimes I'm naughty, boring, trite, political, etc.... I used to feel like I needed to hide the "real" me from clients and potential clients, but I'm changing my tune lately..... As for reconnecting w/ people from my past, that has been extremely gratifying to me on so many levels...

and like McKee Jane said, if they don't like they hit "ignore" or even "unfriend" and that's ok w/ me.... but the ones who do like me and my art WILL tell their friends and things will sell down the line from the contact.

[Doug Hoppes]

Robin, the beauty of a fan page (which I find better than a blog) is the immediate posting to people you know. Think of a fan page like an email list. When you post to your fan page, your fans immediately see it on their wall. When you post to a blog, people have to know to go to your blog to see the new posting.

In addition, I make my fan page public so that anyone (even those who do not have facebook) can see the postings. I believe that the standard search engines can see your fan pages, also. Same as with a blog.

[RobinZ]

Doug, are your blog followers the same as your fan followers? I don't have too many ppl in common between the 2, but I do have my blog connected to my regular fb page.

[Doug Hoppes]

Nope... my blog followers are different. I have had situations where my blog followers becames facebook fans.

[RobinZ]

thanks!!

[McKeeJane]

Doug - something to think about. You can seperate your 'friends' into lists. Then, instead of looking at your Wall/Newsfeed to see what everyone you've friended, page you've subscribed to or group you've joined has posted - you can just check on what you're interested in by category.

EVERYONE I friend goes on a list - and some on more than one. I have a list of 'Artist Friends' 'Family' 'Immediate Family' 'Friends' 'People I Actually Know IRL' 'Fans' 'Professional Contacts' etc - you can name them whatever you want and only you see them. Pages, Groups, etc are already put into 'lists' for you by FB. Then, when I open FB I can prioritize what I'm doing there - I almost never skim everything at once. I probably check in on my "People I Know IRL" list a few times a day - or, if time is short, I may just check on 'Family'. I check on everything else about once or twice a day - depending on the day.

It's really made FB work so much more efficiently for me. I can check in on 'real' family and friends for fun, to find out what's going on, etc, etc. Then I can get to work and on my break, get into 'artist mode' and look at my list of 'Art Friends', see what they have posted, comment, etc. On another break I can make a point to look at Pages or groups that I've subscribed to - join in discussions, post a link, look at other people's links, find interesting things to share on my own wall, or my Artwork Page. You can even put the Pages you're subscribed to into a list of 'Ones I Fanned Because I was actually Interested' and leave off your Aunt Tallulah's Needlepoint Cat Clothes that you 'fanned' to keep from hurting her feelings.

You could, in theory, make a list of 'People I don't know or care about' and just check it rarely to see if their happens to be anything interesting there - or you could just never check it, or put those people on no lists and thus, never see their posts at all.

That Newsfeed is just way too much for me to take in - I used to skim it, comment on whatever caught my eye - and missed a lot. Mostly concentrated on what I was posting and the people who commented it.

And so does everyone else. That's why the lists are so much better - I can actually see things in chunks that I am able to take in, read, comment myself - which is what other people are interested in, your take on their posts - not how witty you are in your own - and not miss anything potentially valuable.

I friend everyone who asks - at least for a probationary period. If I decide I don't want them seeing my info, I unfriend them later - I've actually only done this twice, and I don't think they noticed. You have to actually go looking for someone - and not be able to find them - to find out that they've 'unfriended' you. You don't get a notice or anything - FB has made 'unfriending' someone something that is very, very subtle.

So, if your reason for not friending people is because you don't want them to see your posts or info - totally valid. If you're not friending them because you don't want to see their posts - you're just not using the system as efficiently as you could be and you're totally missing out on people who you could be sharing your art with.

My first sales that came from FB were from classmates I hadn't seen or even heard about, in almost 20 years, I hadn't been particularly charmed by way back then and I almost didn't accept their 'friend' invitations when I was new to FB and had the intention or 'only' using it to market my art. The first started talking and asking about one of my paintings the first day we were 'friends' - sent me a check about a month later and has been excitedly posting about it, me, how much she loves it, what great artwork I do, etc, etc, ever since. Once she started that business (that wonderful business I should say!) - others followed suit. I had went to the high school that I knew them from for ONE year only - but I think the fact that they found out I was an artist, which seems so exotic and fantastic, made them really excited to 'have known me when' and want to buy something to show that off. Oh - and because they loved it...of course.

I just got commissioned to do a mural in a local business on facebook too - the client was not even a classmate of mine, but a classmate of my much younger brother...a biker and no one I would ever, ever expect to be interested in looking at, much less complimenting and paying me for...my pretty flowers.

I totally understand about wanting to keep the two seperate if keeping your personal life private is really, really important to you and you really, really want to share a lot of it on FB - but it definitely impacts your potential sales.

