For a long time I didn't understand what Twitter was all about. What could you say in 140 characters that was worth my time? I just couldn't figure out what Twitter was for. Would I enjoy it or just find it to be a waste of time?

Although at first I found Twitter difficult to grasp, I now really love it and recommend it crafters and creative business owners.

To help me explain why Twitter is awesome I got in touch with Blaire Windsor. Blaire's blog, Dirtsy, is about turning a craft into a business. I first connected with Blaire on Twitter (oh the irony!) and have become an avid reader of her blog.

Blaire knows a lot about how designers and makers can build a presence on Twitter. Our aim in this conversation was to shed some light on how Twitter might benefit you as a crafter and creative businessperson. Okay, here we go!

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Hi Blaire! Thank you for joining me in this discussion about Twitter for creative businesses. Let me start by asking how you describe Twitter to people who say, "I just don't get it."?

That's a great question, Abby. I didn't get Twitter at first either: I signed up years ago, didn't really know what to tweet about, and let the account sit.

Looking back now, not embracing it was a huge mistake on my part.

To get the most out of any marketing tool, I believe you have to understand the best way to leverage it and use it properly. I use Twitter primarily as a networking tool, and I'd describe it as the perfect social network to stay updated, connect and learn.

For anyone starting out on Twitter, I recommend coming up with a strategy first. Define your goals, then map out how you're going to reach them.

Photo by Rosaura Ochoa on Flickr

So Abby, what's your Twitter strategy?

I primarily see Twitter as a place to connect with people in my industry. I’m a sole entrepreneur and I work from home. I use Twitter to keep abreast of what’s happening in the sewing and craft world.

I follow all of the major players including the craft publishing houses, trade shows, retailers, and major and indie designers so that I can see what they're concerned about, what news is happening, and who they are working with. Many of my most valued relationships began as Twitter interactions.

I use Twitter to follow my interests. I follow start-ups that serve small creative business because I enjoy writing posts here on my blog about new tools for people like me. I follow a slew of content marketers because I’m interested in learning more about the connection between blogging and selling.

The articles all of these sectors link to via Twitter are often eye-opening and give me clues about better ways to run my own business and blog.

Okay, Blaire, how would you suggest a crafter get started with Twitter?

I'd recommend writing an attention-grabbing bio to start with. Bios are the first thing anyone who checks your feed sees and they're what compels someone to follow you back. Unfortunately, it's also the very thing most Twitter users ignore. Twitter bios are often unclear, boring, or worse- blank.

Think of your bio as the social media version of an elevator pitch: you've got 160 characters to define your business and convert readers to followers.

The best bios evoke a desirable emotion (be it shock, amusement or curiosity), tells the reader about your product and inspires action (usually a follow or a click). Putting in relevant keywords will also improve your chances of showing up in searches.

Once the bio has been written, it's time to start following people.

Photo by Coletivo Mambembe on Flickr.

Abby, how do you go about looking for who to follow?

Twitter really gets fun when you’re following great people! Start by searching for your favorite bloggers and makers. Most bloggers have a Twitter icon right on their blog which makes it easy and you connect with your favorite Etsy sellers on Twitter right from their Etsy shops.

I also enjoy following some of my favorite comedians, chefs, writers and musicians on Twitter. Just check to be sure that they are actually tweeting more than once a year before you follow them!

When someone I’m following will retweet something interesting posted by another Twitter user. I check out that person’s bio and then often choose to follow them, too. Keep in mind that following and unfollowing someone on Twitter is less personal than on other social media platforms. If someone is tweeting too much for your taste, or tweeting material that is irrelevant to you, you can always change your mind and unfollow them.

 

Photo by John Benson on Flickr.

Any last words of Twitter wisdom to share, Blaire?

Yes- automation. It's a huge time saver! One of the keys to Twitter success is tweeting often. I tweet at least once every two hours and it's impossible for me to log on to Twitter so much.

What I do is automate a lot of my tweets, then check in once every few hours to reply to mentions and thank those who have re-tweeted me. I actually lost my internet for an entire day last week and because I'd scheduled my tweets a day ahead, my tweets didn't suddenly stop. I was still able to share interesting articles, cool handmade finds and business tips with my followers.

There are many tools that can help you schedule your tweets: FutureTweets, HootSuite and Buffer are the ones I've tried. My current favorite is Buffer. It's so easy to use and their support is stellar (responses within minutes!).

If you're looking for something a bit more “all-in-one”, HooteSuite Pro lets you create multiple personalized streams. Since I tweet on behalf of clients and help with their publicity, I create streams with search terms that help me find bloggers to pitch to.

Of course there are pros and cons to everything, including automation. A huge event might occur and you'll seem obliviously tweeting to followers. For this reason, I recommend scheduling tweets for two days at a time.

Photo by wonderferret on Flickr.

