I see lots of new sellers saying the same thing. They mention Folksy to people and the answer back is “Ive Never Heard Of Them”
This certainly isnt good news for our collective brand!
My big question to everyone including @FolksyStaff is how do we change that?
How do we create engaging marketing that potential customers start to notice?
I know most of the downloadable materials say “home of british craft” but we need something else. We need other resources to help promote where we sell and why we sell there.
What are the key USP’s of the Folksy platform and how do we get them out to our audiences?
It would be interesting to explore different perspectives on this subject and find some possible marketing solutions.
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Perhaps Folksy could join on Facebook. Buy British Made and Small Business Saturday both of these champion ‘buy British’. We can also join ourselves but with Folksy behind us would look good.
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I live near the Malvern Showground and I would have thought a Folksy Pop Up Stall at events like the Autumn Show there or the RHS Shows would be a great place to find an audience. Also events with magazines like Mollie Makes or Country Living Magazine. Even if Folksy could get some regular featured slots in the press it would help increase brand awareness.
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I just had a look at the Buy British Made Facebook page. Wow, food for thought there! I tend to check out where my fresh food comes from but not tins, jars etc. I definitely have room for improvement.
Might be a good one for Folksy and/or Folksy sellers to join.
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It feels like we need a list of social Media places, and traditional magazines, and events that we could all access as individuals or as a collective.
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Any trade event does not have to be craft related. A friend who started a website for Ladies went and advertised at an event for business at the Surrey Sports Park, she got a lot to add to the bags you get at exhibitions such as Sandown, Excel or Birmingham. That would be the cheapest way for Folksy but would get the name out there.
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We could post on the 2 I have mentioned but would be better coming from Folksy as the main site.
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I agree. I think the Featured Seller posts would be good shared to Buy British Made, might bring us some traffic.
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How about being able to order through Folksy, logo paper bags for packing and wrapping. Calico tote bags with the logo on, I know these would be dearer but you never know could go in a large order. We would have a ready made supplier for bags and tissue paper, all of which can be cheaper if bought in bulk. Even printed leaflets which can go in our parcels. If Folksy got them printed then sold to sellers it would all be uniform.
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I’d love to see a list of social media pages that Folksy sellers use which are worthwhile. I have tried several and it looks to me like people just post and run. I have found the best ones are not craft sites but for example, if I use a William Morris fabric, I post to a WM fan group and get lots of interaction.
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The thing standing between Folksy being known and unknown and therefore our shops is Promotion and that is with a capital P.
And the promotion needs to come from the top level, the social media account with the biggest reach . That would be Folksy itself in this case… as my reach is only 3k+ however hard I personally promote.
I sold something in my Other shop yesterday.
It had been randomly shared by the shop platform on Facebook. That order It is going to a new customer who obviously And according to GA found it via FB.
.I also sold two things on Folksy. One to another seller and the other to a repeat customer.
So new customer acquired via excellent social media promotion. Simples. 
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But featured sellers already do dominate the Folksy SM posts and they are featured for an entire month. Leaving only crumbs for all the other shops.
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I was thinking about those posts being shared to pages like Buy British Made who have 35K followers instead of just on the Folksy page. Folksy page followers have already heard of us, this might cast our nets wider.
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I agree - PROMOTION is a core.
I see etsy-ads contantly and everywhere - bus-stops, print-magazines, youtube ads. And it’s not aboul selling, it’s about buying stuff!
I absolutely adore the community! The team creates a lot of nice things for sellers (like dsicounts or workshops). But honestly - I really prefer fat and nice traffic flow.
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I think this is a great idea and something that could be used at physical events as well as direct to customers
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Even if Folksy designed them but had a supplier we could order from if they did not want to have the stock themselves and the pressure of sending to sellers. Would loo, good to wrap in Folksy tissue paper with Folksy card for us to use and insert a business card of our own shop.
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But those stalls, pop up or otherwise cost money, quite a lot of money.
If Folksy are not willing to pay for SM ads then I am 99.9% ssure they will not pay for a pop up stall.
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We need Folksy as a whole to be promoted through social media not just a few who already have a month on the front page free. We need a campaign come and look at Folksy, home of made in Britain by UK makers.
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I second that 
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I used to be an Analyst so tend to analyse things so I just did that to the last FB Folksy posts… 9 in all… to wonder why they don’t seem to get anywhere… well as far as actually bringing sales to our shops.
There are posts mentioning specific shops but no tag of that shop’s FB page so the seller probably has no idea they were shared.
I can find no comments from anyone other than a seller against any of the 9 posts but there are few comments anyway
There are listing pictures shown but half the shops are not tagged so seller won’t know and any customer wouldn’t know either. Where they are FB tagged the FB page usually has no lnk to their Folksy shop…
I will continue with my own FB promotion and I will continue to pay for it myself
and maybe whoever does the Folksy FB posts could sit back and critically look at a week’s post as I have done and maybe do something a little better
PS come on Folksy, you are better than this. Look at all the Folksy Friday posts where your (unpaid) sellers voluntarily do lovely promotional posts and where every single piece shown is tagged through to the folksy shop…
And have you not noticed that you rarely get interaction from non sellers.and not wondered why…
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