Monday, July 02, 2012

Artists on Facebook - The Scope and The Rules

Lots of artists are saying that being on Facebook is now making a big difference to their profile online - and their profitability for those selling online.

However I've noticed recently that there seems to be a fair bit of confusion about Facebook and how artists should operate on Facebook in order to promote their art and art business.

I really wouldn't blame anybody for being confused.  I've certainly been one of those who's been confused!

Why are we all so mixed up about Facebook?
  • First I don't think Facebook explains how it works as clearly as it might do.  It's all there if you look - but finding it assumes you know it's there to find - which doesn't make for the most informed consumers on the planet! 
  • Second - one of Facebook's most irritating habits is that it keeps changing how it works every five minutes!
However I applied myself recently and I now think I understand how Facebook works better than I did.  Which is not to say I've got it right!  However I can quote chapter and verse on some topics relevant to artists wanting to promote their art on Facebook - see below.

Different ways of operating on Facebook

The confusion - for those wanting to promote and market their art online - is between
  • Personal Accounts
  • Facebook Pages
  • Facebook Groups
You can also have adverts for your product and page and promote your own posts on a Facebook Page - but I'm going to keep it very simple for starters.

I confess when I got my fan page I really did not understand the difference between personal accunts and fan pages.  I think I've now got it all worked it out.

Here's a summary of what I see as being the characteristics of the different ways of operating on Facebook.  Let me know if you think I've left out anything crucial

FacebookPublic or PrivatePersonal or Business
Personal account
  • Individual use only
  • One account only per email address
  • real names MUST be used
  • but you can have an alternative name as well
Private

You determine how public different parts of your account are
Personal

Non-commercial (see warning below)
Facebook Page
PublicCan be commercial

Can represent an interest group
Facebook Group
  • Private Space
  • share with a small group of Facebook members
Group Admins determine status ie:
  • private
  • closed
  • public
Typically Interest Group or Community Group

Personal Accounts

Personal accounts are for individuals - but Facebook indicates they are NOT for commercial use.

This is a warning - below is an extract from Facebook Help pages which you might find helpful
The account I created to promote my business, band or other organization is now disabled.Per our Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, Facebook profiles (timelines) must represent an individual. Users aren't permitted to maintain an account under the name of their organization, or use personal accounts to advertise or promote themselves professionally. If your profile (timeline) was listed under a non-individual name, or was used primarily for professional promotion, this is probably why it was removed.FAQ results - business accounts
Facebook Pages
Facebook Page - Options for Create a Page
Facebook Pages can be for a range of alternative uses.

They used to be called Fan pages - the one I set up for Making A Mark was when I set it up.  They've now morphed into something which typically has a more business oriented or interest group ethos
How are Pages different from personal profiles (timelines)?Profiles (timelines) are for personal, non-commercial use only. They represent individuals and must be held under an individual name. Pages are for professional or official use, and allow an organization, business, celebrity or band to maintain a presence on Facebook. You may only create Facebook Pages to represent real organizations of which you are an authorized representativeAbout Facebook Pages
  • They now substitute for business accounts.  
  • For artists selling online,  it appears that this is where all marketing and commercial-related activity should now be.
  • Check out Facebook for Business - it may be a place you have not yet encountered. This is how it works
Step 1: Create your PageFacebook Pages are a simple, free product for businesses to create a Facebook presence and connect with new and loyal customersFacebook for Business - How it Works
I've found that my Making A Mark Facebook Page (see https://www.facebook.com/makingamark2 which now works an awful lot better if I manually post blog posts or websites or items of interest to it - rather than using an automated service.  Plus I always add in a relevant note about what I am posting.  It shows that I'm doing this - not some machine!

I also like the insights function which gives me some perspective on how well different topics and posts do on Facebook.

The number of people who have liked my Making A Mark page has climbed steadily since I started making posts to my news page rather more personalised.

