A Bridge Too Far

Shop Talk
1

I joined folksy in January 2022. I had tried to sell my hand spun fibre and needle felted crafts on Etsy, without success. I did not have any expectations of selling on folksy either but enjoyed the whole process of making and marketing my hand made woollen wares.

I soon came to realise that the whole point of folksy (it seemed) was to ‘like’ others’ works of art or hand made items - there were SO many ways to do this …

Shades of …
What was the last thing you sold?
What have you listed today?
Favourite an article from the shop above you
My biggest fan for this week
What I would love to sell today … etc etc

I enjoyed looking at the items people had been busy making and, before I knew it, found myself, EVERY evening, trawling through all of the above (and much more) and ‘liking’ … EVERYTHING! I noticed that the items in my shop seemed to be ‘liked’ by more and more folksy people. This was good … or so I thought.

Then I began to think … but I don’t like everything - there is lots for sale that I don’t have the slightest interest in or even like. But my conscience made me think … well, what if I just ‘like’ the things that although I would never buy, clearly a lot of work has gone into the making. So I felt a bit better about placing my :heart: against it.

Then I became ill.

Although I checked in on folksy most evenings, I did not have the energy to ‘look at and like’ any of the arts and crafts. I soon noticed that the folksy community did not seem to like my crafts anymore - items ‘liked’ went down from 97.7% to 1% … clearly, folksy people were pressing the ‘unlike’ button. Can anyone please explain why they might like an item one day … and then later ‘unlike’ it? Surely, you either like it or you don’t? Why would you ‘unlike’ it … is it because the person whose work you apparently like, didn’t reciprocate? Is that morally right? So often I read … ‘I have liked X in your shop, to say thank you.’ Thank you, I presume, for liking something in my shop. I think that folksy should remove the option of ‘unliking’ an item … as I said above - you either do or don’t like an item and if you truly like it then surely you wouldn’t stop liking it … would you?

I have read that people are more likely to buy an item if others have liked it or if the seller has had previous sales. I am not in a position to argue this point, but I CAN say that if I see an item I want to buy, I am never influenced by the masses. I buy it because I like it - not because others have liked/bought it too.

NOW?

I feel that there is much more to life than trawling through folksy every evening liking everything I see or that I think a lot of effort has gone into its making. I will continue to market my handspun or hand made fibre arts on folksy, without any expectations. IF somebody ‘likes’ my crafts, that is good … but it will not be soley because I Iiked something in their shop. I am not getting caught up in that again - life is too short and too precious to spend trawling through social media.

All best wishes to everyone. :blush:

Sent from my iPad

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I’m not even sure how to see how many likes I’ve got or had in total! I only like things I actually like. I’m sorry you’ve found yourself caught up in this to the extent it has made you ill. I do understand where you are coming from. You do need to put a lot of effort into the social media side of things on Folksy but that doesn’t mean you do things you are uncomfortable with. I hope you are feeling better now.

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The percentage you see for the likes/ favourites on your stats is a percentage change in the number times the like button was clicked so if you stop taking part in the like for like threads this number goes down without the need for people to unlike items.
I don’t take part in the showcase threads on the forums because it takes a lot of time and doesn’t reach the right audience for my work (it didn’t generate sales when I tried it), they might work for some but not every one, and you are obviously in the same camp as me on that one.
Get well and focus on other social media platforms that do work for you.

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Oh no … I’m so sorry not to have been more clear - my illness was nothing to do with being caught up in the ‘politics’ of folksy :woman_facepalming:t3:. I was just shocked, surprised, saddened that taking time away from folksy because I wasn’t well, produced the results it did.
I have never really done the social media thing but know how important it is to get sales, so I only have myself to blame for my lack of sales but I don’t intend to change anything.
I do like folksy and I realise that everyone is just trying to help each other - for that, and the community spirit I applaud everyone. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Thank you for explaining that, Sasha. :blush:
Yes, I’m feeling much better now, thanks.

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Hi, I totally agree with you.I have been on Folksy for about three years and only just sold 2 paintings. Strangely enough about the time I interacted more. May be a coincidence. I have also tried share and liking many items but has you say whats the point in liking something you dont like or have any interest in.
I have looked at your work and think its really good and can see a lot of time and effort went into making them. Time and effort is not always appreciated. I, like you, feel its hard to ‘like’ a page if the product is just not up your street. I paint and dont expect everyone to like it just because i like their work. Peoples ideas are fortunately different.
This is not not intended to offend anyone but be honest without being unkind. If you dont genuinely like it dont press the :blue_heart:.
Good look x

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if I like something I’ll like it. If not I won’t. I don’t think that affects sales so much. And as a buyer, I certainly don’t look at how many likes a buyer has. I either like their work and buy it or I don’t I’m not swayed by likes.

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Im sure the reciprocal liking works to a degree for many sellers, but its not for me. I would rather have genuine likes, randomly made, that reflect a true response to my work, and therefore making my stats useful information. I sometimes personally remove a “like” if i added it to bookmark a particular item as a gift for a particular person. If i go with one of my other options, i remove my bookmark. Its how i use the like function, and in no way reflects on the item or creator.

