Grow Your Business with Social Media: Maximizing Your Time Featuring Tara Gentile

It's the final week in our 5-part series on Navigating the Waters of Social Media: A Mom's Perspective and we are delighted to feature our last guest blogger, Tara Gentile, editor of Scoutie Girl.    If you've enjoyed the last few weeks of the series which touched on capitalizing on Etsy Forums, Facebook and Twitter to build an online network for your indie business, you will be tickled pink you joined us this week!    

I’m Tara Gentile and I’m a philosopher of creative living and DIY culture & lifestyle design expert. 

What that really means is that I had the crazy notion, at the age of 26, that my degree in contemporary religious thought should be enough to afford me a small living, working from home with my brand new baby girl. Once that crazy dream became reality, I had another vague notion that odd jobs could become a full-time business.  That notion led to a complete lifestyle redesign for my family.

In less than 2 years, my business – my brain and its output – now support my family entirely. We live a life that allows me to concentrate on helping you to realize your own vague notions and crazy dreams. My goals for you exist at the intersection of technology, DIY culture, and the divine spark of creativity.

The subject of social media strategies for small businesses is nothing new. So we wanted to offer a different perspective, a fresh take on making the most of social networking with the limited amount of time most creative entrepreneur moms can devote to being online.  


Who better to ask than the highly sought after Tara Gentile, who helps passionate people produce and profit?  


I had the good fortune to spend 5 minutes chatting with Tara a couple of weeks ago via Skype.  Watch the clip of our chat  for Tara's thoughtful insight on these questions:

• Is your online business suffering if you aren't using one or more social media outlets?
• What advice would you give to a Mom who says “I feel like I’m on social network overload; I’m a member of so many different sites, and I’m not sure how I should differentiate my presence on each one?"
• How do you personally balance your work and family?

Connect with Tara here:

http://scoutiegirl.com

http://www.facebook.com/scoutiegirl
@scoutiegirlblog

Grow Your Business with Social Media: Building a Brand

We are delighted to feature our next guest blogger, Chelsea Ling, of Paper*Cakes Finds fame.   If you've enjoyed the last few weeks of the series which touched on capitalizing on Etsy Forums, Facebook and Twitter to build an online network, you will be tickled pink you joined us this week! 

Having achieved brand recognition by fostering an online community of more than 16,000 Twitter follwers, over 4,000 Facebook "fans"and nurturing a 1400-member Flickr group, Chelsea understands the concept of "community building" through social networking.  I knew EtsyMoms would benefit from a one-on-one with her!

1.  I first "met" you on Twitter and was extremely impressed with your successful use of Twitter, Flickr and FB as a way to promote and market your brand. Did you have a plan when you first set out?


I joined twitter in Dec 08, a month after starting my etsy shop. I joined after seeing people chat in the forums about twitter as a promo method. I was looking for any free way to get my shop noticed. At first, I was a bit shy, but soon I opened up. It took me a while to really reveal my "personality" - fearing that I might alienate customers with my sense of humor. 

2. You seem to have a huge appreciation for the principle of "edification", recognizing the talent of others rather than focusing solely on YOU! In return, you have developed a huge, amazingly loyal fanbase. Why has promoting others been so beneficial for you and your business?

First and foremost, I am a fan of handmade. I love nothing more than to search / look at handmade and indie stuff online. I spend lots of time looking at things every day, so I thought that I should start sharing my finds. I started paper*cakes finds as a side project in February 09 and it soon became my sole blogging focus.


I am so happy that people love what I find :) I am extremely passionate about the handmade/indie biz movement and I want to do everything I can to raise awareness of it. I find in life, when you give as much as you can to others, it returns to you tenfold. The same applies to helping others get their work noticed. sharing the work of others does not cut down your own. . What good is a huge following if you can't unite those listening and get them to do something GREAT?! Nothing makes me happier than passing on a lot of traffic or even sales to artisans. 

3. What would you suggest for someone who is experiencing social media overload? Do you ever experience this? Have you been succesful at simplifying your social networking experience?


Hmmm... social media overload... I have no answers for that one! lol :) And yes, I do experience it - boy do I ever! Sometimes I just want to run away from the computer for a few weeks. I just try my very best to stay on top of it and keep things uncluttered, but my internet presence grew beyond me quite a while ago. I have something like 500 unread facebook messages right now, lol. I feel bad that I cannot respond to everything and that I do get behind my monster inboxes at times, but my family comes first. I think (hope) people are understanding of that. The effect on my real life has been... interesting. 

