Christmas Gift Bags from Soaperstar

Well, it's exactly 7 weeks to Christmas today! Eeeeekkkkkk.. I hear you scream! Yep, 7 weeks.  Not long at all... but we've put some small gift bags on our site today to help you sort out some of the present buying woes and, the best thing is, you can buy from the comfort of your own armchair!

If you have friends or family living anywhere in the EU, we're more than happy to send their gift directly to them - we can even include a small Christmas gift card with the present (you just need to email me with what you'd like me to write on the card).  Just order via the website, use your friends/family address as the delivery addresss and drop me an email to say it should be sent as a gift and the message you want to send and let me take care of the rest. 

Also, these are the perfect size for gifts for your kids teachers, for stocking fillers, for your work collegues, your girlfriends, your Mum in Law, your Dad or brother.... for everyone in fact!  A perfect size, two luxury goatsmilk & glycerine soaps made in Ireland, at only €10 per gift bag (excluding P+P).

We've put together a great selection (over 10 different combinations to choose from) so you're sure to find one (or more) that suits.  What a great gift - handcrafted luxury goatsmil & glycerine soaps, made in Ireland, all for only €10!

The gift bags you can buy are:

Think Pink Gift Bag

contains one My Sweet Love and one Velvet Heart

My Sweet Love - with added Golden Jojoba Oil, this fragrance is a fresh, floral bouquet with fruity accents reminiscent of sweet raspberries based on a warm wood-musk foundation; coloured with stunning raspberry pink and white swirls - a sheer fruity floral beauty

Velvet Heart - with added Apricot Kernel Oil; this fragrance is a beautifully soft, romantic blend of Red Roses, Sweet Violets and soft White Musk; coloured using natural micas to create the softest, most romantic glistening pinks which play beautifully against the pure white of the goatsmilk soap

Only 6 in stock

Fleur Frais Gift Bag

contains one Lazy Summer Sunday and one Aqua Haven

Lazy Summer Sunday - with added Organic Unrefined Nilotica Shea Butter; this fragrance has a heart of jasmine, orange blossom, lilac & rose, supported by a woody base of cedarwood, patchouli, vanilla & musk; coloured with deep tones of blue and purple natural mica

Aqua Haven - with added Golden Jojoba Oil; this fragrance is a heady mix of marine scents with a soft woody, citrus & sea salt; coloured using a mix of blues, greens, aqua turquoise and white with a sizzle of shimmering mica to represent the crash of sea spray from salt water waves

Only 3 in stock

Symphonie de Jardin Gift Bag

contains one Lavender Champagne and one Rain Shower

Lavender Champagne - with added Apricot Kernel Oil, this fragrance is a blend of uplifting citrusy lemon against a background of calming, soothing French Lavender; subtly coloured to reflect the citrus lavender with a touch of glistening natural mica

Rain Shower - with added Avocado Butter, this fragrance is a fresh aquatic blend of lily of the valley, gardenia, raindrops, mist & clean green countryside; coloured with a blend of soft turquoise with cool green and pure creamy white and a hint of glisten through the use of natural mica

Only 6 in stock

Island Cocktail Gift Bag

contains one Pineapple Beach and one Mango Island

Pineapple Beach - added pure Organic Coconut Oil, this is fragranced with a delicious, fresh, sweet & juicy pineapple scent; coloured using a blend of two different natural glistening micas

Mango Island - with added Mango Butter and fragranced with the sweet exotic tropical fragrance of Mango; coloured with tones of yellow & orange with white goatsmilk swirls and a luxury glisten from the natural mica

Only 6 in stock

Glitterti Gift Bag

contains one Orange Blush and one Good as Gold

Orange Blush - added Apricot Kernel Oil, fragranced with a fresh cologne, blending perfumed bergamot and sweet orange blossom with delicate cottony florals on a base of precious powdery musks; coloured using stunning bronzed swirls created using a blend of orangey bronze coloured natural mica alongside bright orange and white goatsmilk swirls

