Marketing

[Former_Member]

Hey everyone-

One of my goals is to find new and creative ways to market my shop, and so I thought I would put it out there and find out what you all are doing that is working.

I have my etsy shop which started as custom graphics for etsy shop owners and bloggers, but I have slowly been adding stationery designs and plan on growing the paper products end too.

I have a blog that is connected with my etsy shop, a facebook for my business and a twitter. I've done some giveaways on other blogs which was good for getting my name out there but didn't result in sales. I've also done a couple of ads on blogs which, once again, I find is good for getting my name out there but not so much for sales.

Have you come up with any great marketing ideas that you would be willing to share? I'd love to bounce around some ideas!

Thanks!
Nikki

[Former_Member]

Ooooo LOVE this thread!!!

Right now, I am on facebook.I have a fan page in which I update fans on new listings, any sales, and just regular status updates regarding my business. I also have a twitter account, but not many followers. I don't have THAT much to say during the day for twitter, so I don't really post that often on there. I am really thinking about closing that account.

As for outside of Etsy, I signed up for a table at a market fair coming up on the 24th of this month, so I hope that gains some local traction. If the 24th goes well, I plan to attend every other Sunday for the market.

I was also was contacted by Time Out New York magazine in NYC to be featured for their online feature of local fragrance lines in August. I hope that brings some more business to my Etsy shop.

Jacque

[Former_Member]

FaceBodyFeet that is really cool being contacted by Time Out New York Magizine I hope you get a ton of exposure out of it. Wishing you the best of luck.

[Former_Member]

facebodyfeet - well done re. Time Out! How do you get people to hear about you from such places? I am very new on here and am only just in the process of getting my shop going. What puzzles me is how do you ensure that people find your stuff amongst so much on here? Any hints would be really appreciated for the new girl!!!

[Former_Member]

Thank you so much! I hope it brings lots of exposure too! They have a great magazine. I use to work in a hotel and all the hotels have this magazine. And it gets a lot of local readers too.

@brownhills, I honestly do not know how they found me, unless they did a local search for specific types of shops. That is my guess. But definitely get involved in your local neighborhood to start building yourself in the community and people will start to take notice. Start with family and friends who help generate word of mouth, the best advertising available.

[Former_Member]

@facebodyfeet - Thanks for the tips will take a deep breath and get out there. Wishing you lots of luck!

[Former_Member]

I was recently wondering the same thing. I hear a bunch of people say that they were featured in a magazine or on another blog and i would love to get my name out there like that but i have no idea where to start on how to get things like that to notice my shop. The only thing i have to say that ive found so far that was fun was Etsymadness.com which does a link party every wednesday for etsy shops then features the favorite of that grouping the following week. ive searched for other blogs that do this but most just want you to link to your own blog (which i dont have) so its hard.

[Former_Member]

Dizzy- You should start a blog! I find it is a great way to get to know other bloggers and etsy shop owners (through commenting), plus there are a lot of bloggers out there that love to feature etsy shops (especially if you are willing to do a giveaway). I've made some great blog friends through the blogging world and have made some great contacts for business. Doing giveaways don't always get you more sales, but it is a great way to get your name out there.

[Former_Member]

I’m trying to learn how to market through Facebook and build up my fan page. One way I’m trying to add fans is to give away small samples of my soap to those that seem interested. On the label, there’s only one way to reach me which is my FB page. I also use the sample somewhat as a business card. When those I meet for the first time at fairs ask me how to find out where I’ll be next, I give them a sample and let them know that the FB page has my schedule. I just started doing this a few weeks ago, so let’s hope it works.

[Former_Member]

@Castleco
I have a facebook fan page, but to be honest, I'm just not that into it. I don't have a personal facebook, so the whole facebook obsession thing is not for me. I'm much more into my design blog than my facebook fan page. I think including your facebook page on your samples is a great idea!

[Former_Member]

Question- talking about social media, what is everyone doing? I have so much going on that I can barely keep up in terms of the social media aspect.
Besides my etsy shop, I've got my blog (which I do strongly suggest! Its a great way to talk to others through commenting plus you can showcase your own work and people get to know you better), I've got a twitter, a pinterest, a klout account (which is a little beyond me), a facebook fan page... then there is LinkedIn, Google + (which I know nothing about), tumblr, flicker...

What are you doing? What works for you? And when is it too much social media to manage? (I may have hit that point)

[dorsetclothing]

I have a livejournal blog, which I like for the community aspect that exists there. I'm part of communities which draw people towards my blog. I also use tumblr, and have an etsy mini widget on my page which I have found is one of my top ten sources of traffic. Tumblr is good too because it's much easier to avoid "over promoting" your store. I blog plenty of other things throughout the day, and then slip a listing in there.
I also have a deviantart account, flickr, and there's forums I frequent which also bring in a lot of traffic. Having my store as a signature also helps increase my google ranking, as each post I make links back to my store.
I've never had a FB account or twitter, they never one me over. I have a google+ account but I'm not enjoying it right now, probably for the same reasons why I never got an FB page!
I stick to the places where my market are (and I know my market pretty well as they interact with me on a daily basis), and don't waste my time where traffic isn't coming in. Etsy shop stats and GA should help you determine where you should focus your energies and where is wasting your time. :)

[Former_Member]

@ dorsetclothing: I have a blog -- how do you get the Etsy widget? That would be a great way to direct my blog readers directly to my Etsy shop.

