A new day, a new semester, and a new direction for the blog! Since I’ve recently accepted a job as a sewing blogger, and I have a vague idea of opening my own online quilt shop someday, I figure investing some time in learning about that branch of marketing could be a good idea. And quilts and sewing fit better with the “Cupcakes & Quilts” theme anyway!
Quilting as a profession does seem to be harder to find on social media sites than writing was. Searching for “quilt shops” and such, in my experience, has a tendency to bring up stores that sell quilting materials instead of actual quilts. That detail doesn’t mean that there aren’t online quilt shops, but locating Twitter/Facebook pages for those kinds of stores proved a time-consuming task. In the end though, I did locate a couple of quilt stores to use for this differentiation blog where I’ll compare and contrast social media presences and such.
The first company I’ll use for that exploration is The Handcrafted Shop, which isn’t actually a specific store. Like Etsy, it’s a site where people making homemade items can sell their products, including quilts.
The second company is Primitive Star Quilt Shop, which is located in Indiana. This shop seems to be its own company, rather than the collective approach of The Handcrafted Shop.
I suppose that singular vs. collective detail might be the biggest difference between the two companies. Acting as a general hub for quilters creates something akin to a “pirate ship” (Blanchard, 2011, Kindle Locations 1392-1394) style, where quilters can potentially sign up and start selling in a market that could come with its own followers. In that regard, a quilter wouldn’t need to start from scratch to build a group of potential buyers. The site itself is structured so that a new quilter could be exposed to quilting enthusiasts, since those enthusiasts might already be familiar with the site for browsing.
Primitive Star Quilt Shop, and shops like it, might have a harder time bringing in new customers, because that customer-base isn’t within arm’s reach, so to speak, like it could be for collective shop stores. After all, “SEEN and HEARD. Those are the names of the game in any marketing plan” (“Word of Mouth Marketing,” 2013, para. 2). The easier it is then to be noticed, the better it could prove for your business.
As far as similar traits go, both sites employ other social platforms—like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. In regards to that list, I’d potentially give the edge for social media employment to Primitive Star Quilt Shop, because they seem to have involvement with more social media sites—like Pinterest and Youtube. Perhaps The Handcrafted Shop has pages on those sites as well, but even if that is the case, the lack of ease in finding those sites still proves a disadvantage. Primitive Star has them listed on their main site and/or Facebook site, providing easy finds.
The Handcrafted Shop is a bit more limited in the sites they share on their main site and Facebook page. Personally, if I have to look too hard for something online, there’s a chance I’ll lose interest and move on to something else. If that’s a typical mentality, The Handcrafted Shop might be stunting their own reach by either only using certain sites, or not providing quick and easy information for those sites to those who would come across their main site or Facebook page.
I also feel like Primitive Star Quilt Shop has a better angle on their main site in regards to their blog. While The Handcrafted Shop might tend specifically toward shopping and the site’s products, Primitive Star Quilt Shop offers more engagement for the reader—like tips and craft ideas. Since “[a]ttention is a gift” (Brogan, 2013, p. 108), and people may “want to connect with [the artist]” (Li & Bernoff, 2011, p. 108), giving potential customers something to enjoy on the site beyond what they can buy could be a good thing, like a reward for checking out the site.
Admittedly though, this compare/contrast notion is a bit off-balanced, since I’m comparing a collective shop to an individual one. Perhaps if more individual quilters made their Twitter/Facebook/Instagram/Pinterest/etc. pages more findable, comparing one specific shop to another might prove a little easier. Unfortunately, finding the social media sites (outside of their Ebay/Etsy/etc. shops) is kind of like finding four-leaf clovers. You might think you’ve come across one, but don’t be too surprised if when you give the clover a good look, it’s got three leaves. Or, in this case, if you click on the link, the shop is actually a quilting supplies store.
This lack of social-media-employment is a possible downfall for quilting shops, particularly with the age range of quilters. As one author said, “Quilters are getting younger, and many quilt shop owners have been ignoring them and their needs. Worse yet, they may be invisible to them. Understand younger quilters will not even know you exist if you do not have a web presence…” (Quilting Contessa, n.d., “#4” Section).
My possible theory on the matter is that quilters who jump on the “pirate ship” (Blanchard, 2011, Kindle Locations 1392-1394) of a selling community—like The Handcrafted Shop—might feel like they already have their audiences within reach, so they don’t feel so driven to go to other sites to bring in potential customers. Maybe, as the above author noted, quilters don’t quite grasp how important social media can be in the quilting business. While for all I know, sales for your average quilter might be just fine as things are, the idea does spark curiosity about how far companies on sites like The Handcrafted Shop could reach if they would make use of social media sites as well.
Overall, this week’s searching led me to conclude that there’s a possible advantage not being embraced by a number of quilters through social media sites. Even if a quilter could make a living on sites like Etsy and The Handcrafted Shop, how much higher could profit margin and customer loyalty be if they employed these other sites and actively tried to bring people to their shops? It’s a lesson to possibly keep in mind should I go on to open this quilt shop: Use a collective shop, but don’t completely overlook external marketing through online means.
References
Blanchard, O. (2011). Social Media ROI: Managing and Measuring Social Media Efforts in Your Organization (Kindle version). Indianapolis: Pearson Education, Inc. Retrieved from Amazon.com
Brogan, C. (2013). Google+ for Business: How Google’s Social Network Changes Everything (2nd ed., Updated and Expanded ed.) (Kindle version). Indianapolis: Que Biz-Tech. Retrieved from Amazon.com
Li, C. & Bernoff, J. (2011). Groundswell: Winning in a world transformed by social technologies (Expanded and Revised ed.). Boston: Harvard Business Review Press.
Quilting Contessa. (n.d.). “Top 5 Ways to Market Your Quilt Shop.” QuiltingHub. Retrieved from: https://www.quiltinghub.com/Articles/ArticleID/279
“Word of Mouth Marketing.” (2013, August 22). Quilt Therapy. Retrieved from: http://quilttherapy.com/?cat=76
Connie L. Smith 