Thank you so much for our talk Abby. It was fun to to discuss insights into Twitter. If you have any last thoughts on Twitter as well, I'd love to hear it. 

When I first set up my Twitter account I really didn’t understand how Twitter worked, no matter how much I read about it. I decided to just set up an account and give it a try for six months. If I still didn’t get it, or thought it was worthless, I’d end it. I came to see how valuable Twitter is for professional relationships and keeping up with my industry and now I wouldn’t run a business without it.

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Thank you, Blaire! You can find Blaire at dirtsy.com where she blogs about turning craft into business. When she's not blogging, she's preforming professional blog critiques and helping small business owners build a presence on Twitter. And I hope you'll come say hello to me on Twitter as well. 

 

So how do you use Twitter? Has anything here changed your perception? And if you dont' use it, why not?

Want to see something embarrassing? Here’s the first post I ever wrote on my blog:

Oh my goodness. Housewife? My head is now on my desk. But there’s something to celebrate here, too. The date. That was eight years and 1,065 posts ago. I’m still here regularly writing in this space.  Starting a blog was one of the best moves I’ve ever made and keeping it going was another.

But why? Why should you, or anyone, have a blog. And tied to this fundamental question is the equally important corollary: how do you hang in there.

First the why. 9 reasons to write a blog:

Make space for reflection and self-examination. The process of sitting down and formulating my thoughts helps me see myself more clearly. Countless times I’ve come to the computer without knowing what I would write about and somehow ideas bubble up that I wasn’t aware of. Once they’re on the surface I can act on them.

Keep a record of what you were thinking and what you’ve done. When I started blogging in the spring of 2005 I was going through a shift in my identity. I’d left the workforce and become a mother and was feeling rather useless (hence the “housewife”). Rereading is painfully embarrassing, but also such an incredible reminder of who I am and who I was. 

Get motivated to finish the projects you start. I often describe my blog as a hungry mouth that needs to be fed. It's hunger pains get me off the couch and into the studio to create something that will satiate it, at least for now.

Express yourself. My blog is my kingdom and I don’t need permission from anyone to say what I want, how I want, and when I want. There’s no editor here (although sometimes I wish there was). I go with my gut and explore what I find interesting.

Connect with people. I sew alone. I began sewing and blogging at the same time so for me the two have always been tied. This blog took something solitary and make it communal. There simply aren’t all that many people in Wellesley, Massachusetts who are really excited about designing sewing patterns for stuffed animals (ahem, I’m the only one). Hooray for the internet for making it easy to find likeminded people all over the world.

Create a living portfolio. When Charlie watches me as I come across a new blog he always laughs because I scroll through the first four or five pages of images saying, “What do you make? What do you make?” If I see something I like I’ll stick around. A blog is dynamic and ever changing. It’s what you’re producing today, last week, last month. In a glimpse I can see your creative life.

Show social proof.  Comments, likes, tweets, and shares are evidence that what we’ve said matters to people. That evidence feels good as personal validation, but it is also a demonstration to other, more powerful people and institutions that our voice and our creative output is being noticed. Use the numbers as leverage to get whatever it is you’re seeking: a freelance job, a book deal, a licensing opportunity. Use your blog to put your work in front of the people who matter.

Get better at writing and taking photos. Nothing beats practice. I’ve certainly written more words here than in college and graduate school combined and I’ve become a better writer for it. A craft blog is a type of hyper visual media that demands good photography. Take a great photo and make even a crappy project look amazing.  Take a poor one and you might as well have not made the project at all. My blog has made me into a photographer.

Be part of the larger conversation. I’m a keen observer of the craft industry as a whole and often find myself with something to say about what’s happening. On my blog I draw attention to what I think other people aren’t saying. I feel compelled to shine an honest and forthright light on what’s I see happening and I can do that here. 

And now to the other vital piece: how to hang in there.

Realize that your blog can change as your life changes. You don’t have to start over, just shift directions and keep going. If you go back through my archives to the early years (Oh no! You’re not doing that now are you?) you’ll see I was decorating cakes for about six months, and making a crapload of origami, and planning a flower garden that died. I was sewing tote bags and aprons and learning to be a mother. And then it became about softies.

Life isn’t a one-directional focused march and your blog doesn’t need to be either. Like with any healthy relationship, it’s okay to change.

Guess what I've been working on?

Something is about to hatch.

Hmmm...Could it be a baby penguin?

Yep!  Hello little guy.

The pattern for this penguin and egg reversible toy will be ready soon...

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UPDATE!

The Penguin and Egg Reversible Toy pattern is now in my shop! Thanks everyone!

 

 

In early 2005 I became a craft publisher by starting a craft blog. Between then and now I’ve watched the industry change in radical ways. Favorite magazines folded (remember Adorn? Domino? Now Stitch Craft Create is no more). Big companies bought out smaller, craft-exclusive publishing houses (most recently F+W bought my former publisher, Interweave). More independent crafters became bloggers and the number of craft blogs skyrocketed into the tens of thousands. Blogs are increasingly saavy, rivaling the pillar of craft and homemaking media, Martha Stewart, in the quality of photo styling and project originality.

