1/30/2009

Blogger, and Twitter, and Facebook Oh my!


Does anyone else get overwhelmed by all the different methods of promotion and on-line communication? I remember a time when we didn't even have personal computers and I'm not that old. Now my husband and I have at any given time between 3-5 computers of some kind in the house. Only one of them is mine but he has a personal laptop, a work laptop, a personal computer, and a Mac in the basement of a band mate that they use for recording. (The above card is from Simply Sentimental on Etsy).

I have been slowly incorporating different sites into my daily life and I'm beginning to feel overload. I don't want my promotion and networking to take over my life so that I end up spending less time knitting and have nothing to promote. Initially when I started my shop I would spend some time each day promoting on the etsy forums. This seems to be where most people start and it can be a useful tool to get hearts and meet people in the community. I am pretty over it to be honest and I go there less and less as time goes by. I poke in for a few minutes here and there and post a few thoughts, do a little promotion if I have an item that isn't getting much love.

My next venture was Flickr which is just for downloading pictures. It is free but you pay to set up a premium account and get more room and categories. I posted a ton of product pictures and a few personal and band pictures. I joined some crafting and etsy related groups and posted pictures to their pages. I still go in periodically but I don't think I've ever gotten a sale from it and I don't find it too satisfying at this point.

I started my blog around 6 months ago. I started out with low expectations but it has been a very fulfilling adventure so far. I'm approaching my 100th post and I average between 150-200 hits a day according to google stats. I know a lot of them are entrecard drops but I try to keep up with a lot of crafting and creative blogs on there and I feel that is generally reciprocated. I really don't know how that compares with other blogs but I honestly don't care. I like the connection I feel to other bloggers. I'm an introvert by nature and I think that blogging has been good for me. I've also gotten several custom orders and sales from readers so it has been the most productive on-line promotional tool for me so far.

Joining Entrecard has brought a lot of new bloggers into my sphere and I like the dropping process. It is a soothing and meditative activity for me usually. I can do it on my lunch hour and since my work computer is so fast I can get most of my daily 300 in during that time. I can usually find a few minutes here and there when I'm not with students to write a post and leave comments on other blogs during the work week also. I've decided that since my home computer takes so much longer to bring up pages and do my drops I'm going to keep it to a minimum on the weekends and focus on knitting time. This will hurt my entrecard rating but that is not as important as having the inventory I need for my business.

I recently added Facebook and Twitter to my daily doings. I really like that Facebook has reconnected me with people from my past that I've lost track of through the years. I started a shop business page to let people that already know me know what I'm doing with my knitting. Many of them had no idea about my business and I've gotten a lot of hits and compliments on my work. I see facebook as more about connecting and less about promotion, although a little promotion is definitely involved.

Twitter is much more of a promotional thing for me. To be honest I feel a bit like I'm yelling into the wind with Twitter. I have over a hundred followers after only a week of active tweeting but I don't think any of them are really listening. I decided I needed to give it a chance before I decided whether I wanted to really do it. People are always saying how many sales they have gotten from it and how wonderful it is so I'm trying to keep an open mind. I sometimes feel silly saying what I'm doing in 140 words or less. I feel with my blog I am actually reaching and expressing at least part of the real me. Tweeting seems more superficial and fake somehow to me. I have gotten a number of views when I've posted my new listings and what not so I think I'm going to keep it up for awhile and see if it grows on me.

I have a page on Etsy love, Myspace, and a few other networking sites but I've not added any content or spent much of any time there. What promotional tools have you found to be the best use of your valuable time?

10 comments:

Janet said...

I know exactly what you mean about feeling overwhelmed by so many forms of communmication !! I much prefer blogging and EntreCard - they're my speed. Like you, I have so many other projects and web updates to do that I don't want to be "talking" on the web all the time.

Anonymous said...

I'm feeling the same. Having the RSS feeds automatically updating to/from Facebook , Twitter, blogger, etsy shop, stylehive and flickr is a big help. I'm still getting it all worked out so I'm not double posting.

You've got a new friend on Facebook, Flickr contact and Twitter follower! :D

~Cathleen
TialeyVintage

Unknown said...

I think they are all great tools of communication but way too much. Even with all fun I am having, I still prefer my good old blog and entrecard.

Blogger said...

I love Twitter! Addicted, probably ;) I try to follow alot of my 'local' peeps, too, so that makes it fun (for me).

I also have my blog posts auto post to twitter, so that is convenient...that being said...I never follow anyone who only has auto-posts of their blogs...because I want to interact with people, not just be advertised to.

I also attend Twitter 'parties', like Girl's Night Out on Tuesdays. It's a great way to connect and learn.

If Etsy has twitter parties that would be a good one for you to hook up with.

Love the new look of your blog :)

Bonhomie said...

Ditto, ditto, ditto.........It's become a full time job keeping up with various networking sites to promote my jewelry. I will admit to not being very consistent but I don't feel any of it has been a benefit to my sales. But I'm going to give it some more effort and see where it takes me.

Thanks for being one of my top droppers!!

Jo Hoffacker said...

Sounds like you are following the same process I am!

Jessica @ COSDesign said...

All the forms of communication can be a bit much at times. I mostly focus on my blog, entrecard, and etsy teams. I only visit the etsy forums a time or so a week and just started using twitter. I think it might have actually gotten me a few sales, so I'm going to stick with it and see where it goes.

Unknown said...

I feel the same way as well, it's all a bit too much. I have found that when I take on a new thing like twitter I have to drop something else so for now I'm just sticking to my blog & entrecard.

Anonymous said...

It's so true: we get so wrapped up in online promotion that we have little time left to craft. I do almost all of the ones you do, and I have found that you really get sales and connections through the pages you prefer because you really put the right kind of energy into them. For me that is flickr. One thing that has helped me cut down on computer time is a schedule. I do certain things on certain days of the week in order to split the load. It's very helpful, and that way you can set the frequency of each page according to your like/dislike/or how effective a promotional tool it is for you. Happy webbing!

DreaBunny said...

I am so overwhelmed! I am definitely in the age group that grew up with computers, but I still can't handle it all! Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, etsy, artfire, indiepublic, ning, flickr...oh my goodness! This is madness!

 

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