Facebook groups

Facebook Groups can be private spaces.  The Group Admin determines the status of the group ie
  • Secret: Only members see the group, who's in it and what members post.
  • Closed: Anyone can see the group and who's in it. Only members see posts.
  • Open (public): Anyone can see the group, who's in it and what members post.
People can belong to one or more Facebook Groups.  I belong to a number of groups most of which are art-related and specialist in nature.  I actually find the groups one of the most social aspects of Facebook.

Tomorrow I'm going to launch the July Making A Mark Poll - which asks how you as an artist operate on Facebook.

I had intended to post it today - but then thought I maybe better explain what I understand about how artists can operate on facebook - hence this post!

Do please comment on:


  1. whether you understand how Facebook works - and whether any of the above was new to you
  2. whether you use Facebook as intended
  3. whether you are planning to change how you operate on Facebook
  4. what's the best way of using Facebook to promote your art
  5. what's stopping you from using Facebook to promote your art
PS If you'd like to see the added extras which make it to my Facebook page but don't always appear on my blog don't forget to like https://www.facebook.com/makingamark2 !  They generally relate to either:
  • my "resources for artists" sites (generally those posted to the blog a while back which many will have missed); and
  • direct links to my YouTube Videos
[Note: the links I've inserted relate to the GB Facebook site - they may change for where you live]

44 comments:

  1. OK, it is late so I might be rambling. Forgive me if I am. But to me it seems a facebook page is a lot less personal than a personal account. Sounds like rambling...yes. But as a proffessional artist I want to interact with colleagues, clients, critics etc etc and a page does not allow as much interaction as a personal page does. I have to rely on people to ‘like’ my page, I cannot tag anyone as the ‘likers’ are not my friends, I cannot choose to talk to one group of friends rather than another. A business page is much more like a store front, a shop window and not social media. I can track how many likes, what part of the public I am reaching, study the stats, etc etc (all of little interest to me) but I cannot see what my colleagues/critics/clients are doing and interact with them. They can only interact with me. It is one-way only.
    So, how commercial is a sole artist, wanting to share on facebook? Very few are directly trying to sell on FB, most of us, artists, are just chatting to artist/arty-friends. Nothing commercial about that. To me, it seems ‘fan pages’ are of little use....I might well get rid of mine.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Sophie - if you're chatting amongst friends about your art then it seems to me the personal account is the perfect place to do that

      However if you're posting a painting you're selling or highlighting an exhibition then it seems like posting these to a Facebook Page means you'll avoid having your personal account rapped on the knuckles.

      I guess it's the difference between you and me having a chat about art business in the cafe at the National Gallery and you being "on parade" at an exhibition in which you're trying to sell work

      Different contexts, different content, different behaviour.

      However you can let people write to your wall when you've got a Facebook page. It need not be all one-way traffic.

      The other thing which I think people maybe don't appreciate is the scope for Facebook groups to provide the dialogue and support framework which it is nice to have - but out of public view.

      Delete
    2. Another thing - don't get rid of your Facebook Page until you've given it a good go at using it as it's intended to be used.

      You said the other day you were confused as to the difference and that comment and one or two others is what prompted this post. You are not alone! far from it - lots of people haven't got the hang of Facebook pages yet.

      I'm using mine like a blog.......

      Delete
  2. You are spot on Katherine. Way to go for breaking it down.

    I'm unfamiliar w/ FB groups (do they make a difference? how is it any different than send message to some friends or fans?), but I have a Personal Profile as well as an Artist page (TracyWall.artist).

    I only sometimes add a link to a blog post on a FB status post. My goal is to bring them to website and blog from FB, so I thought not to offer every incredibly insightful post ;) every time.

    Still having difficulty transferring FB "likes" to blog subscribers. (though admittingly I've been slacking lately on the blog insightfulness)

    Easy-going me obeys the rules. Tempted to put website url on cover photo, but FB rules say "no", so I passed.

    I've found success in FB posting my location of where I might be painting shortly before I get there. Sometimes folks stop by.

