Getting a handle on Twitter

Twitter can be a powerful tool for marketing and building a relationship with members of a group or customers. Every tweet is limited to 140 characters; not much space to get a powerful message across. Using tools like TinyURL and Hash Tags can improve your response and the effectiveness of  your tweets. At TinyUrl.com you  put in your URL and it gives you back a compact version that can be used in Tweets, blogs, Facebook pages, emails etc... the link in the title line is 86 characters long but using TinyUrl it's just 25 characters: TinyLink  


Hashtags or #'s are used in Twitter much like metatags on a webpage, i.e.  to indicate your tweet belongs to a family of tweets in a given category. For instance, say I'm tweeting about my store in Hampden, Maine and I want others in and around Bangor to see my tweets.... I might post something like this:

'Jewelry Artisans of #Maine, in #Hampden, is glad to represent the work of Nancy Tang, a glass artist from #Frankfort, a small town outside #Bangor'

Using Hashtags for Maine, Frankfort, Hampden and Bangor will allow these tweets to be picked up by people looking for information of those topics or places.  Many blogs and 'news' feeds use these tags to search for news to publish on their sites, blogs etc...

If you are looking at a tweet with hash tags you can click on them and see all recent tweets that also use that tag.

And that's your Fortune Cookie Tip for the week!!

~Nancy

Winterport Area Business Association

I am a member of WABA even though I'm not in Winterport. The group extended membership to Prospect, Frankfort and I think Brooks last year. Last summer WABA hosted a 'farmers market', in the parking lot across from Winterport Pizza, on the last Saturday of each  month June - September and was from 8am - 1pm. I'm going to a group meeting on Wednesday and will get details about this summer but I was thinking that this might be a good venue for the Guild Store or Guild Members - the 'booth' is very inexpensive... I forget how much it was but $10 comes to mind.  This would be a good way to get our group known in the area a little more if nothing else... and I did make enough sales to make it worth a few hours once a month.

I posted a little blurb about our group on the WABA facebook page as well. Once we get our FB page going we can like them and maybe they will like us back : )

TTYL,
Nan

7 Ways to Improve Sales of your Handmade Items

1] Get business cards made and hand them out to everyone you meet. Cards can be made very cheaply (or FREE) at Vista Print.  One side of the card should have a color picture of one of your products and the other side should be in black and white and include your Name, Business Name, Address, Phone, Fax, Email, URL, Twitter and Facebook info.

2] Build a mailing list. Really 2 lists: one for snail mail and another for email marketing. How do you build a list? Well, if you do shows you can put up a fishbowl and ask people to give you the info in return for an entry in a contest or a discount on an item at the show.  Wherever you sell your work ask for customers or visitors info, use a guest book, online use a service such as MailChimp to collect information.

3] Now building a mailing list is useless if you don’t USE it. For snail mail you’ll need to have some postcards printed, again Vista Print is great for this. Your Post Card campaign isn’t a one shot deal so you’ll need to have several different post cards printed. You will send these out once a month for 4 months as a trial.  Post cards should have one of your products highlighted in color on one side and your message and contact info on the other. Don’t be too wordy, list your offer and ask for a particular response. Example: Picture of a hand painted mailbox on one side, on the other side in black and white: Introducing our new line of Hand Painted Mailboxes available in 3 designs: Violets, Sunset and Morning Glory.  Purchase now for our special introductory price of only $29.99 (retail price $39.99). To order call us at: 222-222-2222 or visit us online at: OURCO.COM. Offer good until May 2, 2011.

4] Join a few guilds that have a shop, host shows and help you build a network of both fellow artists and potential customers.  Guilds can save you money with co-op buying of supplies, advertising and more. Also join local business organizations for even more opportunities and a larger network of potential customers.

5] If you are comfortable and capable, offer classes in your craft at local shops, your guild or in your studio. Check with small local museums to see if you can teach there. Students can become the best of customers.

6] Host Open-Studio/Demo Days in your studio where you allow the public to come by and see how you do what you do. Let local home school, church, civic organizations etc... know you are open to receive groups for demos and discussions. Send announcements of open studio days to the local paper too.

7] When local organizations ask for donations for fun raisers, GIVE. Make sure you include contact information and business cards with your donation. It’s also a tax write off. Donating is a great way to get your name and work out there and it’s also good for your Karma!

This article was written by Nancy Tang of Glass Orchids. Nancy has been creating Dichroic Glass Jewelry and teaching for over 16 years. She lives in Maine with her husband and daughter on an old dairy farm. You can reach Nancy at: nancy.tang@jewelryartisansofmaine.com or on Twitter at @JewelryArtofME