Instagram for your business

Do you Instagram? 

I do and I love it! It’s proving to be a great addition to my business. You have the opportunity to interact with people you couldn’t reach through other social media websites, share fabulous images of your designs and view tons of eye candy from other users. With 300 million active monthly users, there is something for everyone and inspiration everywhere.

My favourite thing is that it’s really simple to share what you’re up to, Facebook is quite involved, and trying to get yourself seen in the newsfeed is a daily battle, and call me old but I just don’t get Twitter. With Instagram, just take a picture on your phone and post with a short description… Ok, so maybe it’s not that easy, if you’re there, you want to build a following, and the great thing about IG is that you can easily target potential customers looking for exactly what you’re offering.

The key to IG is to appeal to people visually, and the most simple parts of your day can be made to look great with the use of their preinstalled tools and filters. I find it great for work in progress shots to generate interest for future updates, and I’ve been told a few times that people have missed my posts on Facebook and found out about what’s coming through my IG posts.

@blueberribeads

If you haven’t already, signing up is easy, use your Facebook profile, or an email and password, choose your profile name and your account will be created. 

So how do you use it to encourage buyers to visit your business? Firstly… fill out your profile. You have room for a profile picture, a bio, link to a website, your business name and your real name. Make sure that everyone can find out a little bit about you and how to reach your shop.

My profile

Next… great photo’s. As I said earlier, I like to share progress shots of what I’m doing, it could be a pile of beads for a jewellery design, a lump of clay ready to be turned in to beads, or some beads fresh out of the kiln. I’ve found that showing the work that goes in to your creations gets you customers that appreciate what you do. But it doesn’t have to be all about work, pet pics are always popular, sunsets, a close up of a flower in your garden, something quirky you’ve found or a naturally occurring pattern. Share all of the things that appeal to you, you can bet they will appeal to others and keep them interested in following your profile.

Once you’ve taken your photo, play around with the filters and tools, crop and straighten images, edit shadows and add a vignette to make them look amazing. Only use great photos, when other users visit your feed, you want it to look fabulous… a great set of pictures will encourage people to follow you. 

Once you’re happy with your image, you can add a sentence or two and some hashtags. 

Hashtags are simply words with a # before them. The # turns the word in to a link, so say you use the hashtag #jewellery if someone searches the site for jewellery, your image will appear in the results. The trick with these is to keep them relevant to appeal to your audience while growing your following. As you type in the tags, IG give you options of the most popular to choose from. Or create your own. A list of the top 100 tags to get your stats booming is available here. Using relevant tags that people are already searching for will give you a good start to building your profile.

Before posting your picture, you also get the option to share your image to other social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and Tumblr, (you can set up where to share to in your profile) hitting everywhere in one easy click. 

Once you have a small collection of pics ready for people to look at, find people to follow. Using the search, type in a word for what you’re looking for, typing in Ceramic Beads will bring up the relevant results from the top users, people, tags, and places on the site. While searching, take note of the tags people with similar interests to yours use. The more specific you are with your tags, the more accurately you can target people looking for what you have. 

Follow users you like using the button on their profile, comment on pics you like, share the love and you will likely find that the majority of your follows are returned and you’re well on your way to increasing your popularity. 

Once you have some followers, post regularly, build your brand and share your story, fingers crossed before long, your users will interact and those interactions will convert to sales. 

Keep a note of what works for you, posting times, hashtags used, content etc, and you should begin to build a good formula of what works and what doesn't. There are apps available for tracking your stats if you don't want to do it old style with pen and paper. 

To download the Instagram app follow the links for your device.

AppStore Download

Play Store Download

Here at AJE we love Instagram and you can follow us using the links below…

@artjewelryelements - The blog IG Profile
@jennifercameron - Jennifer Stout Cameron
@jdaviesreazor - Jenny Davies-Razor
@blueberribeads - Caroline Dewison
@suebeads65 - Susan Kennedy
@nikysayers - Niky Sayers
@thedaintybeader - Kristen Stevens
@ktotten - Karen Totten
@theaelements - Lesley Watt
@suburbangirlstudio - Diana Ptaszynski

I hope you’ll stop by and visit us!  Leave your link in the comments so we can come and see you!

Quick and Easy Photo Editing

Somethings in the beady business are always evolving and changing for the better… I feel like just when I reach a point I'm happy with something, I come back a few days later to realize that there's one more thing I could do to make it even better. Right now that something is my shop and blog photography.