I also have a general question: has anyone tried Pinterest? What is Pinterest, and has it yielded much success for anyone here? I myself am thinking about making a Tumblr account in addition to my blog and Facebook.

But I do agree with some of the opinions here: my facebook really doesn't give me much traffic for my Etsy business. I wouldn't exactly say it's not worth it, but it's definitely not my strongest source.

[Former_Member]

@dreamingdevotchka
I have a pinterest! It doesn't draw any business, but it is totally my obsession! I find it a great source of inspiration for everything- design ideas, cooking ideas, decorating and fashion. Pinterest is basically a way to keep up with and store images you find on the internet and share them with friends. I really love it. It is also great for blogging because it keeps up with your sources so you can go back and source your images.
I'm thinking about a Tumblr too, but I don't know much about it. I think it is kind of like a mixture of blogging and pinterest... but I don't know.

I have the etsy widget on my blog too. Under account, if you go to promote, it is the etsy mini. Then just follow the steps.

[dorsetclothing]

nikkihodum - you're right, tumblr is pretty much that. You might find it does no different to pinterest to you and may not be worth it, but I'm not much of a fan of the layout of pinterest, I like tumblr a lot more.

[Former_Member]

Hey Guys-

I read this great article and I thought I would share it. Its all about social media and where to focus.

http://socialfresh.com/social-media-solo-entrepreneur/?utm_medium=Argyle%2BSocial&utm_source=twitter...

[Former_Member]

Thanks for the link nikkihodum - it is a really interesting article. I am a novice on here and it it down to helpful etsians that I am learning so much x

[Former_Member]

Hi, I've recently been looking at different websites to advertise on to get my brand out there and at the moment I'm trying StumbleUpon. I've registered my website with them and you pay 5 cents for every person they send to your website (you can cap how much money you spend so that it doesn't get out of control) Within the first 6 hours I've had over 100 hits on my website. I think its a good way to send lots of people to my website but I'm yet to see sales... I'll let you know how it goes.

[Former_Member]

Oh and I'm also looking into Linkedin but I'm not totally convinced yet... does anyone else use Linkedin?

[Former_Member]

I have an account on Linkedin, but I don't use it. For some reason I cannot get into it and it never seemed user-friendly to me. The connections and stuff were hard to keep up with.

I would be interested in knowing how you'd use them for your business.

[Former_Member]

I have a LinkedIn account, but I don't use it much either. I know it is suppose to be great for building business connections. But I don't know that much about it.
So far, I think Twitter is best. I want to do more on Facebook, but other than posting my designs or blog posts, I don't know what else to do with it. I don't have a personal FB so I can't comment on other pages... Thoughts?

[Former_Member]

From what little I've discovered in the past few days, Linkedin is supposed to be good for networking but you can also join groups. I joined Mudpie (fashion forecasting company) they have lots of interesting articles etc. but the whole LinkedIn thing seems beyond me... I will give it more time. In regards to stumbleupon I'm averaging 130 people visiting my website each day. Its slow on sales though... but then so is etsy.

[Former_Member]

Nikki I think its worth having a personal Facebook account. You can get all your friends "liking" your page too. And I think its good for networking to be able to comment on other peoples pages. How do you meet new people on Twitter? Most of my friends don't have twitter accounts and I'm not really sure how to use it as an effective marketing tool (not to always advertise) but to connect with people. Any adivce?

[Former_Member]

Hey guys I just started my facebook fan page... I need 25 fans to get my link. Can any of you guys help out. I will be willing to like your page also. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Strickly-Cute-Creations/236565883039488

I remember we were liking one anothers pages in another trend but I can't find that one now so I thought I would put if here.

[Former_Member]

Hi everyone, really interesting thread.

I am pretty new to Etsy selling and sofinding this hugely helpful!! Thanks so much.

I am using my personal fb page - decided against a fan page at this stage as I really would just get confused having two pages plus I'm on there everyday so my friends/family can see what's happening (and so far most of my sales on/off etsy have come from friends/family).

I have a twitter acount and tweet everyday - not always just about my listings - sometimes just chatty stuff too - it's been really fun and also useful connecting with other craftspeaople/artists.

I also have a blog - in its very early stages - that I tweet about when I have a new post. I'd also be really greatful of any advice you can give me re blogging? Also if anyone is willing to be interviewed for my blog that would be amazing?? I'd link back to your etsy shop and your blog if you have one.

So far from my shop stats I've found that about half of visitors come from etsy and about half from twitter/blog with a handful from facebook..but alas so far no sales...