Exploring ways to get noticed
You're reading this so the chances are, you're one of the few people who follow and support me on social media or know me personally. It's hard to reach out to new people and a wider audience: if you've found me for the first time, welcome - it's good to have you here!
Since I first started my small business, BarMadeBags, I've struggled to get my online shop noticed, despite engaging with different social media platforms to reach out to the public and, hopefully, my customer-base. It's now becoming even harder to negotiate the ever-changing algorithms that can determine how many people get to see my posts. Moreover, the type of posts that are supposedly the ones that grab attention (videos, reels, etc) are, frankly, too time-consuming and alien for me to produce effectively. Add to that the problematic ethics of the owners of X and Meta, and I end up feeling that I want to just hide away in my sewing den and ignore the world of social media!
To an extent this is what I've decided to do. Online sales have been almost non-existent for the last year and although I only did three craft fairs, two of these resulted in plenty of sales. I don't think that many of my customers at these events would have found me through Instagram or Twitter - they like the face-to-face contact and being able to handle the items before buying and to see the workmanship. They went away with my business card with its website address and social media handles and it's possible that they might refer to that information if they decide to buy from me again. I hope so! Of course, I probably should have got them to sign up to getting a regular newsletter from me and this, I think, needs to be one of the ways that I aim to get noticed.
I have always resisted emailing newsletters to interested parties; I myself have signed up for quite a lot in the past and have often subsequently unsubscribed because I've been inundated with too many emails tempting me to buy "too-good-to-miss" bargains, or they are no longer relevant to my interests. The best newsletters that I get arrive about once a month (not more frequently) and include news of the business - new products, upcoming events, chatty insights into topics relevant to the business - and a reminder of a discount code for subscribers. One of my favourites is the newletter by Sarah Lou Crafts (see image on right) which ticks all these boxes. There's link to sign up to it at the bottom of the Vendor Biography in her Buy Indie shop. So, before my next craft fair on 16th March, I intend to get organised with a newsletter sign-up and I will, of course, need to announce it on social media. I can see that a monthly newsletter could be a useful way of letting those interested hear news of what I'm working on, what events or exhibitions I will be at, and also a bit about future projects or ideas. Would a newsletter interest you, or would it just be deleted or go into junk mail?
How else am I getting noticed? As I move away from bag-making to creating textile art, different avenues for getting seen have opened up. Having a solo exhibition in the Little Gallery at The Derbyshire Makers shop in Peak Village, Rowsley was the start of getting my textile art pictures publicised (see my earlier blog). This was followed up with further exposure when "Crooked Spire at Night" was selected for the Harley Open Exhibition and that, in turn, resulted in a free magazine, "S40 Local", doing an article about me for the October 2024 edition. Lots of people in Holymoorside, the village where I live, saw the article and as a result of that, I was invited to give a talk at the Ladies Club in the village in January. A slideshow tracking my connections with textiles from family background, through my childhood, early dress-making, designing and making clothes for toddlers in the 1980s, and eventually onto bag-making and to my current emergence as a textile artist proved to go down well with my audience, who were very complimentary and interested, and also bought several items. Maybe you're part of a group in the Chesterfield/Sheffield area that would like me to come and give a talk. Email me through barmadebags@hotmail.com if that's the case!
Last autumn, I also joined the Art Through Textiles group that operates from Sheffield and has members in the South Yorkshire and Derbyshire areas. Monthly meetings provide the opportunity to chat and get to know other textile artists as well as enjoying some hands-on activities and interesting talks, as well as hearing about opportunities for exhibiting or selling my work. At the meeting on 17th February, I will be taking along "Crooked Spire at Night" to show and talk about it as part of their members meeting on the subject "Urban". As a new member, this will be a good way to get more recognition.
This month is another opportunity for my work to be seen by a wider audience as "#1 Bluebell Time" will be part of the "Contemporary Textiles" Exhibition at the lovely Fronteer Gallery in Orchard Square, Sheffield. It will be on show from 18th February to 6th March, with the private view on 15th February, 4 - 6pm. If you want to meet me in person and are in Sheffield, that's an opportunity!
So, while I intend to maintain a social media presence on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and now BlueSky rather than X, I'm no longer going to feel any angst about whether I'm getting seen enough through those channels to get sales of my work. Instead, I shall enjoy interacting with other eco-conscious artists and creatives who probably need sales more than me anyway. And I will pursue more face-to-face opportunities to meet people interested in my creations and places in which to exhibit my artworks. Those, along with a monthly newsletter and my website, will be my ways to connect with the wider world. Will it have any effect? I don't know, but I'm willing to give it a try and have more autonomy over my means of communication.
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