eBid Widgets

Posts tagged marketing

The scope of the problem

As a viewer of social networks I’ve been making a couple of changes to my usage lately, and it’s got me thinking about the rights and wrongs of using networks as a marketeer. 

I’ve recently added Pinterest to my Social Networking sites, which means the list now reads: Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, Tumblr, and Twitter. Since these days I’m pretty much working full-time (albeit in a variety of places) plus still keeping a toe in the eBid waters (newsletter, selling, forums and support via eBid Widgets and eBid Help), I’m aware of being quite demanding about quality over quantity. 

Most SNs (as we’ll call them henceforth) provide some filtering and opting-out facilities so that one is not compelled to read absolutely everything one’s friends and colleagues put forward. 

Facebook allows us to choose the type of updates we see, or to unsubscribe and at dire need unfriend an individual whose posts are becoming tedious or undesirable. Google+ operates on the basis of circles, making it a simple matter to drop those who bore us into a forgotten ring of tedium never to be viewed. Pinterest allows individuals to be followed en masse, or via individual boards so that topics that tire can be excluded from one’s stream. Tumblr operates as a purely opt-in function so boring blogs are never seen and reciprocity in following is not the matter of insistence (Facebook’s friendship model) or etiquette (Twitter’s follow/follow back) as it is with the others. Twitter is rather an all or nothing choice, with unfollowing being pretty much the only option.

Rule of three

I have found that my tolerance for marketing Tweets, Pins, status updates etc is fairly consistent across the platforms. Three’s my limit at any time. If three price-marked Pins appear on my Pinterest board I can live with that, and more so if they still conform to my ethos of style and interest. If the thing you are selling is beautiful and well photographed, or interesting and well photographed, or funny and well photographed… I’m happy to look at it. If you have a blurry pic of a dull box of grunge, don’t expect to stay visible on my boards. If, on the other hand, you do a great job, I’ll happily re-pin. Pinterest is about visuals, so the images have to cut the mustard. Well-photographed, remember. 

Facebook status updates and Twitter tweets are less visual (though both can carry thumbnails) and so it’s simply a matter of not over-loading my timelines. Three posts is about right (none is lovely, but that’s not what we’re trying to achieve here!) Send me more than three, fill my timeline, push my other friends off my screen and there’s a good chance that I’ll unsubscribe or unfollow your posts. If you post a lot of otherwise interesting content, use the SNs for real socialising, I may turn a blind eye or try to tweak my options to remove the ads. But make a habit of it, however funny and chatty you are otherwise you’re probably destined for the bin. 

Google+ is so much in its infancy that at the moment, like many users, I’m pretty non-selective about who gets on my radar and who stays there. But I am using circles to be selective, and only real updates with real content will make to my friends circle, pure marketing goes in the circle o’ spam (not it’s real name, but probably should be) which gets looked at about as much as you’d expect.  Google+ updates tend to be fairly bulky things, especially when accompanied by links and pics as selling notes always are, so not many are needed to fill a page. Three is probably pushing it here, but is still tolerable. One would be better and less likely to irritate. 

Tumblr’s a different beast and was only included for completeness. I’m not aware of anybody abusing Tumblr’s functionality to load me with spam, so it’s a non-problem and will promptly (no offence Tumblr, this is a good thing) be ignored. 

Improving your chances

There is a way to stop your messages, however many you do at a time, from being viewed as spammy. Add value. Mmm… horrible phrase, but memorable and snappy, so let’s go with it. How do you add value to a marketing post? Tell a story, give some background, be amusing. The same way you make any post to any SN or forum worth reading. Selling a fabric off-cut? Cut off what? What’s the story there? Tell your audience something they want to read and you’re not just adding value to the message, your adding it to the item too. People like stories, they like to be drawn in, and they love buying things that have a tale attached. Spare wheel for a bicycle? How come? Where did you find it? Did you bend the rest of the bike so badly only the wheel was left… don’t tell me there’s not a story there!

As mentioned above, good quality photographs matter. They matter anyway when selling - don’t let anybody tell you otherwise, they’re crucial - but when selling or marketing via an SN they are pivotal. So many SNs have a visual element, with Facebook’s becoming more prominent weekly as they move to the timeline model, and Pinterest being entirely graphical, the quality of the image is becoming paramount. If you post a really corking image you will find it spreading across the SNs on its own merit, your marketing blurb being dragged along as a happy bonus. 

Practice what I preach

Now that I’ve thought all that through, and understand how I really feel about it as a reader, I’m ready to put my ideas into practice. Thus far I have largely avoided marketing via SNs since the prevalence of bad examples had led me to believe it was better avoided completely. But I don’t think such extreme avoidance is absolutely necessary (while accepting it would still be nice in many cases). So I’m going to make the occasional marketing post. I hope that you’ll barely notice it’s happening. My goal will be to make interesting and attractive updates that just happen to promote some item or other I’d quite like you to buy.  If you want to do the same, that’s great. Let me know. I don’t expect to notice unless you tell me. :o)

Happy networking,
by Kimbo!

I thought I’d try to build up a library of standard text snippets for people to use if they wish. First one: some text you can add to your emails to try to identify where buyers are coming from. You could just send this out in a confirmation of purchase note straightaway, or add it to whichever part of the process suits.

You can change it if you want, it’s copyright free and no strings attached. 

How did you hear about us?


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I found you via:
[ ] Google normal search
[ ] Google shopping pages
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Thank you for your help.

A blog is a virtual journal, a personal route to sharing thoughts, talking to an unknown and changing audience, and getting your stuff “out there”. How can this be useful to eBidders?

