Social Media

Moving Beyond Social Media

by Dave

in Social Media

There’s a commercial out right now. I have no idea what the commercial is actually selling (a conversation for another time), but the scene is a young girl at home who is concerned for her older parents because they only have 19 “friends” on Facebook, while the daughter has over 600 so-called friends. The irony of the commercial is the parents are actually out of the house hanging out with real people while the daughter sits at home in her virtual world; first world problems.

I spend a lot of my time on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr and soon Google+. They are essential tools to both interacting with people I probably would never have the chance to meet, as well as solid business promotional vehicles. I can attest that a good portion of my sales have come from social media contacts, and I’m appreciative of every single one. However, social media is only social to a point. At the end of the day, there’s no commitment to these relationships beyond 140 characters. You’re also not getting a true sense of these folks because we’re only putting up the things we want people to hear from us. There is little to no nuance in these friendships unless you’re willing to dig a little deeper.

The first “tweetup” I ever attended was a bit of a stretch for me. It was a local group who just wanted to put real faces and real names to the avatars and call-signs. I wasn’t sure if I was going to enjoy this meetup because I didn’t really know much about these folks at all. This was before I started using Twitter as a way to promote my work, so there wasn’t any apparent value in the meetup to me. I know, I was lame, I’m sorry. Despite my reservations, I went, and I dragged my wife along as a security blanket.

A funny thing happened at this event: I actually had a good time and met some nice people. I know it sounds crazy, but people can actually be nice, fun and friendly in environments beyond the pixelated screen. I don’t go to these events often, but when I do, it’s never a bad time. Props out to my Twitter homies, Michelle, Jonathan, Denise, Oakley and Annette.

Jump ahead a few years and now I’m working on building a business of my own. Twitter and Facebook have a whole new meaning to me, but still allow me a reasonable amount of anonymity. I have made sales and made a few friends from my Etsy contacts, but still stayed a bit at arms length to it all, again lame, I know. The cure has definitely been the craft shows I’ve attended and participated in. The more I go, the more folks I meet and the more openly social I’m obligated to be. Apparently, you won’t burst into flames if you shake the hand of the vendors you know through social media outlets. It’s not a matter/anti-matter situation, I promise.

Recently I’ve had the chance to hang out with a few new friends I’ve met through these shows, and I can honestly say it’s been the best hang-out sessions I’ve had in a long time. Big props to my new friends, Jeanette, Kat and Adam for being good inspirations and even better friends. We trade stories, experiences, learn from each other and grow as humans, artists and business owners.

Long story short, I love all the folks that I’m able to interact with through social media, but it’s the connections I make beyond those avenues that really make for memorable experiences and friendships. In other words, get off your but and go hang out with some real people you’ve met online. Go on, do it, you can thank me later.

Photo by Edart on Etsy

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Kelly Westover Let’s Me in the Door … Again!

by Dave

in Social Media

You know that old adage that vampires can’t attack you in your home unless invited in?

Friend and teammate, Kelly Westover asked me to guest post on her blog again, and I was more than happy to oblige her, but I was totally stuck for a subject. Her and I have very similar thoughts on things, but her focus is a bit different than mine, very fashion and interior design oriented, totally not my strong suits, but she did give me free reign to write whatever I wanted. That could be bad if not curbed and edited carefully, but I think I came up with an appropriate subject.

Awhile back, I wrote a piece for a friend’s no defunct zine that never made it to print. I dug it up recently while browsing through some old documents. Although the post is a little dated, and my thinking is maybe slightly different now, I think it still rings true. So jump on over to Kelly’s blog and have a read through. Let her and I know what you think.

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Reaping the Rewards of Paying It Forward

by Dave

in Social Media

High Five card by The Iron Curtain PressI am not a guru!

At least I don’t think of myself as a guru, but some people seem to think I have this social media thing wired. I’m not sure I do 100%, but I know there are some who are baffled by it. I was once in their shoes, totally in over my head, I even gave up on everything for awhile; no Twitter, no Myspace, no blog, nothing. I just figured it was all a waste of time.

After several months, I started back on my blog, kicked the dust off my Twitter account and started interacting a little. I went to my first Tweet-up with a few locals and suddenly the dark ages were behind me.

I’m not a specialist, I’m not a guru, I don’t consider myself an expert, but some folks think I know what I’m talking about and occasionally hit me up with questions. If not for the help of a few friends, I probably wouldn’t be where I am today with social media, so when another friend and local asked me for some of my time to explain things, I was happy to oblige.

Really, she just needed a little demystifying to get through the clutter. She had people pulling her in all different directions with what she “should” be doing online, and it was a bit overwhelming. She’s very active in Facebook, but she didn’t understand Twitter. Being a very gregarious business owner, I told her the most important thing about social media is being social. Interaction is far more important than any of the technology. We talked about different technology options and I tried to help her understand my process and what works for me, but really, it comes down to having a little interaction with people.

