Great Question Amanda @chamaeleonco and some good advice on this thread too (especially the Pinterest info - thanks Caroline @Caroleecrafts and Sasha @SashaGarrett).
I’m on the daily listing thread and find it really helpful, fun and keeps me focused. I also keep an eye on new forum posts like this one - as a case in point I’ve learnt about the Pinterest Academy here today (which I will have a go at later) so forums are good for picking up tips.
I don’t like SM it’s so time consuming and I don’t do enough of it but perhaps I will get quicker and better at it one day. Apparently you should divide your time equally between creating and marketing your work - if you think about it it does make sense -you wont get sales if no one sees your work.
Forums and social media are time consuming and you can’t do everything but I try to do a little bit and prioritise what works for me.
Watching something last night, don’t ask where as channel flicking, about Pinterest and apparently businesses are doing better on there atm rather than Insta and FB.
Due to changes in algorithms the reach on Insta and Fb has gone down but P is actively growing the business side for users. I may just try on P for a month and see what happens to my analytics.
Oh good that’s sounds OK Caroline, I’m suppose to be on sick at the minute, although no idea how that works when I am my own boss i have told myself no making bears but I can sit and embroider and catch up with accounts and online stuff . Pinterest is one area I really need to learn, I would quite like to condense my boards or perhap start afresh once I know what I’m doing and I arn’t just adding a new bear and running.
It’s a absolute struggle to be honest and currently being social on Facebook to get my pendants seen and to build my customer base, currently takes over 4 hours a day and it’s constant. If I have even one day away from social media my posts suddenly go unseen for weeks and it really affects my sales so I find I’m having to constantly be talking over there. But I prefer it to having to do face to face sales because I’m a bit of a hermit and hate retail face to face selling, so I know the whole social media internet promotion has to be done if I want to sell my designs. Hopefully though once a large customer base of followers is built, I’m hoping I can spend less time on it and more time creating Xx
I know exactly how you feel…I too find it difficult to interact on these forums and likewise never know what to say. Just keep doing what comes naturally and don’t be intimidated by others who feel at ease writing. Just keep making and listing when you have time!
When I first joined Folksy I was led to believe that the forum was for showcasing items to customers to get sales. It took a long time for someone to tell me that this is not the case and that sellers come to the forum to show off their items to other sellers, and to get support from each other when they are having issues, they do not come here to make sales to customers.
If it’s true that the purpose of the forum is for sellers to talk to each other and not for selling to customers, then it’s bizarre that the forum is open to the public and anyone can read the threads (with the exception of the “Folksy Sellers” private threads).
Folksy is missing a massive opportunity to increase sales. It’s essential to have a private forum for sellers to seek support from each other, but Folksy needs to create a customer-facing forum with the sole purpose of selling to customers using the “Showcase” threads.
While I agree that the showcase part of the forum doesn’t often lead to sales from external customers, I believe it does lead to lots of sales from other Folksy sellers, as for Folksy pushing the forum to external customers, I’d much rather they continue to push the main Folksy website, after all that’s surely more likely to result in sales than the forum?
If I’m shopping online I never search out a forum to look for items for sale, just use the website.
I do agree that a forum for shoppers to come and look for things / ask questions etc. would be a great addition to the web site itself as something extra and somewhere for visitors looking for help can come. But, I don’t think that the showcase is a great place for shoppers to look at right now. As a shopper, if I went looking there today and knowing nothing about the Folksy Community and what the forum was about, I would be totally turned off by the frequent comments of posters along the lines of: “come on, let’s make some sales today!” I realise that doesn’t matter right now because (as far as we know) only sellers go on there, but it might not be the kind of professional shop window we would like to present.
I’ve made purchases based on what I’ve seen on the forum. Items that I might not have even known about if not for certain threads.
However, sellers buying from sellers is never going to bring in the footfall this place should be getting after so long. There are several selling platforms out there, one in particular, that relies solely on sellers buying from sellers. So far as I know, myself included, sellers left the place in droves. And if that’s how a place operates then you may as well sell your stuff on Facebook and save the fees you get fleeced for by a company that refuses to put their funds into promotion.
A forum specifically geared towards buyers would be great. It might be place for sellers to advertise special offers or for buyers to specifically put a shout out for commissions. You see this a lot on Facebook groups but you rarely see it here.
So, yes, a closed sellers forum and an open to buyers forum with completely different types of threads might work more to our advantage. If I was only a buyer I would not visit this forum because it’s not geared for me, as a buyer.
An alternative would be another FOLKSY Facebook open page (not a private group) dedicated to promoting sellers work not also to trying to attract new buyers and offering all sorts of courses and seminars when what we all want to do is get our stuff out to the customers and let them know we are here
Hi Kim, I’ve just googled the Folksy Shop Group and although I’m not on Facebook now I think it looks worth doing. Two pictures looks less time-consuming to list, but interested buyers can easily go our folksy shop for more details. This has been a really good thread for info, Jan
i have told myself no making bears but I can sit and embroider and catch up with accounts and online stuff 
. Pinterest is one area I really need to learn, I would quite like to condense my boards or perhap start afresh once I know what I’m doing and I arn’t just adding a new bear and running.
I realise that doesn’t matter right now because (as far as we know) only sellers go on there, but it might not be the kind of professional shop window we would like to present.