Hello fellow sellers.
I have been on folksy for a while and struggling with sales.
I know I need to put more effort into promoting myself. My question is where do you all find the best place is for self promotion?
I’m happy to put the work in, but just don’t know where to start.
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I post on Instagram which connects to my Facebook page automatically. Then post to my personal page on FB, sharing to the groups I am a member of.
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Definitely try Instagram and FB possibly Pinterest too, having said that I don’t think I’ve had a sale come through from any social media, but that might be that I struggle to get my head around Facebook and Pinterest is like another world!
I still can’t make my FB page grow, no idea how to link it to my Instagram account either, I’m a dinosaur in a tech world.
Nearly all of my sales here have been from a couple of forums I belong to that actually have nothing to do with my product or crafts in general at all.
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Every morning and every teatime, without fail, I post on Instagram, which automatically posts to my Facebook business page; then I post to my personal Facebook page and the Folksy shop group. Occasionally I post to other groups too. I’m so used to doing it now that it takes seconds and I get lots of sales from doing so. I know this because, if I’m on holiday and I don’t post, I don’t get many sales. It’s really worth it and once you get used to it it’s really easy.
Happy posting!
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Everyone says Instagram, facebook and Pinterest. Like many I am not very good on Social media but I know it is the way to reach customers so it’s worth giving it a really good go. My next task is to try and post regularly on instagram. Good luck to everyone who’s trying to get to grips with social media.
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Good luck with that one Anna I regularly post On IG but made no difference 2 me got plenty of followers n likes but no sales but I guess it depends what your selling 
x
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I post on Facebook and Instagram, although it is getting harder to get noticed now they changed their algorithms… you need to make short vids to get noticed… but I’ve started to take part in group challenges and have noticed a jump in likes and all from new accounts, so definitely helping get exposure. Join Insta and take part in some of the Christmas challenges, or if you are quick, jump on one of the more popular October/Halloween drawing challenges. Good luck whatever, we need all the extra eyeballs we can get in this economic climate
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I think the best place for self promotion is whichever you enjoy using the most, because you’re likely to get better results if you’re regularly posting and engaging with other users because you like using it, rather than just posting to promote your work every now and then but not using it otherwise because it feels like a chore.
@PaintedHorseArt Like you I’ve got quite a few sales through my other interests too, but it’s not in a quick promote and get sales sort of way, it’s through forming connections with people who share genuine interests, without purposefully trying to promote to them.
I think in some ways that can be better than posting in places like craft groups, but it only really works if you enjoy using social media/forums to connect with people in that way. For example, if I posted an item in an art group, then the other members might appreciate my work, but they’re not likely to buy it. As they’re also artists, they’d be more likely to want to paint their own version, and even if they did like it enough to want to buy, they probably wouldn’t have the space because artists generally have a lot of their own work filling the walls as well as a lifetime of interest in art which means they’ve already bought plenty of others. Other makers who make similar items are generally not your target market (but they can be great for advice and support). Where as if I’m posting in a group for my favourite band for example, I won’t be promoting my work because it’s not relevant and people don’t want you just trying to sell your work to them all the time. I’ll just be joining in conversations about music and other unrelated things, but sometimes that can lead to people wanting to know more about you, where conversations might naturally turn to what you do, or they might follow on social media and then see the art posts. It might not be everyone’s style, they might not be arty people, but there might be some that appreciate it… and they’re generally not makers, so if they like it they’re not thinking about making something similar, their walls aren’t always jam-packed already, and if they decide they’ve got a space that needs a painting, they don’t already know hundreds of other artists to pick from. If they like it, they’re far more likely to buy than someone from an art group.
I wouldn’t suggest it as a self promoting technique because it isn’t a quick way to get sales, and if you’re posting like that it should be because you’re genuinely interested rather than trying to get a sneaky sale… but if you do post in groups like that, make sure your profile includes a link to your site just in case. Don’t feel like social media has to be all promoting and purely about your art, letting your other interests in too can help!
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Yes of course, sorry, I wasn’t suggesting for one moment that anyone should just go and join random forums with the purpose of selling their work, the forums I belong to I’ve been a member there for over 15 years, just happen to have a few people there who like what I do, I wouldn’t dream of pushing myself on a random forum any more than I would walk down the street with a bagful of art and try to sell it passers by. 
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Hi, I sell mainly low value items. If I don’t do social media I don’t get any sales.
I post regularly to facebook, insta and twitter. I’m not very social and unless I have something to say most of my posts are one sentence stating what I’m promoting. It only takes a few minutes to post but do make sure you use all the available relevant hashtags. I find this the best way to grow my followers. When I first started I used to follow anyone and everyone but now I only follow if I want to see more of someone’s posts. And I follow any folksy sellers I come across!
I’ve built up a customer base of regular buyers and most of these came from facebook. I don’t sell loads on Folksy, most of my sales come from other selling platforms even though I promote Folksy more. I get sales through both insta and twitter - more from twitter.
I would estimate I spend about 20 minutes a day sharing my makes on social media. The more you do it the easier it gets.
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I found posting in craft groups unsuccessful, so this year I joined a couple of William Morris groups and a Laura Ashley group on FB, and have made sales when I posted links to appropriate items in my shop. So they are not crafters themselves but want things connected with their interests.
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@PaintedHorseArt Ah don’t worry, I didn’t think you were suggesting that, your forum use sounds similar to mine… I just didn’t want people to think I was saying that either after describing how it can be useful 
It probably goes for friends and if you have a separate personal social media page too. You don’t have to be pushy and share all your work, but just make sure you’ve got a link on there somewhere so if someone does want to find your work, they can (I’ve had quite a few friends who I know do something creative, but when I can’t remember their business name and go looking on their personal page to find a link, there’s nothing).
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Facebook use to be where the majority of my sales came from but the past couple of years I have gained more customers from Instagram. I do put more into instagram nowadays than facebook, mainly because FB keeps changing and I’m finding it a real pain. I dont really understand pinterest, i started too many boards all with the same things and don’t really get how it works so just pin new items as I remember. I would love to delete all of the boards and start again (if I understood how it worked) I havn’t tried twitter or tiktock and don’t really have the time for anymore social media sites. I definately like Instagram and the way it’s laid out and ease of use.
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Thank you everyone for you comments and advise.
Think I’ll have to brush up on my social media skills.
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