How instagram has helped me grow my business

Instagram has been around for quite a while and I was probably one of the last people jumping on the IG bandwagon sometime in mid 2014. At the time I was already overwhelmed keeping up with all my other social media outlets. So what made me change my mind? Two things.

1. I decided to focus my time and energy on only the social media that performed well
2. After researching instagram I decided to use it as a tool to gain potential customers

Now, I'm not a hard sell type of business person. I would feel uncomfortable bombarding my audience with pic after pic of breakfast bowls, photos of the sky or in my case bolts of fabric day after day. So I came up with a strategy that would get my wares eyeballed by my target audience without the boredom factor. Personally, I like variety. I like mixing things up with some colorful flower photos, DIY ideas, food, travel pics, my cats and yes, the occasional selfie :) However, I always keep in mind to post at least 2 - 3 business related photos within a week. Typically they would look like those in the collage above. You will notice they are all different yet carefully styled and most important - all feature my fabrics and / or craft. I was lucky in that a couple of my existing customers were on instagram already and happened to comment on said fabrics. That got the attention of other instagram users who are also interested in fabrics/sewing/craft, but had never even heard of me or my shop(s) before. Ultimately, some of these users became my customers, even repeat customers. This type of "word-of-mouth" advertising is exceptionally valuable and as a small business with limited advertising budget I am immensely grateful for shout-outs by any of my existing customers. Sometime at the beginning of this year I held a special, carefully planned instagram-only giveaway with almost 200 entries. Among the entrants were, you guessed it, potential customers!

Using instagram as a marketing tool has definitely been a learning curve. It requires ingenuity as to which #hashtag to add to which image in order to catch the attention of my target audience. While a huge number of followers might be impressive at first glance - for business purposes quality is more important than quantity. Being followed by say... fashion dolls or well-muscled men does absolutely nothing for my business! To gain the right type of follower also requires posting high-quality photos and posting consistently, that is at least once a day. Yes, it involves time and effort, but it is time well spent as I'm gaining more clients/customers each month. I usually style these photos a week in advance, but if I'm strapped for time and I really don't have anything to post I simply don't. Better to post nothing than what you had for dinner last night.

I'm always quick to respond to inquiries / comments / messages left on my instagram by users. Communication is a big part of customer service, both before, during and after the sale. I anticipate questions regarding my items and always provide as much information as possible to make the decision process easier for potential customers. This is way more efficient than back and forth convos. I check my instagram once every hour or so.

A word about the follow/unfollow phenomenon, which is also very much evident on Twitter and Facebook. Here's my take on it. Some follow you simply to be followed back. If you don't follow back within a couple of days these users will unfollow. Don't worry about it. Some also mistakenly follow. Also, I noticed I get unfollowed with each new photo that I post. Then, overnight, I gain a couple of followers. This is just weird! Then there are those who have been following, liking and leaving comments and suddenly unfollow. Frankly, that's just rude. Whatever their reason they aren't loyal customer material, so good riddance. Also, you will eventually be followed by spam accounts. At some point they might be deleted by instagram itself. Don't worry about it. Rather focus on and interact with real accounts that share your interests. Looking up the hashtags is a great way to find users with similar interests.

That being said, instagram definitely gets more fun once you gain more followers! Just like on any other online plattform it pays to be courteous. Reciprocate likes and leave a friendly comment on accounts you admire. Also, there is a myth going around that accounts that are set to "private" gain more followers. This is simply not true. If you're a small business wanting to attract potential customers than you will most certainly need to have a public account!

Are you a small business owner? What's your experience with instragram as a selling tool? I'd love to hear about it in the comments! #smallbusinesstips

Getting the word out

Ever since I opened my shop end of last year I've been thinking a lot about where to advertise, for how much and when. Especially now that my tax consultant has put the pressure on and in no uncertain terms told me I absolutely must increase my sales.
I've advertised twice on the craft cult site. Each time traffic to my shop increased dramatically and resulted in shop hearts, item hearts and a sale on each occasion. I went for the carousel ad at the top of the site as opposed to the sidebar, because it's far too crowded on there, and I feel only a few people will actually take the time to scroll down to see all the ads and click on them. Most visitors are probably Etsy shop owners who check out their stats and/or treasuries. But the eye is drawn to the moving ads at the top anyway.

I've joined Total Art Soul. Members have the opportunity to upload  photos of their items to the gallery. TAS jury selects members to be featured on their blog. TAS is very active on twitter and frequently tweets about members' products. Another good way of getting the word out plus it doesn't cost me a thing!

I'm currently drafting my story for the Art Saves series on a site called Crescendoh by Jenny Doh. Featured stories get linked to the respective shops. Jenny is associated with the "big guns" in the crafting business: Heather Bailey, Amy Tangerine, Serena Thompson etc. Getting picked for the feature will bring lots and lots of views and hopefully sales. Fingers crossed.

I started sending out my newsletter to my lovely subscribers. Most are already familiar with my shop, but I'm hoping it will get passed along to friends and acquaintances ;-)
What else do I do? I pass out business cards at every opportunity. I've created flyers and I've asked overseas friends to print out and distribute them. What else do I need to do? Increase my facebook fan page activity!
Another thing I'm considering is offering bag-making classes at the local educational center. I stand a good chance of getting into their program for next year, which means more local people will get to know me and my products.

I've also started interacting more with German blogs. Something I neglected when I started blogging in 2008. Doesn't hurt to exchange links. And last, but not least, I might run a teeny ad in a quarterly magazine called Romance ~ it's a local magazine filled with romantic interiors, clothing, decoration, vintage, shabby chic...I think my sleepwear would fit in well :)

Marketing, PR and other stuff

Along with my new website I thought it was about time to have a set of professional looking business cards printed up. While I used to order them from Vistaprint, this time around I wanted something a little more stylish; cards that reflected my personality/image as well as tying in with my new site by picking up the main colours (pink and brown).
I researched both Dawanda and Etsy and finally decided to approach Etsy seller Jennifer of  Zoopri who offers really nice designs at competitive prices, plus I liked her upbeat attitude! Although the cards took about three weeks to arrive here in Germany, it was well worth the wait. The cards are high-quality, not flimsy at all, and they came nicely packaged. Along with the cards I ordered some cute Thank You stickers, which I will use to beautify my simple packaging, because although I would love to ship my products in chic boxes - 1. my budget doesn't allow for that and 2. there is the issue of the packaging ordinance which I wrote about here. So, stickers it is!
I am also currently brushing up on my PR skills :) I am initially on the shy side when meeting new people, but I do realize I can't hide behind my sewing machine forever! Speaking of sewing - my back is killing me. In the long run I will need to invest in one of those ergonomically designed chairs.

Until next time, take care!