Let's talk about Etsy

So in March I will be celebrating two years of my etsy shop.  I am not a big shop and don't plan to be since I have a full time job and a family.  I was showing my students channelone news the other day and it featured an etsy seller who makes wire jewelry.  They were saying how she couldn't find a job and now she makes enough on etsy to pay for college.   I think that is amazing!  I think etsy is great because its your store.  You get to set your hours, what you want to sell, and what your store policies are.  I think there are a ton of shops that make it that big, but I also see people from my etsy community fail.  I think it takes a lot more effort that just being discovered.  As a shop owner you can pay for ads on etsy/google.  I have tried that and not much success.  I mostly advertise for myself on social media.  I think for an online store to be successful you need to have a presence on social media.  I love that people can tag me when they use my product on Instagram.  People will do a lot of advertising for you!  I know there are also etsy feature accounts on IG that make you pay to advertise.  I have never gone that route but wanted to mention it as an option.  I think one of the most important things in having a social media presence is to make sure every platform has the same name, logo, or photo.  And on IG and Twitter hashtags are super important.  If you are not using them you should.  Simple on of just what your product is.  Then make a hashtag for your business in case people search for you. Its great for networking too with people that sell complimenting products or just sell like you.  The other part of promoting your self on social media is a lot of time commenting and liking others because then they do the same.  I also find that giveaways draw attention as well and get your product out there. Usually have the people share your giveaway photo which is a product you sell so then everyone who enters is advertising for you for however long you giveaway lasts! You can have them tag people but I think the reposting is less annoying.  Some people hate when people tag them in giveaways. I could have a whole other blog post about doing giveaways haha!  What I am trying to say is that most shops don't get automatic success.  It is an empire that you have to work to build!

Social Media and Crafting

So I am coming up on a year of social media crafting.  I feel like it has given me more purpose in my crafting.  Normally it was like I made something that took hours and show my husband and he would say "that's nice" type of comment.  Then I may snap a photo and put it on my personal facebook page.  But with crafting on social media its awesome.  I get more feed back.  I get questions on my creations.  I get to meet new people from all over the world, not just at my local scrapbooking store.  Which I love going to that as well.  I do think that with social media crafting I have increased my spending.  I am not sure if it is from the need to impress, the constant sea of inspiration and advertising of etsy shops on IG (instagram), or if its because I found my "tribe."  I do think they may all be true.  I want to show people the newest stuff and how I am using it.  I feel like I see ads and deals all over IG 24/7.  Not knocking that I use my IG to advertise my etsy as well.  Its free to advertise so why not?? And lastly (a word I hate), I have found my "tribe." I have quite a few followers and I follow most of them back.  It gets hard to remember everyone, but I do have I would say my top 10 that I constantly interact with and socialize with.  Some of these girls I consider really good friends.  I enjoy the happy mail aspect as well of my new friends.  I do know that some girls can get catty on social media and I just do my best to stay out of the drama and delete/block anyone who does.  Youtube is a little different than IG.  It has a dislike button...I dislike that button lol.  I have seen people dislike my friends' youtube videos and I don't understand what they could have possibly not liked.  I get that if what they did or I did is not your style you don't care for it, but then just click off as Larua's life would say.  My hubby says those people that use that button don't usually even have a channel.  Youtube does allow you to see if it was a subscriber or not and where they were from.  Anyway, what I love about youtube is the comments and requests for future videos.  I even did my first collab with another youtuber.  I really enjoy that community as well.  I watch a ton of videos and some are just really inspiring!! I feel I spend more time watching youtube than I do watching netflix! I use my twitter but I don't feel like I have found a group I fit in there.  I also enjoy the planner groups on facebook.  I don't care for the strict ones haha.  Some have so many rules you constantly see people say in their post to take their post down if this violates this page.  That is just sad!  I am an admin of the Heidi Swapp Memory Planners and we are so not strict!  People post hauls, pages, complaints, planner stuff for sale, planner videos, and we love it all!  Well  I think I will sign off here so I can go film another plan with me.