Twitter Tips for Handmade Engagement

I came across this article today and I wanted to share it as I feel like it could be such a valuable source of information for all of us!

After I began to seriously use Twitter as a marketing tool for my handmade business, I saw a slow but steady increase in the amount of views in my store. As my followers and my knowledge of how to use this platform grew, so did my views. I recently compared numbers of views in my shop from the month before I started using Twitter as a marketing tool to my numbers from the last four weeks. There is a growth margin of over 10,000 views. That is how integral Twitter has become to my marketing campaign! Sharing is so simple on Twitter that your content can easily reach a much wider audience than on other platforms - but not if you don't take the time to use the site properly. That's why I decided to create a series of posts that help people understand the site and how to use Twitter to grow their handmade business.

Twitter Tip: Engagement

If you only utilize Twitter by clicking the "tweet" button from your product page or by having your Twitter account linked to your Facebook page for easy sharing, you are losing opportunities to turn people in followers, fans, customers and even friends.

Engagement is key no matter what platform you are on and this was proven in a recent tweet-up I participated in. When asked what made people WANT to buy from a shop during the holidays (or any time) the most required factor was interaction - not catchy product names, not a radical advertisements, not even epic sales prices - but interaction. More people said that a shop that engaged with them and interacted with consumers on social media would be more likely to get their purchases and referrals than brands that did not engage with their consumers.

Here are a few easy ways to amp up engagement on Twitter to help grow your network and handmade business:

Share
Share things besides links to your store

• interesting and relevant blog posts and articles - if you make jewelry, things like interviews with other jewelry designers could be interesting content for your followers.
• pictures - people who love your work will love progress shots, fan photos, and you can never go wrong with pictures of pets. 
• updates - not everything you tweet should be about your shop. Are you a parent? So are some of your followers probably. Do you run marathons? Some of your followers might, too. Share milestones, share achievements, share interesting parts of your life - give people reasons to want to connect with you and support you.
• share other handmade shops with your followers - is there an artist you look up to? Share it! Does your friend have a shop? Share it! Did you just score a great gift from another handmade shop? Share it! Pay it forward and support others - most likely they will return the favor and put your shop in front of their followers! You can easily share things on Twitter by clicking the retweet button to put the tweet of interest directly into your feed for your audience!

Ask
Give people a reason to reply to your Tweets

• ask simple questions - how are they doing today, how's the weather, what's for dinner, do you have pets? Simple questions get simple answers - but they also catch attention and open the door for conversation! 
• ask for opinions - pink or green? Hmmm, does this need something more? Should I put the embellishment here, or here? What should I name this new doll? Not only do you get more engagement, but you get to hear and use your fan's voices to make products they feel a connection to. Be even more awesome - if you use their feed back, post a picture of the finished product and thank them publicly!

Embellish

Don't be generic

• catch attention - don't just click the "tweet" button from your product page to share it with the world - don't you have more to say about your lovingly handcrafted wares than "Check out this product"? Give people a reason to click that link, or they won't. Make them curious by using a great product description
• don't be vague - "tantalize the souls of the dark ones" may sound like a cool pitch for a black bead necklace with an amazing pendant, but would you click a link from a person you don't know with a teaser like that? Be direct - "This stunning handmade necklace would be the perfect compliment to your  little black dress for date night this weekend!
• make a connection - if your product would be a good gift for teachers, say so in your shop tweet! If it makes a great addition to a child's bedroom, express this. The stronger the connection your can create between your products and your audience, the more engagement you can generate. 

Keep the 1/10 social media in mind when using Twitter - for every single shop post or promotional post you Tweet, ten engagement posts are needed to keep your content fresh. If your past ten Tweets are all promotional posts when someone views your profile, you could be deterring people from following you and becoming fans, customers or even friends.

That is why engagement is so important! Keep your content fresh and engaging with the tips above! 

**These tips for Twitter usage are brought to you by Daft Crafts! Really take the time to read this, process it, and think about what it could do for your company. After you've practiced this with your Twitter account start the same thing on your Facebook business page. The more you grow with your social media the better it will be for your company! 

Stay tuned next week for another fun social media tip that will help you business succeed!