Social Networking

Awhile back, I visited Social Networking Places and let people know how to make them work for you. I will be redoing this series and welcome any new places that you want me to check out. Please post these places in the comments. I will be discussing how these places have worked for me in the past year.



There are always places you MUST be online popping up ALL THE TIME! When I first started here, it was FLICKR that was the be all end all to online advertising. What many people didn't tell you when toting this site, was to stay AWAY from:

*Posting your shop link ANYWHERE on the photo, tags, description.

*Having your Flickr Page be ALL about the items you sell.

and that you had to:

*Join groups

*Comment on other photos

*Send your photos to appropriate group pools

*Have your shop link in your profile

*Have a vibrant proile that isn't too plain

In order to make it work well for you. If you can play by their rules and dedicate about 10 minutes each day on commenting on other photos, making at least 6 new contacts each day and uploading at least 1 photo each day, Flickr could work very well for you.

When I upload a photo, I upload 2. I make sure 1 is something personal going on that day and the other is a work item shot. This way I'm keeping it balanced.

My Outcome with Flickr:

I have been on this site for over 2 years now and I truly love the amazing work I see in photos and have joined some great groups. Is this the answer to hundreds of sales? No. It's a great place to socialize and share what you do with other people doing the same. It has probably net 10-12 sales for me throughout those 2 years. This is NOT BAD at all! This is also why I suggest you spend no more than 10 minutes a day on it, if that's the only reason you are there. I began with that mentality and then found I enjoyed popping in on several photopools. I loved seeing peoples kitchens, what they ate, what people wore...it became addicting! haha! Before I knew it I was commenting a lot and not uploading for months at a time. It really depends on what you want out of it. I take it with a grain of salt when it comes to getting Sales from the site, and maybe that's how you should approach it. Any questions? Ask Away!

The Wonderful World of Flickr

My Flickr Page!

Today, we are jumping into the photographic world of Flickr. This is an AWESOME social networking site! If you love lots of photos when you read a blog, this one is for you! It's all about uploading photos and typing in brief descriptions. When you sign up, be sure to have a great profile, where you mention where you can be found. I list my Etsy Shop, my Lollishops shop and my Blog! Check out my profile here. I like fun profiles, that give a little hint to the personality. I will NOT click on profiles that JUST have FEMALE/MALE and their Shop link on them. That tells me, they are just there to sell things and not really there for the community aspect of it all. A Big no-no in my book AND in Flickrs are photos that are items for sale in your shop WITH descriptions that say FOR SALE ON MY ETSY SHOP check profile for link. That is NOT allowed and can get you shut down.

Some of my contacts that have recently updated

Ready to start adding friends? Use that search bar at the top right hand side of the page and type in some of your interests! This is a great way to find people that like the same stuff as you do and also you can find more people that like it, by checking out their contacts list too! When I add someone, I am sure to comment on their photos straight away or as soon as they add me too! Always comment on photos of those that add you too! Common courtesy! Post your link in any online forums your frequen, that's a great way to get people adding you too! Another great way is to check out the GROUPS! Click on the top tab that says GROUPS. Type in the FIND GROUPS bar, what you are looking for! Check for things you collect, your favorite color, where you sell, you name it it's there! You will be overwhelmed by the groups, but they are just so fun to be a part of! PLEASE make sure you read all the rules to the groups before posting and putting up your photos. PLEASE don't spam groups with dozens of your photos, just because they don't have upload limits, this is tacky :(

Ready to Start Uploading Photos? Click on the YOU tab at the top of the page and a drop down menu will appear, click on Upload photos and videos. There you go! It will then put you at a page to type in your descoptions and tags. DO NOT DO NOT use for sale lingo, see profile or anything like that. Remember, that if people really want to know this information, they will check out your profile themselves or message you their question. (I have made loads of sales this way!) DO not make your album ALL ABOUT what you sell. This is not a showcase gallery, it's a social site and they want you to be social, they want to see what else you do! supplies shots, family shots, studio shots, that sort of thing!Photograph the weather, your dinner, your starbucks! Anything you can think of! If your photos are ALL about what you sell, you can and will be shut down. If you use for sale, profile jargon, you can and will be shut down. How do I know? 3 of my friends were shut down (1 of them had a PRO account) with no warning at all, and me? Well I got a very stern warning. What made me get a warning and them just get deleted? No clue, talk on the Etsy forums seem to be it's just whatever admin is on duty that day. There seem to be no rhyme or reason. So be safe, before you get shut down! This is a fun site when used correctly! After my warning, I asked what was and was not allowed and those were the items that I was told! I keep many photos of my children private to only friends and or family members. It's safer that way and yet my album is still personal and not just a gallery!

