Seller Handbook

The following is a transcript of a podcast episode released in March 2022. The transcript has been edited slightly for this format. You can listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Or stream it via the Spotify player above.

Tess: Hey Evan, welcome to the show! Thanks for being here.

Evan: Thank you so much for having me, Tess. Long time listener, first-time guest. I’m excited to talk all things social media with you today.

Tess: To get started, I would love it if you could tell me a little bit about your role at Etsy and what it entails.

Evan: Sure. I work on Etsy’s social media team where I currently manage our seller channels, so that’s the Etsy Success Instagram and Facebook pages. In addition to creating content that provides resources to sellers as they run their Etsy shops, I also oversee our social media strategy. This includes creating and producing content across our Etsy and Etsy Success Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube channels, as well as managing our Etsy TikTok.

Tess: OK, we have a lot to dive into. Let’s begin with deciding on which platform you want to focus your energy on. There’s a lot out there: Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok. How should folks go about choosing which one is best for their business?

Evan: As sellers think about growing their shop and developing their own social media plan, they don’t need to focus on every channel. Focus on the channels where your target audience is and where you think you can create the best content. Here’s a quick breakdown of the major players and some of their strong points.

Facebook is the most popular social media platform, which is why I always recommend having a Facebook page. The audience on Facebook skews 25 years old and up. A great way to utilize this platform is for advertising and to drive traffic back to your Etsy shop. Facebook is also great if you’re creating video content, especially long-form or live videos. It’s also a good place to share content that you’ve already created for other channels. For example, you can share content that you’ve created for Instagram on your Facebook page as well.

Instagram is perfect for those shops that have highly visual brands and may target a slightly younger audience, with the prime audience on Instagram ranging from age 18 to 24. Instagram is great if you’re creating short video content—like videos under 60 seconds in length—and creating behind-the-scenes content for your brand like process videos, studio tours, and day-in-the-life content.

Pinterest is great if you’re in the Home and Living or Wedding categories because it’s all about planning. So if you have a shop geared towards big moments like decorating a house or planning for your wedding day, this is the platform for you. The audience here skews heavily female and slightly older than both Facebook and Instagram with the user base ranging from 30 to 49.

Last but not least: TikTok. TikTok is the hot platform of the moment. It’s one that requires a bit more effort from its users since this is a video-only platform, but it’s really great to showcase new items and process videos. And because of the structure of the algorithm, niche content tends to thrive on this platform. It’s fairly easy to build up your audience with a regular posting schedule.

Tess: Now let’s get into some of the basic social media best practices, and then we can work our way towards more advanced tips. For someone who’s just getting started or maybe they have a goal to really focus on growing their following this year, what should they know?

Evan: If you’re really looking to grow your audience, the best piece of advice is to post consistently. I suggest posting at least two to three times per week, making use of all the content types on whatever platform you’re using. For Instagram, that means posting Reels, Stories, videos and using their “Live” feature. For a platform like Facebook, it means posting video content, Stories, link posts, and even text-only posts, which you can create using Facebook’s background tool.

Another thing to keep in mind when you’re looking to grow your audience is to make sure that your accounts are business accounts on whatever platform you’re using. The great thing about business accounts is that they give you access to metrics and insights you can’t get on a personal account. You can see things like the best time to post based on when your audiences are online, who your posts are reaching, and where your posts are being discovered.

For Reels and videos, consider sharing process videos. On our owned channels, we’ve seen this content continue to perform extremely well and it’s great if you’re camera shy since you don’t really have to show your face or speak to the camera if you don’t want to.

And finally, make the most of your Stories. Use the features already embedded in the Stories functionality like polls, questions, and countdowns. Now you can even share link stickers that drive people directly back to your products.

Tess: OK, great. Next, do you have any logistical or technical tips that you can share for capturing really great photos for social?