Good as Gold - with added Golden Jojoba Oil, this is a sweet, floral, nectarine and juicy mandarin complimented by peach and plum on a creamy vanilla base; coloured using a stunning golden natural mica alongside orange and white goatsmilk swirls

Only 4 in stock

Spots & Dots Gift Bag

contains one Oriental Crush and one Hawaiian Blossom

Oriental Crush - with added pure Coconut Oil, fragranced with a blend of zesty lime & mandarin, leading to a base of basil with warm accords of precious woods & amber; coloured with glistening brightly coloured spots of glycerine soap in shades of lime green and mandarin

Hawaiian Blossom - with added Mango Butter, fragranced with the sweet exotic tropical scent of frangipani, a native Hawaiian flower; coloured with tones of yellow glycerine and white goatsmilk soaps, with added natural mica to give a glittery sheen

Only 5 in stock

Blue Moon Gift Bag

Specially designed for the man in your life and contains one Midas Touch and one Mister Blue Genes

Midas Touch - with added Apricot Kernel Oil, fragranced with a lush green woody citrus blend of sandalwood, cedarwood and tobacco leaf and deeply coloured with black and two different types of golden natural mica to give it a gold rush feel

Mister Blue Genes - with added Golden Jojoba Oil, fragranced with a stunning blend of apple and mandarin, within a heart of exotic jasmine and violet, ending on a deep musk base - the fragrance is has fresh notes from the fruit, a mild floral heart followed within a deep musky base; coloured with the deepest blue mica to create lustrous blue swirls mingling with black and white swirls

Only 3 in stock

Gentleman's Club Gift Bag

An alternative gift bag for the man in your life & contains one Indian Rainforest and one Mister Blue Genes

Indian Rainforest - with added Apricot Kernel Oil, deeply fragranced with a wonderful blend of cedarwood, giving a warm woody masculine base, alongside the deep earthy scent of patchouli, a fragrance element used in many commercial aftershaves for men; coloured using two different natural micas, a deep forest green and a lighter green gold, alongside the white goatsmilk - giving an impression of dark deep Indian Rainforest

Mister Blue Genes - with added Golden Jojoba Oil, fragranced with a stunning blend of apple and mandarin, within a heart of exotic jasmine and violet, ending on a deep musk base – the fragrance has fresh notes from the fruit, a mild floral heart followed within a deep musky base; coloured with the deepest blue mica to create lustrous blue swirls mingling with black and white swirls

Only 4 in stock

Champagne Cocktail Gift Bag

contains one Lavender Champagne and one Hawaiian Blossom

Lavender Champagne - with added Apricot Kernel Oil, this fragrance is a blend of uplifting citrusy lemon against a background of calming, soothing French Lavender; subtly coloured to reflect the citrus lavender with a touch of glistening natural mica

Hawaiian Blossom - with added Mango Butter, fragranced with the sweet exotic tropical scent of frangipani, a native Hawaiian flower; coloured with tones of yellow glycerine and white goatsmilk soaps, with added natural mica to give a glittery sheen

Only 1 in stock

Blushing Blossom Gift Bag

contains one Orange Blush and one Hawaiian Blossom

Orange Blush - with added Apricot Kernel Oil, fragranced with a fresh cologne, blending perfumed bergamot and sweet orange blossom with delicate cottony florals on a base of precious powdery musks; coloured using stunning bronzed swirls created using a blend of orangey bronze coloured natural mica alongside bright orange and white goatsmilk swirls

Hawaiian Blossom - with added Mango Butter, fragranced with the sweet exotic tropical scent of frangipani, a native Hawaiian flower; coloured with tones of yellow glycerine and white goatsmilk soaps, with added natural mica to give a glittery sheen

Only 1 in stock

All of these soap duos are presented in a purple glossy paper gift bag and purple quality tissue paper and are only €10 each (excluding P+P) - a total bargain!!!

Check them out at our online store and, once these are gone, they're gone because we need to make way for new designs/fragrances and stock in 2011. 

Keep an eye out for two larger gift bags coming soon - Festive Orange Spice & Christmas Glisten with luxury soaps and matching Sheer Luxury Body Butters and our new Sheer Luxury Body Polish which hasn't even been released yet! Plus we're going to be giving you a special offer on our Sheer Luxury Lip Butters in free gift bags too!!