Why Blog?

Why should eBidders consider blogging? To promote sales, ultimately of course. There are a number of ways blogging can help you do this.

Share expertise.

By sharing your expertise on any subject you help your fellow fans, and in the process (if you do it right!) get yourself a reputation as knowledgeable on some subject or other. Know a lot about what you sell? Then share some of that experience and when somebody thinks “postcards” or “china” or whatever your chosen area is, there’s a good chance they’ll think of you. You can also, of course, use a blog to directly promote a particular listing or range by giving a link and talking about the product, but if your blog is just a series of adverts there’s little motivation for others to read it. However…

Promote items

There is, of course, the option to post about new items, new ranges, particularly interesting offers, and people already interested in your products will find such information useful and interesting. Corgi fans will want to know if you’ve unearthed a rich seam of vintage vans in a recent auction, so they can watch your listings for items they’re interested in. If you list a piece of rare Murano glass, your glass blog will need an update. 

Add value

Make your blog an interesting read, don’t just repeat your advertisements (listings) straight from eBid, add value - tell a story about how you found the item, a bit of history about the location featured, anything that makes it worth reading and holds the attention of your audience for a few moments. Give your readers a reason to follow your blog.

Where to blog

There are a number of blogging sites, large and small. Some of the better known names are Tumblr, Wordpress, Blogspot, Blogger and LiveJournal. Different sites suit different ways of writing; some blogs have a more visual aspect (Tumblr), some are more geared to the written word (WordPress), each has its strengths and weaknesses and you might find you need to experiment with several sites before finding the one that suits you best. Many blogging sites will allow you to embed your blog in your own site, useful if you wish to keep everything under your own domain address. There are also specialist blog sites where a theme is favoured, such as food, crafts etc. Google is your friend - explore! Find a blog you like and that matches your own aims, and that hosting site is probably as good a place as any to try first.

How to blog

The mechanics are going to vary from site to site, but most will allow a variety of update methods: you can type into a web page (as I’m doing here), email updates, send from mobile phones, whatever suits the way you live and work. I find composing via the blogging site’s own web interface works best for me. You may prefer to work offline and build your thoughts elsewhere, then copy and paste in. The process remains the same: think of something you want to say, write it down, publish it to your blog (more of which, later). 

How it looks will depend to a large extent on the theme you select for your blog. It is possible to tailor your own layout and presentation, but unless you get into serious blogging (well beyond needing my help!) you’re unlikely to want to go that route. Most blogging sites offer a selection of themes/templates (free or at a modest price) in which you can present your blog. This blog, for example, uses a free Tumblr blog theme, the credits for which are at the foot of the page. Even as an experienced web designer, I’ve never yet felt the need to make my own, there are so many excellent free resources available. 

Three steps to a blog post

Think of something you want to say

Sometimes easier said than done! If you feel pressured to blog regularly, it can sometimes be daunting to come up with something fresh to add. If you’re just posting adverts, as I said, that can get a little stale - where’s the interest for your readers? So it’s important to have some sort of message; a story to tell, advice to give, even a question to ask. For this blog, for example, the trigger is often a conversation on the eBid forums that makes a little ping! go off in my head - exactly has happened here, and which I made transparent to all so you could follow the process through. Somebody asks about blogging, I clarified that there was an interest/need, decided to write a blog post; write, post, publish. Bingo. In your own area it could be a question about how a certain craft project can be undertaken, where a particular type of ornament is made, the history of a building featured in a painting… anything can be a trigger to a blog post. A trip to the shops, a flat-tyre, wet weather, anything that sends your brain off down an interesting path can produce a blog post. Or, as has been said, it can simply be a “look what I just offered for sale” notice. Your blog is your oyster, so to speak!

Write it down

Whether you compose on the site, on paper, in your head, whatever you choose, the blog post has got to be written somehow. Depending on how you feel about that, it can be huge fun or hard work. It can also be short, long, funny, sad, informative, angry, gripping or dull. In my experience the last one’s the easiest to achieve, and the only one you really want to try to avoid.  Normal rules of composition apply, so try to have a beginning, a middle and an end (unless it’s a simple one-liner), and aim for the best spelling and grammar you can manage. Perfection isn’t necessary (thank heavens!) but you want to make it as readable as possible, and that means clear writing, well laid out.  Break long text into paragraphs, use headings where appropriate, add pictures if possible; imagine you’re writing a magazine page and you want your readers to stop flicking past and stop to read. 

Publish it

Having sweated over your mini-masterpiece, the time will come to publish it. This means make it public on your blog page (it will be hidden from view during composition). Publication will be a built-in function of your blog host, a button to press more than likely. But there will be certain extra functions you’ll want to employ. Most blogs will have “tag” options. Tags are keywords that identify the subject-matter of your post, and should be added to every entry. You can see my examples on any eBid Widgets blog post here. Blog readers can search by tags for subjects that particularly interest them, so make sure you tailor your tags to suit your audience and there’s no reason you should soon be picking up new readers from around the blogosphere. 

Your blog will probably also have options for integrating with your social networking sites (in any) so make sure you set-up your Facebook and Twitter links on your blog and your new posts will be automatically promoted to your friends and followers out there. 

So there you are. Blogging in a nutshell. Think of something to say, write it down, publish it to a blog. What’s keeping you? 

• Personal blog: http://bykimbo.tumblr.com/
• Food blog: http://vegancupboard.tumblr.com/
• Favourite blog by somebody else: http://crispian-jago.blogspot.com/