    You're so good at breaking things down and being such an amazing resource! Thank you for all you do!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think if as an artist you also had the status of being a tutor then a Facebook Group might be something you want to have to keep in touch with ex students - who might want to come back for more

      Or maybe a select collectors group - where people can show off how they display your work! :)

      Thanks for the tip about the location posting - that's a really good pointer for all plein air artists.

      Delete
  3. I think there often is a very blurry line between ‘being on parade’ and ‘having a chat’ as we’re chatting about what we’re parading.

    ReplyDelete
  4. :D

    OK - I'll try again.
    * If you're chatting with artist friends - as if over coffee in the studio - then you're in your Facebook Personal Account
    * If you're all dressed up and in a gallery at a private view and you're talking to prospective collectors - or hoping to talk to them - then you are on your Facebook Page

    So sharing about professional practice, tips and techniques is Personal Account
    And promoting and marketing your art to people who might want to buy it is Facebook page

    To my mind the confusion only really arises if you're selling to a friend who's an artist.

    If you like the Facebook Page is like Open Studios. You let people in to see what you're doing - but you don't give them the run of your house as you might do for a friend

    Does that make more sense?

    I have my personal friends - IRL and online - on my Personal Account
    and people who like what I do "like" my Facebook page and comment on my posts - pretty much like they do on my blog

    ReplyDelete
  5. The Facebook groups are a great idea and I find the best part about Facebook. It enables individuals to communicate more readily on a subject they love without wondering how many hundreds are quietly observing the conversation and not really interested.
    There is no reason an artist/business can't start a group and invite friends and page likers to join and then open discussions relating to the subject they work in, rather than specifically their own art, it's more subliminal awareness. A lot like life really because if you are constantly blowing your own trumpet people will lose interest - unless of course your work really is that good.
    I find Facebook in general (in my circles anyway) a lot less personal now and is trending away from the 'friend' and personal interaction - and more towards uploading of images, quotes, links etc.
    Facebook have been quite diligent about not overloading personal users with businesses trying to promote themselves on their personal pages. We get enough out there in the 'real' world. Very good foresight on their behalf.
    There's no reason you can't upload an image of your artwork on your personal page and talk about how you are happy it is finished, what you enjoyed about it, the subject matter etc ... and then if someone loves it - direct them to your page to 'like' it and be advised of your business activity as it happens.
    It's a little like life - if you get invited to a party and only talk about your business people will get bored ... if they are interested you can give them your business card and let them come to you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Vicki - that last comment sums it up in a nutshell!

      Vicki and I both love our Botanical Artists Group! https://www.facebook.com/groups/botanicalartists/ which is a closed group full of botanical artists who provide wonderful support for one another.

      Delete
  6. Count me in the clueless group about Facebook. When I post a new painting on my website, there's a little button to like it on fb, which I usually do.
    My post then shows up on my timeline. I had no idea this was not acceptable.
    If I create a page, how will my 2000+ "friends" find me?

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    Replies
    1. Carol - I find that what you need to do is be in the bit of Facebook you want it posted to BEFORE you push the button

      So I make sure that I'm in my Making A Mark Facebook page and then push the button - add a relevant comment and publish.

      That way I don't annoy all those family and friends who are tolerant of my art but don't want blog posts cropping up in their news from my personal account all the time.

      Delete
    2. You can, however, also select where you want to post your "like" - the drop-down menu allows you to set it to either your personal profile or one of your pages (if, like me, you have more than one). I find that's the quickest way to share things art related or other-wise, and sometimes I share to both!

      Delete
  7. Good article! I know several people who it may help.

    My experience is that it takes significant effort to get people to "Like" a Page--which can be kind of daunting and may seem pointless if you already have a lot of good discussion and feedback about your work on your private profile's timeline. But it's worth separating the two because the majority of folks potentially interested in your art don't want to be best friends and hear about your personal life stuff; they just want updates about your art. A Page is a good way to meet that need.

