Starting an Etsy shop is an exciting venture, but getting noticed in the crowded online marketplace can be challenging. One of the most effective ways to attract and engage customers is through social media. Here’s a guide on how to promote an Etsy shop on social media with some beginner-friendly content ideas to help Etsy sellers leverage social media to boost their sales and build a loyal customer base.
Tip - Ensure the shot is well lit and the camera is steady. A tripod can help you shoot from different angles, get a steady clip, and allow 2 hands for the video which is particularly helpful for demonstration videos.
Workspace Tours: Take your audience on a tour of your creative space. Show where the magic happens and the tools you use. Even short, close up clips of your favourite things about your workspace offers an insight while still keeping some privacy if preferred.
Creation Process: Document the process of making your products. This could be through time-lapse videos, photos, or live streams.
User-Generated Content: Encourage your customers to share photos of themselves using your products. Repost these on your social media with their permission. You could add an encouragement or reminder to your purchase confirmation emails or in your gratitude slip in their delivery.
Review Highlights: Share positive reviews and testimonials. This builds trust and credibility with potential buyers. Create a branded review template in which you can simply switch out the text for a super quick piece of content.
How-To Guides: Create tutorials related to your products. For instance, if you sell handmade jewellery, share tips on how to style it.
Industry Tips: Share insights related to your niche. This positions you as an expert and adds value to your followers’ experience. For example, find professional/celebrity/influencer posts from your industry and share them to your profile with your thoughts.
Polls and Questions: Use features like Instagram Stories to ask your followers questions or create polls. This increases engagement and provides valuable feedback.
Contests and Giveaways: Host contests where participants have to like, share, or comment to enter. This can significantly increase your reach. You can give away anything from a voucher to your store, a free product or a bundle of products! You could also consider collaborating with a similar creator/business and run a shared giveaway.
Holiday Promotions: Create posts around holidays and offer special promotions or discounts. Think about which holidays resonate most with your customer base and prioritise these when planning promotions and content for these.
Seasonal Themes: Align your content with the seasons. For example, share fall-themed decor items in autumn or summer accessories in the warmer months. These examples as well as others like mother’s day and Christmas are handy pieces of content to pre-create and have stocked up ready to go so you leave yourself more time to create day to day spontaneous content.
Quotes: Share inspirational quotes that resonate with your brand and audience.
Success Stories: Talk about your journey, milestones, and the story behind your brand. Personal stories can create a deeper connection with your audience. This can be daunting to a lot of people but adding a face to the brand and a personal touch helps humanise your business, making it more relatable and trustworthy to your customers.
Shoutouts: Highlight other small businesses or creators you admire. Building a supportive community can lead to reciprocal promotion.
Trending Hashtags: Use relevant and trending hashtags to increase the visibility of your posts. You can use Instagram’s search function to explore hashtags and Instagram also suggests related hashtags when you type in a keyword. Alternatively, there are several tools online to research relevate hashtags for your industry such as -
Hashtagify: Offers insights into hashtag popularity, trends, and related hashtags.
RiteTag: Provides real-time hashtag suggestions for images and texts on desktop and mobile.
All Hashtag: Generates top, random, or live trending hashtags for any keyword.
Keyhole: Tracks hashtag performance across multiple social media platforms.
Market Trends: Share insights on current trends in your niche and how your products fit into those trends. E.g. If your Etsy store sells handmade nursery decorative items, you may choose to focus on sharing the products that fit into the current interior trends. Be sure to hashtag these trends too as well as your typical niche hashtags.
New Product Launches: Give your social media followers a first look at new products before they are available in your shop. This could be done through close up ‘sneak peek’ and teaser images, using the countdown features to create a notifiable countdown for those who opt in to be reminded, several sneak peek clips compiled into short form video content etc.
Special Events - Announce sales, pop-up shops, or any events where customers can meet you in person or get special deals. Creative sites such as Canva can help you create enticing content such as digital invites to create a buzz about the event.
Creating the events on social media also gives people the opportunity to share that they are attending and increase the reach of the event.
1. Consistency is Key: Regular posting helps keep your audience engaged and your brand top of mind.
2. Engage with Your Audience: Respond to comments, messages, and engage with content from your followers and other creators.
3. Analyse and Adapt: Use analytics tools provided by social media platforms to understand what content performs best and adjust your strategy accordingly.
4. Brand Aesthetics: Maintain a cohesive look for your social media profiles. Use consistent colours, filters, and style to create a recognis**able brand identity.
By implementing these content ideas and tips, you can effectively use social media to grow your Etsy shop, connect with customers, and ultimately drive more sales. Happy selling!
