I know from reading several different threads over the last few weeks that there are quite a lot of us who have recently taken the plunge into promoting via social media. (Or are teetering on the edge waiting for a shove!!) Some may be new to Folksy and selling and some not. I have been on Folksy a few years now but have only in the last couple of weeks joined Facebook & Twitter and also started using Craftjuice. I have also just signed up to British Crafters. (No wonder my head wants to explode!)
Anyway I wondered if any of you fellow newbies to any of the various social media and promotion sites would be interested in starting a thread for moral support and help!! (And hopefully those of you who know what you are doing can pop in and offer a suggestion or two!!) I know there have been a lot of things I’ve struggled with that someone else has probably figured out. I’ve just had a bit of an experiment with boosting a post and would love to know what others think about it!
There was an earlier thread about this book:
Which of course I can’t find now - the thread I mean! But I have found it really helpful and still have a lot to read. There is masses of info out there I know, including Folksy blogs but sometimes I find there is too much information and some of it conflicting! And there are only so many hours in the day and I want to be painting !!
So I’ll kick off with a question. I started out with my fb & twitter accounts linked but was getting fed up with seeing half a sentence and a link to fb on my twitter account. How interesting can that be!! What does everyone else do, link or not??
Hi Julie,
Yes I am new to social media to and considering buying this book need all the help I can get. Perhaps we can share results. Craftjuice sounds good, how much does the British Crafters cost? I have got an instagam account which I am getting the hang of!
Keep at it, kind regards Sharon
Instagram Daisylions.sg☺️
Hi Sharon
Oh your shop is gorgeous!!
I am finding that book very helpful just a bit of an information overload at the moment!! I’d love to hear what you think, that’s what I was hoping this thread would do. British crafters starts at £15, there is a 10% disc code if you book before end of the month EARLYBIRD10 . I am giving it a go in March. Dottie is lovely, really helpful. Still all a bit scary but nothing ventured!!
I don’t have instagram, only had a quick look and didn’t really get it and with fb, twitter & pintrest I seem to have my hands full. Haven’t tried blogging either. Arghhhh not enough hours in the day!!!
Hey there. I have only recently started up two online shops. Folksy is the latest of those and I am finding the social media side of it exhausting if I’m honest. I used to have a Facebook account but closed that a few years ago which was a decision that I still am happy I made. I never had a Twitter account and didn’t know what Pinterest or Instagram was.
After reading more and more about the need to promote online handmade shops I decided to give all of the above a go. My shop is a joint venture with my super crafty sister so we both do the social pimping.
I mentioned in another post that I tweeted so much I got sick of seeing my own things in my feed so figure other people will be sick of it too. I really don’t like being on the computer but am trying to find a balance. I find now that Twitter rarely adds to views and I still can’t really get into Instagram and Pinterest.
I think I’m going promote ‘old school’ for a bit and see if we can get some interest that way. Will print off some flyers and post them locally. I think we might get some interest because we delivery free locally (although I haven’t added that on folksy yet) glad I saw this thread anyway. Happy crafting everyone
These things call all be managed together; granted it just takes some getting your head around.
I work a full time job (around 45 hours a week) as well as do my artwork. I also use Facebook, instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and my own website/blog.
I have never paid for any advertising on Facebook or anything like that. I also have all of my accounts linked but most of the time I tailor my posts to each.
One thing I would advise is don’t just ‘sell’. If I follow a page on any of those social networks and all they do is sell their stuff to me I get bored and annoyed and stop following them.
My intsagram account for example is just me. I had it before I started selling officially and I’ve continued to use it in the same way. While I post photos of finished products I also post on progress shots, little videos, photos of my bunny, my allotment, just stuff I’ve done that day. All sorts. And I have a really great following of people who all like and interact and comment. I find the community on Instagram so much better than all the other social networks and they’re all so supportive.
