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In this show:
• Let’s look at Engagement Marketing, a very important tool for your crafty business in the internet age.
• We’ll talk about how blogging, Twitter and Facebook can help you reach new customers… if you use them wisely.
• We’ll also look at the most common online marketing mistakes I’ve seen crafty business owners make in 2009.
Links:
If you want to go deeper into these ideas, check out my ebooks:
• Making a Great Blog: A Guide for Creative People
• Creating a Blog Audience: An Unconventional Marketing Guide
• Social Media for your Crafty Business
You might also like these engagement-marketing resources from around the web:
• Trust Agents is a book well worth reading.
• Its co-author, Chris Brogan, writes a great blog.
• Another worthwhile book: The Whuffie Factor, by Tara Hunt.
Thank you so much for stopping by! I'm glad you enjoyed the show.
Don't worry too much – just start small and build your engagement from
there. It grows over time like a garden.
I discovered your podcasts about a month ago: I download things onto my IPod to listen to at the gym..Well, yours REALLY hit the spot. I've listened to it three more times and have now taken notes on it. I don't run a craft business or create any craft products. I DO run an artist licensing business, and now am also spending more and more time blogging (http://www.libbywilkiedesigns.com) I found your comments so very helpful: I come from a marketing background so am always looking at that aspect of the internet and social media. My blog readership is growing… but not fast enough for my taste… so I read all I can and really try to incorporate what I feel is useful. I may well do a post on this subject in the very near future. Thanks SO much!
Thanks for stopping by! I'm glad you enjoyed the post.
In case this is helpful – a key way to bring more readers to your blog is to do exactly what you've done here: read and comment on other people's blogs. The blogosphere is so crowded at this point, those little acts of reaching out one-to-one have amazing results. And at the same time, they begin to build a community around your blog.
Fabulous podcast Diane! I've had some troubles on my site (it was stolen out from under me be a foriegn company that seems to like porn) Ick. You always inspire me , and I thank you.
Thanks, Meg! And wow – how awful. I'm so sorry this has happened.
Thanks, Meg! And wow – how awful. I'm so sorry this has happened.
Just a quick read and I am hooked – and quite honestly relieved! I have been half-heartedly trying to listen to that little voice in my head that is saying ‘just stick w/ a blog’ and don’t bother w/ Facebook (haven’t tried Twitter yet)……because I am more comfortable w/ a blog and not at all with FB. Well! And there you just said it right out loud – ‘do what you are comfortable with!’ Yahoo! An affirmation that the best way to engage my potential customers (and meat interesting folks) is via a media I where I feel I can be myself. Off I go to download your podcast. (and think about making daily blog entries…that are interesting and honest…) Thanks a million!
Thanks so much Diane for taking the time to put this together. The whole blog thing has been somewhat of a mystery to me until lately. I have a vintage clothing business on etsy- http://www.etsy.com/shop/vintageurbanrenewal as well as brick and mortar and have resisted blogging, twitter, texting and everything that goes with it.
I am not an asocial person by nature, just the opposite and felt as if I connect with so many people every day, how in the world could I spend my precious time on this, especially if results were not immediate. I believe part of this mind set is due to my age (let me just say-over 39), partly because I don’t type (for real) but mostly because I thought what in the world would I write about. My 9 year old daughter was my inspiration. She not only started her own blog but taught me how to do mine.
Fast forward 4 months and here I am now wondering how to get more than 2 people to follow my blog. Which is why I found your podcast to be extremely helpful. Sometimes I wonder why I keep writing in my blog if no one reads it. I will persevere writing and commenting on other blogs and learning as much as I can. Who knows maybe people are reading my blog and just not commenting or following it.
I was wondering what you thought about giving something away if people made comments and followed my blog, as an encouragement to get feedback?
Diane: I came back here after many months (see my comment way below, in February).
Wanted to follow up and tell that just this week I had commented on a DesignSponge post, and had a direct link to one of my posts…well, it was like free advertising! I was absolutely amazed at how many people found me from that one comment!
