Saturday, October 25

Branding Your Etsy Business 140 Characters at a Time

140 characters
Effectively Using Twitter to Brand your Etsy business


Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users' updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length. wiki


Branding over time: Twitter allows you to post only 140 characters at a time, so you have to keep in mind your overall long term goal. Are you using Twitter as a marketing tool or just for personal use? If your long term goal is to use Twitter as a tool to add to your marketing toolbox, you want to leave your personal posts out. Your customers don't care if you are going to the grocery store. Keep in mind that you are building a footprint with the Twitter community.

What should you be tweeting about? (Market Minded)

You should be posting new items in your Etsy shop. This will keep people updated on what is going on in your shop. You can also post sales, deals...anything related to your shop. I like to post every time i list a new item....
Twitter also allows you to interact with customers in a unique way... so make sure to be active!

Interavtive posts:
Just like the forums on Etsy... you should try some interactive posts....
I have created the Lunch Time Series on my channel which includes... Top 10 monday... Saturday Super Shop Feature... and Mid Week Etsy Feature.. all three of these are promoting other shops.. and never my own .. Each one of these have generated thousands of hits and sales for other shops.. (never my own) I do promote my own information...like the blog post you read. building a readership takes more than spamming the crap out of your followers... you have to provide them something to look forward to.. when they see your posts...


Ask for help:
This can fall under the interactive category also. You can ask for opinions on products.. just like the Critique section of the Etsy forums.

Promote your blog:
I also like to promote my blog on twitter... if you are more focused on the marketing side.. be sure your blog is headed in the same direction..



There are thousands of business using Twitter as a marketing tool.. here are just a few that come to mind.

Woot - a popular online retailer will often post their newest deals

JetBlue- they will post their promo deals

New York Times- news

BBC -news

Apple- news and deals



Everyone loves tools..... here are a few Twitter tools that I use.



TweetStats provides colourful graphs on month-to-month Twitter use, daily and hourly tweets, people replied to most, interfaces preferred, for individual Twitter users. I love this tool is it easy to use and it looks cool!

Search Twitter
- With this tool you can find out what is happening right now... This search tool is on the Twitter site, and is a great way to keep updated on the latest trends.


TweetWheel - If you have 1 or 5000 followers on Twitter this tool is for you! The TweetWheel will tell you which of your followers know each other. This cool tool helps you find this out visually. Oh and if you have a LOT of followers, this will take kinda long!


Twerpscan - Once your follow list is up to the number where you want it, who shouldn’t be following you? If there are marketers following everyone they come across in the hopes those people will follow back, this tool can help identify those marketers and block them if you like.

Twittervision: Public Twitter feeds overlayed realtime on Google Maps -


Twitt(url)y - Twitturly is a service for tracking what URLs people are talking about as they talk about them on Twitter. To keep things fresh and the quality high, twitturly only shows the 100 most popular URLs over the last 24 hours. The 24 hours are constantly sliding and we have an advanced algorithm in place so you always see what people are currently talking about. Another cool option is you can filter out Tweets by language

TweetAhead - Schedule tweets to be posted ahead of time with a simple Dashboard widget. This cool tool is only for Mac users...

Twistori- This little tool is a complete time waster..but really COOL! You have to check it out!


Quick Do's and Don't s

1. Do use Twitter to promote your Etsy shop.....items.. sales....coupons... giveaways
2. Do use Twitter to create a brand/footprint for your Etsy business
3. Do promote your Twitter channel all over. My Twitter
I am currently offering 2 FREE Twitter badges I designed for your blog..you can pick them up in my Etsy shop HERE...complete with html code instructions.
4. Do interact with your readers
5. Don't be a spammer. You don't need to post everything all the time.
Read Twitters Terms of use HERE
6. Don't use Twitter as your only marketing tool. Spread yourself out there. Just like we say on Etsy don't put all your eggs in one basket.



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Etsy modern jewelry Twitter metal project wonderful traffic tips

36 comments:

Barbra said...

Great article. I'm using Twitter but I've been a bit in the dark...thanks!

ThreadBeaur said...

Thanks for the info on Twitter, I was considering marketing there for my etsy shop, but did not know much about it. I guess it really is a good tool, maybe I will start now! Thanks!

Chelsey - The Paper Mama said...

Thank you. I love a little help!

-chelsey

Live, Love, Laugh, Write! said...

This is a great blog article! Do you mind if I link to it when I write up a blog post on twitter?

MaryMarsh said...

Excellent article! I have always wondered about Twitter and you have explained it so well! Thanks for the great info!

~MaryMarsh

Navi said...

Well, it worked to get me to buy a keychain. You followed me, even though you were obviously a business, you didn't look spammy and I liked your stuff, so I followed you and I eventually ordered a keychain, that I love!

timothy said...

hey navi!!

i remember!!!



thanks again!

Rocki Adams said...

I keep hearing about Tweeter, but have not checked it out yet as I belong to so many other sites. However, after reading your info I am on my way to check it out - FINally!