Check in daily on Flickr, sometimes it's hard with the 100 other things to do, but try and work it into your schedule. I always click the CONTACTS button at the top of the page to see who has recently updated and then I choose 10 interesting photos a day to comment on. I usually end up commenting on more, but at minimum 10. I check in on my groups every now and then and many have come through in a pinch for me! I once needed to know a place that I took a picture of in another country and within an hour someone knew where I was standing! hahaha!When used properly, Flickr can get you sales and get you a lot of friends! Be My friend and I will be yours!

Sweet Treats from my Lollishops Shop!

Peeking into Myspace!

Gahhhhh! Yup, that's how I feel with the whole Myspace thing. I am going to keep this one pretty short, because I have nooo clue how to do it. I signed up and added my mini in from Etsy, I will be putting in a Lollishops one too. I posted my link in my public forums and I had people add me then. This is me on Myspace and it's as basic as it gets! haha! I have much younger family members that live on Myspace and the way I make this site work for me is to give them free goodies every now and then in exchange for keeping my mini on their page! I have 2 high schoolers, a college gal and a young 20 something. They keep my mini in a prominant spot on their Myspace page and a discount code EXCLUSIVE to their site, so I can see who brings in the most people. I'm thinking of also running some kind of ad on my Myspace to see if anyone is interested in adding my mini to their page in a prominant place in exhange for a gift certificate to my shop, as an incentive for them to keep my mini up after they have gotten the free treasures, if I get a sale directly from their coded site, I will give them something extra! I'm still thinking of just how to do this the right way :)

I mainly promote my shop by using the BULLETIN feature, this seems to work best, since all of my friends usually don't visit my site daily and everyone gets the bulletins, so this way they can choose to click if they see an interesting title. To post a bulletin just click on POST bulletin, type out the details and then follow the prompts to publish it! Use a catchy title! The key here is NOT NOT NOT to be spammy and throw out more than 1 bulletin in a row and I would say 2 max in 1 day. Make sure it's a catchy title so that people will be inclined to click. Be sure you are keeping track of your codes so you know what is working in your promtional blitz! Now get out there and Myspace to the best of your abilities!

Simple Myspace Don'ts and Do's

DO NOT message people about your shop directly! post bulletins, the other way is spammy and annoying it will get you unfriended (I probably made that word up!)

DO NOT post your mini or link to your shop in other peoples comments, it will get your comment deleted and most likely blocked if you keep it up.

DO NOT post multiple bulletins it's annoying and will keep people away from your shop if you are posting 3 or 4 things saying the same thing!

DO DO DO keepy uour avatar EYE CATCHING! When you post a comment, people will be more inclined to click on your avatar and check out your profile, seeing your mini and if they like that your shop too!

In Shop news, buy today in my Lollishops Shop and get a free bow necklace! (In my choice of colors). Buy a bow necklace for you and get a free one for a friend, buy anything else in the shop and get a free bow necklace for yourself! Check it out and get something fabulously sweet!

The Faceboook Phenomenon!

MY Facebook Page! Feel Free To Add Me!

Today we are checking out Facebook as a way of social networking. This is a great way to meet up with old friends and new. YES, it is a place where those old pals from highschool and YIKES even gradeschool may find you, but it's fun! I was utterly and totally confused by all the widgets, add-ons and craziness that was in front of me when I started, but afterawhile I started to get the hang of it! No worries, if it takes you awhile to get out there too! Just start by signing up! Ready to add friends? Post the link to your site on the public forums of your selling venues! Mine is on the Etsy forums and the Lollishops ones too! Once in awhile I Tweet my link on Twitter too! (read my blog post on Twitter here).