I also don’t do the whole ‘like for likes’ thing. In fact I hate it. Fair enough to maybe help someone out a little who’s just getting started but otherwise it’s pointless. You want real organic followers who will actually share your work and ultimately purchase from you. Not just some random who likes for the sake of it but never likes, comments or shares. That sort of defeats the point as you’re working really hard on Facebook or Twitter or whatever thinking ‘I have thousands and thousands of follows I need to entertain them’ but how many are actually interacting? If you have thousands of followers but are only getting around 40/50likes every time the likely hood is you only really have a few hundred followers who’re actually engaging.
My piece of advice is don’t be scared of using these things- they’re easy once you get the hang of it.
Hi @Handmaiduns, I hear you! I’m finding it exhausting too. Facebook I kind of get and I like that you can schedule posts but twitter if I’m honest I don’t really see the point of!! I think for someone who rambles like I do it’s too short!! When I look down my feed it’s just endless half sentences and links to other peoples fb page and I just can’t be bothered I do like when an image is tweeted better!! I now only tweet if I list something or retweet if I really like an image that’t I’ve seen. Pintrest however I love, but I’ve been using that for quite a long time and just love collecting beautiful images. I do add my new makes on there but no idea if it’s ever generated any traffic to my shop.
Good luck anyway with what ever you choose I guess it’s just finding what’s right for you.
Hi @curiousseagull. Yes I agree with you about Likes. I want people to follow me who are interested in my work and are potential customers. Here of course is my problem. Where are they!!! I know practically no one on facebook or twitter. I have 1 friend and 1 relative who use them who have liked and passed me on to a couple of people and there I am stuck. !5 I think it is for both fb and twitter. I’d love to get 40/50 likes or even a few comments but it’s just not happening. I have liked loads of other pages, only ones I genuinely am interested in though and try to interact when I can. I have joined a Folksy group on Fb which so far I have had more comments on than my own page!! I’ve started using craftjuice last week too. I am trying to have a mixture of posts I also hear you about not just plugging your own things. Out of interest I did try boosting a post that was my Isle of Wight clocks and sent it to,the Isle of Wight! I got 34 interactions out of it but no page likes nor any follow up. Just thought I’d see what it did. Not something I’m planning to do often!! I will be interested to see how I get on with British Crafters, looking forward to that!!
I’ve never used anything like British Crafter so can’t speak from experience there.
I would say organic followers happen slowly. Don’t expect to wake up the next morning after you’ve put up a post and have 50 new followers.
When I first started my business Facebook page it was obviously my normal Facebook friends that helped to share it and get it off the ground for me.
In terms of Instagram and Twitter I just went at that alone. Used the appropriate hashtags and gained followers slowly that way.
I don’t have a million followers but the followers I do have interact and I’ve sold artwork via all three mediums.
I’ve also never used the boost feature. I read somewhere a while ago that if you do that then Facebook will purposely lower your reach when you don’t ‘boost’ it, in a hope that you’ll pay to do it again. Personally I have no idea how true that is- but part of me doesn’t want to use it just in case. Thought I know of people who have had a lot of success using it!
It’s all about just finding what works for you and your timescale. I don’t post on Facebook unless I’ve got something to post- so maybe just once a week. Sometimes I’m really inactive on Twitter but then I find I really enjoy Instagram so spend more time on there anyway.
Hi Julie,
Great idea for a thread. I get very frustrated with social media - it can take so much of my time and I’m not convinced it really helps. I have a facebook page which has grown a following slowly but has now reached over 300. However the post reach is so small that I don’t think anyone ever gets to see anything I post! I have a good number of followers on twitter but they are all mainly artists and crafters so this doesn’t help with translating into sales. I have recently started using ig which I like and get a lot of positive feedback but again not sure that it translates into sales. Started again with craftjuice last week and must admit my shop views have increased a little. I’m really interested to hear the advice of others on this whole topic.
