Because of a family emergency, I’m four days late posting the third week of the 2013 31 Days of Crochet Business Blogging Challenge. Things are slowly settling down at home so I finally have some time to focus on week three of the challenge which is all about social media marketing.
Days 15-21: What the Social Media Marketing Writing Prompts Cover
By Paola peralta (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Because I’m so late beginning week three, I’m not going to do a day-by-day breakdown, but instead provide the social media tools that the writing prompts focus on in this one post. This includes how I am and will be using:
- Google+
- YouTube
- Crochet forums
I’ll talk about these social media marketing tools in terms of what I’m currently doing and what I’d like to do with them in 2013.
What I’m Currently Doing in Social Media Marketing
I’ll be the first to say that I am not all that social media savvy. I have personal Facebook and Twitter accounts, as well as Google+, Pinterest, YouTube, and LinkedIn accounts. I am also a member of several crochet and fiber-arts-related forums and sites. A few include Ravelry, Crochetville, AllFreeCrochet, and the Crochet Guild of America general and professional member forums.
Every time I publish a blog post, I post it to the relevant Pinterest crochet board which also posts it on Twitter and Facebook. I also promote it on Google+ and LinkedIn.
The problem however is that, with the exception of Pinterest, these are unbranded personal accounts that don’t have an exclusively targeted audience of crocheters and fiber artists. And this, I believe, reduces their effectiveness because not everybody who follows me is going to read them.
As for YouTube, I haven’t taken advantage of it at all. The same goes for the crochet forums I’m a member of. I haven’t been on Crochetville in ages, and while I do read the posts to the Crochet Guild of American forums, I rarely participate.
What I Will Do to Develop and Implement a Social Media Marketing Strategy
It’s clear from the above that I am in dire need of a social media marketing strategy to bring more visibility to my blog. That’s going to start with a Facebook Fan Page for my crochet blog. I was thinking of holding off creating one until my blog redesign was complete, but I might as well jump in and at least get it started. I can always change the background and profile photos later.
One issue is whether I’ll be able to link my Pinterest posts to my Facebook Fan Page so that when I post on Pinterest, they automatically show up there instead of on my personal Facebook wall. Perhaps someone out there knows and can help me with this.
But I really don’t want to get new Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, and YouTube accounts. So I need to find a way to shift the focus of these accounts because I do have some crocheters and fiber artists who are following me and I want to continue to build that base of followers.
And let’s not forget my Flickr account. I’m sure there are ways to use it to bring more visibility to my blog. I am definitely open to suggestions here because there may be other ways to approach all of this that I haven’t considered.
I understand that video marketing is supposed to be very powerful these days, but I’m not ready to do that just yet. I did have an idea about how to approach any videos that I might make in the future and that would be to capitalize on the fact that I live on this beautiful island of Oahu. For example, I could begin each video segment with me crocheting on the beach or at some other exotic location.
As for crochet forums and sites, I definitely need to be more active on them. Google+ recently came out with Google+ Communities, a way for people with similar interests to gather and share information. I’m a member of several crochet communities and will continue to be active in them. Also, there are a number of free crochet pattern sites like AllFreeCrochet that I need to get my free patterns on.
A Journey of 1,000 Miles …
Image via Flickr by Kushalshah84
As you can see, I have a lot of work ahead of me to create and implement a social media marketing strategy. However, by the end of this blog challenge, I’ll have the information I need to create a project management plan that will allow me to implement my goals and objectives via specific tasks which will allow me to proceed in an organized fashion to get this show on the road.
Please let me know in the comment section of any suggestions you might have that you think will help me in my quest to have a more coherent and organized social media marketing strategy. Thanks in advance!
Check out the guest blog post I did on taking “pin-able” photos as a means of getting traffic to your blog.
I’m not done yet! Week 4 of the challenge is all about SEO.
5 comments On Week 3 – 2013 31 Days of Crochet Business Blogging Challenge
Hi Patrice, so glad things are starting to getting a little less stressful for you. What a scare!
I know there is a way to use Flickr to increase blog traffic and I think it is saving your photo as a keyword. When someone searching for ‘crochet dog’ then your photo will come up in the search and I think adding a brief description of your post along with read more at ‘url of your blog’ should be helpful.
I found (through some wise advice from those who have gone before me) that it is best to grasp one social platform at a time. Once you get that down and into your daily routine comfortably, tackle another.
One more thing, you don’t have to be everywhere just because you can.
Once you know where your particular audience is, that is where you need to spend your time.
Thanks for the info on Flickr, Sara. I have a lot of crochet photos there, so that’s one of the things I’m going to look at in the months ahead.
Yes, it makes perfect sense to understand one platform at a time, as well as focusing on the forums where my audience is. Thanks for the advice. It’s going to be very helpful as I move forward.
I too am glad that things are settling down a little at home and pray that trend will continue.
I’m not very adept at social networks. I have been occupied with trying to sort that out over the last 5 months in particular. I’m afraid I don’t have too much of help except to second your own inclinations and the comments of Sara above – trying to do too many platforms is not helpful. I’m dropping some of the activities I’ve been involved with because they have involved too much online time and I’m not able to continue to do the things I enjoy most, which are the actual creation of some crafted items, maybe designing something new, and building relationships with people rather than just marketing. So far I enjoy Google Communities and have joined a couple of them. Pinterest is a platform I really like because it is a way to organize and save ideas online and share many things that might be interesting to me and finding others that have a similar interest.
I’m answering your comments in order and you seem to be reading my mind :-). Yes, doing too many things at once can dissipate your energy and your efforts. And yes, I’m glad things are settling down at home.
I agree with you about Pinterest. I’m getting A LOT of great ideas for new projects to crochet. I’m liking the Google communities too. I’ve joined about four, but I think I’ll focus on one or two for the time being.
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