Merry Christmas Everyone! Happy Pressie Shopping!

Celebrity Mention for Soaperstar!

I just had to tell you - I got a fabulous link sent to me on Facebook last night, check it out here. Yes! Soaperstar been recommended by Colin & Justin!

For those who don't recognise their names (seriously, you don't?), Colin and Justin are Scottish interior decorators and TV presenters, who have appeared in over 26 programmes, most notably 60 Minute Makeover and I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here.

This is really a story about the power of Twitter as a marketing tool - I joined Twitter in order to help market Soaperstar but I've had a ton of fun along the way and made some good friends.  Twitter is all about relationship building so that you not only enjoy the company of others but they can become your customers too. 

One of my very regular customers is Justin's sister and, although she told me ages ago, I would never have assumed any link or even spoken about it (customer details are utterly confidential of course).  She mentioned yesterday that she had given Justin one bar of the soap only for him to take her whole stash and then, last night, she sent me the link! They must have loved the product!

I had to thank them, of course, and left a message on their Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/ColinJustin to thank them and, in reply, they said

"Hey Celine - we LOVED the soaps and are always keen to recommend lovely new product we come across. Good luck with the biz'! C and J x"

 

Well, chuffed to bits just doesn't describe it! It's soooo cool to be recognised for your work and so publicly too!

 

I just wanted to say a huge thanks to Colette and to Justin & Colin too, I totally appreciate it!

 

If you're interested in purchasing any of our luxury handcrafted goatsmilk & glycerine soaps or our Sheer Luxury Body Butter, drop into our store at http://www.soaperstar.com/ - we'll be delighted to see you there.

 

Excellent Reviews for our Sheer Luxury Body Butter

Since their lauch on 1 April, our Sheer Luxury Body Butters have really gone down a treat with our customers.  I've received two absolutely fabulous reviews of them and our luxury handcrafted soap and thought I'd share them with you here.

Sinead recently ordered one of our very new (not yet even released!) Body Butters and said "I received my new Zesty Citrus Cream soap yesterday which smells fab and can't wait to open it (I know it will be amazing, the soaps always are!) but had to share about the bodybutter - I was sent an exclusive - Summer Sunflowers!! Opened it and the smell - pure sunshine - but it gets better, normally body butters are kind of thick? This is like a mousse - goes on the skin and becomes like a body oil that feels amazing and soaks right in! I'm converted totally and recommend this product to anyone - friends are sorted now with presents for ever! Well done Celine on an amazing product!!".  

And Felicity messaged me on Facebook to say "Hi Celine, I just wanted to post up about the products I received from you this week....the package was so beautifully wrapped that I took it into work to show the girls before I defaced it with my scissors. Well the excitement of the wrapping alone was tremendous and then came the two body butters that I ordered. The girls went mad for the citrus scented option and immediately wanted to try both out. they loved it, I loved it and I had to give up the business card and the little sticker on the front of the box so that they would know how to contact you. I am looking forward to my yummy hot bubble bath this evening where I will be doing eeeney meeeny miney mo on which option to smother myself in when I get out. To a job well done on both a professional as well as a fun level, I give you a big thumbs up. PS - Your packaging and branding is just excellent."

I was blown away by these reviews and wanted to thank both girls for taking the time to tell me how much they love the products! I really appreciate - feedback like this makes all the months of research so worth it!

Oddly enough, both girls are florists so know a thing or two about fabulous fragrances and excellent design!

If you'd like to check out our Sheer Luxury Body Butter selection (new fragrances being added next week, including the Summer Sunflowers) then check out our website at http://www.soaperstar.com/ - we also carry a wide range of luxury handcrafted goatsmilk & glycerine soaps.  

Soaperstar Press Coverage on Beautycouture.ie

I came home today to a fabulous email from the lovely Niamh from Beauty Couture.ie to say that they featured Soaperstar today!

