Facebook

[Kohaku]

Sorry if this has been hashed out before- I did a quick search on the forum and nothing obvious came up.

 

I'm trying to beef up my online presence. I have a website that I'm relatively happy with, but I've recently started integrating a Facebook page.

 

Facebook has a couple promotion options- you can promote specific posts (like listings of work for sale) or you can fund a campaign that boosts the number of 'likes' overall for your page.

 

I put a little extra change into one of the promotion engines. It's certainly brought a lot of strangers to my page, and boosted overall activity... but I can't say that it's lead to any sales yet. (It's been less than a week though)

 

Does anyone use either of these tools... and has it paid off for you?

[GEP]

I've seen these little notices on facebook suggesting that I promote my posts, or buy ads. I've never been tempted to spend any money on this. I don't think random internet eyeballs are very valuable, and wouldn't pay for them. I only care that my posts are getting to people who have actively sought them out, and their network of friends too. That's a lot more valuable. And it happens naturally for free!

 

Mea

[Marcia Selsor]

Have you tried joining ceramics groups on Facebook?

There are a lot of ceramic artists and groups out there.

Ceramica del Mundo is one. I may not have the exact name but it is close.

 

Marcia

[OffCenter]

I avoid "liking" sites on FB because I don't want to get a steady stream of posts from them, but one site I do get posts from and love almost every one is JT McMaster Silkscreen Printing. It is a South African ceramic decal company and maybe every 30th post is of their decals but the other 29 are of the most incredible ceramic art in the world. It's an eye-opener because you realize that there is a lot of shockingly wonderful ceramic art being produced today and very little of it is coming from the United States.

 

Jim

[GEP]

kohaku, to learn some tips about increasing your facebook presence, spend some time studying the pages that have thousands of likes. e.g. Michael Kline, Whitney Smith, Emily Murphy. They have a lot in common:

 

- they post often

- they post a lot of gorgeous photos

- they always have events to announce (shows, new blog post, new pots, etsy store sale, etc)

 

In other words, if your pottery studio is busy and active, your facebook page will naturally be interesting to other potters.

 

I don't post as often as I should, I'm a little lazy about it. But to me it's clear when I've made a good post or a so-so post. A good post gets shared by others, and my reach gets multiplied by a lot, and my likes grow. When I don't post for weeks, or if I post something boring, nothing happens.

 

Same principles apply to any web presence, like a blog or an etsy store. How active you are, and the quality of your content, will draw fans. If you aren't active, or if you are boring, nothing happens. I can tell when I've done a good job with a blog post, because my mailing list grows, and I get facebook likes. If I post something less interesting, I get meh.

 

For me, whenever a potter/artist uses their facebook page or their blog to discuss the local weather, I tune out. It means they are just trying to meet a posting schedule, but they've run out of things to say.

 

Mea

[Guest JBaymore]

It's an eye-opener because you realize that there is a lot of shockingly wonderful ceramic art being produced today and very little of it is coming from the United States.

 

You said a mouthfull there, Jim. Seeing this stuff and learning is one of the best aspects of all of the international residencies and travels I've been involved in.

 

Get out of the US folks....... you'll be amazed (and humbled).

 

best,

 

.............john

[Kohaku]

Same principles apply to any web presence, like a blog or an etsy store. How active you are, and the quality of your content, will draw fans. If you aren't active, or if you are boring, nothing happens. I can tell when I've done a good job with a blog post, because my mailing list grows, and I get facebook likes. If I post something less interesting, I get meh.

 

For me, whenever a potter/artist uses their facebook page or their blog to discuss the local weather, I tune out. It means they are just trying to meet a posting schedule, but they've run out of things to say.

 

Mea

 

 

Thanks (and to the rest of you as well)...

 

I think this is spot on. For example, I posted this the image (below) as a photo-diary a couple days ago, and was amazed at how many comments/interactions it yielded. I've been trying to make the page more interactive and visually engaging, hopefully with some success.

 

I've noticed, though, that most of the people 'liking' the page seem to be serial 'likers' (they've given a thumbs up to everything from 'angry birds' to axe body spray). What's not clear to me is whether a Facebook presence would ever draw in anyone serious about buying pottery. Maybe there's a critical mass. Room for some experimentation... I'll post if anything works out.

 

[Chris Campbell]

I really like your work ... I think it photographs very well. I also notice you live in an interesting place. A great combination for promotion!

You might do well with a combination of blog, online store ... I honestly don't know if Facebook helps with sales but it does let people know you are still there working away.

I've been told that with the Internet you have to choose one main vehicle and do it well ... it is too easy to get sucked into wasting a whole day online rather than in your studio.

[Guest JBaymore]

I've been told that with the Internet you have to choose one main vehicle and do it well ... it is too easy to get sucked into wasting a whole day online rather than in your studio.