4.  As a mom of 2 small children I'm sure you can relate to a lot of our moms who struggle with getting the most mileage our of their limited online time, how do you manage this?


As a mom, I struggle with time in general, not just online time. I just never seen to have enough - It is the most precious resource. I spend a lot of time online while sitting and feeding my baby these days, and I do most of my blogging at night. I am trying to be better about scheduling posts in advance and scheduling some tweets. I try so hard to not be staring at the computer all day and giving my kids one on one time instead but at times it is a struggle to find the balance. I have no cell phone, but I am hoping to get an iphone in April so I can manage things on the go. 

5. For those wanting to venture into the world of Twitter, FB or Flickr, what would you say to them is most important about content? Would you say that it is important to share personal but not private information in addition to news about their business?


My advice for anyone interested in marketing themselves online through social media is - be yourself, and be patient. It took me a year to build my following to 12,000 people and in the second year I grew to 15,000. Social media is give and take - it is a relationship. Many people do not understand this, and this is why they fail. I converse, I remember people. I am genuinely interested in their stories. Many people make the mistake of just posting links on twitter - while many DO like to look at links, they need to be invested in you somehow to want to click what you share on a regular basis, and you need to make your content valuable to your followers. It is extremely important to bring a little / lot of your SELF to social media. If you are unwilling to do this, you will not succeed. That being said, you don't need to share your entire life - I do share a lot but there is also a lot I keep private. It helps that I just don't give a crap about what people think!
 

My name is Chelsea and I am a mom of two sweet boys, ages 3 years and 5 months. I live in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island (Canada). I am obsessed with color and crafting and always have been. My formal "job" before I had children was a makeup artist. I am ultimately just a huge internet nerd, who likes painting shit. I like swearing, unicorns, and glitter, and vintage. My husband has told me I am like a dude in a fancy dress. My head is in the clouds. 

Find Chelsea here:

http://chelseapapercakes.etsy.com

http://papercakesfinds.blogspot.com

http://facebook.com/papercakes

@papercakes

For an indepth article on branding, see EtsyMom BabySwank's guest post on Handemadeology, here!

Are you loving our series so far?  Great!!!  We've extended it one more week!  Join us next Wednesday for a special audio chat with DIY Lifestyle and Culture Expert, Tara Gentile.

Grow Your Business with Social Media: The Ins and Outs of Twitter

I knew I'd love hearing what our next featured guest blogger had to say when I first read the announcement for Platipuses, her Etsy shop: -Curvy hoes ♥ killer clothes.- Plats graciously took a little time off from sewing to share what she's learned about building her social network on Twitter. We asked her to talk about how she got started on twitter, ways to gain new followers and tips for those just venturing into the "Twitterverse".


To sell anything on Etsy, I feel like you have to be pretty well known in the crafting world, or you have to really know how to market yourself, and get the word out about who you are and what you do. One of the more popular places to do this is Twitter- of course!

I first started on Twitter just to keep in contact with some of my DIY friends, but it didn’t take long before I had a couple hundred followers. When you first start with it, it’s easy to get discouraged and not know what to tweet about, but that goes away. Reading other people’s tweets, you get the hang of how to word things to keep it within 140 characters. You can post about anything, too! It’s nice as a follower of other sellers, to read their tweets about life, not just about what they sold that day, or an upcoming sale. I try to vary my tweets, some about my items, and then lots of other, funny things.

A lot of sellers like to help others out by doing “Follow Fridays” with all of their Etsy friends. I’ve gotten a lot of followers from that, maybe even most of my followers. To really get featured in #ff’s [as they are tagged on Twitter] you also have to #ff others. Start following your favorite Etsians, and on Fridays do some #FF @SellersTwitterName and give them a shout-out. They may do the same for you! Give a little, get a little. Another good way to get followers, is to search for similar interests. For example, I make plus size clothing, so I search “Plus Size” in the search bar, to get other people tweeting about the same thing. No, not all the people are saying the same things about it as me, but it’s worth it to add the ones that are. Sometimes I just go to a random Twitter page, and click through the people they follow and add people I find interesting. Just go for it!