    For sure, it can be kind of daunting and demoralizing trying to get those first 25 or 50 or even 100 Likes. My approach is to just post regularly on my Page(s), share the links to my personal timeline if I'm still trying to get friends to Like the Page, and occasionally ask those who have already Liked the page to share it with their friends and encourage them to Like it too. The Likes accumulate a few at a time and eventually suddenly you have an actual audience on your Page!

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    1. I agree - "likes" for a Facebook Page are much more hard won

      The thing is - of the thousands of people who have 'friended' a person, how many did it just to get that person to like them back.

      I've always taken the "friends" thing literally and ONLY friend people I've met or corresponded with via email and 'know' reasonably well. I never ever friend anybody who just 'likes' my work. That's because I want to share stuff with people who are genuine family and friends and not the whole world.

      I'm very happy sharing what I'd like to be broadcast on my blog and Facebook page.

      Delete
    2. I thought I would share something interesting. I've been connecting with the dog communities online. I discovered a "share your Facebook Page links" thread yesterday on one of the forums so I added mine. Overnight, I got 23 new Likes on my Page from people who make up the prime audience for my upcoming book for dog lovers! Yay! One thing I learned though. Only Likes from personal profile accounts are counted toward your total number of Likes; Likes from other Pages do not. Your Page's posts will show up in the news feed for any Page that has liked you, though. So it's all good :)

      Delete
  8. I don't know if I'm helping or muddying the waters, but here's my experience. I have a personal page that I use for chatting with friends and family and keeping up to date with them. I'm very particular about who I "friend" on my personal page and keep things as private as Facebook will allow. Privacy on Facebook of course is a relative term, and I do keep that in mind as well. My art page is for blog posts and other comments solely related to my art. Many friends have "liked" it, but there are a number of others who are friends of friends and as well as people I don't know at all. Facebook doesn't let you send invitations to a page to anyone who is not your friend because of justifiable concerns over spam. For me, this means that my numbers have grown very slowly. But you can buy ads to spread the word - be wary though, you have to pay per number of hits on the ad, even if the viewer does not end up "liking" your page. Groups can be amongst certain friends - I am in a "secret" one that is for family members, so only those in the group can see the postings. I am in several public ones as well, it's a good way to interact with people who have common interests without having to friend them. I have to say though, I have yet to make a single sale through Facebook.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. My numbers have grown slowly on my Facebook Page as well. They started to improve when I removed the networked blogs application and started to publish my blog posts manually.

      I also make a point of publishing them at a slightly different time which helps with those who have maybe missed a tweet or whatever other way they're relying on for picking up my posts.

      Groups are to my mind the big unsung asset of Facebook for likeminded individuals

      Delete
  9. Hello Katherine!

    I have recently developed a facebook page - primarily to showcase my work to interested friends, family & the public.. previously I was doing this via my personal page so this now seems a little clearer and more professional. Friends can like my page if they are interested & those who aren't don't get bombarded with updates!

    I can't say I've experienced too much confusion in this as yet.

    One reservation I did have is about images.. I believe that once an image is uploaded to facebook it becomes fair game for their use in promo material etc. This doesn't bother me too much as I am primarily after exposure at this point, but I wonder exactly what the permissions dictate and whether everyone is aware of this.

    Many thanks for such a wonderfully informative blog!

    Sarah Jane Moon.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Useful & clear article as usual, thanks you! I think i roughly know how I should be using FB & generally use it correctly. I have a page & post most of my promotions there although sometimes auto links from other sites appear on my personal randomly (Etsy occasionally posts to personal rather than page). I didn't realise you could get warnings about misuse of personal pages, I will try and avoid too much advertising on there, but it's tempting as a new artist I've got more friends than likes, and I want my friends to know what I'm doing too.. I don't know what the best way is, but I'm sure it involves not mindlessly promoting things & being more interactive, interesting & sharing relevant stuff from others too. I'm still learning but I'm finding FB a great way to keep in touch with people & what's going on, both personally & for business opportunities. I've found new customers, new opportunities and made new contacts & strengthened existing ones.

