As we mentioned in our previous post, we hesitated to begin building The Makers’ Mentors business. Pausing, pondering, and procrastinating slowed us down, but we didn’t stop thinking about our ideas because we knew we had something. The dithering was paralysing. In the end, we agreed we had to begin, even if it was only tiny steps at first. Tentatively, we began posting on Facebook; cautiously, we began sharing posts; carefully, we debated what we wanted to say and how we wanted to say it.
In many ways our vision is clear, but we couldn’t immediately verbalise that or translate it to a tangible brand (we still can’t – more on that another time). Us both being neurodiverse added another dimension to our decision making.
We wanted everything to be perfect, but life – and art – isn’t like that. It takes time and, as the famous saying reminds us, ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day.’ It requires overcoming barriers, learning from your mistakes, and accepting those mistakes. We have already made mistakes – some intentionally, some carelessly – and some that we may not be fully aware of yet. Creating, refining, and developing our brand and business is a journey – and we want to share it with you.
Let’s start with our Facebook page
Using our own Facebook page – https://www.facebook.comthemakersmentors – we will look at the basic mistakes and consider how we can correct them. Some of you eagle-eyed followers and Facebook aficionados may have identified more mistakes but, for now, we are focusing on Incomplete Profile Details and Missed Opportunities.
The features on your Facebook page gives you several opportunities and areas to answer visitors’ questions. They will want you to answer the Five Ws and the H questions, namely: Who, What, Where, When, Why, & How.
Who?
On our page we say who we are – The Makers’ Mentors – but don’t elaborate on what it is we do or tell you anything about who we are.
We chose a name that we hoped would communicate what we do – mentoring makers – but there is no further information to explain what type of makers we work with.
This is not intentionally vague; it just means we don’t exclude any ‘maker.’ But would more detail have helped you decide if we were able to help you and your business? Several alternatives have been flying around our heads – artists, creators, artisans, creatives, hobbyists, crafters – but none of those synonyms felt quite right. We settled on maker as that covered a broad range of the creators of the beautiful items we see and admire at craft fairs, local events, and online.
So, who are The Makers’ Mentors?
Information can be added to the page details, including a link to our website where you can find out more about us. An introductory post can be pinned to the Facebook page where we can introduce ourselves.
What?
From our current Facebook page, you may have little idea what we do. Although you could infer something from the name, you wouldn’t definitively know what services we provide or what ways we can help you.
You wouldn’t know that we are as much about personal development as business development. You wouldn’t know that our services include (or will include) digital marketing such as website development, content creation, and social media management. You wouldn’t know that we also focus on selling in real life, through craft fairs, artisan markets, and specialist shops.
So, where do we add this information, to make it clear what The Makers’ Mentors do?
The ‘About’ tab offers a section to add services. Here we could list the fundamental areas of our work, posts about what we do, and include links to our website for further information.
Where?
On our Facebook page it doesn’t say where we are based or how you can contact us. We have missed the opportunity to add a website address or link to an Etsy, MadeMe, or Folksy shop. Having this link on the page would help you to learn more about us, while also contributing to our Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) – this is something we will look at in detail in a future blog post. We don’t explain that people can come to our Derbyshire studio and meet us face to face but that everything we are offering can also be conducted via email and telephone.
So, how do we make it more obvious Where The Makers’ Mentors are/work?
To improve this, we need to add our location on the ‘About’ page, include our website, and post details to inform followers where we are located. There are no geographical barriers to our services, and this is vital information for potential customers.
When?
There is no indication of when we can help people, what days of the week we work, our availability, or turnaround time for the services.
So, how do people know when they can contact The Makers Mentors or when we work?
Posting our opening times on the ‘About’ page would solve this problem. Including a link to our website – where clients can find out more about our working patterns – in a post would also help. It may be helpful to explain that we may not be able to immediately reply to messages or emails (life can be hectic for us), but we will be in touch within 24 hours. We could include that we appreciate our customers’ lives may be similarly busy and we understand that their response time will not be instant either.
Why?
There is absolutely nothing to let you know why you should choose two women in their forties to help boost your business and your confidence in yourself as a creator. There is zip about our vast experience in different industries – including the creative arts, manufacturing, retail and teaching, our love and appreciation for handmade products, our dedication to championing local makers and encouraging all small businesses at a time where people are feeling a pinch in their pockets. There is nothing about our ability to tailor our services to your needs rather than adopting a one size fits all policy.
So, how do we tell people why they should choose The Makers’ Mentors to help grow their creative small business?
Our Facebook posts should cover this, in many and varied ways. Since there is limited information that can be included on the Facebook page, we would also direct them to our website, for more detailed information. These links should be specific – targeting pages or topics – rather than a generic link to the website homepage each time.
How?
If we had given you all the information about our business that Facebook allows you to, hopefully, you would not have any How questions. But, we haven’t, so we need to anticipate possible questions.
You might wonder how much this will cost you. We appreciate the constraints of a tight budget (as most small businesses have) and the reluctance to spend money before making money. Or you might ask how you can pay for our work. We offer payment plans catered to each client, because we know that an unexpected lump sum suddenly becoming due can negatively impact work and home budgets (plus, smaller regular payments suit us too).
Having considered some of the problems with our Facebook page, we aim to solve them over the coming weeks. If several weeks pass and we haven’t addressed them, please give us a friendly nudge. We appreciate the reminder and the accountability.
There are more mistakes on our page, which we will be discussing in the next blog, but please comment below if you spot something that needs to be sorted. If you prefer to remain anonymous, you can send us a message: we will continue to list these errors and correct them as we go. We always appreciate constructive criticism (even if our faces at times might not suggest that!).
We hope that being transparent about our methods and thought processes will help us develop our business and brand effectively, but also show you what you can do for you and your business (or how we can help). We want this to be a shared journey that we can all benefit from.
Having read this post (thanks for sticking with us), why not go and review your own Facebook page and look for areas of improvement? And if you don’t have a Facebook page, consider starting one.
Kelly & Liz – need to sort handwriting font
P.S. We have probably made another mistake, simply by writing such a long blog post (this comes in at close to 1600 words; many people believe that 500-1000 words is the best length). To solve the problem we have created, we could offer a Too Long Didn’t Read (TLDR) summary, so that people with less time can simply access the takeaway points without the extra information. That might look something like this:
Incomplete Facebook Profile Details and Missed Opportunities
(Basic starter tips for better Facebook pages)
The features on your Facebook page give you several opportunities and areas to answer visitors’ questions.
REMEMBER to give enough information about yourself.
CONSIDER using the 5 Ws and H Questions:
- Who – are you?
- What – are you doing?
- Where – are you doing it?
- When – are you doing it?
- Why – are you doing it? and
- How – are you doing it?
REMEMBER: Use every opportunity to share your information and meet your customers’ needs by completing your full Facebook profile.
FINALLY, constructive criticism will help you improve and develop, embrace it.