the role of social media and online communication in developing and growing your craft and design...

The role of Social Media and Online Communication in Developing and

Growing your Craft and Design Enter-prise

Ciara GannonCommunications Assistant

Design & Crafts Council of Ireland

• Why an online presence is important• Choosing a tone and platform for your brand• Presenting yourself as a professional artist• Distinguishing your brand identity from yourself (usually!)• Dos and Don’ts for social networking• Social Media tools

What we will be looking at

• Visibility• Promotion• Networking• Cost-effective advertising (updates to Facebook re paid)• Wide reaching• Target potential customers

Why an online presence is important

• Marketing • Promoting your brand• Spreading the word on offers• Facebook exclusives• Facebook becoming ecommerce site?• Paid advertising on Instagram

“Social Media is now an essential part of

doing business”

socialmediatoday.com

• Social media can fall by the wayside when some-thing else has a definite due date

• 80:20 rule = 80% external content, topical arti-cles etc.20% content re your brand

• Make it fun, don’t let it be a chore• Social media calendar

69% mobile traffic

31% desktop

StatCounter

“People are 18 times more likely to buy directly in their News Feed than when clicking off to a separate website”Wade Gerten, chief executive of 8thBridge 

• Harlem Shake• Ice Bucket Challenge• Human Rights Campaign for marriage equal-ity• Pray for France• Temporary profile images

Choose your platform

• Who is your audience?• Who is your customer?• Target market?• What do you want your users to do next?

i.ebuy your product, share an image etc.

Choosing a tone/platform for your brand

The answers to these questions will influ-ence your choice of platform and deter-mine your tone

• Use of language is important • Keep it simple• Ask questions• Competitions?• Curate content• Consistency• High quality images – sized correctly for each platform (production images can sell a show/exhibition)• Videos give value

Presenting yourself as a professional artist

Molloy & Sonshttp://vimeo.com/98728962

Cushendale Woollen Millshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjt8keLw0M0&list=PLzGatYgX4RzHs_XiEJJ1Bx8xnb38Cr598

Irish Craft Studio Experiencehttp://www.craftinireland.com/explore/studio-films

UK Crafts Council commissionhttp://www.thisiscolossal.com/2013/12/pottery-meets-experimental-animation-in-this-ceramic-phonotrope/

University of Wroclawhttp://vimeo.com/103992350

Informal online tone

Springwoolshttps://www.facebook.com/springwools?fref=ts

Chupihttps://www.facebook.com/xChupi

GMIT Letterfrackhttps://www.facebook.com/OfficialGMITLetterfrack?fref=nf

Snughttps://www.facebook.com/pages/Snug/585506674876999?skip_nax_wizard=true

Facebook advertising

Facebook Advertising

Twitter Advertising

Include social media details on ALL printed materials

Don’t listen to Alec Baldwin…..

“Always Be Closing” – Glengarry Glen Ross (before you were born)

Don’t be overly ‘salesy’, post content your follow-ers willfind interesting

Don’t post content you don’t find interesting

vSocial Networking

Conversations with people

NOT a one-way conversation

• Have a social media strategy• Friend and Follow• Endorse – ‘like’, ‘retweet’, ‘favourite’, ‘pin’• Post regularly• Be consistent• Build a relationship with your followers• Follow people you admire - see how they structure content• Post relevant and interesting content• Use the 80:20 rule

DO

• Post inspirational content • Update content regularly• Create a custom URL• Respond to online queries in a timely manner• Ask opinions• Double check links• Check spellings and grammar

DO (cntd)

• Link your social media accounts• Be overly ‘salesy’• Post negative remarks• Express extreme personal / political / economical opinions• Comment negatively on your contempo-raries

DON’T

• Ignore any negative feedback• Be afraid to ask opinions• Share sensitive information• Behave unprofessionally

DON’T

Know your audience

Share and share alike

Social Media Tools

• Hootsuite - manage multiple social media ac-counts• Buffer - Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+• Tweetdeck - social media dashboard application• Facebook Scheduling - schedule posts• Pixlr - online image editor• Google Analytics - statistics on click throughs etc.

Social Media Tools

• Bit.ly – shortens links, Engagement & Tracking• RGBstock – free stock images• Ghostlab – checks your website on different plat-forms and browsers• SlideShare – share presentations• Google Alerts – for name and brand name• IFTTT – connects different web applications• Tweriod / Socialbro – when are your followers most active?

Social Media Tools

• Buzzsumo – find the most shared content• Followerwonk – search social media profiles for in-fluential people• Dasheroo.com – dashboard• MarketingGrader.com – grades your sites perfor-mance against key metrics• Piktochart• Canva

Social Media Monitoring - activity on your pageTrends - reportsAwareness – what is visible on your page / met-ricsReview - what is being said about your brand on-line?

Websites

• Good web design• Important to have an ‘About’ section• Blog• Include social media details / icons• Encourage customers to buy?• Mobile browsers – is your website mobile responsive?

www.dccoi.ie

Updated in 2014 to link all DCCoI umbrella web-sites

• Tone• Branding• Offers

Consistency across social media and web-site

• Choose your social media platforms• Decide on a tone • Know your audience• Be consistent• Post regularly• Engage with your followers

Recap