Evan: Yes, this is one of my favorite topics. The first and most important thing to prioritize is lighting. I recommend that if you’re able to set up a space in your home or studio that gets natural light, use it. Natural light is always best and it’s free, so it’s a win-win. If you’re not able to shoot in natural light, try to avoid harsh overhead lighting and consider potentially investing in a light box or a ring light to help illuminate your items. We even have an article about how to create a light box on the Seller Handbook.

And for photos, you don’t necessarily need to invest in the highest quality camera. Most people have a pretty great camera on their phone so take time to learn a little bit more about your phone’s camera settings and you can end up taking some stunning photos in no time.

Tess: We also have a case study with an Etsy seller about capturing great photos on your phone.

Evan: That article is such a good resource. We’ve shared it a few times on our channels too. And next, let’s talk about photo editing. The most important thing to remember when editing your photos is not to overdo it. If you alter your photos too much, you may end up misrepresenting your items.

There are a few options for editing your photos. First, try the tools that are available to you on your phone. Adjustments like brightness and contrast can be done without the use of apps and can be a good starting point for beginners. If you want a bit more control over your editing, you can try a photo editing app. Two tools that I like and use are Snapseed and Lightroom Mobile.

Tess: Awesome. What about capturing great video content?

Evan: When creating videos, again, I suggest using natural light if you can. If you don’t have access to it, consider investing in something like a ring light that has an adjustable light setting, or a box light (also known as a softbox). This is especially useful if you’re creating videos where you speak or look directly into the camera.

Another thing to think about is your microphone. Your phone or camera mic might be fine but sometimes the sound quality is a little bit better with a microphone attachment. These are usually inexpensive and can be plugged directly into your phone or camera to help increase the sound quality of your videos.

I also want to talk about tripods and desk clamps. When shooting videos, especially process videos, it’s super important to have your camera stabilized so tripods are a really great way to do that. If you’re shooting a lot of overhead videos, there are desk clamps that have a camera holder and a ring light so your phone can be positioned above your workstation and you can capture your whole process from start to finish.

Tess: That makes sense. OK, moving on to captions: What should Etsy sellers know about writing compelling copy for their captions?

Evan: The best advice I can give is making sure that your caption matches whatever your image is. Think of captions as supplemental to the visual story that your photos and videos are telling. You want to make sure that your captions have a strong call to action. What do you want your followers to do? Do you want them to visit your shop by clicking the link in your bio? Tell them to do that. Do you want your local followers to come visit you at an in-person event? Tell them that too.

And don’t be too worried about the length of your captions. We’ve seen both long and short captions perform well across our channels so it just depends on what story you’re trying to tell.

Tess: One other thing about captions: Hashtags? Do you have thoughts on those?

Evan: Hashtags are a great tool for content discovery, especially on channels like TikTok and Instagram. But be careful of using too many hashtags. Technically you can use up to 30 hashtags on your Instagram post, but it can come across as a little bit spammy if you’re using all 30 allotted to you. My recommendation is to use between five and 10 hashtags.

Make sure that you’re including two to three large-reach hashtags, so these are hashtags that are very common. Things like #smallbusiness or #etsyseller. Then use approximately two to three mid-level hashtags. These could be specific to a location or items you sell, like #tulsabusiness or #woolknithats. Lastly, you want to make sure you have at least one to two niche tags. These could be specific to your business name or even a niche area of your business. For example, #BritneysBows or #CalliesColdpressedSoaps.

If you’re going to include hashtags, there’s still some debate on whether or not it’s best to include them in your post copy or as a comment after you post. This really all depends on your preference.

When using hashtags on TikTok, you can also use the search feature to see how many views a particular hashtag has and use ones that are relevant to your business to help increase your visibility. On Instagram, you can check the Explore tab to see which hashtags other businesses in your category are using.

Tess: OK, Evan, I know that all the tips you’re sharing today contribute to helping build a compelling presence on social media. But I’m wondering if you can talk specifically about what encourages people to follow and also what encourages them to engage with content?

