Social Media Bullshit

Recently I held a competition on my Facebook page to get to 250 likers. I don't know why I put so much emphasis on getting so many likers.

I posted and promoted and shared and did liking ladders all to get to this magical number of 250. I had a giveaway of a $50 gift voucher and customised handmade tee by A Dor able. But why?

New likers, or any likers for that matter does not mean I have 250 customers who are buying from my kids clothing on-line shop. It doesn't even mean 250 people like my shop. It means a certain number of people just liked my page to win a gift voucher and when I announced the winner my number of likers magically went back down.

Ms J from the cafe around the corner popped in to say hello on Friday. She told me she went out the night before and ran into a woman she hadn't hung out with for 15 years and hadn't even seen for 5 years. This woman had sent a friend request to her on Facebook. Ms J felt obliged to accept the request but recently culled her friends list to only include people she actually talks to and family members. The woman wanted to know why Miss J deleted her as a friend and was very upset (some might say aggressive) about the fact that Miss J had deleted her.

My point is.....do we place too much emphasis on social media? I mean, I follow a lot of blogs, I write a blog, I Facebook, I Twitter. How many people do I actually talk to? Apart from face to face customers, probably not that many.

In some ways Facebook has helped me reconnect to a lot of people I haven't seen in a long time and some of them have become close friends again. On the other hand I have at least 100 "friends" that I have blocked posts, don't see or speak to, don't actually like and probably don't really like me. So why are we friends?

My sisters and I never really called each other much. We never needed to, we always just pick up where we left off. Now that we are all connected on Facebook we chat, post photo's of our kids, email and see each other even more. Why couldn't we do that without Facebook?

I don't have answers to my questions. I don't even have an ending to this post. Social Media can be bullshit and it can also be a great way to feel a little less alone in a huge world.

Fresh

Sometimes it's hard to come up with new ideas. Yesterday I spent most of the day trying to decide on what to put in my window. It shouldn't be hard to do a window. But when it's the end of a season and you've seen the same Gaia Organic Cotton and Eternal Creation Clothing for the last 6 months it's hard to decide what to put in it.

So this is what I picked:

I decided on a handmade mixed with the current season. I have Walnut Melbourne Cruise Shoes in Taupe, a Skeanie cowboy hat, Gaia Organic Cotton Bodysuit, Handmade by Terri Applique singlet, Eternal Creation shirt and shorts, Three Potato Four dress and C for Cat reversible dress. The Mummy and Bubby owl set by A Dor able is one of my favourites. The baby owl has a rattle in it and the mummy owl is the perfect size for a cot throw cushion. The teddy has been with the shop since I bought it last year.

In my quest to increase sales for kids clothing online I went to see Mrs Doodlebug to get some artistic help with drawing a bear and coming up with a color scheme for the shop. After we'd told each other our life stories, ate a bowl of cherries, played with her gorgeous baby (who coincidentally has the same name as mine), wondered about how she's English born in August married to an Aussie and I'm an Aussie born in August married to and Irishman who we both met our husbands whilst on holidays immediately getting pregnant and both our husbands have their birthdays in January, we finally put pen to paper and drew the most quirky, whimsical bear I have ever seen. She truly is talented. Mad but talented! We also picked out a new color scheme for the shop but you'll have to wait to see what that is.

Next I helped her with deciding on a Madeit.com shop, Etsy shop or Pinterest. It can be so confusing when you have a great product that your ready to take to the next level and there are so many choices. I suggested she stick to Facebook and Madeit.com and the rest would come when she perfected these. So I was wrapt today when I got and email to say she had opened her Madeit.com Doodlebugs shop!

I think it's great that we can help each other with our businesses. We get to double up on promoting our business through each other and our networks so it's win win.

Al Olio

It's been a gruelling couple of days at the shop. I have my summer sale on and people have been going crazy over the recycled children's clothing. Weird because it sat there for the last 4-5 months and didn't budge, now all of a sudden it's on sale and they're swarming like bee's. I don't think I could have fitted any more women in my shop this morning. Mum's with kids, there mum's tagging along watching the little ones who insist on trying to run off out the door (luckily I have a child gate locking them in).

By 11am (I open at 10am) I had met my sales target for the day. Brilliant! Now I can sit back and relax. Wrong, wrong wrong! I check my emails and 3 suppliers want me to go to viewings of Summer 2012/13 stock. What! This summer is not even over. This is something I've learnt. You buy 6 months in advance and designers design 9-12 months in advance. Lucky I'm an organiser so planning this far in advance is kind of fun. Although I've already forgotten what I bought for winter 2012.......

Hubby had an overnight installation job (he works in IT) so I feel like I've hardly seen him the last couple of days. We wave at each other in the driveway and kiss each other when we get a second. Because of the type of work he does and who he works for he often has trips away. Unfortunately we are both away one week or another for most of February and Miss E will be in a one parent household for most of the month. Great timing since she's decided to be super clingy now.

So to unwind tonight I thought I'd make myself a late supper of Spagetti Al Olio with a little chilli, relax in front of my laptop and catch up on my blog. I love cooking. There's something so relaxing and cathartic about creating something special to sit and enjoy at the end of a hectic day. Well I put way too much chilli in the spagetti and now my mouth in on fire! All I can do is laugh.

Life is busy and throws us challenges every day. It's how we handle them that matters.  How do you unwind?

Webisphere

Why do teenagers persist in hitting my light box sign out the front of my shop? Is it because they can reach it when they jump high enough? Is it because it's so boring walking down the street with a bunch of hormonal, pimple faced friends and that's the only exciting thing they can think of to do? It drives me crazy! I'm just waiting for it to explode one day and fall all over their little heads.....wishful thinking.....

This is the front of my little shop Bearly Worn in Albury

Speaking of the shop, I spent about two hours yesterday conversing with my favourite web geek Fiona who gave me loads of tips and tricks to organically get my website on the first page of the Google searches.

Two days ago I wrote down some goals for 2012 and one of them was to get at least one online sale per day. Children's clothing on-line is incredibly competitive so it's great to find out exactly how Google works and how to get my website up there without paying Google $500 a month for AdWords.

Basically it's a popularity contest and the more my site is written about and linked to the better. So now I'm trawling for kids fashion reviews and blogs that I can leave comments on and link to my site to get it up there. I've also got myself a gravatar (globally recognised avatar) so that every time I do make a comment my picture comes up.

So my next step is modernising my logo and home page. I'm starting with my Bear. It's not that there's anything wrong with the little fella but he's just a bit drab and watercolor-like. Maybe old-fashioned is more the point. I inherited him when I bought the shop and if the rest of the place can have a face lift, so can he! So, I'm calling on my friend Mrs Doodlebug who does amazing work and hopefully she can come up with something for me. God I haven't even asked her what it'll cost me yet!

Step 3 is to get my web geek Fiona  to update my artwork and logo on-line. I've decided to change around some of the wording so that it says New and Recycled Children's Clothing instead of the other way around.

Which brings me back to my damn light box.....what to do with that? Do I bother being charged a fortune to change it or will people not really notice it or care? Is it more important to update what's on-line and my business cards etc? Or should I be a perfectionist and update all of it?

At the end of the day it all comes down to dollars and cents so I guess I'll prioritise as usual and start with "A" and move my way down the list.

Best case scenario the ratbag teens hit it and it breaks and the insurance company pays for it........but that is wishful thinking!