Wednesday, May 18, 2011

How to Sell your Dichroic Glass Jewelry

Hello Bloggers,


My name is Mark Veit and I wanted to share some information that may help you with the business side of your dichroic glass jewelry making.  For most artists, there are 2 sides to making dichroic glass jewelry; the art of making a piece (which is what they live for) and the business side of selling the beautiful finished piece (not nearly as fun as making the jewelry). If you have purchased from AAEGlass.com chances are we have had communication.  I want to extend an offer to help you with the business side of your passion.



I have received many inquiries about how best to sell dichroic glass jewelry.  After asking several artists what their current approach is, I think I may have some tips that will help you consolidate your marketing plan, reduce your marketing budget and sell more dichroic glass jewelry.

We all know that making the jewelry pieces is the fun part.  But how do you sell them after they are completed to make money and produce more pieces, so on and so forth?  I found that many artists have full time jobs and only make jewelry in their spare time.  They may enroll in a weekend art or craft show, or sell on jewelry related websites such as Etsy or Artfire.  Some artists sell on Ebay and some sell door to door.  All of these outlets are great and can be profitable but whether you are a full or part time jewelry artist you need to be involved with social media.  How do you let people know where to find your jewelry?  How do you make yourself visible to the purchasing public?  How do people learn about the artist on a personal level which in turn raises the probability of making a sale?

The easiest and cheapest way to get exposure and become "known" is SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING.  Social media marketing is the most affordable (mostly FREE) and easiest way to reach thousands of people with the click of the button.  If you want to grow your business, you have no choice but to get highly involved in social media.  Social media is here to stay.  We are only in the beginning stages and it is only going to get bigger.  If you are reading this blog or if you found this blog on facebook or twitter, you are already using social media marketing.  Don't sit on the sidelines anymore. BECOME VISIBLE.

If you want to get started and expand your knowledge of social media, the only choice is to dive in.  The only expense you will incur is your time.  You need to devote at least 1 hour per day to whatever medium you choose.  I would suggest starting with a facebook account.  It is free to sign up and the security settings allow you to choose how "exposed" you want to be. I would be willing to bet most people reading this blog already have a facebook account.  But have you kept up with it?  Have you added friends lately?  Have you added new pictures of your jewelry, your vacation or your pet?  Have you joined any dichroic glass jewelry groups? How many of your friends are potential customers?  Facebook is a perfect opportunity to put your face on your product.  What I mean by that is you can meet thousands of people without ever shaking their hand.  You can share your hobbies, what you do in your spare time and most importantly, pictures of your finished pieces.  You can explain your thoughts behind each piece and grab the attention of potential buyers by communicating in seconds. Once you set up your facebook page, or get back into updating it, you can get more work done in less time.

This is just one avenue of social media marketing and there are several others that I will get into in the future.  In my opinion, facebook is the best place to start.  It is a site where you can mix business and pleasure and contrary to the old saying, this can be a great thing when it comes to social media.

If you have any questions about facebook or social marketing in general, please leave a comment on this blog.  If you have the question, chances are one of the hundreds of people who read this blog everyday have the same question.  Post your question directly under this blog and I promise to answer as fast as I can.  I am by no means claiming to be an expert on this subject, but I do have years of experience in social marketing and have seen radical changes and trends in a short amount of time.

Feel free to share this blog with anyone interested in learning about social media marketing.  This can apply to any business out there.  I look forward to blogging with you.

Have a great day!

Mark Veit
AAEGlass.com



12 comments:

  1. If there is a specific form of social media you use and you have any questions, feel free to post. Facebook is a great place to start, but there are many other outlets that you can use efficiently.

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  2. Any suggestions as to how often to post on a biz FB account? I want to share my work, get my name out there, but I don't want to become considered 'spammy'. I've read some that say to do it daily, and others say once a week. Personally, when I see posts daily, after about a week I pass them by.....any thoughts?

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  3. Also....Do you have a FB Page? It would be nice to see your sales announcements on FB, as I don't log on to your blog that often.

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  4. Hi Linda and Al,

    Thanks for your comments.

    I think it is important to post daily on facebook.

    They don't all have to be business related. Maybe post new products 3-4 times a week and post some industry related info or some personal info about you the other days. The goal is to connect on a personal level as well as a business level.

    If you can offer potential buyers something of value, they will be more likely to seek your posts out on a daily basis.

    We have 2 facebook accounts. One is TANYA VEIT and one is AAE GLASS JEWELRY AND SUPPLIES. You can do a search of both names and they will pop up. Please "friend" us. We try to announce new releases and sales on our facebook pages and blog first as much as possible.

    Great question.

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  5. I was wondering if you make a separate page for your business? Do you need a different account all together or can you set privacy settings differently on your business page. Some things on my homepage get posted from family members that I don't want mixed up with my business.
    Marianne

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  6. Hi Marianne,

    We have both a personal page "Tanya Veit" and a business group page "AAE Glass Jewelry and Supplies."

    Facebook seems to be steering businesses more towards business pages, which is OK for the reason you mentioned. Facebook is adapting to all of the businesses who are taking advantage of their services as facebook grows. Facebook will continue to adapt as they grow and it only helps you to stay ahead of the curve and adapt with them.

    Basically, our philosophy is the personal page of Tanya's lets fellow artists, clients and friends learn more about her as an artist and a person. We don't transmit any personal information on the AAE GLASS business page, we use that page strictly for sharing tutorials, new releases, sales and new products. We have far more interaction with the public on our personal page which helps link Tanya's name to AAE GLASS.

    I would suggest having one of each to maximize your exposure, but use them as separate tools to get your message out there.

    Thanks

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  7. I already have a facebook account, but would like a separate one for my business.Facebook claims you cannot have 2 accounts. I noticed Tanya had one on facebook and AAEGLASS on another. How can I do this properly??

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  8. Hello,

    You are correct that facebook only allows you to have either a personal account or a business account, not both.

    We have a personal account, but we started a business "group" called AAE GLASS JEWELRY AND SUPPLIES.

    If you type the word "group" in the facebook search box, you will see a "group app" pop up first. Click that and on the top of the page it will say "create group." Click that and follow the steps to create a group that fits your business needs.

    You can also create what is called a page. This is similar to a group with a few differences. For information on the differences, do a google search for "difference between a group and a page on facebook." There are numerous links that will explain exactly how they differ. You can determine which avenue will work best for you and your business.

    Information on the exact workings of facebook is readily available when you do a google search.

    I hope this helps.

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  9. thanks so much I will investigate it and see which one I like better

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  10. Thanks for the advice.. I don't know much about social media, but I have the feeling that I should do some more investigating! :)

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  11. Hi Dave,

    I have to agree with you. Like I said before, I am not a social media expert by any means. I just jumped in and taught myself over the course of several weeks and now years. I think it is the best way to learn because you really can't do anything wrong. You will just learn what works best for you and your business.

    Thanks for the comment.

    AAE GLASS

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