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  11. Morning! Yes, it makes sense but it is not as clear cut in reality. If I have a new painting, for example, I’d "show" that on the business page, and I’d “share" it on my personal page. I end up posting it twice and the two pages become very alike.
    Also, I don’t know about other artists but I sell very little via facebook. It is more about sharing. Fellow artists but also ‘fans’ like to see, peek behind the scenes, chat etc. That blurs the line again. An artist page is simply not ‘commercial’ enough to fall solely into the business page category. I still see no reason for me to have an artist page when I have a personal page as well, when I post the same thing on both. BUT I am going to continue with both for a bit longer: new work and exhibitions on the business page (and personal one!) and all other natter on my personal page. That’s what I have been doing so far and have found all interaction usually happens on my personal page.

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    1. Also Sophie - go and take a look at how other businesses use their Pages, what they include in their apps bit and how chatty they are - you may be surprised.

      The reasons I started using my Facebook Page more is because I saw how some of the big organisations used their Pages.

      They of course can't have a personal account so they need to generate all the interaction via their Page. Which means if they can do it so can we! :)

      Delete
    2. (This is the reply which should have been above the one above but went in the wrong place!)

      It takes a long time to get activity on your Facebook page. If you nattered more about your art there as well you'd find you got more likes much faster.

      Facebook determines how much it pushes out to people's timelines by how much activity there is on the Page.

      Delete
  12. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  13. Gosh, loads of interesting comments here. Great. I realise that a lot of you have ‘personal friends’ on your personal page and want to keep things separate. Understandable. I am a saddo I suppose as I don’t really interact with ‘real friends’ via facebook, and on the few occasions that I do, I will select to make my posts only visible to a few. (I’ve chopped up my friends list into ‘real friends’ and ‘strangers’ and ‘artists’ etc) So pretty much everything on my personal page is art related. I pretty much never post personal things or pictures of my kids or something. Basically, it seems that my personal page should be my business page. I know a lot of artists have it this way around. I’ve allowed anybody to become my friend (I don’t subscribe to every friends’ newsfeed) and I post almost everything publicly. As if it was a business page. I am sure we can run a business page successfully, I’d just have to move over to it and use it they way I am using my personal page. Not sure its worth the effort/swap in my case!
    Sarah Jane, I am sure Katherine can tell you more about it, but as far as I know I wouldn’t worry about FB having copyright over your images. They need to gain a bit of it so they can host your images on their website. If they’d abuse this right they’d be in big trouble so I wouldn’t worry.

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  14. What a great article!
    Thanks so much Katherine.
    Love,
    Linda

    ReplyDelete
  15. Sophie - I think if you switched your art-related personal posts to your Sophie Art Business Facebook Page you'd see it taking off

    Lots of people already keep their personal account for very personal family/real friends related stuff + comments on how life is affecting them

    I think the confusion has arisen because of all the Facebook notion of "friends - IMO many so-called "friends" are actually nothing of the sort.

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  16. I know. But I’ve got loads of ‘friends’: 95% of them are strangers - fans, artists etc. I’d have to ask them all to move over to my fan page so I can separate my political opinions with my paintings....hmmm
    Have taken enouhg of your comment thread here - will leave it to others. More on my facebook page btw! ;-)

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  17. A lot of the problem with artists who have a 'personal' profile with hundreds or thousands of 'friends' but only utilise it for self promotion - is that in time your 'friends' get a tad sick of the sales pitch, no matter how disguised - and take you off their news feed. So while you think you are broadcasting to that many in actuality you don't know how many are reading or even interested at all.
    However with a 'Page' people are there because they choose to be.
    If you make your page interesting, newsworthy, offer free information, tips, hints, links to interesting sites etc - then your page becomes one to follow to help the reader (liker)be informed as well as your page with building followers. Then others see their friends liking your posts and update and subscribe also, that's how you build numbers.
    I follow a lot of travel and design pages and if they are only interested in self promotion and selling their own product it usually disappears off my news feed. The ones I really enjoy are the ones who inspire me and add something of information and education. I have seen many pages link to other pages and vice versa and it is seen as a community rather than an individual business.
    I wouldn't imagine you do get a lot of sales off Facebook but if marketed well it is a great network and word of mouth in time is the best form of PR. Also directing these numbers to your blog is where it starts to make a real difference.

