Getting Dirty With Social Media Tools
I spend eight hours a day five days a week talking ceramics. After work, I come home and walk in the countryside of Florida a mile and a half with my toy fox terrier, Puppup. As eight o’clock rolls around, I crack open the laptop and start my Master’s Program term homework. On the weekends during the day, when my hands are not covered in moist clay, I might be packing up an order, designing new plates, or blending glazes to provoke that exclamation “Wow!” from the next group of wedding registry millennials on Etsy.
On nights that are raining and we are not walking, I am select Etsy shops for my next Treasury on Etsy. This shopping gallery of 16 featured Etsy stores pulls in viewers, favorites, and orders to my Etsy shop Extrudergirl. Once the Treasury is designed, I post a link to it on social media networks like Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest. At the end of the month, I run a traffic source report to see which social media network is working for me as seen below*:
* (Etsy, 2015)
In trying to expand my marketing for Extrudergirl, I have started delve into Twitter, Instagram and Google+. Trying to maintain the different social media networks is time consuming even when I am not balancing work, home, a small business and school. A month ago, I was introduced to a free social media management site called Hootsuite. This program allows me to schedule my posts to a variety of social media networks. I can check daily, weekly and monthly scheduled posts making appropriate adjustments with one click. I have new insight to my posts, followers and content with Twitter, Google Analytics and Ow.ly. The reports created helped me make better decisions on content I was posting based on what my followers have been responding to (Hootsuite). The dashboard gives me a quick snap shot of my Twitter account when @Extrudergirl has been mentioned in a post, or I have been retweeted or liked as well as any current activity of those I am following.
A few days after Hootsuite, I came upon Klout. The Klout is tool that measures your presence on the social media landscape. When I first signed on my Klout score was an 18.94. I was disappointed. I had read that the average score is 40 and wanted to know how to achieve such notary (Klout, 2013). After following some very simple instructions on post content, time and volume, my Klout score increased within days. I held a new steady score of 48. Combining the results of Klout with Hootsuite helped me to decide to use Facebook for my personal use only and not my Extrudergirl ceramic business.
Using Hootsuite and Klout as my new social media tools for posting to my Twitter and Google+ account, I thought about an article I read by Cindy King where she talked about Social Mention (King, 2011) which tracks “and measures what people are saying about your company” (socialmention). This search reports specific keywords related to your company or products. This unique tool will help me be more conscious of words I wanted related to my Etsy store Extrudergirl when people do searches. I did a search of Extrudergirl. My name was linked to my blog, Extrudergirl, and the word ceramic as seen below.
This result was startling. I am new to the Hashtag world. Almost everyone has seen and a good handful of you have used the pound sign (#) with a word after it. I thought I would at least have something linked to #extrudergirl since I have been using that to tag pictures on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. In an article I recently read by Cindy King, she recommended Tagbound (King C. , 2015). Tagboard lets you see what is being said related to your hashtag across the social media landscape. I am hoping in the next three months as I expand my Twitter usage and remain consistent with blogging, that the hashtags will be measurable.
My Extrudergirl social media goal over the next three months is to increase my Klout Twitter Score, adding posts to my Google+, and use hashtags and keywords to drive followers, fans and buyers to Extrudergirl. As my blogging grows and tweeting content improves, I am hoping to increase my retweets, tweet likes and Google+1 volume as well. For now, I am heading back to the studio to get dirty.
Resources:
Extrudergirl Stats (2015). Shop Stats 2009-2015 Traffic Source. Etsy. Retrieved from: https://www.etsy.com/your/shops/Extrudergirl/stats?ref=seller_platform_hdr
Hootsuite Platform (n.d.). Everything You Need In One Place. Hoostsuite. Retrieved from: https://hootsuite.com/products/platform
Keath, J. (2015) Ultimate Recap: Top New Social Media Tools for 2014. Socialfresh. Retrieved from: http://www.socialfresh.com/ultimate-recap-top-new-social-media-tools-of-2014/
King, C. (2011). 12 Social Media Tools Recommended by the Pros. Social Media Examiner. Retrieved from: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/12-social-media-tools-recommended-by-the-pros/
King. C, (2015). 44 Social Media Tools Recommended By The Pros. Social Media Examiner. Retrieved from: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/44-social-media-tools-recommended-pros/
Measure (2015). Mesaure Page Extrudergirl Account. Klout. Retrieved from: https://klout.com/#/measure
The Klout Score (2013). What is the Average Klout Score? Klout. Retreived from: http://support.klout.com/customer/portal/articles/679109-what-is-the-average-klout-score-
Extrudergirl 
Small World, we are taking classes online together, and I used to live in Winter Park FL like 10 years ago. Small world indeed, and getting smaller with the Social Media tools you listed on your blog. It seems that you are immediately reaping the benefits of effective SMM tools. Looking forward to hear more from your Etsy store as I have a friend who has one too.