Evan: There are a few reasons that people follow accounts on social media. Either they know you, they’re inspired by your content, they see you as an expert in your field, or they’re entertained by your content. So here are some things you can do on your channels to help grow your audience.

First, use all content types on the platform. This is especially true of Reels on Instagram and other video on all other platforms. Video posts are usually seen by more people and can even help your content reach new audiences who may not be following you.

Second, consistent posting, which I talked about a little bit earlier. It doesn’t have to be every day, but it should be at least a few times a week. This is because if someone follows you and you never post, they may unfollow you shortly afterwards.

Next, I would consider running paid ads on your social content. This will put your content in front of more people who may not have discovered your post otherwise. In addition to paid ads, you can consider partnering with other accounts like Etsy sellers, influencers, or creators to help share your brand and increase awareness of it. For more info on partnering with influencers, you can read the Etsy Insights post in the Forums with Etsy seller Art 2 the Extreme, which outlines some ways to make the initial connection with influencers.

When you start doing more of these partnerships with sellers and influencers, consider making use of features on Instagram like Collaborations. This is a fairly new feature. When used, it allows your post to be shared not only with your audiences, but with your collaborators’ audiences as well. So you’re getting that exponential reach by combining your audience with your partner's, whether that partner is an influencer, creator, or seller.

Another tip for growing your following is to engage with your audience and with accounts that you follow. By engaging with your commenters, you’re helping to build loyalty with those who engage with your content. By engaging with accounts you follow, you’re potentially getting on their radar and that may lead to a follow if you two don’t follow each other already.

Tess: Another thing that sellers have historically been curious about is how to get featured on the Etsy social channels. Could you talk about how you typically go about finding shops and listings to feature, and then maybe share your top tips for increasing your chances of getting featured?

Evan: How to get featured on our channels is one of the most common questions that we get in our comment section, as well as in direct messages. My first tip is to make sure that your Etsy shop is complete. This means updating your about section, adding shop policies if you don’t already have them, adding members of your business, and including links to your social profiles on your Etsy shop page. I also recommend making sure that your titles and tags are accurate representations of your items. This makes it easy for our team—as well as partner teams—to find your items and your shop through Etsy search.

Having quality photographs and listing videos is also super important. If you’re looking for inspiration to guide your own content, be sure to check out our social profiles and see the kind of photography and videos that we usually share. Also, include a link to your Etsy shop in your social profiles. This allows our team to easily check out your shop from posts that we’re tagged in.

Another way that I discover new shops to feature is by looking at who has engaged with our content. Oftentimes we’ll share prompts or questions on our pages and in the Etsy Forums. I’ve discovered quite a few sellers to feature in video projects or posts through their interactions with our content on social and in the Forums.

Tess: These are great ideas. On the flip side, is there anything that could keep a seller from getting featured that they should avoid doing?

Evan: Yes, there are a couple of things. One is watermarks on your images. We’re not able to feature shops that include watermarks on images, or images that infringe on others’ intellectual property. If you’re creating items based off of an existing intellectual property, we’re probably not going to be able to feature your shop.

Tess: Good to know. OK, now let’s get into some social media account critiques! These critiques are meant to be a resource for you to consider when building out your own social media strategies, and we hope you all find this segment helpful.

First up, we have Rina of the Etsy shop Lalala Art Print Shop and their Instagram handle is @lalalaartprintshop.

Evan: One thing I really love about this is that the branding is consistent with your shop name and your Instagram handle. I also love that you have your shop link in your Instagram bio.

I really like the whimsical nature of this art, but one quick way to improve the overall content on the profile is to try making use of videos and Stories. It doesn’t look like there are any videos on the profile and the only photos I see are of the finished artwork. I’ve seen a lot of artists, even digital artists, film their entire process from start to finish and then speed up the footage. This could be a great first step toward making creative video content for your page.

Tess: Yes! I would love to see some process videos from this seller that show some closeups.

Evan: Another quick tip for this seller is to showcase the artist behind the art a little bit more. It looks like there are only two photos of you on your page. By showcasing the person that’s behind the art and behind the shop, it can give audiences a deeper connection to your brand.