Independent publishers like me create content nearly every day, and it’s free to consume. A friend of mine recently asked me about blogs, specifically why use an RSS reader. My response? “Your RSS reader is like the best magazine you could ever imagine. You tailor it to your particular interests, it’s constantly refreshed with new content, and it’s free.”

I’ve created traditional print media for the craft industry, over the years contributing projects to books and magazines and writing two books of my own. Last spring I expanded my role as an independent craft publisher by selling my sewing patterns as digital downloads on Etsy and writing an ebook. A year into it I can tell you what many internet-based businesses already know: selling information is profitable. If you search Etsy right now for PDF patterns 95,552 items come up. Now that Etsy offers automatic digital file delivery that number will only increase.

What does that mean for print media? Craft projects are generally small. The pattern templates can easily be printed on a home printer. How many times have you bought a craft book for the single pattern that caught your eye? No more. Chances are that author now sells patterns individually directly, and instantly, to consumers.

Self-published posts and patterns aren’t edited necessarily and the authors aren’t vetted by industry experts. How do you know what you’re getting is good quality? The truth is patterns often weren't tested even when they were published by well-regarded print publications. Indie designers prove our expertise to the public ourselves by consistently publishing quality content on our blogs and building our personal brand reputations. We don’t need another media company to intermediate.

What’s next? The radical shift I see is the rise of video instruction. Nothing can replace the value of watching a master at work. Say you’d like to learn to insert an invisible zipper. Would you rather read instructions from a book, or watch a video? Zippers are tricky. If I know I’m watching an expert, and I know the video is shot so that I can really see what’s happening, I would much prefer to watch than read. 

Online teaching platforms like Craftsy and Creative Bug offer high definition videos of nationally known instructors demonstration their skills. The classes aren’t free, but they aren’t expensive either, and once you see the quality of instruction it’s hard to argue that print media is better.

“My favorite classes are the most advanced ones taught by the instructors who have many years, if not decades, of experience,” says Veronique from Verte Adelie, a self-described Craftsy junkie. “It's like being a little mouse in their studio and watching them work. It's just as if the internet suddenly allowed us to experience a very traditional master apprentice relationship in a way books never allowed.”

Jackie Ashton has taken several Creative Bug classes and explains the benefits of video instruction this way. “When I view a blog post or a book I'm usually doing a lot of guessing and back and forth, re-reading to try to figure it out. It's like having someone showing you how to tie your shoes, or trying to learn it from a book.”

It’s exciting to be a part of the new media landscape in craft, even as it’s sad to say goodbye to the familiar forms of media we grew up with. When it comes to craft instruction video is here to stay, first and foremost because it’s worth paying for. As for print publishing, it’s still challenging to print a dress pattern on your home printer and for that it will remain, although much emaciated. Digital self-publishing will pick up the slack.

I’d see some voids. Tech editors and graphic designers could market themselves to indie designers to help improve the quality of what’s being produced. Software products could make digitizing templates and creating page layouts as easy as PicMonkey has made editing photos.

Some holes have already been filled. There are great platforms for easily creating a professional online presensce and for getting self-published digital media to market (see my blog sponsors, Virb, Goodsie and Retailr, as examples). A blog makes it  easy to share high-quality free content with customers. Social media allows us to interact with the public directly.

That’s my forecast for the future of craft publishing. What do you see? I’m curious what you think the craft media landscape will look like in five years? And in ten?

Are you ready? The third pattern in the Six Months of Softies club is out! She's Owl Girl by Paloma of Noialand and she's amazing!

I've admired Paloma's designs for many months and I was thrilled that she was one of the designers in the club because that meant I'd have a chance to try one out. These dolls are totally different from what I usually make. They're tiny and hand-sewn. I don't make all that many dolls generally so this was a totally pleasurable project to tackle.

I sat on the patio on a Sunday afternoon while my kids ran around the yard and stitched up this doll. Here's mine. Do you like her?

Hand stitching makes me nervous sometimes because it takes concentration to make it neat. My stitches may not all be perfect, but it was really rhythmic, almost meditative, to work on this and I enjoyed it immensely.

This girl is made to look like she's in an owl costume. It's so clever! She has a mask and a little hand puppet.

Her legs, arms and neck are wired with doubled pipe cleaners. I love all the details here: the tiny feather stitches and the little face on the puppet. I'm really pleased with my owl girl. She's going to sit on a wooden spool in my studio where I can always enjoy her.

We'd love to have you join Six Months of Softies. Once you start your membership you'll get all three of the patterns that have been released thus far and then one a month going forward. And guess what? My pattern is next! I can't wait to show it to you next month!

So come along on this fun softie-making journey with us!