At the end of the conversation, she asked me if she could do something for me; a gift certificate maybe. I told her that wasn’t necessary, but if she really wanted to do something, pay it forward to someone else. Do something to use her unique experience to help someone else.

If I’ve learned anything from social media, its that I thrive when I help others thrive. The more I help push others, the more attention it brings me. Maybe that is a bit self-serving, but I do like it when my friends succeed, and if I was able to help, then that is its own reward.

If you appreciated this post at all, show some love by giving back to someone else. The American Red Cross is a good start.

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I Am NOT a Social Media Guru

by Dave

in Social Media

I spend a LOT of time on Twitter and Facebook. I constantly surf the Etsy forums and I subscribe to more blogs than I care to admit, but I am not a guru. I know how each of these things work, I know about good practices and etiquette, but I do not consider myself a guru. I will never be that guy that can tell you how you can turn your business into a profit monster just by following these x-amount of twitter tips.

I consider myself more of a social media enthusiast, someone that enjoys the aspects of these sites and tools, uses them to my advantage and likes to commiserate with others of the same ilk. I cannot get you to wealth an independence with my robust amounts of knowledge on the subject. However, there are 3 things I have learned about social media that I feel the need to share because there are so many artists and crafty folk out there that are going about it wrong… in my opinion.

1. Shut Up and Be Yourself

One big mistake you can make is to be something you’re not on Twitter, and more so, Facebook. Now I’m not talking about being a 50-something male from Nebraska pretending to be a ‘tween girl from Thailand. No, instead, just be true to yourself; act as you would if you were standing in a room with these people instead of sitting in front of a computer screen. The more you act like a human being, the more likely you will attract like-minded folks who dig your stuff and might eventually buy from you. Granted, if you’re a total douche, then maybe “be yourself” isn’t the best advice. In that case, I can’t help you other than to say, “Stop it”.

2. When it Comes to Posting, Think Quality, Not Quantity

If you’ve got 10 followers on Twitter and 10,000 tweets, you’re doing it wrong. Yes, it’s ok to hock your wares there, but it doesn’t have to be every single word out of your keyboard, and you don’t have to lather-rinse-repeat over and over just to get your point across. If people are truly interested, one time for a particular statement is enough. You may really like that custom made doohickey you created last night, but it’s not a good idea to tweet about it every 5 minutes. For me, I try to keep my spreading of tweets to a minimum; one in the morning and maybe again in the afternoon or evening for the opposite crowd, but ONLY if it’s interesting enough. Comments about your dog sneezing on your lunch should not be uttered once, let alone multiple times.

3. The Keyword is “Social”

This is the big one that so many people can’t seem to figure out. If you post up constantly about you, you, you and do not interact with others, eventually the few that are paying attention will kick you to the curb. Twitter works for me because I engage people. I’m not there to push my stuff 24/7. I do share links and I do ask people to spread the word, but I also try to share their stuff too. I make conversation, I find other things that aren’t mine and share them in order that I might send a little coolness their direction. Interaction is the key, now get with the fuckin’ program. (F-word used for pronounced emphasis). Make friends, not just “connections”.

These are my opinions. They work for me, I have sold Beach Cities stuff on Etsy because of these interactions and relationships I’ve created by following these simple rules, but your results might vary. I’m pretty sure at the very least, you might make some really cool friends. So come on ilk-types, lets start commiseratin‘.

Image courtesy of rent-a-moose

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Two Thousand and Counting

by Dave

in Social Media

This may seem very frivolous to some, but I hit one of my goals for the year yesterday, surprisingly a whole lot sooner than I expected. I have been using Twitter since the very early stages of the site, but only within the last year did I realize the power of Twitter and what it could do for me both personally and professionally. I had a decent amount of followers, but nothing to consider a huge following and once I hit the 1,500 mark, I languished in that area for a very long time.

It wasn’t until I realized that I was getting more sales of my Beach Cities prints from places like Twitter and Facebook than through organic search that I decided to focus my efforts on building my follower list. I gave myself the goal of 2,000 followers mostly because it’s a nice round number. There’s really no special meaning or significance to that number, but knowing the rate at which my follower list was growing, I figured it was an achievable goal within the next several months. Little did I know that my current list of followers would step up and promote the hell out of me. I blasted right past that goal in less than 30 days.

I obviously didn’t set that bar nearly high enough, so now it’s on to 3,000, but before I go on about that next milestone, I want to take a second to mention a special individual. Of course all my followers are special (except the bots), but I need to give a little special recognition to Emily Spada, a college student and jewelry designer from Long Island, New York. Despite not being a huge fan of Twitter, Emily found me and my art and became #2,000. To award her for her unassuming effort, I asked her to pick her favorite print. It’ll be out in the mail tomorrow, Emily. Thanks for helping me make my first success goal of 2011.

Oh, and as an added bonus, this little give away helps me with one of my resolutions, to give away more art.

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