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I joined Folksy in February '22 and am still not quite sure about the ‘etiquette’ of social media and the Folksy community - in short I’m still blundering about a bit liking everything and anything. Maybe I draw the line at liking stuff I really don’t care for but as I think it is important to encourage everyone who has tried to be creative I do tend to hit the heart button a lot. I like Folksy Friday as it gives me the chance to promote things that really catch my eye but there is a limit to how much time I can spend on ‘chat’ and promotion versus how much time on listing items and actually creating new stuff to sell! I’m sure others are in the same situation. As to my sales - well we shall see how it goes, meanwhile I am really enjoying Folksy community and that’s a real bonus!

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I wish that instead of a :heart: I would get a reciprocal sale!! :smile::laughing: I have spent far more buying from other shops on Folksy than I will ever make selling on here. Sometimes, it does feel a bit disingenuous liking items that you really don’t and I would much prefer to have people like my stuff only if they truly do - it would be more useful to know what is working and genuinely popular when you’re making items to sell. BUT - one of the main reasons (swiftly becoming the ONLY reason!) I love Folksy is the sense of community and support. It can be daunting trying to sell your creations (especially when starting out) and the encouragement you get on here can be the difference between closing down, giving up or struggling on! I stopped doing the daily listing challenge because it took too much time and for the reasons stated above. I was informed that the more likes you get, the higher up the listings you go but I didn’t notice any benefits in terms of sales and that didn’t change either way when I stopped doing it. Having said that, I have bought items from people I have got to know through the forums, so I think it must work for some people! :blush:

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The ‘more likes the further up the search results you go’ adage is true for some selling sites but not all - for Amazon and Etsy there is a weighting in the search algorithm so that the more positive interactions (adding to wish lists/ sales) a listing has the better it will do in the search results. This isn’t the case for the Folksy algorithm as it was developed for one off items.
The only benefit for swapping likes on Folksy is that your item might (and that’s a big might) get featured in the ‘popular right now’ section on the home page (and I’m really not sure how many people actually scroll that far down the home page to see items).

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Thank you Sasha, that’s useful to know.:blush:

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Yeah. Likes get items featured.

Which is great but contextually looses meaning unless you have enough items in your own shop to ensure reciprocal likes.

And typically there is a sweet spot of time for a shop to get a liked item featured on the ‘popular now’ section to be seen by enough eyes. Especially to be in the top 4 or 5 positions.

If your item isn’t one of the freshly liked products it will appear lower in the page…reducing visibility for views.

To paraphrase Syndrome from the Incredibles ‘…when every item is liked…’

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Another here who only likes things I like, same on Instagram, likes and follows, I don’t expect anyone to like or follow me if they don’t genuinely like what I do, I’m totally fine with it, I don’t really understand social media and I know I’ve probably annoyed some here on the forums because I didn’t understand the rules of if you post something you’ve got to scroll through pages and pages of posts and go and like everything??
That’s one of the reasons I don’t post here anymore, I’d rather not offend anyone, but I just don’t have time to spend hours here ‘networking’ I love a quick read here when I’ve got time and have made some super ‘friends’ but I’m just to overwhelmed by the ‘rules’ if that makes sense, if that means I don’t get any sales then I’ll just have to live with it.

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The only thread on the forum where you are expected to like everything on that thread is the ‘Daily listing challenge’. Some threads expect you to just like the item in the post just prior to yours, and it states that on the first post or in the title, and others don’t expect that at all, so I wouldn’t avoid the forums because of that. I often post and don’t ‘like’ any other items on the thread, other times I might give a like to the previous poster…just depends on how much time I have.

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I like the daily listing thread. Although I don’t join in every month, for me it’s not so much about getting sales, I just find it a lovely community and I enjoy the chat and I do like looking at what everyone has to offer and i have indeed come across items I’ve purchased. It’s true I don’t actually ‘like’ everything I see or, like with jewellery, I can totally appreciate a piece but I just don’t wear it so will never be a customer to jewellers but it takes me just a second to click on the heart and love/favourite the item if that is part of the rules of taking part and I have no problem doing it.

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I like the ‘favourite an item from the shop above you’ thread because you can choose something yourself from their shop. You can usually find at least something you like if you’re given the option to choose, even if their shop may not generally appeal to your taste. It’s a nice way to discover other people’s items and new shops too. You also get a more genuine response to your own items, as others choose it themselves and it can help you identify what is more (or less!) ‘popular’ .:blush:

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Maybe we should just use common sense - since reading this thread I’m now tending to leave less likes (especially if I’ve liked lots by the same maker) and if I’m pushed for time I just do 3 or 4 likes. I do think it is a good thing to be encouraging though and if you post something then try to engage in the conversation. Bimble Bird made a really good point about ‘favorite an item from the shop above you’ it is a great way to find unexpected items and give some genuine feedback to someone else’s shop and visitors to your shop and you get it back when someone visits your shop.

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Hi I joined in Feb 22 and I also am very much still learning how to navigate Folksy and haven’t a clue how all the social media side works. I only joined FB because of my Folksy shop to be honest and I’m slowly learning that. I too, like Crafts to Keep, didn’t know you could find out your percentage likes. I can understand how easily it is to get drawn into checking your shop stats etc and to be truthful I naively thought I would pop my cards on Folksy and that would be that :grinning: There are so many talented artists and makers on Folksy I felt what the heck am I doing on here! I only go on the forum if I want to and I usually just do ‘the shop above’ and a few other things because I can understand those. I really hope people are liking my listings and not because they feel they have to. I do like Folksy and just wish more people had heard of it.

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