Rockin' Robin Tweet Tweet Tweet

So today I wanted to explore the power of Twitter and the pull of social media. I can recall back in the early 90's when my mother and I started our company that we had to pay for advertising in the newspaper, we put ads in magazines, we pounded the pavement talking to designers, and a plethora of other methods to get our name out in the community for our services.

It took about 6 months to really get enough clientele to break even and another 6-9 months to be making a good profit. This was all accomplished with countless 12 hour days and sleepless nights of solving design issues.

Now starting a company can be so very much different. You can file for your own company status on Legal Zoom for about $100. You can create a Facebook, Etsy, Twitter, CafePress, Zazzle, Tumblr, Blogger, Wordpress, or Stumble Upon page (as well as others) totally free. You can then almost sit back and watch it happen.

However, the best way to really make those pages become visible is to use them to your benefit. While I have never been a fan of social media I am beginning to understand the lower common factor in the media can help me tremendously.

When I started my Etsy store August 31, 2011 I thought this will be a fun side thing to do. Then the halloween season came and I had orders, so many I turned some away. It was quickly obvious to me that there was more to this than just a little hobby. Slowly but surely I started to create pages, Facebook was first which allowed me to have the benefit of friends that could see things that were going on. Then later I created a blog of my own, which has turned out to be so much FUN!!! If anything my kids will have this as a chronicle of our lives and the weird stuff that happens. Then came Twitter. 140 characters of sound bite glory!

You can put links to new posts on the blog, can link Facebook to it, can link up to your other sites as well. I honestly think Twitter could be the best starter gun to the entire process. I started by following all our team members and some of my pageant girls. Then I found other blog writers I loved on Twitter and followed them. I would reply to various tweets and figured out quickly that Twitter really does push social media on a second by second basis.

I know some of our members have a twitter accounts. I would suggest to all of you to explore this option. Most phones have a twitter application that you can use to keep your name in the minds of your customers. It also allows people to start seeing you less as a store and more as a person that they can get to know, which makes them want to buy. I don't make this stuff up there are articles and research that state that customers will tend to buy more from stores that they feel they "know" the people that work there.

So Tweet away, heck we even have a bird in our AREtsy logo, so maybe it was karma.

Sharing the Joy!

We have some really amazing people in our team, and we have been doing featured sellers once a month in order to promote all of our team members to be more successful. We also are having a treasury contest, which we may do maybe every other month or so in order to be the featured seller. We have to have some type of prize, and I think that is a pretty good one!

We have Facebook and Twitter on top of this blog that we hope is keeping team members informed and up to date on a lot of things we and our team members are doing. I personally have followed all team members with Twitter, Liked all the Facebook pages, and followed all the blogs on blogger and Tumbrl. Each morning I try (TRY) to spend at least one hour reading any new blog entries, scanning the twitter feed, and looking at Facebook. I feel like a real geek during this time period, but it helps me stay informed about our team and the amazing things we are all doing.

Our leader Lybly has made her first quilt! It is lovely, see it here. Missy of the Graceful Little Honey Bee is doing a really neat thing with shampoo or I should say the avoidance of shampoo, plus she is expecting! The Twisted Purl is lamenting her lack of blogging, but she is twitterific for sure! We have so many amazing shops in our team, and I love keeping up with all of them, it really give me inspiration for the things we can feature and do as a team!

I have the February Featured Seller selected and her information has been forwarded, so we are excited about that, but she had a great idea! We need a team photographer that makes us all look younger and thinner! Cathryn, I have put the word out now we shall see what happens!

If you want to me March's Featured Seller post your treasury on the team discussion page (there is a thread for the contest) and we will be selecting the winner on the 30th.