Beautycouture.ie is Ireland's newest and brightest online magazine and is the place to get your daily dose of celebrity gossip, beauty and fashion news, plus totally yummy recipes, the hottest social pics, the best interviews and more fabulous competitions than you can shake a bejewelled stick at.

You can read the Soaperstar article here - thanks Beautycouture.ie, you made my day!!!

Remember, if you too want be couture and treat yourself to some luxury handcrafted soap and body butters, check us out at our online store today!

Selena just loves Soaperstar!

You may remember a couple of weeks back, I ran our first Soaperstar competition to win a Soaperstar tshirt and soap of your choice.

Anita Karir won the competition because by telling everyone, if she had the choice of any of the Soaperstar soaps, which one would she choose.... she said "Colour Bomb as I love rainbows, can teach my baby daughter colours using it, and it is so bright and cheerful and will put a smile on my face brightening up my dull life". 

Well, at Soaperstar, you know we're all about colour and fun and can't stand the thought of anyone having a dull life! So, the tshirt and soap were duly packaged and sent off with the mail fairies. 

And today, on a day when I was more than a little stressed out anyway, some of the cutest pictures in the world dropped into my mailbox totally making me grin from ear to ear!

Anita had taken some of the most adorable photos of her little girl Selena (just gone 1) posing with the tshirt and soap... have a look see and tell me they don't just melt your heart!!

Hmmm... Mum, this doesn't taste as good as it looks

Hello, Hello??!! There's no-one on the soaphone!

Ok, so you MUST buy this fabulous soap dahlin' !

Aren't they simply adorable??! Thank you SO much Anita for sending these on to me - they really put a smile on my face today!

Remember, if you want to get your grubby mitts on some of our fabulously luxury handcrafted goatsmilk & glycerine soaps, then hop, skip and jump along to http://www.soaperstar.com/ and buy, buy, buy!!! Limited stock on some items, so order soon. 

Sorta quiet here isn't it?

Just a quickie post to say that I'm sorry it's so quiet on the blog lately - the outside world is having a huge effect on my soapy world, leaving me exhausted and more than a little brain frazzled.  I'd love nothing more than to go and soap and make body butters all day, believe me... they don't answer back, or forget deadlines, or say "oh, didn't I tell you?".  One of my dearest wishes is that I could work on Soaperstar as my full-time job but the way the world's economies are going, that might not be today or tomorrow! Not to worry, I shall be posting fab pics of new soaps soon enough.  I just wanted to explain the silence - not intended but necessary I'm afraid. 

Creation|Collaboration 3rd Women Wednesday Blog Hop!

Welcome to Creation|Collaboration's 3rd Women Wednesday blog hop, hosted by Beads & More by Lois, Soaperstar and Plans and Presents

Creation|Collaboration was set up by eight women, all existing friends, who run small businesses from their homes. We have started Women Wednesday blog roll to link up with other women in business, spread the word about Creation|Collaboration and basically just have fun visiting all of your interesting blogs!

We are also in discussions with regard to listing features companies (on a regular basis) as part of our promotional campaign so by joining in with the blog roll we can get to know you and your business and maybe you could be one of our first features.

Heres how you can join in with Collaboration Women Wednesday:

• Link up your blog name and URL to your Women Wednesday blog post using the McKLinky below (you only need to add on one blog to be seen on all of the McKLinky blog roll's) Please note that it's for blogs only and not links to your websites or shops.
• Follow our Creation|Collaboration blog and the hostesses listed in the first 3 slots.
• Grab our Women Wednesday button and feature it on your blog or Women Wednesday blog post.
• Follow and comment saying you're from Women Wednesday on as many blogs as you likes listed in the McKlinky box.
• Follow back any new followers from Women Wednesday!

It's that easy and a fun way to discover new and interesting blogs and us women at Creation|Collaboration get to meet other women in business!

A little something for myself

Well, I'm in the envious position of having a pretty much fully stocked store (if you want to change that situation, check us out at Soaperstar's Online Store and buy tons so I have to make more!!), I decided to make a few things for myself!!