You don’t have to only follow people that sell on Etsy, either. Some of my favorite people to follow are famous people. Conan O’Brien and Michael Ian Black have some of the funniest Tweets out there. I retweet a lot of their posts. Retweeting is a really neat way to share people’s posts too. Even if your friends aren’t following the person you retweet, they can see what they are saying. Sometimes, I find myself wishing Facebook had that option.

Twitter can only get you so far, however. Some other great networking sites for Etsy sellers are Facebook, Tumblr, LiveJournal… MySpace used to be a good one, now it’s just the internet’s abandoned amusement park. I like Facebook the best because you can make a fan page for just your Etsy business. I don’t muck that up with the personal stuff on my main page. Twitter is fast and easy though, you don’t have to worry about uploading pictures, videos, and all that. You can just say what you want and have it out there. The easiest way to get followers is to follow a lot of people that like what you like, and do what you do. And after that, it’s easy-peasy.


My name is Christi, but most everyone knows me as Plats. “I supply curvy hoes with killer clothes!” It’s important to me that us bigger girls can look and feel just as hot as the skinny ladies. It’s annoying to me that all the “Plus Size” sections in the stores are full of clothing only eighty year-olds would find fashionable. I started selling my items after I graduated from high-school, it seemed like an easy way to make money… But it took a lot more work and effort that I thought it would. Totally worth it in the end though. Some of the most fun things to make are the hoodies. Especially the He-Man hoodies, I love them. Actually, anything nerdy is my favorite. He-he. I am a huge super-hero fan. Super heroes and Elliott smith are my favorite things ever. I also adore kitties and photography. Annnd sewing. :]"

You can connect with Plats here:
Etsy: platipuses.etsy.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/PlatipusesDIY Twitter: twitter.com/platipuses

Join us next week for a double feature!! Chelsea Ling, of Papercakesfinds fame, and the highly sought after DIY culture expert and editor at Scoutie Girl, Tara Gentile, for their unique perspective on using social media to build your business.

Grow Your Business With Social Media: Marketing with Facebook

I first connected with our next blogger, Melissa Lopez, via Twitter, but we've really developed a friendship through our Facebook fan pages. I look forward to her almost daily morning greetings (and when she'll be gone for awhile, she always lets her fans know!); chatting about our work or family and pictures of her latest one-of-a-kind, gorgeous creations. She graciously agreed to share what she's learned about marketing her Etsy shop, WhimsyPics, on Facebook:

Most of us are familiar with Facebook. It has been steadily gaining momentum since its inception in 2004, and in 2010 surpassed Google as the most visited website. Given those statistics, it’s no wonder Facebook has become an essential tool for any business.If you’ve ever visited the Etsy forums, you know they can be a fountain of very useful information. It was there that I first read about Facebook fan pages and decided to give it a try. It was FREE, what could it hurt to try, right? So I set up my page sometime in mid-2008. And there it sat. For a long time. Unloved, Untended and Completely Stagnant. The only fans (they weren’t ‘likers’ back then) were my family and a handful of friends. So, I joined in on every ‘link love’ Etsy thread I could find and gained a few more followers that way. Essentially, you ‘like’ someone’s page and they’ll ‘like’ you back. And it works! Once I built up a few fans (300 or so), I scaled back on the ‘link love’. I currently have 670ish followers on my fan page and here are some of the things I’ve learned along the way:

Keep your business page separate from your personal page. I know a lot of people use their personal page for their business – I just don’t think that’s a good idea. Yes, your business page is reflective of you and your personality but there should be a more professional tone to it. Your customer’s don’t really need to know that you were up all night cleaning your kid’s puke off the bathroom floor. Or that you’re fighting with your spouse. Or how much you hate xyz. How uncomfortable is it when you walk into a store and the sales person is making completely inappropriate conversation? Exactly. So, leave the drama for your friends and family who love you and will put up with it and understand the tone in which it was intended, and keep your business page professional.

