Social Networking Karma!

Check out this week's Giveaway featuring Mama's Little Monkeys!

Celtic Camo Bead Woven Bracelet

What is Social Networking Karma? Why am I talking about it? First let's back up and examine the idea of Karma...

Karma, the Golden Rule, "What goes around comes around," - whatever you call it, it's a concept that has been around for for a long time. When you do nice things for other's, it often comes back to you in wonderful and unexpected ways. Right? 

Now let me ask you a question. Do you ever get tired of promoting yourself? I know I do! There have definitely been times when I get tired of tooting my own horn and where I feel like I'm just blabbing to the universe with no feedback. The various social networking sites were starting to feel pointless. That's when I started thinking about Social Networking Karma. 

Green Kabbalah Jasper Pendant

Now, I don't want you to think I came upon this idea on my own, this has been a long process and I know that there have been a lot of different artists who've given me individual ideas that I eventually pulled together into a whole!

How it works: 

Social Networking Karma happens when you promote artists (authors, bloggers, etc), other than yourself. You can do this in a lot of ways! See something you like? Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Plurk, or your blog! Then, and this is key, tell that person where you've shared it and send them a link. You'll be amazed at the results! 

Since I've started practicing this habit the results have blown me away. I've had people e-mail me and tell me that I've made their day because they had a horrible day and having someone do something nice just totally floored them. I've had people tell me that they were considering shutting down their shop, then I promoted them, and it made them think that maybe there is some value to their work. I've also had a lot of people return the favor and promote me in one way or another.

There's no feeling like it! When they return the promotion, it's great, but it's the people who's day's I make, or who I end up building a relationship with them as a result, that I love :) 

Damask Pin Cushion by Destash City

One of our featured giveaway artist's shops!

I'm going to be talking about some different approaches to practice Social Networking Karma over the next few weeks. Specifically we'll be talking about Twitter, Facebook, and Blogging. I may add to that list as I continue to explore the topic! 

Bloggy Promotions - and a Challenge

Sweet Hearts Ring

In Wednesday's Mish-Mash blog post I put a question out there. What do you do to promote your blog? Now I was planning on posting this yesterday and I spaced (bad Ruthie) but it gave me time to digest what I was really thinking about when I asked that question. I realized that what I should have asked was: What do you do to promote your work?

I know a lot of my readers are fellow artists and we have these blogs so we can share about our creations, promote ourselves, and talk about the creative process. So, really, promoting our blogs is a part of our over all promotions process, not independent of it. In that vein, I'm going to do a series of blogs about promotions, because it's something we all do, and something we can always learn more about! If your not an artist - rest assured I'll post about other things as well! 

Here's Where I Promote my Blog Posts:

(Click to find me on these sites!)

Social Media Sites:

1. Twitter

2. Plurk

3. Facebook

Each of my Etsy Teams

If it's a giveaway there's a list of giveaway blogs I'll go to on Giveaway days, that's new and the list is developing. So what do you do? Can you think of some great sites I'm missing? Or am I doing more than you are? I want feedback!

Ok - my questions asked, and my promotion places shared - now a challenge! One thing I've worked hard to do is always respond to my comments. I've noticed a lot of other people don't do that, but I challenge you to think about it! Why? 

Making sales are about two things: Great Product, and Building Relationships. Even big stores will tell you this, they stay in business because they have developed a relationship of with their customers. However, the tactics a mega-company uses and the tactics a one-man band company uses are necessarily totally different! 

Responding to your blog comments is a great way to build that relationship! The easiest way to do that? Click on the link that takes you to their blog, read their latest post, and comment yourself! Some of these people will be your old and dear friends you would have visited anyway, but you'll also find new people that you just love! So - go out there and give it a try!

A Mish-Mash Post by a Sick Girl

Yes, as the title says, I'm rather sick right now. I've been fighting a nasty cold for awhile now. I thought it was over for a bit last week (long enough to catch up on things!) and then it came back with a vengeance! It has now graduated from a nasty cold into a serious sinus infection. *sniffles* I'm so proud of my little nasty cold, it's growing up!

Seriously though, sick, but trying to do what I can :) My sale is still going because I've been too out of it to updated it :P I am up to processing orders if anyone wants to check it out before I get the inspiration to change it around and do something else :P

Don't forget to check out this week's giveaway featuring Meri Greenleaf!  It's currently rocking along with 30 entries so far! Don't worry - there is still plenty of time to enter - I'll be announcing the winner sometime on Sunday :)

That brings me to my next very related topic. One of Meri's dear friends is Aquariann. She entered my giveaway and I had a lot of fun checking out her blog! It was a return trip for me, and I was delighted to see that she has this going on right now:

I promptly entered it and visited it a few of the blogs. Not very many though :( I've been pretty sick, but I'll visit them as soon as I can! Meri also pointed out that Aquariann had a post about free giveaway sites! So I will be entering all giveaways on this blog at those sites from now on :) Meri did it for me this week (cuz she loves me!) and I'm betting anything that some of these entries (from people I've never heard of) are a direct result of this extra work! What does this mean for you? Well, anyone who's interested in being the featured artist for one of my giveaways can rest easy that they will get more entries than they would have before!