Pretty much everyone who makes soaps and creams and all the yummy bath and body type things you can get, doesn't often get time to treat themselves and make something for just them! But I decided I needed a treat, and here they are:

All the soaps are cocoa butter based (very gentle on your skin) with our normal skin hydrating element plus added Sweet Almond Oil (can't help but make it pure luxury you know!) - the yellow ones on the right are a blend of Grapefruit & Lemongrass, the green ones are Peppermint & Spearmint and the orange ones on the left are Sweet Orange & Mandarin (the little two coloured one is a little bit of left over orange and grapefruit together).  All are scented using pure essential oils and coloured using natural micas (the green one, you'll notice, I could have mixed that in a bit better! D'oh!).

In the middle is a total experiment - handmade shampoo!!! With great hair loving goodies like Oat Protein and Panthenol (the pro Vitamin B you get in some big brand shampoo's).  I've never made a 'poo before so it was an utter experiment but it's a lovely pure white colour and a great texture (thickens up naturally overnight to a cream texture - which is good cos it sort of looked like frog spawn and pond water when I started!).  This is scented with Rosemary & Lavender essential oils - perfect for hair.

So, a few little pressies for me ... I really enjoyed making them and I hope you enjoyed having a peek at what we have in our bathroom!

If you need a gift for someone special or even yourself (and who isn't special enough to buy a gift for themselves!) check out our handcrafted luxury goatsmilk & glycerine soaps - and afterwards you can slather yourself in our Sheer Luxury Body Butter too! We're getting rave reviews back on these! Check out http://www.soaperstar.com/ for details - oh and we've got a new May special offer happening too!!!

Soaperstar is Creation|Collaboration's First "Friday Feature"

I'm chuffed that Soaperstar has been the first "Friday Feature" for the new Creation|Collaboration blog... please check out the fab new blog post here!

Soaperstar featured in the Mr Site Newsletter April 2010

As I previously posted, Soaperstar won the Mr Site Website of the Month for April 2010 and I said I'd post the newsletter article when published - well, it dropped into my mailbox this evening and you can read it online here, just scroll down to "Website of the Month".  Fresh off the press!!

I'm still chuffed!

Welcome to our First Women Wednesday Blog Roll!

Welcome to Creation|Collaboration's 1st Women Wednesday blog roll, hosted by Beads & More by Lois, Soaperstar and Plans and Presents.

Creation|Collaboration was set up by eight women, all existing friends, who run small businesses from their homes. We have started Women Wednesday blog roll to link up with other women in business, spread the word about Creation|Collaboration and basically just have fun visiting all of your interesting blogs!

We are also in discussions with regard to listing features companies (on a regular basis) as part of our promotional campaign so by joining in with the blog roll we can get to know you and your business and maybe you could be one of our first features.

Heres how you can join in with Collaboration Women Wednesday:

• Link up your blog name and URL using the McKLinky below (you only need to add on one blog to be seen on all of the McKLinky blog roll's)
• Follow our Creation|Collaboration blog and the hostesses listed in the first 3 slots.
• Grab our Women Wednesday button in your blog post.
• Follow and comment saying you're from Women Wednesday on as many blogs as you likes listed in the McKlinky box.
• Follow back any new followers from Women Wednesday.

It's that easy and a fun way to discover new and interesting blogs and us women at Creation|Collaboration get to meet other women in business!

Mmmm Summer sunshine... Pineapple Beach anyone?

With the hope of some fabulous Summer sun, I've added to my Summer range by making a fabulous new fruity, delicious soap - Pineapple Beach another of our luxury handcrafted goatsmilk and glycerine soaps.

To keep with the tropical theme, I've added pure Organic Coconut Oil, which has been called the healthiest oil on earth - it has incredible abilities to moisturise your skin and is particularly good with dry or mature skin.

To increase moisturisation and to give you even more fabulously soft skin, I've also added my usual skin hydrating Ecocert additive - you'll know by now this is a vital ingredient in all my soaps as it adds yet another vital luxury element.

This summery soap is fragranced with a delicious, fresh, sweet & juicy pineapple scent - for a real tropical Summer! And I've used a blend of two different natural micas, specially imported from the US, to create a true juicy pineapple colour. These micas glisten gently in this wonderful soap - perfect for those warm Summer days!