    ReplyDelete
  18. A valuable topic, Katherine. Thank you.

    While I think a professional (as opposed to personal) Facebook page can be a valuable additional marketing tool for an artist, I do not think it's a viable substitute for a website (though a blog, if used correctly, can be).

    I find it difficult to predict when a given Facebook page can be viewed by those not logged in to Facebook, and as I have a general rule about not linking to pages that require login, I will not link to Facebook pages when featuring artists on Lines and Colors.

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  19. I am not on Facebook (yet?) due mostly to the negative press I hear on the news regarding privacy issues, the lack of customer service, especially when there are problems, and recently the automatic email changes they made.
    So all this is a bit confusing to me, seems like a lot to keep up on.

    Also I would have to evaluate the time I would need to spend to make it worthwhile and not a wasted effort.
    Does anyone have an idea of how much time you spend (after the initial set-up) to maintain?

    I have always proceeded very thoughtful before starting something I don't understand.
    If I do start one, a professional not personal page, then I know I can come here to help me figure it all out, so thanks Katherine.

    I am sure it is harder to correct mistakes made than to get it right the first time as I have seen some of the horror stories on the news.

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  20. I come at this from a different point of view. I question why anyone would use facebook for anything other than sharing their artwork. If I weren't an artist I wouldn't bother being on facebook. In my opinion it is an utter waste of time. I connect with my close friends and family in real life, not facebook.

    So I friend just about anyone - only the creepy spammers are rejected. And those that can't shut up about politics - yawn.

    I use my personal profile as an inside peek into the life of an artist (who also has a day job and kids and a house) - it's the daily blah blah blah of life with an art slant. I do a lot of public posts on this page and let people subscribe to it.

    I use my business page to focus on my art and inspiration.

    I very frequently will "share" a post from my page onto my profile or in the reverse. This way when I have new art - it is shared in both places but generally at different times.

    ---lisa

    ReplyDelete
  21. Lisa, that is how I started on facebook! Over time, however, people I knew in real life starting befriending me as well and now I have a few (only a few and not my closest friends) fb friends that I actually know in real life. Over time I also started to get to know some of the artists/arty people that befriended me and by now my fb friends are ‘real people’, ‘strangers’, ‘fellow artists that I chat with’, ‘fellow artists whom I don’t know’ etc etc. A lot of my posts are public and my business page is focussed on my art purely. But....there are a lot of duplicates and I found that most people who are interested in my work befriend me as they seem to like the ‘behind the scenes’ idea. I pity my local friends who end up reading all my arty blah! But, like you, I wouldn’t be on facebook for anything else than sharing art and art talk. I must say, the art talk has grown a lot and I really appreciate now how I can interact with other artists - people I would otherwise never have known. But Lisa, how do you make sure you don’t post new works twice all the time?

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    Replies
    1. Sophie,

      Like you, I have a bunch of real friends and family and even coworkers (I'm a software engineer by day). If they don't want to see my art stuff they can unfriend me. I unfriend people that post things that annoy me so it's all fair game. I don't really worry about it. I trust the right people will be my friends.

      I also don't worry about double posting. I think I have about 650 people that are both fans of my biz page and also my friends - this is about 30% of my friends - so not a huge overlap. Plus I post at different times and so I figure the chances of someone seeing things twice is pretty small and if they do - they'll get over it (or they will unfriend me).

      Delete
  22. One thing I've learned in the last few days is you can only have one facebook account per email address. However I can't find anything which says you can't have more than one facebook account - if you want to have a "private you" and an "arty you".

    Facebook Help says
    "Facebook accounts are for individual use. This means that we don't allow joint accounts. Additionally, you can only sign up for one Facebook account per email address."

    Can anybody help? Is it possible to have more than one account so as to compartmentalise one's life?