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Hi Miguel, What a small world indeed. winter Park is lovely with its artistic culture. Let me know your friends Etsy shop so I can like it and feature it in a Treasury.
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That is so neat! I love anything artistic and I love creating things with clay! But you sound like a professional!! Isn’t it amazing what we can do online to live our dreams and do the things we love? Thanks!
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Hi rlyunx, It wanted a long time to fulfill my dreams after I got my kids through school. I am very grateful that at this time in my life, I have the tools such as the Internet and social media to support my dreams and goals.
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While the focus of this blog is obviously social media – and great info there! – I can’t help but to be compelled by your artistic side, and especially clay. I’ve never actively pursued my articstic side, but I know it’s there. My whole life to this point has been about finding ways to make financial ends meet with no time for artistic expression. Of course, the logical side of me could argue that I should have been MAKING such time because it’s very important to the whole person to explore interests and abilities. Anyway, I’ve always been drawn to clay. I love the idea of using my hands to create. No idea if there’s actually any underlying skill there or not.
Social media focus – really informative stuff here. Attending the same class, obviously I’ve been exposed to these tools as well, but you’re actively using them. I’ve not subscribed to Hootsuite because what I read indicated that only the first 30 days were free and I had to submit payment information to even obtain that. Not really my preference because too often I forget to cancel trial memberships and end up paying unnecessarily. You indicated that it’s a free service though. Did I miss something altogether about Hootsuite? I’d love to try it, but not willing to give my payment info when I don’t know if I’ll continue to use it or not. Any advice there is appreciated.
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Hello Amy,
Clay is a great forum for using your hands, mind and heart. Artistic expression for me is like meditation and I find solace in the smell, the touch, and the evolution of the creation from clay.Let me know if you want to try clay. I can send you a brick. Message me to Twitter @extrudergirl. It would be an interesting journey to say the least.
In regards to Hootsuite, I have been using it for free. I did try the Pro for one month and found it was not worth the investment so I downgraded to the Free.You can personally message me via Twitter @extrudergirl for further insight.
Rosanne
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I can certainly appreciate that growing the SM presence for a business is a full time job in itself. It makes sense to use tools like Hootsuite and Klout to not only schedule multiple posts across several platforms but to use those tools to be selective. I too have decided to keep my Facebook purely family and friends, I also have a separate personal blog. I have always felt that work is work and personal is personal but your business holds personal elements. I think this creates a bigger challenge for you, incorporating personal touches in your SM posts without blurring the lines. I look forward to reading more!
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Hi Laura,
I feel fortunate to be able to incorporate my ceramic background with my writing background. As a supporter of fellow bloggers, I feel the personal side leads to credibility and creates a bond with the reader. As in your own blogs relating to ATT, your readers can see through the words you use, the depth of your knowledge. This creates a trust with your audience that welcome them back to read more.
Rosanne
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Awesome post! Seems like you are already getting a lot of traffic based on the comments above. I wanted to say, though, that your breakdown of the different tools and how you have noticed their benefit is very helpful! I have tried to blog before, and I have a Twitter account kicking around, and I’ve experimented with a bunch of stuff, but never for anything that really mattered. It is cool to see through your experience how all these tools converge into one online presence that really informs and alters certain business decisions you make about time investment.
Thanks, and again, great post!
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Hi Vilagomezad,
I tried blogging three times before this class for professional reasons and lost interest quickly because I was lacking engagement. I realize now, that I was truly not actively trying to promote my prior blogging. I was doing what I now advise people not to do, I was blogging for the sake of blogging.
It was the same with Twitter. I had my @extrudergirl account but was only posting pictures of my grand-kids and not using Twitter for what it is really meant for, business. I have now come to a true appreciation for Twitter and will continue to try and understand how to use to build my Etsy shop exposure.
I hope you keep blogging and experiment with Twitter.
Rosanne
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Your post was very interesting and informative because this is a world I very new to clay, pottery, and ceramics I love drawing pictures but another form of art with your hand I will have to try. My Klout score was low too, but I knew why I’m 38 years old and the social media is moving so fast it seem like I’m surely behind the time so I need to catch up. I like how research other way to improve your brand as well as difference ways marketing your craft/side business. I see your business doing very well over the new three months because you investing the time and energy into it to surely make that happen. Once again, good post and thanks for increasing my knowledge on clay, pottery and ceramics as a whole.
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Hello Tyron, I have had to work hard at bringing up my Klout score. I find the more posts on Facebook the higher the score, even more so than posting on Twitter for me. I have a strong social engagement on Facebook but not Twitter. I am still learning the best time and content to inspire retweets and likes.
I have such an appreciation for people who can draw. Having art as an outlet is so inspiring and rewarding. Keep drawing.
Rosanne
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