Facebook Usernames – Marketing Your Facebook Page

HandmadeMarketing.org reader Amy Vander Vorste, from Etsy’s Avlor, shared an article she posted on her blog about recent changes to Facebook.

“Yay for Facebook giving user profiles shorter URLs and web addresses (aka usernames)!” writes Amy.  “If you haven’t done this yet for your user profile go to http://www.facebook.com/username/ to read more about Facebook usernames. I love this!”

So what does this mean for Facebook users?  “You can personalize your Facebook URL (web address) by selecting a unique username,” the Facebook website reads.  ”It will appear in the location bar of your browser after “http://www.facebook.com/” when you view your profile.”

This feature makes it easier for handmade sellers to share their Facebook page with interested buyers in an “easy to digest” manner.  From linking to your page on your selling platform profile to printing your Facebook URL on business cards, the Facebook username can help you market your page.

However, Amy points out that Facebook has made it difficult for small businesses to get official usernames for Facebook Fan Pages.  “Don’t loose hope though! There’s an easy way to get a short web address for your fan pages and groups,” Amy writes.

“I discovered the Memorable Web Address application this week. It’s quite easy to make a short web address for your pages,” Amy shares.  “My Facebook fan page is now http://artist.to/avlorsimprints/“

The Memorable Web Address app creates a short, easy to remember personal web address to take people directly to your Facebook profile, page or group.  This makes it simple to share the link with other people, post it on forums, show it on your MySpace page or print it on your business cards.

Amy shares with HandmadeMarketing.org the steps to implementing this application:

Go to the Memorable Web Address application.

“If you get this page just go ahead and choose skip (in the highlighted pink box below),” writes Amy.

“Choose “Click here to add this application to your page (as opposed to your personal profile),” says Amy.  This is shown in the pink highlighted area in the image below.

Then you should be taken to a window that looks like this. Click the blue box.

“Finally you can pick your page address by clicking a on domain name option and typing in your Etsy shop or page name,” Amy shares.  “I picked the artist.to option like the other Etsy shops I’ve seen.”

“The application also adds a box to your boxes tab on your Facebook Fan Page – so you can remember what your address is if you forget!” Amy writes.

Amy also shares how to edit your address or remove the application.  “Just go to your Facebook page,” she says.  “Click “edit page”.  Then, click the pencil icon on the Memorable Web Address for Profile, Page or Group.  Finally, choose “edit or remove”.”

“You can do the same thing for a group,” Amy points out.  “Just choose the option I highlighted in green.”

“To edit a group address,” Amy says, “go back to the application page and you can edit it there.”

“I often find fellow Etsy shop owners on Facebook and would like to become a fan of their pages. It’s not always easy to find shop fan pages,” she writes.  “So I created a group on Facebook just for this – Indie Handmade Sellers Fan Pages Directory.  Just join and post a link to your page (the long version not the artist.to version) and your name will be right along side the link as “posted by”. A nice easy way to see who is “favoriting” your shop and you can return the favor,” Amy writes.

“If you’re wondering what the “.to” is – it’s the URL country code for the country of Tonga. Thanks Tonga!  I hope you can take advantage of this and redirect of the long fan page and group URLs,” Amy said.

Thank you for sharing this valuable information Amy!

Not sure whether or not Facebok could work for your business?  Check out our HandmadeMarketing.org article written by Tara Gentile, from HandmadeInPA.net, about why Facebook helps increase craft sales. Need more convincing?  Read why one Etsy seller loves Facebook!

Do you use Facebook to market your handmade crafts?  Have you found that Facebook drives traffic to your handmade shop?  Do you have tips like Amy for navigating Facebook to fit a small business?

Tell us your ideas for how to use Facebook to sell online!