Thank you for the info!
Rocki

Distressing Delilah a.k.a. jenn said...

Great info here! You are wonderful to share you knowlegd!

Kim Caro said...

i wont do twitter, i am too old school blogger since 2000 that twitter is a waste of time to me. its simply silly lol/

The Lone Beader® said...

Great info, Timothy! I will have to check out those Twitter tools! :D

The Filigree Garden said...

These were useful tips, thanks.

virtuallori said...

I disagree about not posting personal tidbits. I don't want to know every little move of everyone I'm following, but it's nice to get a glimpse into their everyday lives. I unfollow those who are relentlessly self-promoting in every post. Boring.

Learning Spanish at 41 said...

Well, alright then. I've been hearing about Twitter. I've been thinking of checking it out. I've been putting it on the back burner and focusing on my blog. Now you go and write this post and I'm feeling like I really need to look into it. *sigh* Okay, I give!

Seriously, thanks, Timothy--this is good info to have in the arsenal for marketing newbies...like me!

Tina Pfeiffer
Pfeiffer Photos
pfeifferphotos.blogspot.com

Unknown said...

great info- wish I had all your computer knowledge. You always have good sound advice!

Waterrose said...

Great advice and links! As always TAD thanks for all your knowledge and help.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the info...many of us are fairly new to this so any help is always appreciated!

Yvonne said...

Have been wondering about Twitter and how it works so thanks for some great and useful info. You always have great tips. Now I can go to Twitter and feel a little more comfortable when starting it up.
~Karen
Beads2string

Longfellow said...

I'm curious why nothing personal on Twitter. I get that no one really wants to know what you want for breakfast - but don't people feel a little gypped if you're always just promoting, promoting?

janetlily's jewllery said...

Thank you for your very kind info I have just joined twitter and found your info very useful ... janetlily from Etsy

TiLT said...

thanks for the info...Ijust started and not quite sure just what to do with it :)

Mary V. Smith said...

thanks tim for taking the time to write this post!

joeyandaleethea said...

Fantastic post, nifty tools! I like to use twitterfeed.com which auto twitters my blog posts at the intervals I set. Makes life a bit less redundant. Fun stuff! :)

twitter.com/joeyandaleethea
joeyandaleethea.com/blog

Anonymous said...

"If your long term goal is to use Twitter as a tool to add to your marketing toolbox, you want to leave your personal posts out. Your customers don't care if you are going to the grocery store. Keep in mind that you are building a footprint with the Twitter community."

I have to say, I couldn't disagree more. I don't read blogs that are all about shop promotions, sales and new items. I read and go back to the people who share their lives, write interesting content and talk about their lives in conjunction to selling their work online.

The moment I signed up for twitter many people started following, but I suspect it was a "I follow you, you check out my shop" as opposed to any real interest. The people I'm following are etsyians who post about their lives more than their items. Those are also the folks who's stores I go back to, again and again.

Anonymous said...

wow! thanks for all the awesome info!

Sally said...

Wow. I feel like I'm cheating, getting all the answers from someone else's paper -- thank you! Next Step: Twitter!

My compliments on your work, Timothy ... it has a real presence.

Anonymous said...

I guess i'm gonna have to get with the twitterization of america
sounds like a very effective marketing tool.

I don't know how you do all this and do your artwork! amazing. my hat's off too you.

nancy

Anonymous said...

I resisted signing up for a Twitter account for a long time, but I did earlier this month finally, and now I'm hooked!

Sarah Cruse said...

This is great!
Thanks for the information!

Deana Mattos said...

I am going to join twitter now.
Are you going to be offering the twitter badges again?
thanks for the info, again

Linda said...

I've got 4.19% traffic to my shop from Twitter, 4.30% from my blog.

I use RSS feeds to add my listings to Twitter (which I do daily, as I have a load of items) and add my blog updating to Twitter. Did you mention RSS feeds?

I show other items from my shop too.
I also chat and interact.

Yesterday my Google page rank was 7, and in December it was nil. I've been working hard!

kaslkaos said...

I love your tips, but as for marketing twitter, I'm not so sure. I've 'unfollowed' anyone using twitter as a marketing tool as it just seems like clutter. I'll follow people who have posts I'm interested in, and then get curious and check them out further.
Thanks for all the tips. I'll be reading more. You are bookmarked.

The ChainMaille Lady said...

Great article. Thank you!!

The ChainMaille Lady
http://www.thechainmaillelady.com

Kathryn V. Crabbe said...

Hi Timothy,

I just want to thank you for keeping us all informed!

I also recommend TweetDeck for keeping track of searches, friends, replies and direct messages.

Kathy C.
http://SoulReaderBlog.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much. The information you provide is so helpful and useful. Technology scares me but your advice and tips help me understand how to do certain things that I otherwise would never be able to grasp.

www.suefurrow.com
www.suefurrow.etsy.com

PiecesIEnjoy said...

Thanks so much for posting all the great tools in one place!

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