Promote your business page. Every time you send out an email or post in a forum (with a signature), or even in your profile pages on Etsy and on Facebook, you have a unique opportunity to tell someone about your business page. A simple signature with a link to your page will put your business in front of someone - a potential new fan. Every time that email gets forwarded or your comment is read or your profile is visited, someone is seeing your business page link. And when they become a fan all of their friends see it. And they become fans. Because you rock. Super easy and FREE. You can also link your fan page to your twitter account. I’m not a big twitter user. I only have so much time to spend on social media. But if you link your accounts, your updates will automatically post to your twitter account. Don’t forget to post links to your Flickr, blog and Etsy shop, too!

Read and learn. I’m not computer savvy. And, while I love to read, I’m more of a hands-on learner. There’s a lot of info to be garnered from the help pages on Facebook and the Etsy forums on how to use your business page to its full potential. Take a look at other business pages and see how they run theirs. I’ve modeled my updates and discussions after pages I enjoy reading – always making them my own. I’ve found the best way to learn something is to try it. Don’t be afraid to play around with your settings and statuses to find out what works best for YOU and your business.

Limit your time on Facebook. Don’t laugh. It can be done (though I’m still working on it). Facebook can be a timesuck. I know. And it’s so easy to start browsing and reading and playing games and catching up with friends when, really, we should be creating, listing and promoting. Set a schedule for yourself and TRY to stick to it. We’re moms with kids & homes & spouses/SOs to take care of; I get it. Mornings in my house are a little chaotic until my big boy gets dropped off at school. Then I come home, settle the little one down with her toys or on her easel and sit at the computer. I try to spend a total of 30 minutes catching up, commenting on other pages and updating my page status. Usually it’s a quick good morning, sometimes a question to get a discussion started and sometimes it’s just letting my ‘likers’ know what I’m working on. If I happen to complete a project or get something listed, I may post again throughout the day. I try not to inundate my page with new listings or strictly promotional updates; just enough so that my page pops up every now and then and they don’t forget about me.

Rules of Etiquette/Dos & Don’ts. There are no hard & fast rules for your fan page; it’s mostly a matter of opinion and a little common sense. Don’t flood your fans with pages of ‘just listed’s. Don’t neglect your page. Don’t be controversial (unless that’s the essence of your business). Your goal is to appeal to the most people. Don’t be rude. Don’t spam other people’s pages. If you have a relevant comment or link to share, by all means do so. But don’t just comment with a link to your shop/page on some random/unrelated discussion. Do update daily. Being consistent will help build your following. Do encourage discussions/chats. Do ask questions about safe subjects (weather, projects, ideas, etc.). Do post things you’re working on. Do post things you love. Do post things you think your fans might like. Do listen. Your customers might be saying something you need to hear – an idea for a product, or something they really didn’t like. I’m a fan of over 1000 pages, though most of them are not active. The Pine Cone Tea Cup, Glue Dots, Paper Crafts Magazine are a few of my ‘inspirations’ as far as discussions go. I love how friendly they are, how they always ask questions to engage and interact with their fans. Facebook has brought me business I wouldn’t have gotten otherwise from people who are unfamiliar (or uncomfortable) with Etsy. It’s connected me with customers, potential customers and fans in a way that no other outlet can and for that I am grateful. I find myself always looking for businesses I’ve visited or heard of on Facebook and I’m always disappointed when there isn’t a fan page. Don’t be that business. With a little planning and very little effort, Facebook can help your business grow and introduce you to a whole world of new potential customers. If you have any specific questions or would like to discuss anything further, you can find me on my fan page www.facebook.com/WhimsyPicsFans. (See how I did that? Linked my page and you saw it!) Or just write me WhimsyPics@yahoo.com.

Ready to start your own fanpage? You might find the tutorial in our first team newsletter helpful: http://etsymom.blogspot.com/search/label/newsletter?updated-max=2010-11-17T14%3A38%3A00-05%3A00&max-results=20

Melissa is a SAHM to her son Ethan and daughter Ava. She's married to a wonderfully supportive man who encourages her daily to do what she loves. She started scrapbooking in 2004 when my son was born prematurely. During his 2-months hospital stay, she started making little books to send friends and family announcing his arrival. She had no idea she was scrapbooking!

Fast forward 6 years and this hobby-turned-passion has evolved from scrapbooking to include altered art and other forms of paper crafting. She absolutely LOVEs what she does and she hopes it shows.

Join us next week for the "Ins and Outs of Twitter" with Plats from Platipuses.