Now a Question I have for all of you: What do you do to promote your blog? I have some things I do, and I'll talk about those in my next post, but I want to know what you do. If I like your ideas, I'll give you a shout out on my blog!

Whew!

I feel like I've been going none stop all day long! I finally have internet access again and I've slowly started catching up on all the blog posts that I missed.  I felt so left out! I'm having fun reading everything, but it's taking me awhile :P So if I haven't been by your blog yet, don't worry, I should be soon!  I've been starting by catching up with my etsybloggers, and I plan on returning to my normal entre card drops tomorrow if at all possible!

Yesterday was really exciting! My dear hubby and I were talking as we drove to the bead store about building a web-site.  He's a geek-extraordinaire, and has offered to build one for me.  My first reaction was, "I'm managing enough sites with etsy and three blogs!"  Then, as I thought about it more, I began to see more and more possibilities for having my own web-site.  One of the things that I'd really like to do in the near future is start working on getting some consignment and wholesale accounts in the local area.  I was thinking I'd try to get cracking on that after the New Year.  So I was thinking that it would be fantastic to have a web-site that I could put in a brochure for consignments and wholesale accounts.  That way I can produce a small brochure, and then say, "for futher examples please see ...."  My dear hubby loved the idea and we talked about the whole to the bead store!

At the bead store I had several things I was looking for specifically, and I ended up in a long conversation with the store owner.  I have a new project I want to try, the patterns from a book, so I was double checking with her that I had the right materials.  As we chatted we ended up talking about many things, and I showed her a macrame piece that I had in my pocket (working on it in the car), she was very impressed! Which surprised me since I've just started working with macrame...  Anyway, next thing I know she was telling me that she loves to support local artisans and if I ever wanted to sell in her shop to let her know! 

I was floored, and super excited! We talked over details and I'll be going back in the next few weeks to set it all up! I couldn't believe that we'd JUST been talking about trying to pursue opportunities like this, and one was handed to me, dropped right in my lap.  Isn't that exciting?

Today was our first radio program on Blockhead Radio! I'll be telling you more about that tomorrow - so stay tuned!  I'll just say for now that I think it really well :)

I wanted to share a blog post with you that a friend of mine put together.  I thought it was really inciteful and I'm looking forward to reading the rest she has to share!  Go here to find the blog post :)

Oh yes, and for anyone who has been wondering, I do plan on resuming my promotions series, hopefully Saturday or Sunday. 

Welcome to the Twitterverse!

A couple weeks ago I stumbled upon www.twitter.com - I was hearing this buzz about it on www.etsy.com and I decided that I had to check it out! Now, I have a loooong list of sites that I need/want to check out, but for some reason I was so intriqued that I jumped right on it and checked it out.  I'm so glad I did! I love Twitter!

So what is Twitter all about? Twitter allows you to post updates, have conversations, and promote yourself, all in little "sound bites" of 140 characters or less.  It's like blogging and instant messaging got together and had a baby - that's twitter!

The main benefits that I see from Twitter are:

1. Builds exposure for your business.
2. Easy venue to create and build relationships.
3. Instant feedback when you have a question about an item or which direction you should go in.

Let me take those one by one. Building exposure for your business - You can browse through twitter for friends.  I started with a few people I knew, looked through their friends, and it snowballed from there! You can also search based on interests such as etsy, art, jewelry, pets, Moms, etc.  This means you can connect to the people that fit in with your world, and your marketing goals. It builds fast too! I have 202 followers, and other than my initial blitz of people I recognized, I haven't been searching for connections! I probably will at some point, but I love that I have the ear of 200 poeple and I don't put much effort into it!

Easy venue to create and build relationships - Do you ever find yourself on a social networking site and not having any clue what to say? Even I, someone who loves to talk, run across that problem from time to time! The great thing about twitter is that people will be posting up what their doing, their newest listings, newest blog posts, questions, and more; which gives you ample opportunity to find things to respond to! I've had fun growing closer to people I already knew, and I've definitely made some new friends and learned a lot in the short time I've been on Twitter!

Instant feedback when you have a question about an item or which direction you should go in - I haven't really done this yet, but I've responded to things a lot of other people have put up! It's fun to have a chance to give instant feedback to others, and I'm looking forward to having that outlet when I need it :)

I have a lot more to say about Twitter - but you'll have to wait for another post! I think it's a great promotions tool and I hope that my ideas, and the ideas of others I'm going to pull in, will be helpful! Have a great day :)