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    Replies
    1. Why not just use the privacy controls? Put everyone into lists and post the appropriate comments to the appropriate lists? On a rare occasion I'll post something more private and it only goes to my friends and family lists.

      Sometimes I post things only for my coworkers and I have a list for them.

      Facebook gives you control to be whoever you want to different groups - which sounds easier than logging in and out with multiple accounts.

      Delete
  23. You can have multiple accounts on multiple email addresses. Also, to have a business page, you have to have a personal account. Keeping things seperate for business and pleasure like that seems to make sense. For everyone who are just getting started: keep it seperate if you intend to socialise on fb besides business!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sophie,
      Do you mean you CAN'T have ONLY a business page without a personal account?.

      I am confused, does that mean you have to have a personal page too?

      I (may) only want a business page.

      Delete
  24. Thanks for the breakdown, Katherine, it's helpful!

    Like others, I find Pages to be less useful and less useful than Groups, if what you value is interaction--which I guess I do! I created the Urban Sketchers Midwest Page, and also a group, and the page sits there unless I remember to do something with it. Of course both are relatively new, but the group is definitely more user-friendly.

    I'm getting better at using my OWN business Page and keeping it more up to date--and I hope more interesting. What I do sometimes that I hope is all right is then "share" that post on my own personal page, with a note, as I believe you said?

    And yes, pretty sure you can have more than one account if you use a different email address--I'm having trouble keeping up with all the "me"s as it is.<:-D

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  25. I have decided to seperate things: art stuff on my page, personal stuff on my personal timeline. But...I realised that I cannot interact with others very well. I have ‘liked’ hundreds of other artists’ pages via my personal account. I have hundreds of ‘friends’. But as a business I have liked little and you cannot make friends as a business. So if I want to comment or interact with others I have to do that as personal me. When people click my name they get taken to my personal page - not my business page. So, as a business I have to start ‘liking’ tons of pages in order to talk on fb as a business (and then still I can only interact with other pages) or constantly point potential friends to my business page. This is not handy.

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  26. I think if you've always had a clear distinction between personal on the personal timeline and "hello world" stuff on your page it's not so much of a problem. For example I get people commenting on my page who have liked it. They see the posts in their personal timeline and some comment there and some on my page.

    However if there has been any confusion about the differentiation of content between personal and page I can well understand it must be very frustrating to have built up an audience on the personal page - only to find that's not where any 'business' oriented content should be.

    Do your facebook page posts appear in your personal timeline?

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  27. You get people commenting on your page who liked your page. But can you comment on other people’s pages as ‘making a mark’? You can, but only on pages that you liked as MaM. For everything else you have to turn into KT (commenting on posts, befriending etc). So interaction as MaM is limited.
    Yes, my page posts get shared (or posted twice) on my timeline.
    Still thinking...LOL

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    Replies
    1. There were lots of people who were confused at the beginning about the difference between personal account and page.

      I wanted my personal account to be limited to people I genuinely knew and not people who I didn't know who wanted to be my "friends". I've never been comfortable with that concept of mixing family and close friends with complete strangers. Hence for me very people have been friended and it's much easier for me to switch to using the page more

      What was weird was thinking to post to the page in the same way as to my blog. Plus getting out of the automatic post (eg via networked blogs) which it became very apparent was not surfacing on other people's pages.

      I now post my blog posts manually to my Facebook page with a little messages. Plus I also share what I see there as well. Maybe 1 or 2 other items during a day.

      The trick seems to be to think of:
      * your Page as where the main art-based interaction with the outside world is
      * your personal account as where your real friends are
      * your groups are where you share with likeminded people - and these are a really important way of communicating on specialist topics without annoying people.

      Delete
    2. Sorry - forgot to add - I'm just liking more pages as Making A Mark! :)

      Delete
  28. Thanks Katherine. yes, it is confusing when you start out using FB just for art. My real friends have crept in and now it is confusing. I’ll have a think what to do, in the mean time will just have to share or post twice.
    Hope you’re having a nice day!

    ReplyDelete

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