Grow Your Business with Social Media: Etsy Forums

Since the social networking craze began, many small business owners have gone from dabbling on Twitter, broadcast marketing on Facebook, and posting a few pictures on Flickr and internet forums to amassing hundreds, if not thousands of followers on these networks.

Yet, they've accomplished so much more than just attracting a big following; they've figured out who their target audience is and where they hang out, making it possible to grow a community which recognizes and loves their brand, mostly for FREE!

Let's face it, many small business owners, including EtsyMoms, want to get in on the game but are unsure of the "rules" or think they don't have time. So, we've invited 5 business women, most of whom sell on etsy and each successful in their own rites, to answer your questions if you're on the fence about adding social networking to your marketing plan.

Each Wednesday during February, our guest bloggers will cover a different aspect:

Feb 2nd - Intro and Etsy Forums - Meg Finn (Vintage Scraps)

Feb 9th - The ins and outs of Facebook- Melissa Lopez (WhimsyPics)

Feb 16th - Success with Twitter - Plats (Platipuses)

Feb 23rd - Multiple Social Networks -

Chelsea Ling (Papercakes) and Tara Gentile (ScoutieGirl)

Today's post focuses on becoming a greater part of the etsy community by engaging other shopowners and potential customers in the Etsy Forums. The questions pertain to etsy, but one can apply the principles to other business-related internet forums too.

Meet Meg Finn, owner of Vintage Scraps, the go-to etsy shop for retro, nostalgic paper goods. She happily shares the secrets of her success with others on the etsy forums. With over 1,465 sales in just 3 years, her recent forum thread, "Tweaks that Tripled My Takings", is often one of the most visited topics. Meg offered this insight to our readers :

When, why and how did you begin participating in the etsy forums?

I started participating in the forums as soon as I figured out what it was. I was asking questions and meeting people, and found the etsy community to be completely helpful.

How much time do you devote to the forums; has the amount increased or decreased over time and how do you fit that into your daily routine?

My time spent in the forums has dropped drastically, due to my business becoming extremely busy.

How has your forum participation affected your bottom line? Do you feel it is key to your business growth?

I don’t think I could have made my shop operate to its best potential without all the advice I found on the forums. The posts were such an easy to follow, concise and simplified collection of online business helps.

Some shop owners say they shy away from the forum because there is too much "negativity", have you experienced this and how do you get past it/work around it?

Like everyone else, I’m occasionally drawn to the “train wreck” posts, which can be harsh and negative, but they seem to be the small minority in comparison to the wealth of positive comments and posts.

What are some of your favorite forum questions to field?

I love the business topics, especially when I can answer questions that I remember having! I also know what it’s like to feel discouraged, so I really enjoy dropping a quick note of encouragement when I can.

Are there forum "rules of etiquette?"

I believe in a rule my sister taught me long ago: if it’s negative, don’t write it down! It’s true for letters and email as well as blogs. People are so often unnecessarily hurt by others taking advantage of the camouflage of a computer.

Do you use any other social media sites in conjunction with the forum?

Other than occasional blog or Facebook visit, I don’t spend much time online outside etsy.

What advice would you give to a new shop owner wanting to get the most mileage out of the Forums/in what area(s) of the Forum should they focus, especially if they have limited time?

The Business Topics and Site Help sections of the forums are loaded with amazing information, and I’ m constantly amazed at the time people are willing to give to other shop owners to help them succeed.

Meg is a self taught collage artist and vintage enthusiast, mother of three teens and one amazing husband. She is also a retreat and camp speaker, and a huge fan of everything etsy!

Join us next Wednesday, as Melissa Lopez, owner of WhimsyPics, addresses the "Ins and Outs of Marketing on Facebook".

Navigating the Waters of Social Media: A Mom's Perspective

Whether you've just dabbled in Tweeting or Facebooking or have built a good following on these social networks, you will want to follow our upcoming 4-part series on "Navigating the Waters of Social Media: A Mom's Perspective".

Join us as guest bloggers Meg (Vintage Scraps), Melissa (WhimsyPics), Chris (Platispuses), Chelsea (Papercakes) and Tara Gentile (ScoutieGirl) answer those burning questions we all have about the ins and outs of using social media to grow our indie businesses, all while taking care of house and home!! Be sure to subscribe to our blog to get all the updates!