This is the question of the universe! Do you spend a lot of time on social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Ning sites, or others? Do you chat without purpose or follow others without reason? Do you accept every request for following or friending? Do you feel at the end of your social media time that you got nothing accomplished?
If you answered “yes” to these questions, you may be a social media time waster!
Through my own experience and the reading of comments in forums and blogs regarding social networking, here are some observations. My experience sees three kinds of social media users:
1) Those who use it purposefully to work towards sales or branding goals
2) Those who use it without purpose, randomly meandering around, participating in a variety of topics and not going anywhere (but maybe having fun in the process)
3) Those who just don’t “get it” and are confused about the whole concept, but jump in and flail around
Your purpose for joining these sites is best identified before you start your account. Answering these questions will put you on a business track that can help you:
•Will my account be personal, business, or both?
•If both, should I have one account or do two accounts – one for personal and one for business?
•If both, how will I manage my business side and my personal side, relative to promoting?
•Who is my business target market (age, lifestyle, income, gender, etc…)?
•Where will I find my target market online?
•Are the social media sites that I want to join included this demographic?
•What kind of people on these sites do I want to “friend” or “follow?” (drill down your target market to specifics – example, if you want the handmade community to follow you, you can drill down to specifically who to seek out, such as artists, potters, knitters since they may be potential customers for your handmade clothing)
•What kind of people on these sites do I purposefully seek out?
•What kind of people do not meet my requirements and I should not accept into my circle?
What do you do when you get an account? Social media is just that…..SOCIAL. Yes, talk about your handmade items and post links, but it is best in the context of genuine conversation. Chat, get to know a few people whose avatars you recognize from selling venues. Some sites allow photos to be posted, others are short bytes of conversation from you, and some are variations of a blog environment.
Try several to see which is comfortable!
Here are a few to consider that are easier:
http://www.twitter.com http://www.plurk.comhttp://www.flickr.comhttp://www.plumdrop.comhttp://www.facebook.comhttp://yourhandmade.ning.com http://indiepublic.ning.comhttp://www.starvingjewelryartists.com [/list]And, here is a search for handmade social networks on Ning.com:
http://www.ning.com/search/networks?q=handmade More to come about social networking~
How it helps your branding
How it helps your product showcasing
How it helps your SEO
How it gives you resources
How it can position, you, as the artist/crafter/designer as an expert in your field
Time management tips for social networking!
List of more good handmade social networking sites
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