Is there a way to deal with the activity of circles?

[shoptwoblooms]

I want to add shops to my circle but I did add one shop not long ago and I got constant activity all day long related to this shop that drove me me nuts. Should I just uncheck the circle box but then don't want to miss anything important.

Just wondering if there is an option I don't know about as I'd like to reciprocate back.

[FleecefulFarm]

I'm curious about this too. Because of the activity page, I usually favorite shops rather than putting them in my circle, and I reserve the circle option for personal Etsy friends. But I see that a lot of people are in hundreds of circles. Is there an advantage to putting shops in your circle as opposed to putting them in your favorites?

[JoArtyJo]

I very rarely look at my activity feed because of this, I find it very annoying! Maybe I need to reduce who I have in my circle.... I added lots of people when I first started, not realising what circles really were. When I do want to see if I've been in a treasury or who has favourited me, I go to my feed but will uncheck the first box for 'your circle', others it would take me years to get through!

[Former_Member]

If you want to see new items/shops found by others, make sure you just circle those who have similar tastes, which you can see from their favourites.... but some people favourite as a way of being seen themselves, or if they make treasuries they favourite loads.

I don't have a problem with removing someone from my circle if they have too much activity for me to cope with! Not sure if the person gets notified (i'll have to try it on my other shop to see, lol).... actually, 2blooms, i just added you then removed you.... does that show in your activity feed?

Some figure that you're more likely to check out their shop when you get the email to say you've been added to their circle than from hearting the shop... so they circle for publicity.... some automatically circle their team... again to help get them or their team-mates noticed in activity feeds...

[FrenchVintagePrints]

I thought that was the whole point of circles, to see what goes on with the people who are in it. If you don't want to see that then it's better to keep them in your favorites only. It is interesting that too much activity will deter some people though, the shop in question might be interested to know it as I doubt they realize that may be the case.

[SheEarth]

unfortunately as far as I am aware only un-ticking the 'your circle' box every time you visit your activity feed that I know of. I like having lots of activity in my feed, then i know how many people are activity looking at etsy that day. I scroll down the list until I come to the more activity button then rush to the top with excited anticipation to un-tick and see what has been happening in my shop. It really is cheap thrills that make my world go round :)

[spacefem]

Yeah, this is why I only have like two people in my circle, and they're both personal real life friends.

[MagpieQuilts]

Uncircle those who are spamming your activity feed. They won't get a notification and you can narrow your list to people who actually like what you like. You can only have 1080 people in your circle and that's only a drop in the bucket of people who are on Etsy as buyers and sellers.

[Former_Member]

I don't understand why anyone would not love activity in your circles.

There are a LOT of good things about busy activity feeds. As Anne Londez touched on above.

MY SALES ALWAYS increase when I am active with my circles.

When you are on a team, you really are only interacting with that team.

Etsy and all selling are about exposure. If you are shying away from circles and activity feeds, you are missing out on a LOT of exposure. The only people that I can imagine doing this, are those that do NOT need any more sales or business for their shops.

Every time you create a treasury, it goes on your activity feed. If you only have 2 people on it, not many people are seeing your treasury. If you have 1000 people, you have 1000 chances that someone will favorite your treasury and then their ENTIRE circle has the opportunity to see it also- and the more circles they have (most people with lots of circles have buyers they have circled also) MUCH more opportunity for people to see your items.

Plus you are helping to promote other shops. Which is what networking is about. If you are not interested in Networking, then there is no reason to be involved on Etsy other than just to list your items and wait for a sale.

Etsy is about Networking with other shops. It is not nice or good business to expect others to interact and help promote you without you doing it back.

I will never circle someone who doesn't have a good bit of circles and favorites. I will not help promote a shop that has been on Etsy for several months or a year or better without at least 800 plus circles. Because that means that they don't help promote other shops, it means they don't like to network.

I want to grow my business and other networking people help me do that. There have been times (often) when I will randomly favorite a shops items and they return it very soon- and vice versa. Then my items get passed around through the activity feeds of others in my circles and anyone else who favs or sees it. I have had many treasuries and items promoted this way and do the same for others.

There are many buyers on Etsy who are Circle savvy and very active. This is a great way to see new items, fresh shops, new ideas for treasuries and some great artistic inspiration. Plus you can see the Etsy trends and what buyers are looking at and favoriting.

If you are not using circles because you have to look through too much stuff, you are really short changing your shop and limiting your promotional capabilities and networking and exposure options.