If you are interested in purchasing this truly Summery soap, check out our Soaperstar Online Store - we'll be happy to see you there!!

Colour Bomb!!!

With the delivery of my fab new POP micas (from TKB Trading), I have been wondering how I could incorporate all the colours together in one soap... and I did it this weekend! I haven't tackled stripes in the past and this was fun to do, if not a little scary!!!

Colour Bomb is another luxury handcrafted pure glycerine soap which is perfect for all skin types, especially those suffering from dry skin conditions.

To the naturally moisturising soap, I have added pure Coconut Oil, which has been called the healthiest oil on earth - it has incredible abilities to moisturise your skin and is particularly good with dry or mature ...skin. Along with that, I've added a skin hydrating Ecocert additive that increases the level of moisturisation in your skin.

Colour Bomb is fragranced with a soft aldehydic scent with citrus top notes, a floral heart with base notes of musk—a really soft & clean perfume.

I used six different natural micas to create our Colour Bomb; from the top - Lemon Drop Yellow, Tangerine Orange, Apple Green, Raspberry Pink, Blueberry & Grape! These micas glisten brightly in this softly perfumed soap which will gently scent your skin throughout the day.

I really love this soap and I'm hoping that you do too!!! If you're interested in purchasing, don't forget to check out our Soaperstar Online Store today.

Happy Easter everyone!

Just a quickie to say Happy Easter to everyone! I bet you're all stuffing yourselves to the gills with chocolate today.. and why not, if there was ever a day for it, today's it! I've been off chocolate and all matter of naughty munchie type things for 12 days now .. currently now changing my addiction from chocolate to oranges! Yep, I am a freak.. so far it's not been difficult at all to be honest - I love most fruit and veg anyway (not the hugest fan of green vegetables in the main though) and I'm not a big meat eater usually (in that I do eat meat but I often only want a small portion of it). 

My problem is comfort eating so I'm trying to replace that with more healthy choices without going too mad about counting calories or doing stupid stuff like weighing myself everyday.  I didn't even weigh myself at the start of this - I'm just going by how my clothes feel (they were starting to get tight which I really hate).  I'm going on hols in August and wanted to drop a bit before I went (I've a lot to drop I'm afraid but something is better than nothing right?!).

Anyway, I digress (as usual)... just wanted to say Happy Easter to all my Soaperstar's .. hope you have the best day and enjoy that choccie .. think of me whilst I have another orange!!!

Fancy treating yourself to some fabulous luxury handcrafted glycerine & goatsmilk soaps? Go no further than our online store for more details!

Oh well... it's the taking part that counts right?

Well.  Sad news.  The finalists for the Irish Blog Awards were announced on Friday night - I didn't make it! I know! Crazy or what? Anyway, given this blog is relatively new and it's mostly about soap, I guess it doesn't fall too much into the sphere of what you'd imagine the normal run of the mill person to read.  But, hey, I'm back up on the bike and gonna try again for next year!

Actually, I was VERY happy to get to Round 2 at all ... and it really is the taking part that counts... if you don't put yourself forward for things, you'll never get anywhere.  So what I didn't win? I didn't have a fancy schmancy dress anyway and I can't wear high heels to save my life! And God knows I could drop a few pounds too!

So, the plan for next year is 1) get nominated again .. several times this time, 2) get them to spell my blog name properly (the link never worked, annoying), 3) get into Round 2,  4) get on the finalists list and 5) eventual world domination.

Yeah, good plan, great work for a Sunday... now I'm starving!!

(Drop a few pounds, who am I kidding??!!)

Handcrafted luxury goatsmilk & glycerine soap from Soaperstar - all made in Dublin, Ireland

March Special Offer from Soaperstar

Our previous monthly special offers have been very successful and I wanted to continue with them for March - so I want to introduce our new special offer. 

Introducing our new organza gift bags - in our signature purple, these beautiful organza bags are absolutely perfect as gift wrapping for one of our Soaperstar soaps.  I've shown some examples in the picture to the left - I think they look really excellent.