Alright, on to the promoting! At the top of your HOME page, you will see a little status bar, much like the one on Twitter. You click inside of the blurb and type what you are doing at the moment! I use this to put big sales, Exclusive codes to my shop and anything else that is shop related. But take a look at it right now ^ I ALSO use it to really update about my life. I don't want to spam Facebook either. I want my friends to stay my friends and not tune me out. Yes, i've already had to tune out frequent spammers, they post link after link after link to their shops. Not just blogs, shops, life etc. It's ALL SHOP ALL THE TIME! This is NOT the way to use Facebook! Starting a Group about your business! I had a couple customers ask me if I was on Facebook, then they started asking me about groups so that they could link their friends! So last week I started my very own group! PLEASE join mine and I will join yours! To get started just go to your HOME page ( you can find this at the top of your Facebook page) Then click on the right hand side the icon that says GROUPS.

Next you want to click on +Create A New Group on the right hand side of the screen it will look like this:

Just follow the prompts from there and it's super easy! Post your link on your public message forums too! (Make sure they allow it!) This is a fun way of keeping former customers and new ones in the loop of what is going on with your shop and what is new! Be sure to add SALE information and EXCLUSIVE discounts too! Get the word out quickly and in a fun way too! Invite your customers to share photos of them wearing your goodies or putting them on display somewhere!

So not everyone joined your group and you still want to spread the word about sales right? Well another awesome way to get memos out is through their NOTES function. Go back to your HOMe page and on the right hand side box where you found the GROUPS button, click on your NOTES button. It may not be visible like mine is, so click on the tiny little triangle that says MORE and it will be in that pull-down list. Click on WRITE A NEW NOTE. It's on the right hand side again! Follow those prompts and it's pretty easy! Publish the whole thing and now your entire stream will see it! So see, it's not that hard to get started on Facebook! Hope I helped someone out there!

New in the shop is my line of Breakfast Treats! From 9.00-30.00.

Twitter and You....Do You Tweet?

Twitter Button by ButtonHead 1.50

Twitter, is by far the easiest of all the socal networking sites and probably, the most addictive!

I signed up because I had heard about it in the Etsy Forums and figured 'what the heck'. Little did I know that it was not as complicated as I was making it out to be! hahaha! You literally just type in that little box what you are up to at that moment, your thoughts, feelings etc. You can also use it to tweet your shop, blog, cool finds on the net and all that, BUT don't go crazy! Every morning, I tweet my blog post, then throughout the day I will usually promo 2 items from my shop on Etsy and then in the evening, I will promo my Lollishops shop. I usually do the promoing when I am about to step away from the computer for a bit, because people usually don't respond to that kind of stuff and I don't want to respond to people too late. I use the Twitter Search to find people that are interested in the same things I do and also post my link in my blog, Myspace and Facebook accounts that's how I got a majority of my followers. The rest found my link in the Etsy Forum threads. Check them out if you are interested the pet peeves that people have, anything major you shouldn't be doing, but alot of it petty! haha! People get uptight over so little lately. I have lost followers, and while sad that's fine too, new people are constantly signing up!

Tweet Birdie Necklacy by KLACustomCreations 39.90

My pet peeve? When you Follow me, I follow you back and then you Direct Message me and THANK ME for the follow and tell me to check out your shop. That's direct Spam, and I unfollow right away. If I like your tweets, I check out your profile and then click on your link. I've found some great blogs that way!

Another Annoyance? When you follow me, I follow you and then you unfollow me. So I unfollow you and the VERY next time I check, you are following me again! Don't try and up your followers by just adding random people and then unfollowing them to be able to add more to your list.

Use Twitter as a fun way to meet new people and you will have a blast! Use Twitter as a way to just spam with every post you get and you will find youself rather lonely.

Twittering Lovebirds Necklace by MichellesCharmWorld 10.00

Simple Ways to Tweet:

1.)To respond to someone directly use this symbol in front of their name @

I would be @MichellesCHarmW

2.) To follow someone Click on their name or profile link, depending on where you find them and then just click the little Follow button

3.) to Unfollow someone, click on their name or link and click on the FOLLOWING icon under their avatar and it will open up a little box, click REMOVE.

It's really easy! Their are no hidden tricks or anything, just straightforward chat about what's going on in your life! Don't forget to add me!