Active people on Etsy, actively promote and network and it works. Everyone should learn to LOVE busy activity feeds and circles... if you want exposure and business. :D

[ShopGreyweather]

I must have misunderstood the point of circles because when you read the etsy seller info it says to circle those whose style you admire or those whom you know personally so that circles don't get out of control. If someone isn't interested in my items or doesn't care for my particular style, how does adding them help me promote? I only have a few people in my circle and have been on etsy for years (though my shop has only been reopened for a few months now). It doesn't make sense to me (and maybe I am missing the point) to add people just for the sake of adding them. Oh and I am active on the forums because I like interacting with other sellers and sharing information and when I see items someone I know will be interested in, I tell them, so you may be getting sales from me and not know it. Plus I buy a lot on Etsy, so I feel like I am doing my part.

[shoptwoblooms]

Suzi,

No I didn't know you uncircled me as nothing showed up.

HappyCapatiller,

Thanks good points, I'm still new so still have a lot to learn about Etsy and promoting. I just found I was hitting the activity feed all day long but maybe that's a good thing.

[Former_Member]

Christen Boyd, ANY INTERACTION is something more than nothing.
There are a LOT more to circles though. If you don't use them, then I suppose it wouldn't make sense.

I know there is a team called 'The Circle Clicking Team' that is focused on making circles. They have a LOT of information on their page about the importance of circles and how it directly affects the views and networking capabilities of your shop.

There are also several threads on various other teams about how important circles are. Instead of reinventing the wheel, let me see if I can find one or two.

To answer the other concern, I have many people in my circles that have shops that I personally would not buy from or personally do not like their style. BUT that does NOT mean that they don't help promote me or I wouldn't help promote them.

It also doesn't mean that I don't really love their treasury making abilities or other shops that they favorite or items they find and favorite. You never know where or who your next sale will come from. The more people that have a potential to see your item and like it or to see it and help promote you JUST because you promote them, whether you would buy from them or even like them or not- the better!

You may want to at least read through some info on that Circles Team I listed. I know that my circles and busy activity feed mean sales for me and also everyone I have heard of that has decent sales.

Whewee... that took a little searching- but here is the link a captain from a team posted on the wonderful assets of this very thing. It is a little lengthy, but well worth the read!

Hope any of this helps! Happy Circling!

Tara

[Former_Member]

I am starting to add more people to my circle rather than just favouring their shop/item and am spending alot of time looking through my activity feed. I love this "window shopping" but it does eat away at my day - I need more discipline! Must have a look at the "Circle clicking team".

[Former_Member]

HappyCapatiller, I like the way you think!

AND.... I'm adding you to my circle! ;)

[SilverLilyJewelry]

I feel like it is personal preferance you may be more successful with load's in your circle or maybe something else is working for you there is no right or wrong!
and no the other person is not informed as to being removed from your circle!

[Former_Member]

Annie- Added you back :D

[Former_Member]

I forgot to post the link to the thread of the benefits of circles- (I'm brilliant some days~ sorry about that :/)

http://www.etsy.com/teams/7508/statteam/discuss/9213093/

[FleecefulFarm]

HappyCapatiller,
Thanks so much for all the info - I'll give circles more of my attention!
I'm not able to open this link.....?

[Former_Member]

Its kinda long... sorry up front!

The idea behind Etsy’s new circles and activity feed features is pretty straight forward – to keep tabs on your friends or people whose work you admire. These features greatly enhance the social capabilities of Etsy and can make shopping more fun.



But how, as a seller, can you use these features to your advantage?

What if, instead of using these features to keep tabs on your friends, you used them to find out more about your ideal customer?

What if you filled your circle predominantly with people who have already purchased your products?

Understanding your ideal customer and researching your target market are critical to developing a successful marketing plan. And when it comes to finding out who your ideal customer is, there’s no better place to start then with people who have already purchased your products.

The social nature of a site like Etsy already made it pretty easy to get a deeper sense of the people who purchase your products. Circles and activity feeds now aggregate that content to help make market research even easier.

So how you get the most impact when using these new features for target market research?

1. Start with your biggest fans. If you’ve sold a lot of products on Etsy, it can be overwhelming to add everyone to your circle. Instead, start with customers that seem to like your products the most. Look for customers who bought multiple products in one shot, or customers who have bought from you repeatedly.

2. Look for patterns. As you notice which shops your customers are adding to their favorites list, try to pay attention to patterns. Are there certain shops that appear often? Who seems to be a favorite of many of your customers? What types of products and styles are your customers most drawn to?

3. Do your research. Armed with the stores and styles you’ve noticed while watching your activity feed, you can now dig a little deeper by researching these other sellers. Find out if these store owners have a website or blog where you can get a little more information. Check out their press page to see where they’ve been covered. See what stores their work is in. This type of research can help you find publications and stores that appeal to your ideal customer, and help you focus your own marketing efforts.

