Are circles worth joining?

[kidsstore]

One of my team members came up with an idea that sounded great. She suggested that each team member add all of the other team members to your circles, and look at their shops and find at least 2 items from each shop to favorite. She said she finally understood the benefits of circles.

I have had other sellers add me to their circles, but have been so busy I never really checked into info on circles to find out the pros and cons of them. I decided to go along with her suggestion, and added one of the member shops to my circles. I also looked at all of her items and found 2 that I favorited. Next think I knew I not only had her circle and the 2 items I favorited in my activity area, I also had show up 4 more of her additions to her circles and favorited items. Since then 2 more have been added to my activiy area.

Previously I had used my activity area to keep track of the activity of my shop, mainly sales and which items had been favorited. Could someone give me a good link about circles, or explain the pros and cons of them? Also, I do remember reading past titles on business teams about circles, but could not find them. I do remember that some questioned how useful they were, and how to remove your shop from circles or another shop from yours.

I am not complaining about circles, and appreciate all of those members who were kind enough to add me to theirs. I just want to understand more about them. Thanks

[Former_Member]

No.

[Former_Member]

You end up seeing a lot of activity from other people, however, there is an easy way to see just your activity and that is to un-check the box at the top of the activity feed page that says "your circle". Doing this shows only activity within your shop.

Personally, I just look at it as another way to networking. It can get old wading through other people's favorites and things of that nature, but I have found some cool things through glancing at that feed. It probably doesn't hurt to network as much as you can!

[Former_Member]

I agree with you. I'm flattered by those who have added me, but I don't understand the benefits either. Good question!

[Former_Member]

If one of your items gets hearted, and the person who hearts it has a lot of admirers, it has the potential to be seen by several hundred people. I've had a lot of people find this newest shop of mine through the Circles - matter of fact, my very first sale came through the Circles, because she told me so.

It can get old wading through them, but I find Treasuries I'm in that way, I find items to use in Treasuries, I've bought items through my Activity Feed. I actually like it a lot better than I thought I would when it was first introduced.

[SplendidStarlings]

I only enjoy seeing what my buddies and people with my same taste are doing. I took the taste test and added some of those lovely people to my circle. If I see TOO MUCH activity from one person I un-circle them. I have members of my local group in my circle and I like stalking their favorites : )
~Heidi
(Handmade Dayton)

[SplendidStarlings]

And I do buy items I see in my circle. Found several great purchases there!

[kidsstore]

AnyOccasion, thanks for telling me to uncheck the circle box. I am going to continue to add the other members to my circle and favorite their items, at least until I research circles more in order to make a better decision on them.

[jewelrysldesigns]

This is good information. I had that same question about circles. I almost remove someone but did not want to lose potential exposure. Thanks

[beevintageredux]

The only time I saw any activity in my shop that I can directly relate to circles was when a shop that was in multiple thousands of circles added me to her circle. I had quite a few new hearts in the hour or so after she added me :) Other than that, I kinda see being added to a circle on par with having your shop favorited, only with the added benefit of being notified via their activity feed when you add something new. And of course the exposure to all of the other shops included in the circle!

[kidsstore]

How do you un-circle someone? I tried to find that info, but couldn't. Thanks

[Former_Member]

You can remove people from your circle by visiting their profile page. There's a little X that pops up next to the "in your circle" text.

I think the circles are interesting, and a good way to discover new items sometimes, but their usefulness is debatable. Some people have really good luck with them, some people don't. I occasionally add people to mine, but I usually have to have a reason to. I do check out other people's shops/profiles when they add me, though. If they have something I like, I'll add some of their stuff to my favorites.

[JPsSweetInspirations]

I guess bigger circles mean more potential for views and purchases.
Guess I should start adding more!

[Former_Member]

I find myself finding stuff I LOVE while looking through the activities of my circle. Some goodies I wouldn't have found or think to search for, in the first place.

For me, if you have people in your circle with similar aesthetics as yourself, it's almost like having multiple personal shoppers! I'll be going through my circle's activity while shopping for Xmas, for sure!

[creativemind]

Yes, this is very good information. I read something on circles a few weeks ago thta really didn't explain the benefits as well as this does.

I guess I'll have to try it and see what happens.

[Former_Member]

I didn't think much of them at first, but as my circle grew, I started to love it! I find so many awesome items through circles that I never would have found on my own, and I have gotten favorites through them as well.

[Former_Member]

Most of the things I "favorite" are things that I've found in my activity feed from my circles. And I will definitely notice trends where the same item of my own receives several views or hearts within a short time frame and I assume that happens because it showed up in a large circle. Having other people add you to THEIR circle helps to increase traffic to your store. Adding people to YOUR circle lets you see items and shops you may not have found on your own. Also, often times if you add someone they might add you in return. (although that's not a guarantee)

I'm a little bit picky about who I add to my circle. I check out their favorite items first and if they are just far from my own personal taste or interest, I don't usually add them. If they seem to have a similar style to mine, it's fun to have their favorites show up in my activity feed.

I also had one person who was non-stop adding favorites and flooding my activity feed for hours on end. I ended up dropping her.

I don't sit and look through EVERYTHING in my activity feed. First I check the box and see only my own activity. Then I go back and scroll through a page or two of recent activity to see if there's anything I like, or any new shops I might want to follow.

[CatherinePicone]

I had to remove two folks from my circle because they seemed to "favorite" items all day long. They had some beautiful choices, but it was such a volume of things to sift through every time I logged on. With my remaining circle, there are a lot of wonderful choices to enjoy looking at without having to do the searching!