I think you have posted some good advice @curiousseagull. I have signed up to British Crafters, but I don’t use them myself because they get you a great deal of interaction on the post you share with them, but then, because of the way Facebook works, the rest of your photos/posts bomb for the remainder of the week. Most of the people on British Crafters are other crafters, so I don’t think it is a good way to find your fans. I do like to like and comment on their feed though because it is a friendly community and a good source of information on what your competitors are doing(!)
I too am a little frustrated because I seem to have got stuck on 90 followers. For about 8 months now I seem to have acquired a few likes here and then lost a few more there. I suppose I’ll just have to keep plodding along…
I feel like it’s about time I came into the 21st century and finally joined instergram this weekend although I have no idea what I’m doing or what my page link even is?? With 4 children under 7 I never seem to get chance to learn these new things. My 7 year old could probably tell me what to do maybe I should ask her!
Think I might take another look at Instagram. In for a penny…!! What I don’t understand about facebook (probably not the only thing lol!) is apart from people who have liked your page who else would be able to see your post? I mean I only see posts from pages I have liked or adverts of course. I don’t understand how anyone else would see it apart from looking at your page or if it has been shared. I have heard some of you talk about your posts reach, is that to do with the insights button which I don’t get until I reach 30 likes?
If someone likes a post, other people they’re friends with can see what they’ve liked. So it can travel that way. Same as if they leave a comment.
The insights just shows who’s liking what, where they are, age range, gender etc. The reach shows how far that particular post has been seen- though that may just be a quick scroll by.
Photo posts are more successful and usually always have a further reach than just text. Key things within the post stop it reaching too far. For example if you put another website e.g a link out of Facebook that can lessen the reach. As can the word ‘sale’ money symbols etc. After all, Facebook is a business as well & want you to pay for as many services as possible so they will limit set things from reaching too far unless you pay to advertise with them.
As with all these sites it does take a time to see any real benefit. It can take months to even start building up real followers especially on Facebook.
It’s taken me over 2 years to gain my 176 followers. They seem to come along in little groups of 1’s, 2’s and 3’s every few months but over time they build up.
Facebook will never show all your followers every post you make in fact it’s only between 1% and about 5% of your followers who get to see a post at any given time. This is because Facebook want us to pay them to allow all our followers to see all our posts.
Also with facebook don’t put a link to your item on folksy in your post facebook will not share it are far. Instead add you link as a comment ie in the comment box under your post.
The best thing I’ve realized was I should have set up all my social media sites months before opening my shop then post about what I was making, showing works in progress and general natter about how and when I would be opening my shop and why.
That way I would have started building up my social media following and they would have been looking forward to seeing my shop.
Thing is I believe we have got it completely the wrong way around in opening our shops first
Oh well hind sight and all that lol
This is how it happens with the rest of the business world. Do lots of promotal runs up, advertising then bam go live with you business.
Thanks @curiousseagull and @EileensCraftStudio there’s a lot of stuff there I didn’t know. Explains a few things too!! Up until now I’ve really not bothered with social media as I haven’t needed to. I’ve been doing very well selling from my stall and all my various outlets and was happy to just let my Folksy shop tick by. Now because of health issues I can no longer run my stall and am relying on my poor old dad who I don’t think will be able to do it himself much longer. I really need to try and replace the stall sales with online. Maybe it’s possible maybe it’s not but I have to give it my best shot. Everything I have read on here and elsewhere seems to indicate to be successful online I have to do all the social media thing. I could quite get into facebook I think but I’m pretty sure twitter is always going to be a chore to me! I guess it’s going to be like the first year or two of starting my business, really hard work until it suddenly took off and instead of me constantly trying to get into craft fairs and b&m shops now they come to me!! Right then lots here to digest and need to go and look at ig. xx
No. @DewDropCrafts Doesn’t work in the same way as Facebook.
Remember though Twitter is much faster pased than Facebook- so a comment on Twitter for most people may not actually be seen because by the time they look on it, there have been millions of other tweets in the mean time. So comments could come much more frequently on Twitter without annoying the majority of people. You can write anything though and no matter what you’ve wrote it is seen in the same way.
