I’m all out of likes for the day but thanks for the amazing tips! Social media can be so hard to figure out! Especially since they change the algorithm all the time!
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Oh god i have so many typos 
I’ll fix em in a minute.
Oh I missed that your bio is insanely important.
Use real simple and to the point bullet points not paragraphs. Ig searches bios. You can still theme/be cute So like:
what you do - like crochet pattern maker
Your theme
Something about you (usually age/gender/random detail.) This line is for people looking for others they can relate to. Mine says I’m a mom, others put like cat lover or something just a fun tidbit.
Link to your shop
#crochet (pick a fave tag)
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I have all that on my Instagram. Took me months to get almost 25o followers. You can check it out Sew Kismet
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Oh where you have your name sew kismet creations add - Crochet. Ig also searches names!
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Done! Thank you so much for being amazing.
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Love this I’ve been on IG for years and some of this I didn’t know so this helps
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I think I managed to implement some of this. I have only just started my IG page, so there is not much in there at all and I’m still dubious as to whether or not I want it at all… but if it drives trafic to my ribblr shop, I’m all for trying.
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Some of the things I learned from running my own small business on social media platforms
Find your people
People who share other makers content or even those who just comment on peoples posts. If I find a maker pal that I just adore I make the time to build that connection. Even if it’s just a simple 
.
If you notice someone is having a sale or has a new pattern share it. I love to support my fellow makers if your on Insta or Facebook.
I usually pick a small time frame to just peruse the app to engage so for 10-20 mins every few days. However don’t exhaust yourself out by focusing on others stuff either you are building your business as well so create a time frame that works for you.
Consistency helps and yes I know posting content daily gets tiring trust me I feel that deeply which is why I need to listen to my own advice here lol. As Dovetail mentioned above try maybe 1-2 times per week.
Don’t take anything personally. This is something I see a lot and it’s hard not to at times.
Hope this helps 
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All of this definitely helps! You and @DovetailCrochet have definitely given me a better understanding of how to do this. I was getting frustrated because I thought that one had to post daily. I can’t post daily because, yes, a huge burnout. Oh man! I will definitely go for twice a week, this way I have time to create patterns and of course get more priorities done.
I do see what others do and I often wonder how the heck they keep consistency. Now I know it’s probably by scheduling posts. That I do with my blog, sewkismet.com. Not sure how to do it on Instagram as the feature to schedule is one I don’t have, even as a business or creator account. I love to support others too and I would be happy to connect with everyone. We need each other to help motivate and grow. Thank you so much!! I appreciate it tremendously and I wish everyone the very best in everything!! Maybe all be blessed 10 fold!!
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You have an abaolutely lovely instagram
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So do you!! Thank you, sweet friend!!
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There are sites you can sign up for to schedule posts like Later but like I said I’ve never used one so I dunno if they cost money or anything.
Now that I’ve had some sleep and am a bit more coherent. Ways to make money! Like I think I mentioned last night - or maybe I dreamed it - people who do the free pattern route are generally doing these side promos for profit. No reason not to do it just because you want to sell patterns though!
So maybe that’s a little misleading, because generally I’m just offered -stuff- not -money- but you have over 100 follows so you count as a “small” or “micro” influencer. (Generally defined as over 100 and under 10k) With that there are some things you can do to help supplement the slow sales that come with being small. 5k follows does seem to be the magic number for getting cash offers but I’m not there yet so I can’t say for sure.
The downside is like without fail I find that 75% of brands looking for shout outs are fashion and beauty based. You just gotta get creative and hope they bite. Like I had one from a tools guy on there running promo which at first you may think “I do crochet I can’t promote that??” But you can! Instead of using them in a like a builder way just show how they can be used for yarn crafts. Like using pliers to pull a needle through stitches that are too tight, or snips for well snipping anything. For clothing maybe make a scarf or some accessories that would go with the outfit or accessories to match the color of makeup. It only really works out if you want the free product they’re offering though.
I am very picky about shout outs though, I’m happy to do story shouts that last 24hrs but I’m not doing feed posts for no money. That’s just me, you get a lot more offers if you’re not picky.
Group social - I’ve only ever been offered free stuff here. Once you’re there awhile you find a lot of like “give us a shout out and we’ll send you a Starbucks” goes by so I guess if you like Starbucks that’s nice too. 
Today I woke up to an offer for a free month of a Insta “growth” service and as I’m looking at it it’s really vague what exactly they’re offering just says 500-5k new followers a month which sounds shady so do make sure you vet the offers well.
Aspire - this one’s way more in depth and tracks like everything. So if you aren’t confident in your engagement rate you might want to hold off so you don’t have brands passing on you based on shaky performance.
VoxFeed - I’m told this one is good but I don’t have an account with them. I signed up but even if it’s Instagram you’re signing up with they force you to have a Facebook and I hate Facebook so 
I hear they’re great but I dunno.
Hello social is sadly gone
Straight to the brand! Also a little mileading but keep an eye out for weird tags. Like if someone had #lacroix in their tags I’d think nothing of it but instead you see #vivalacroix wtf is that? Sometimes it’s just playful fans but usually fans are to the point with their tags so something that’s flowery or nonsensical usually indicates something special. In this case the Viva la croix tag is run by the company itself. By using the tag it live feeds your post straight to their website where it’s seen by anyone browsing their site and if the company likes the post they send you a case of la croix. Coke and Starbucks also do it along with others just gotta keep an eye out for those weird tags. Or some probably advertise it on their website directly if you wanna target brands specifically.
Might not be cash yet but free stuff is money you didn’t have to spend!
One that IS cash is Amazon. But this one isn’t one to take lightly. You setup a Amazon business account and then setup an affiliate shop. You get a % of all sales but they have sales quotas and will close your account if you don’t push enough sales.
Sadly I have not found any yarn or craft company willing to work with under 5k followers yet.
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