Just how many social media sites do we need?
'Start an on-line business' they said.... 'You will make a killing' they said...
Just who are they & what do they know??
OK, so I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but did I realise how flooded the market was going to be & how much time it takes to get my shop out there....Simple answer is, no. But I kinda do now.
This is where it all started, a simple head band I made for a friend & posted on Facebook. Suddenly everyone I knew wanted one so I thought I must be on to a winner.
Things were good, no..they were great!! Orders were constant & I was clicking my needles every waking hour. Then Facebook (or as my crafty friends have now nicknamed it Mr Face-ache) changed how businesses were being seen. Suddenly I spent more hours networking than I did knitting. The orders were still coming but not to the extent they were. Time for my next social media search.
Next came Twitter. I have to admit I'm still not a competent tweeter, I follow & I get followed but the old #hashtag still leaves me a little bit confused. I'm getting there slowly.
And then...
I looked into designing a web site. There are plenty of free & low cost sites out there, but you still need to get potential customers to view your site. For now that idea is on the back burner, instead I decided to open an Etsy shop. I have to say that for me Etsy is great, the only problem is that a lot of people have never heard of it.
For those that don't know, Etsy is an e-commerce site where you can buy/sell handmade & vintage items. It's an American based company that was set up in 2005 & is growing fast. It's great, I make sales all over the world, but it's saturated with crafty sellers such as myself. Type 'knitted head band' into the search bar & you get around 4,300 results. I recently enrolled in an Etsy run program which gave me useful tips & advice from the programs mentors & involved attending webinars to help improve my shop. Yes, my shop has improved & sales have increased slightly, but they threw another site into the mix.... you need to pin on Pinterest. Huh?!?!???
In layman's terms Pinterest is like a big giant pin board where you pin your products & things you love from around the web for people to see & love & share. If you click the pins it will take you to the site they originated from. So I pinned!
Did I stop there?? Errr no. I then set up this blog which is a place I can just write what is in my head for you lovely folk to read (and hopefully not bore you with) and that's not all.
I have a Google+ account, I'm on Instagram & this week I have opened a new Folksy shop (a bit like Etsy but based in the UK) I think for me at the moment that is enough.
My brain is like mush from posting here & tweeting there & liking this & sharing that. But I am convinced it will all be worth it in the end. Rome wasn't built in a day they say & Branson never made a million in his first year.
I do get annoyed by businesses not registering themselves as legal required. I pay my tax & think that the handmade market would be a lot less flooded if the illegal businesses were not there, but c'est la vie. I'm too busy making my business a success to worry about them.
If you are considering starting a business then do it. It's time consuming, you do need to be active on social media & you are not going to make it big without hard work. You can do it, have faith in yourself. And if you see a small business, like myself, trying to make it in this big wide world then give them a hand. Like them on Facebook, retweet them, follow their blog, have a look at their media sites & share with your friends, one day they might just do the same for you
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