What Can Social Media Do For You & Your Online Business? Part 5: FLICKR!

I can't say that I know how to use all of the amazing features on FLICKR! to my advantage. What I can tell you is that it is an amazing site for cataloging your item photographs. We all know that if we post pictures of our items all over the place with tags (keywords) that we will get more views. For this reason, you should post your photographs on every site that you possibly can. FLICKR! is definitely one of those sites. In fact, I show a lot of activity in my shop stats from FLICKR!

The first thing that you need to do is get a FLICKR! account and set it up. They have made it very easy on us by allowing us to use an existing Yahoo! account, Facebook account, or Google account. Isn't that nice of them? So, go to www.flickr.com and sign up for your free account. If you want to get more out of your FLICKR!, you can purchase the premium account that gives you more options and a detailed report that shows your page views.

Just like Pinterest, FLICKR! can be a place for business or a place for personal life. Let's make sure that we separate the two of those, to  an extent. Post pictures of you working on your newest item, your work space, etc. Get your customers to see the person behind the website full of amazing items for sale! Also, add your products with tags, so that they can be found. Link your products to Etsy by putting your shop link in your description box.

Unfortunately, FLICKR! is not really a cross promotion site, unless you are able to pull your friends and team mate's pictures off of Etsy to post them on FLICKR! If you do, make sure that you give credit to your friend or team mate and link the photo back to their shop. FLICKR! can be an awesome playground for customers as long as you get your items on there! The person that said less is more wasn't referring to social media marketing for an online business!

What Can Social Media Do For You & Your Online Business? Part 4: Wanelo

Now that we have tackled the major social media sites, we are going to jump into some other social media sites that may be showing up on  your shop views page. The first one that we are going to  talk about is an amazing site called Wanelo. Wanelo is a place where you can list all of your items and Wanelo will actually generate a link directly to your shop and help you sell your item. Additionally, Wanelo gives you the option to easily post your items on other not so easy to use social media sites such as Stumbleupon and Tumblr, which we will eventually talk about!

So, let's get started. If you don't have a Wanelo account, get one! I generate a lot of hits from Wanelo to my Etsy site, my Zibbet site, and my company web page. To sign up for Wanelo, go to Wanelo.com and complete the sign up forms, or use your facebook profile to log in. I suggest using your facebook because everytime you post a new item, it automatically shows up on your facebook timeline that you added the item. More exposure! That is the goal!

After  you have your Wanelo account all set up, you can start adding items by clicking on Post. It will ask for a link and automatically generate the price of the item. You can write a cool little blurb about your item to make it more appealing to the others who use Wanelo. Once you  are done adding the item, your followers and other potential customers  can purchase your item right on the Wanelo site....through Etsy! Technology can be so wonderful sometimes!

To get more followers, find your Etsy friends, your Facebook friends, your twitter friends, etc. and follow them. Just like on Twitter, if you follow someone, the typical etiquette is for them to follow you! I shouldn't have to remind you that the more places that you have your items, the more shop views you are going to get! I  had my husband help me add items to Wanelo, and my shop views exploded! It was amazing! So, don't forget the little social media sites and stay tuned for the next article!

Happy Sales!

What Can Social Media Do For You & Your Online Business? Part 3: Pinterest

Ask most people who use Pinterest and they will tell you that it is highly addictive, and it is! Just remember that the customer’s addiction to Pinterest is lucrative for your business.  Your addiction to Pinterest may be a distraction and may hinder business! So, let’s keep our Pinterest vices in check when we use it for marketing. Set personal time aside to repin and favorite the boards that you follow, so that you don’t take away from promotional time for your shop!

The first thing that you need to do is get a Pinterest account and set it up. There is typically a wait list to get on Pinterest, unless you  are invited by someone who already has an account. If you do not have an account, find me on etsy at www.blackwillowsoaps.etsy.comandmessage me with your email address, I will send you an invite.  If you have a Pinterest account, great! Let’s get marketing!

Pinterest can be an awesome way to get your products, promotions, treasuries, sales, etc. to another world of customers. Make sure that you use your business Pinterest account like it is used for a business. Create boards that  are relevant to your craft. For example, if you own a jewelry shop, you can have a board that features the items that are from your shop, a board for articles about handmade beads, a board for the treasuries that  you  have been in on Etsy, and several others. I even have boards  on Pinterest that tell  people a little bit about me, such as “Images from my childhood”, where I post shows that I watched, toys that I played with, etc. As we have learned from our fearless leaders on Etsy, it is good to let your customers get to know you!

That said, the first board that is a must have is a board with your shop items in it. Add all of your current shop items and pin new items as you list them. Etsy makes this easy by adding a Pin button to  each listing. Go through your listings hitting the pin button on each listing and add it to your shop board. The next board that is a must have, is your team boards. As mentioned in earlier articles, teams are great for promoting! Link up with your teams who have pinterest boards and pin your items there. Also, favorite and re-pin other team members pins to help them promote!

Pinterest can be an awesome tool for marketing. I use it to post sales,  treasuries that I am featured in, tophatter auctions, new listings, and catalog my favorite etsy creations from other shops. 

Natalie Wright