My last piece of advice for you would be to revise how you’re showcasing your art in situation. Consider taking actual photos of your products, maybe hanging on a wall or leaning on an easel. The current photos of the art hanging on the wall look like they’re templates and these don’t really showcase the true whimsical nature of your items. You can also consider having your customers share their photos with you on social media and you can use those actual customer photos to help bolster the content on your channel.

Tess: I love that idea. And especially since the art is so outdoorsy and fun—there are lots of woodland scenes—it could be interesting to try photographing it outside. Get some natural light on it.

Next up is Kira from the Etsy shop Poppy Dove and they want some help with their Pinterest page Shop Poppy Dove. This shop sells animal-themed accessories, like bags and pouches.

Evan: First and foremost, you’re off to a really great start. I see some pins in here that are created specifically for the channel, which is great, and they’re even optimized from a mobile-first lens.

Let’s get into some suggestions on how we can level up this content. You have a lot of great photos of your items in your shop, but have you ever considered creating pins that feature more than one photo of your product? There are plenty of free programs that you can use to help create photo collages that you can then use on Pinterest. This might be a first step in creating some additional content for your page.

And when people come to Pinterest, they’re typically either looking for inspiration or they're using it for planning purposes like I mentioned before. So consider creating a pin that's something like, “3 ways to use Poppy Dove project bags,” and showcase a few ways that people could use your items. The three ways could be as a lunch bag, as a place to store your knitting, and potentially as a place to store snacks for a kid’s soccer game or for road trips. This way, you’re not only marketing your items, you’re also showcasing their utility and versatility.

Tess: I would love to see some additional inspiration content for their page. Another example might be something like, “Top 5 Poppy Dove bags for dog lovers.”

Our last seller is Linda from Mosaic Smith, who creates silver and copper jewelry. They shared their Instagram account, which is @mosaicsmith.

Evan: OK back to Instagram! One thing I want to call out here is how many videos they have on their profile, which is amazing. I love seeing sellers utilize video content on their social channels.

Let’s get into some suggestions to help take the video content that’s already there to the next level. In looking at their videos, it looks like the most popular videos on their page are videos that give a behind-the-scenes look at their process. For example, they have a video here about forging ear wires for their earrings that has over 16,000 views which is amazing. And there’s another video here that shows them making copper hoops. Consider leaning into this type of content for your channel because it’s obviously what your followers, and probably your non-followers, are liking the most. So give the people what they want: More of these process videos and more of this blacksmithing content, which I think is super unique to you as a shop and could help increase your video views too.

I also noticed that a couple of their posts are videos shared from TikTok which include the TikTok watermark. So a little tip for you: Videos, especially Reels, that include watermarks are actually de-prioritized in the Instagram feed. Instagram has stated publicly that they would be limiting the reach of repurposed videos with watermarks. But don’t worry! If you’re looking to repurpose some of your TikTok videos, there are tools out there that allow you to download TikTok videos without the watermark so you won’t need to create all new content for your Instagram page.

In terms of photos, it doesn’t look like there are any photos of your items on models. This is especially important for jewelry sellers. Showcasing your pieces on people allows potential buyers to picture how an item will look if they were to buy it and wear it themselves. Consider expanding some of your photography to include more people actually wearing your items.

Tess: That’s so true. Showing a person modeling your jewelry can be great inspiration for potential buyers. And you can play around with styling too, so people can picture what kind of clothing might pair well with your pieces.

Evan, thank you so much for being here. I’m really excited for these critiques and all of the great tips you shared.

Evan: I’m so happy that I could share some of my social media knowledge with all of our sellers out there. And if you’re not already following us, be sure to follow us across all of our social channels: Instagram (@etsy, @etsysuccess), Facebook (Etsy, Etsy Success, Pinterest (Etsy, Etsy Success), TikTok (@etsy), and YouTube (Etsy, Etsy Success).