This is great advice. Thanks for taking the time to create the podcast! I'm off to post about it on MY blog! :0)
I'm so glad you found it useful! And thank you so much for sharing it with your readers!
That's excellent! With that kind of response, I'll bet your comment was interesting and relevant, too – which is the big trick of getting click traffic from a comment. If readers think what you added to the discussion is intriguing, they'll definitely click that link and check you out, too. Well done!
First, I adore the image of your 9 year old daughter leading you into blogging! And, I'm 43, so I totally get how this stuff doesn't exactly feel intuitive sometimes. But perseverance pays off! It takes a while to build that following – I usually counsel bloggers to give it a good six months minimum.
And yes, giveaways definitely will draw people to a blog. I think it's important to remember that for many of these folks, the motivation begins and ends with the freebie (that's just human nature). But a few will stick around and become regular readers.
Another great practice is to get involved in things like swaps, craft-alongs, and blog carnivals. These can expose your blog to some new readers. They happen all over the blogosphere – just keep an eye on the blogs you read. Also, check out http://www.swap-bot.com. Good Luck!
Yaaay! My pleasure, Kristen – and good luck with your blogging adventure. If you love doing it, that enthusiasm will shine through and attract people. You're totally on the right track!
Thank you, Diane! Your podcast taught me a lot! I was just about to quit Facebook altogether because it's been such a time stealer. I'll stay with it and use 'engagement marketing'. Thanks for the great advice! – Jill
Following other blogs and leaving sincere comments on their posts is the way I built my blog followers up, up and up. It did take time, and I had to keep my blog updated and interesting at the same time. I, too, sell vintage on Etsy (http://forrestinavintage.etsy.com), am over 40, and didn't know if I'd have enough time for social networking. I now have 4 blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and Kaboodle in my networking arsenal. I don't do all of them all the time so it's not an overload. I learned early on not to focus on how many or how often people leave comments on my blogs…I write and post photos for what it is–sharing. If people connect with it they give me feedback; if not, they don't, and that's okay. :)
thank you so much… this was extremely valuable advice!
Yay – thanks, Kim! I'm so glad you found it helpful!
Thanks, I found out I was doing EVERYTHING WRONG. I'm a classic Broadcast marketer wannabee in an engagement marketing world. I will try what you suggested, and not make the same mistakes again. Thanks so much for the wake up call.
Thanks for the nice comment, Sue! And don't feel bad – since we all grew up with broadcast marketing, we're pretty hard-wired for it. Most of us start out broadcasting in the social media space.
I just had a duh moment. Thank you. It makes so much sense what you are saying. I just had no idea how to do it. One of my biggest questions is: if I have a how to on my blog with something I make, then how will I ever sell anything. I'd love to have how to's. Maybe I just do it anyway. Hmmmmm. Anyway off to get busy bloggin' thanks so much!
It's definitely a subtle thing, Alice, the way great content leads to sales. To express it really succinctly, it's like this: you put awesome tutorials and eye candy and ideas out there. People love them, and keep your blog on their radar. Over time, reading your content, they grow to like and respect you. There's a kind of “gratitude” relationship that develops. It's like, “She's given me so much with her blog, I'd like to do something for her in return.” (And also, “She clearly knows her subject, because I can see the evidence on her blog every day.”)
This gratitude is what leads people to check out your online store and make purchases. Of course you can mention your products on your blog – I definitely do. But it's important to bookend those mentions with free content people can use.
…Okay, that didn't end up succinct at all! :-) But did it help?
Thank you SisterDiane!!!! That is helpful advice. :-)
Thank you for this! I am one of those newbie business owners who has yet to master engagement marketing. heck, I’m still trying to figure out my personal facebook page! This podcast was incredibly helpful & gave me a lot of good advice to think about. –Megan
I’m so glad you found it helpful, Megan! Good luck with your new business! You might also like this video class I did a while back: http://www.craftypod.com/2010/08/16/a-free-video-class-me-teaching-social-media-marketing-from-i-heart-art/