While I’m sure Etsy’s main focus in creating these new features was to add more social applications to the site, they may have also created a powerful new tool for learning more about your customers.

Here are some FAQ's:

Where can you find your Etsy Activity Feed and Etsy Circle?

Your Etsy Circle along with any other user can be found in the profile section of a shop. Find the Circle button. You will notice that there are two tabs. The first is your Etsy Circle. Here you will be able to see who is in your circle. These are shops that you put there. The second tab is the circles you are in . Here you can find out who’s circle you are in.

What are these Circles things all about?

Circles are about connecting people and surfacing interesting items that you wouldn't have thought to search for. It's a tool that helps you share what you like on Etsy with the people who have added you to their Circle.



What does it mean if you're in a lot of circles?

The number of circles a person is in says more about the quality of items shared by that person than it says about their own shop. Circles aren't currently intended to be a promotional tool directly benefiting the person encircled.



Will the amount of circles you are included in have any "weight" on your relevancy within searches?

Nope. Numbers like that are relatively easy to abuse, so we can't establish a direct relationship between the number of circles you're in and your relevance in search results.



What is the benefit of having the circle number showing on a shop home page?

Mostly, we just wanted to standardize the presentation of a member across the profile/shop/listing pages. Now, you'll notice all three have the same visual flow: profile, favorites, circles, feedback, contact.

Consistency is something to be valued in user interfaces and it would be weird to do things differently there.

We also show the number because it's interesting. Adding the number is a very simple way to encourage participation. We've seen substantial bumps from both the launch of the find your friends tool and the new circle link, and hopefully the community will continue to connect and share with each other.



Are there any future plans for expanding the content of our Activity Feed?

Yes, definitely. What would you like to see in your Activity Feed?



How do Circles work as a promotional tool?

Circles were designed as a way to engage with people and item on the site. That said, since they are a means by which items are found and bought, they do have a promotional capacity.

If someone in their circle adds an item of yours or your shop as a Favorite, if they include you in a Treasury list, etc, etc; your item or shop will be featured on the Activity Feed's of the people who have added that person to their circle.

Circles cater to showcasing items and shops based on quality and their genuine interest to people. Activity Feeds could definitely be seen as a way to tap into niche audiences to target your market, but as they're more of a way for other people to share your items. Their utility as a direct promotional tool is limited.

Circling people either randomly or because you feel they'd be interested in your item is likely not the best way to get them interested in what you're selling.

Creating quality listings that people want to Favorite and share with their friends, is the best way to spread visibility of your shop or items via the Activity Feed.



Is there a team for making Circles? Do teams that cater to sharing teammate's items via Activity Feeds have a positive promotional effect?

Again, if a number like the count of circles that you're in can be easily abused (through collusion, registering fake accounts, or what have you) then we wouldn't ever put in place a reward system to benefit the abusers.

Adding everything produced within the group as a favorite, does not serve to showcase items that people actually want to see -- let alone buy -- from their Activity Feeds. Successful promotions are contingent on creating genuine interest in an item or shop, which mass, thoughtless, robotic sharing does pretty poorly.



How can anyone honestly keep up with 1000 shops.

It sounds very difficult indeed to do that. So we are probably not going to ever make the feed ask you to do that. To display a compelling feed for that many people we need to figure out which stories on the feed are likely to be most interesting to you, and display those at the top. We have just barely started working on this.

The feed as it currently works will already not show you everything if you have that many people in your circle.

As of right now relatively few people have circles that huge. The main reason we increased the limit when we did was so that the friend finder could be used by everyone. I know from reading the forums it sounds like everyone has massive circles, but, there's a selection effect at work there.



What is the limit of content an Activity Feed can hold?

The Activity Feed will top out at about 500 stories. At this point old content will drop off. If you're wondering why content you've generated isn't being displayed anymore it's likely because it's been replaced by newer content.

As a buyer tool, the Activity Feed's entire purpose is to show the buyer items and shops that are interesting to them. This is where Circles comes into play. Say you don't add anyone to your circle, You'll only see your own activity on your feed. That's the only result. If you then add me to your circle, you'll start seeing 3 things in addition to your own activity: you'll see when I
1) favorite an item (not just your items, any item on etsy)
2) favorite a shop (not just your shop, any shop on etsy)
3) add somebody to my circle (has no affect on you)
4) create a treasury (whether or not it includes one of your items).
That's pretty much all there is to it!

