Saturday, April 19, 2014

Networking Saturday; Free to Promote Your Shop, Social Sites, or Blog 8

I am happy to announce that next week we will be having a guest blogger that will talk about instagram. I have an account with no pictures in it so needless to say I am not very knowledgeable about this medium.  I truly look forward to learning how to work in and utilize this great tool.

One resource for networking that can be easily overlooked (including by myself) is creating Collections and Treasuries.  When I first began using Etsy I would create 1-3 treasuries everyday, I would incorporate them in my blog and diligently email each person featured the details of where I posted them.



Unfortunately my time has become more and more limited and along with this I have been creating networking gems less and less.  Over the last couple weeks I have resolved to be more active in creating at least a few each week. Directly correlating to my decreased creations I have seen a marked decrease in traffic and worse sales.  I definitely think that it is one of my missing components, it just makes logical sense.

If I create a collection on Artfire and I feature 12 new shops that is 12 new people that will visit me to at least comment and often to return the favor.  On Etsy it is 16 new visitors, but if I make it the big production that I used to it can even be more.  Example:  I have a board designated to upcycled crafts (something near and dear to me,) I also will post each featured item on my FB page ButterflyInTheAttic, I tweet them with my @ButterflysAttic tag so they can find the post, G+ post, and last but not least I feature the items in my blog post for the day.  I then invite each of them to check out all of my social sites along with the treasury, I ask them to repost, retweet, etc.  And I remind them that by promoting each other we are promoting ourselves.  Something that I strongly believe.

When all is said and done usually I have gained at least 5, if not more, followers of my misc. venues and my shop, have had my information (attached to their information) retweeted, shared etc. to at least a few hundred more people than I could have reached by myself and often those extra people reached will also retweet, share, follow etc.

It is a positive domino effect.  Creating treasuries and collections are one of the easiest networking tools we have at our disposal and when we tie it to our other social networks it can be very valuable.  I just inspired myself to work more on these I hope I inspired you :)

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If you have any great networking opportunities you would like me to feature please contact me directly at ButterflyInTheAttic at yahoo dot com or post the information in the comments section.  I will add it to next week's post. 

So now a little homework; think about some of the tools you really rely on, Please share in the comments.  Also if you are willing to be a guest blogger let me know I would love to have your take on networking and your expertise.

My homework:  of course to research some of my barriers for better developing G+, Pinterest, etc. Also I will be investigating and testing some more tools that will help me increase my traffic and sales.  And of course sharing this information with my wonderful followers

Now lets have some Networking Fun!!!
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Post any of your family friendly sites (blogs, shops, FB, etc.)  What ever sites you would like to share. 

Please help promote this post using your social networks.  Here is an easy one:

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5 comments:

ShadowDogDesigns said...

Thank you so much, Colleen, for providing a place we can share our links. Happy Easter to you!

TheTwistedRedhead said...

Excellent networking info, Colleen - thanks! Am looking forward to learning more about Instagram from your guest blogger.

The Gossamer Tearoom said...

Dear Colleen,
Thank you again for all of your great networking ideas!

Wishing you a most lovely Easter!

Betty

Mandi Grant said...

Good advice, especially about Twitter! I hadn't thought to directly tweet other crafters like that. You really can't over-promote your shop, and every little bit helps!!

Butterfly In The Attic said...

Clicked and followed all new to me
Thanks for stopping by everyone