If I wanted to 'friend' someone and they never respond - well, I rarely notice...but if I got a letter saying "No, but you can become a Fan of my work at my page"...even though I totally understand your reasoning (and most people won't) - I would be insulted. I say better to just ignore the request, figure out their email address and later send them a link and invitation to your page. I wouldn't be so direct with the message 'I won't be your friend, but you can be my fan if you'd like.'

Just food for thought.

[Doug Hoppes]

That's some great suggestions! I'll have to think about it. For me, it's a matter of personal privacy. My pictures contains pictures of me, my wife, my nephew and my sister-in-law on our various vacations. I really am a private person when it comes to the web and don't post a lot of personal information about my family.

Granted, this being said, I'm not naive about the web (I've been an internet software architect for about 20 years). If one of my friends downloads all of my pictures and puts them up, then there's nothing that I can do.

I agree that I lose potential sales, etc from this. Question though: can I suggest my fan page to a lot of people from the past? Do I have to contact them individually?

[McKeeJane]

Doug and Jane, how is having a FB fan page differnt from a blog?

You can set it up, then set up your blog to stream right to it and that's all - you can write on blogspot or wherever your blog is - it will go directly to your page and post there with no work on your part (your twitter feeds too) - and the only extra maintenance will be that you have two places to check for and respond to comments.

But - you get a WAY more bang for your buck, a way larger audience and a way more attentive audience - in my opinion anyway. Facebook has much more potential to be 'viral'. When a friend becomes your 'Fan', they're friends see it and can sign up with just an easy click...when they comment, they're friends see it - if they 'fan' you and comment, they're friends see it...and so on and so on...

If you write something particularly interesting or feature a particularly interesting picture, your fans will 'share' it - this is golden. While being a fan means their friends can/might see it - sharing your post with their own post of 'Check this out!" or "This is so cool!" or "Did you know Robin Zebley was an artist! Look at this!" means that at least most of their friends WILL see it - and fanning it themselves is so easy.

The atmosphere and attitude of FB is different. In the Blogosphere, if someone really likes your blog they might feature it on there's and you might get a few extra looks and even some followers...valuable but slow as molasses compared to FB. Most people right blog posts daily, weekly or less...waiting for them to want to devote that post to your blog, even if it's fantastic, really can take awhile ---- on FB all you have to do is read or see something interesting, click the 'Share' button and it's on your wall. Sharing interesting pages is totally part of the culture of FB - instead of someone having to devote an entire 'Blogging session' to your blog - you have people seeing it who might share 20 things they find interesting that day - they don't have to think about it.

That's if you just use it as a blog - which a lot of artists do. Robert Genn has a 'newsletter' (blog) on his sight, it's posted to a FB page and people get it in there email - i think it goes out to other venues too actually - but just there he has 3 venues for finding and keeping an audience - with no more time than it takes to write and post the article.

But - you don't have to just limit it to your blog. You can use it the same way you use your regular page with your family - but put the posts that would fall under the topic of 'Art' on this one.

The same way you don't want to 'friend' everyone under the sun - other people don't either...but they can become a 'fan' of your page and get the updates - blog posts, art musings, whatever (about every other day I simply send out a post that is a quote that I love and a link to one of my paintings) - on their wall...but they don't have to 'friend' you to get it, thus they don't have to share their personal info with you.

I could go on and on...

One major reason though is just that SO many people spend their time on FB and they love it - and love not having to leave it.

If someone says, "OMG - you're an artist? Do you have your work somewhere?" and your response is, "Why yes! it's hung at _____ Gallery downtown!" They will probably be duly impressed and the next time they're downtown, if they have time and if they happen to think about it, they might stop in and take a look."

If you say, "Why yes! And here's my card, you can go right to my website to see it or my blog to read about it." They might - if it really sounded interesting or they really love you...and if they don't leave your card sitting on the front seat of the car.

But - if you say, "Sure - are you on FB? I'll just find you and send you the link to my page!" Well - they LOVE that and you don't have to rely on them to remember, find time, be thinking about it, etc, etc. In fact, more often lately I get "You're an artist? Are you on FB?" before I get a chance to bring it up. Older people are just discovering fb, and even though they don't always get it - a lot LOVE it! And love to show off that they're on it.

Then, once they see your art and love it - you're easy to get ahold of instantly, your website link is right there, you've listed that you can be found at such and such a gallery, you're their 'friend' and they want to tell the rest of their friends about you...whatever.

How fast has your blog following grown? I haven't even finished uploading all of my work to my FB page and it has almost 200 'Fans' - many of whom I don't know at all, and some of whom are even local people who I know 'of' but have no idea how they found, much less fanned, my art. And mine is very small potatoes compared to those that really know what they're doing and are truly active about marketing it.

I love the blogosphere and am not putting it down - but channeling it to my FB has vastly multiplied the number of people who are reading and responding to it, for almost no extra work.

[Doug Hoppes]

Also, remember to put your facebook badge on your blog. That way, people who go to my blog immediately see the facebook fan page badge, click on it and then add themselves as fans to my pages.