So really, you only have 4 reasons why you would want to add someone to your circle. Adding someone to your circle is like saying "Yes! I want to see what you're favoriting and what treasuries you make on my Activity Feed because you have great taste!" Notice that adding someone to your circle is just a way for us to show you items you might want to buy. Add me to your circle if I have great taste and you want to see my really cool finds.

Hope that gives you a good foundation. I'll go through and answer your specific questions point-by-point now.

1. I don't have my favorites made public does this matter?

If you don't have public favorites, I probably won't add you to my circle. And that's fine! It's a totally reasonable thing to do.
********* (this is where a lot of people get confused- as you can keep your favorites OFF your profile page, but still have them public so that you can participate in circles!) you can switch off individual boxes on your profile. Go here www.etsy.com/your/profile then uncheck the 'Include on your profile: Favorite Items' box near the bottom, then click 'Save'. That way, you can have public favorites and you can participate in Circles to your hearts content, and they won't show up on your profile page

2. I am not a consumer/buyer (at this time) and do not heart or favorite things on a regular basis, does this matter?

Again, if you don't favorite many things, people probably won't add you to their circles. Basically the same as 1 above.

3. I do not make treasuries, does this matter?

Same as 1 and 2 :) If you make really awesome treasuries but don't favorite anything, I'll totally add you to my circle because I want to see those awesome treasuries. And vice versa - if you pick really great favorites, I'll add you because I want to see them (and I might buy them!)

4. Do I need to circle others?

Circle others if you want to discover new cool shops and items on your Activity Feed. Implicitly, we're hoping that when you view your Feed, you'll see those items and buy one or two. That's the secret sauce about how it helps Etsy and all the sellers on Etsy. The Activity Feed is really just another pretty place to look at cool items, with the bonus that they might be more interesting to you than say, random items we show on the homepage.

5. If I circle others, will it help increase my visibility? based on the knowledge I do not make treasuries, I rarely heart and occasionally favorite shops.

Nope, circling others doesn't help your visibility at all! Again, circling someone only adds to the stuff you see on your Activity Feed. They will only see stuff you do if they reciprocate and add you to their circle. But if you don't favorite things or make treasuries, even if they did add you to their circle, they wouldn't see you.

6. If I do need to circle others, would it be more beneficial to circle shops that are like mine or like my style in what I create? or does it not matter who you circle?

Circling someone has absolutely nothing to do with their shop. If you are in my circle, the only way you could ever force your items to be shown on my feed is if you favorited your own item (and if I saw that, I'd remove you pretty quickly).

7. Should you circle someone back if they circle you?

Totally up to you. If someone circles me, I check their favorites. If they make me laugh or are full of stuff I might buy, I circle them back.

8. What else do I need to know about how to make circles work for me as a business owner?

There's not much you can do to directly promote your shop because of the way the Activity Feed works. If 1000 people have added you to their circles, you've got a lot of influence, because whatever you favorite will be seen on all 1000 people's feeds. In that sense, you're a powerful tastemaker, and you can surface cool items to a whole bunch of people. But only other people's items! Make sense?

OK, this is getting long. Time for your other questions.

Is this something that I need as a business owner?

Circles: no, not really. It's something that's great as a buyer though!

Will it help with sales and draw in new customers?

I absolutely think so. As a buyer, it is the best place for me to discover new items and shops that I find interesting. They're interesting because I have circled people with interesting taste. When you use circles like that, the Activity Feed becomes a place full of highly targeted items curated specifically for me. It also keeps me coming back to the site because it's always full of new stuff.

What do I need to know to make this work for my business?

I really hope this has been helpful. I'll try to end with a concrete example of how this might help you specifically. You have private favorites and don't make any treasuries. You have 0 people in your circle, and 0 people have added you to your circle. You have never even visited your Activity Feed page. Being on a large promotion team, there are alot of people who want to see what I am eyeing in other Etsy shops. 500 people have added me to their circles, because they want to see what awesome thing I'll favorite next. I'm browsing Etsy, and I find your shop and see one of your awesome dresses. I favorite it, because it's gorgeous. BOOM! 500 people that have never heard of your shop see a huge, beautiful picture of your dress on their Activity Feed. Half of them favorite it as well. When they favorite it, it appears on anyone's feed who has added them to their circle. This favoriting of your dress spreads through etsy like wildfire. You now have hundreds of new potential customers. One of them buys your dress, 10 more buy another dress from your shop. And you didn't even participate in circles/activity feeds at all! It still benefits you and your business.

[FleecefulFarm]

Thanks - great info!

I think this is the link to the Circle Clicking Team discussion:
http://www.etsy.com/teams/8308/the-circle-clicking-team/discuss/9588241/

[Former_Member]

Hope it helps!

:)