With so many creative businesses starting up and growing on social media nowadays, you may struggle with deciding which are the best ways you can utilise the main platforms for your business. We examine here how you can not only reach a wider audience but how you can really build on your online business through the power of social media.
Creative businesses are visual businesses and therefore social media is a wonderful tool. It also helps your audience and prospective customers get a real insight into the ‘human’ side of your business, which is fundamentally important when they can’t get a hands on feel of your products. As much as every artist, crafter, performer would love to attend every show, exhibition or performance this is impossible! So how do you make your products and work reach the optimum audience?
Facebook as we have mentioned before, is the biggest social media platform with over 40 million small business pages. So it is very hard to stand out – but there are ways you can get involved with a wider audience.
Creative groups are a great way of engaging with other like-minded businesses, as so much of growing your business is through interacting and sharing what others do too, so that they are able to do the same in return. If you search through Facebook you will find a huge range of groups that you can join. Many of the groups are closed and so you need to request to join but there are also public groups. Read each bio and see if you are interested in becoming involved. A few suggestions are: CreativeCraftEntrepreneurs, TshirtsandSuits and CreativeWomenTogether.
There are also groups that list all the fairs and exhibitions in your local area. Joining these groups will help you get a better awareness of where you can go to sell your work, as well as networking with other makers too. Stallholders and events, in and around Devon is a popular local one.
As part of your business Facebook page, it is well worth getting the Etsy or Folksy app, if you sell on either of those shopping sites. They are very easy to install and your customers can see immediately what you have for sale and can access your shop instantly without having to go and search through each site. You can find details how to install the Etsy app here and the Folksy one here. Etsy and Folksy also have their own Facebook pages and groups and it is a huge advantage to join these and get involved in discussions. Search for these via Facebook and join as many as you can!
You can also engage with these groups on Twitter by searching either their hashtags or user names.
With regards to Twitter, you can use this incredibly well to your advantage with getting involved in hashtag hours. #creativehour runs on a Monday from 7.30pm, #artisthour on a Wednesday 8-9pm, and #crafthour on a Sunday at 7pm. These are so important to join and start chatting to others. Not only to promote your own work, but network with others and share their posts too.
With multiple images being allowed on an individual post now, you can really showcase your work – people respond better when an image is included in a tweet and so please do remember to use when tweeting!
We can’t talk about creative businesses without talking about Instagram and Pinterest – the two most visual platforms. By having your business presence on both of these you can really increase your reach.
Through Instagram you can share work in progress, behind the scenes, workshop and studio shots – always using an appropriate hashtag. #studiosnippets, #artistatwork or #craftwork are three examples where you can find other creatives and promote your work. Try to remember to keep your images clear, and in focus to hook people in. You want these images to really reflect your work in the best possible way.
Pinterest is one of the best platforms with regards to your creative business. Not only can you pin your blog posts, how to’s and shopping pages – you can also create visually stimulating boards of all your work and inspiration. You have such an amazing opportunity to show your customers and followers what makes up everything you are as an artist! Like all your social media channels, you can really showcase what makes up everything you are as a creative business. Show your inspirations and inspire others too!
On Pinterest you can join group boards where you can pin your work – boards such as Craft Community Board has over 10.4K followers and so you really can reach a huge audience. There is a great blog post here about the range of community Pinterest boards you can join and pin to – take a look and see which one suits you!
If you have any other suggestions please do let us know!