 

Amen and Amen!

 

best,

 

.......................john

[Kohaku]

I really like your work ... I think it photographs very well. I also notice you live in an interesting place. A great combination for promotion!

You might do well with a combination of blog, online store ... I honestly don't know if Facebook helps with sales but it does let people know you are still there working away.

I've been told that with the Internet you have to choose one main vehicle and do it well ... it is too easy to get sucked into wasting a whole day online rather than in your studio.

 

 

Thanks for the kind words Chris!

 

My current plan is to use Facebook as a platform for posting updates to my main site (blog entries, new stuff in the gallery, etc.). Hopefully this will channel people to my site... and maybe to my sales page if I get lucky.

 

I've got a link to stuff on Etsy (because it's the easiest way to have a store front on Facebook)... but I sure as hell don't plan to go down the rabbit hole of promoting my work on Etsy.

 

I've definitely noticed a dramatic increase in traffic on my page since I started working Facebook... hopefully this will pay off at some point. Here's a link to the Facebook page, if anyone's willing to critique...

 

https://www.facebook.com/kohaku.pottery

[futurebird]

A good idea is to do a give-away "like this post and get a ___" or or to ask people for suggestions for things to make... and then make them! that can be so exciting! asking a question gets much more attention than just posting photos or bland promotions, no one want to be told "buy this" but something like "should my new line of teapots be this shade of blue or this one?" that will get a lot of responses! --people like to feel that they are dealing with a real person who cares what they think-- with things like etsy and ebay one is always worried that the "handmade" item you paid a big premium for is really just mass produced junk from a big factory in China with miserable workers. There are people who do this... it's a notorious problem. And no one want to feel like sucker.

 

Being interactive shows that you are "real" -- It has a big influence on what I buy and I buy a heck of a lot of stuff online!

 

I don't think you need to buy "promotions" from ebay-- doing your own promotions will seem more "real" anyway.

 

though they might help a little if you have a vast enough friends list!

 

 

 

I just wish I could find some zisha artists online... *sigh*

[Diane Puckett]

I think FB can be a great way to get your work in front of people, but I would not pay for it. I agree that just letting it happen works better than imposing unwanted ads. I also love the McMaster site, but so far that is the only site I don't mind seeing multiple daily posts from. There are numerous FB pages I have liked but then blocked them from my newsfeed because they were posting several times a day. My personal preference is a posting maybe once a week. And if you post multiple photos on the same day, an album allows me to look at all the photos without them filling up my newsfeed with individually posted photos.

 

Other than that, there is just the soul-sucking, time-wasting element of FB. I have noticed that that more battery power left in my iPad at the end of a day, the more productive and enjoyable day I have had.

[Kohaku]

A good idea is to do a give-away "like this post and get a ___" or or to ask people for suggestions for things to make... and then make them!

 

 

Yeah- I really like this idea.

 

A lot of my surface work features marine or wildlife motifs... I often blog about the creative process involved in these images. I've been considering asking people to nominate a cool fish (or other critter) for me to render... and giving a free mug to the person with the most interesting submission.

 

I could see having a semi-regular series of contests like this.

[Guest JBaymore]

I just wish I could find some zisha artists online... *sigh*

 

From my perspective of just having returned from Yixing........

 

Remember that China blocks Faceebook completely. I had no access to Facebook when there at all. Apparently there is a Chinese equivalent of Facebook that folks there frequent.... but it is all Chinese language. I'll see if I can get the url for that and post it. Might be useful.

 

As to the zisha potters there having an online presence........

 

I bet that some do.... but likely all in Chinese language. More than my experiences in Japan and South Korea I found that in Yixing I found very few folks who spoke any English at all. Less than I expected. So if you find them....... likely they speak only some dialect of Chinese. Search using the Chinese characters for Zisha clay tatehr than the roman type spelling. I believe this will maybe get you something .......... 紫砂工艺 .

 

From seeing the situation in Yixing (with the usual danger of generalizing in that everytrhing you say is wrong) I think there tends to be two general classes of potters working there. Those that are working their butts off making a somewhat basic living........ and likely who have little time (or money) for the Net. And those that are VERY successful and also have little time for the Net,.....because they have a HUGE market in their backyards.

 

That last part is an important point. There IS clearly a huge native market for zisha teapots (and other related items) happening right in the local community and within China itself. The economy was clearly booming. People were buying pots......and VERY many of them what WE in the West would consider very expensive functional pots. (Unless you consider something between $500 US and $1000 US average a usual price for a small -tiny really- teapot.) The top artists teapots were in the $10,000 to $20,000 US range.

 

So... there might be less need to "reach out" on the net to establish a presence relative to marketing for any of the potters there.

 

best,

 

.......................john