Visual social media will be the main way I engage with my target audience and generate sales. For my type of business, I rely on online sales. I have an Etsy shop, and in order to drive traffic there, I post images on social media. I do not have in-person sales often. I got my first sale recently and according to the stats provided by Etsy, my customer discovered me through Instagram. For this assignment, I found four businesses via Instagram.
The first business is Susan Knit. She sells beanies and scarves, in addition to patterns for those who know how to knit. She is on Instagram and she has 6,136 followers. Most of her posts have between 200 and 600 likes. However, she does have a couple of posts that received over 3,000 likes. Each post gets about 25-35 comments. Most of the comments are from people admiring the work she’s done. Susan posted one day ago and it appears to be that she posts every two days. Her Instagram links to her Etsy page. Etsy shows that she has made 81 sales, and the majority are pattern sales rather than physical products. Susan is interactive with her followers, even though she is only following 94 people. I think that her consistency is keeping her followers engaged. I believe that posting more often will improve my Instagram page.
The second business is Knitbrooks. Run by Kelly, Knitbrooks is a Canadian knitting and crochet design brand. Kelly is also a team member of “Our Maker Life,” a hub for knitting, crochet, and DIY inspiration. There are 47.1 thousand followers on her Instagram. Her last post was March 5th and the one before that was March 2nd. Each post gets about 1,200-1,700 likes and 40-80 comments. The comments are compliments and questions from people who are interested in either buying the item or the pattern. The link on her Instagram leads to a page that has links to her Etsy, Ravelry, events schedule and contact information. I visited her Etsy shop and she has made 829 sales. Most of her sales are also patterns. Honestly, this assignment has me wondering, should I jump on the pattern selling bandwagon? Not sure yet if I want my target audience to include other people that knit. But it seems as though it is inevitable. I noticed that when you post knitwear, you will attract other knitters comingled with potential customers. I am learning throughout this process of being a knitwear designer. Making and selling patterns may improve my reach and sales. It is something to consider.
The third business is Lunar Knits by Lori. I know that I have mentioned this business in a previous post. Her business is a mixture of knit and crochet. She makes all sorts of items. On Instagram she has 9,149 followers. Her posts get roughly 300 likes and less than 20 comments each. She last posted one day ago and it looks like she posts daily on Instagram. I visited her Etsy shop which was linked to her Instagram, and she has made 1,284 sales. Her sales are private, so I can’t see what she sold, but she has a pretty even balance of patterns and physical items for sale. She also sells accessories like stitch markers for people that knit and crochet. Lori also uses YouTube and she blogs. It seems as though Instagram is the main hub for her business’s social media. She shares bright and detailed pictures and writes quite a bit in the captions. That is something that I could improve upon in order to engage more people. Just like one of the articles mentioned, posts with more text can set you apart from others and they statistically get shared more often.
The fourth and final business is Knitting Ain’t Easy on Instagram. This page has a much smaller following than the others, only 587. Her posts get roughly 60 likes each and less than 20 comments on each post. Her last post was 7 hours ago and the one before that was yesterday. She has an Etsy and she has made 48 sales. I chose this account because she is one of the few that is not selling patterns. She is only selling physical items like myself. This is another account that posts often and has high engagement with followers. This is something that I plan to implement, hopefully I can make some great connections and also make some sales.
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