The price of these bags will be 75 cent each but, as a special offer to our customers, we'll be offering these at a reduced price of 50 cent per bag for the month of March! That represents a 33% reduction in price from the regular retail price. 

These would look really excellent for any gifts - with Mothers Day coming up in the EU (14 March everyone, have you got your pressies ready??), they'd be fantastic as gift wrapping - they also really add to the luxury element of our handcrafted soaps - anyone would be delighted to recieve one of these!

If you're interested in purchasing, please check out our site at http://www.soaperstar.com/ - enjoy!! Don't forget to buy in time for Mothers Day!

A Facebook and Twitter Tip for businesses

Firstly, can I say a quick "sorry" for not having posted in a while? I've been under the weather and, in the main, under the radar.  I''ve been working away quietly and slowly making some soaps and experimenting with lip balms and bath bombs too.  I'll post about this tomorrow as I've to work on some photos beforehand.

 

So... the real point of this blog post to give you a tip about Facebook and Twitter.  Lots of small businesses are focusing on social media to get their message out - it's a hugely powerful tool and it's free! You can reach millions of people via what is called "viral marketing".  What is that I hear you say? Basically, it's marketing through networks.  Let me give you a scenario - before I started Soaperstar I knew that I had to get a presence online and build up interest for the product and company before I could start selling.. otherwise who will buy something they don't know exists? Ok. So what did I do? I set up a blog firstly (you're reading it!) that just told of what I was doing - plain and simple English, just to say "hey folks, this is my stuff and this is what I'm working on now".  Then I decided to set up a Facebook Fan Page.  Lots of people already have personal pages on Facebook but you can also set up a business page too to promote your products to your network... who are they? Your friends and family that you've sent a link to and said "come and join us on our new business page". 

Ok, so now my friends and family have joined but I'm not going to take over the soaping universe through them am I? Well, yes in a way.  You ask your friends and family to send an invite to your Facebook Fan Page to their friends and family.  So .. how you've reached two layers of people.  Then on your Facebook Page, say to everyone please feel free to invite your network to join.. so now how many people can you reach? Plenty! Loads more than the number of people you ever know.  They invite their network, who invites their network, who invites their network.. see how it works? Ok, not everyone is going to be interested or join or even click the link - but imagine if even 10% do!

I've just done a forum post on some tips arising from the use of Facebook and Twitter and thought I'd do a blog post on it also; it may be of some interest to people so I thought I'd share it. 

 

Vanity URL's with Facebook:  When you've built up at least 25 fans, you can change your facebook fan page to what they call a "Vanity URL". When you first create your Facebook fan page, pretty much just a string of letters and numbers and long and not very attractive.  To make it more like your own site link, that contains the name of your company this is what you should do:

Click http://facebook.com/username.  At the bottom of the page, you'll see a link called "set a username for your pages".  Click on it and then you'll see a drop down - click on this and you should see your "business fan page".  At that point, you should put in the name of your company/fan page, ie Soaperstar.  Word of warning, at this stage you have to make committment to using that name - you can't go back and change it later so make sure you've clicked the right thing!!!

After doing all this, you'll have a nice simple Facebook Fan Page address ... example http://www.facebook.com/soaperstar - instead of a mass of jumbled up letters and numbers after the dot com.  This is handy to quote on your business cards, the end of your emails, on Twitter, your blog, the end of forum signatures etc.  

Twitter and how to manage your messages:  If you're using Twitter regularly, download Tweetdeck, click http://www.tweetdeck.com; it's free and it manages the process far easier.  You can set up columns for your friends or for specific people you want to keep a track on.  If you want to use hastags (which are used for subjects of interest to people - if lots of people use it for the same subject, it's called trending) then add the hashtags #soap and/or #handmade to your Tweet.  Then people can search for all the #soap tweets if they want.  Also it makes it a more trending topic. 

I hope this information proves useful to someone - I am a big fan of social media and I think, for small businesses who don't have marketing budgets the size of the big guys (or any marketing budget at all!), then the social media route is so important to check out.  Don't underestimate the power of a network!!!