I'm in the process of adding a lot of new beads and components to my shop and re-photographing many of the older ones. There are sometimes slight changes in my bead-making technique or painting… or (very annoyingly!) one of my favorite polymer colors gets a remake by its manufacturer and I'm no longer able to create a color that I loved using… so it's back to photographing!

I do almost all my photography outside, only coming indoors and photographing by a bright window on the very coldest days of winter. Most of my photos need very little editing, but occasionally, try as I may, even going out at the same time every day, there are lighting variations in my photos that I dislike. Some would say that I should use a light box… and I know I could, but I will argue that the fresh air is good for me and I'm just not all that interested in making one… and have no intention whatsoever of buying one either.

So… I turn to my trusty Photoshop on these days and use it's magic…

Since I use a white background for most of my photos, making adjustments is super easy! And here's a peek at how I do it…

And you're done! Pretty easy, right?

See the difference? 

This little bunny was one of my most stubborn beads to photograph, ever!

And many photos don't take much editing at all, but I do like consistency. :-) 

And the end result…

a shop with more nice bright white photos… and a happy me!

I don't at all claim to be a Photoshop pro, and there may be other ways for doing these things (other Photoshop techniques, new camera, light box, etc, etc…) but if I can make it work for me, then so can you! And after all, if you make pretty things, why not show them to the world in pretty photos?!

What things in your creative process do you feel you are always working on? Are you like me and you keep striving for the best it can be, feeling like there's always another level to reach? Do share!

Rebekah Payne

treewingsstudio.com

Freeform Friday: Organic inspiration. Natural sculpture. Pods.

Hi. My name is Jenny and I am a pod person. 

No! Not THAT kind... this kind:

Mystery pods from my collection, including the essential acorn and something cypress. 

Eucalyptus, lotus, magnolia, Something from San Diego, milkweed. My personal collection... 

Its no secret that I find continual inspiration in Nature. Both the world around me, the turn of the seasons, the tiniest details. I have been in love with pods, leaves, fronds... as long as I can remember. ( And comparable water treasures: shells, seaweed etc.)

I discovered the work of Karl Blossfeldt in my college years. He was a German photographer, sculptor, teacher, and artist who worked in Berlin, Germany. He is best known for his close-up photographs of plants and living things, published in 1929 as, Urformen der Kunst. He was inspired, as was his father, by nature and the way in which plants grow. He believed that 'the plant must be valued as a totally artistic and architectural structure.' (Thanks Wiki) 

Image credit: Soul Catcher Studio

Medley of images from ASX

Very early piece of mine. Stoneware, maybe mid 90's. Influence seems obvious. 

Sculptural pods. A variety of finishes: smoke fired, glazed, reduction fired... All are handheld.

In the cyclical nature of things, I feel like making pods again. But I am in a different place now, and want to make small pods. Wearable pods, one of a kind carved pods, rustic stoneware pods... 

(This is where I am supposed to show you the pods I am sculpting. Oops. They are all still in my head. I tease you with all the pretty pictures, but I have been immersed in teaching clay camp and not in sculpting mode lately. Stay tuned!)

So I will grow these plans, nurture this idea - and hope to harvest the pods in time for Beadfest. (Too many plant metaphors?) Off to the studio with me... 

What is your favorite "old is new again" inspiration? What motif do you return to, time and time again? Talk to me! 

Jenny
www.jdaviesreazor.com

Blossfeldt books on Amazon: Many are reasonable priced and a treasure trove of beauty, awe, inspiration! 

Inspired by Design Challenge...Life at the Lake

Finish this sentence: August is.....

If you finished the sentence how I would finish it, it would be something like August is (family time, vacation, last days of summer, back to school, wistful, busy, party time, meteor showers) It's amazing how much my family is trying to crunch into a short time. I'm hearing the same from friends...online and in real life. The AJE team is feeling the crunch too. 

I am making the executive decision to delay the inspired by blog hop one week. So here's your chance to take a look at the inspiration photo and play along by creating a piece of jewelry inspired by the photo below and using at least one handmade component (by you or by someone else)

If you've already completed it, GREAT! We can hardly wait to see it. If not, you still have loads of time :-) 

Never stop creating...

Jen

Open Studio Friday: Jen Cameron

Welcome! We are going to be spending most of our time outside today so I can show you my photography set-up during nice the weather months.

The back of our house faces a southwest direction, which is perfect for later afternoon/early evening photo shoots.

When I first walk out the back door, I step onto this small deck. It's not really a deck in the traditional sense...mostly just a method for getting from the kitchen to the back yard.

Example of photo taken on the deck: 

We built this house almost 6 years ago and the wood of the deck is a beautiful weathered gray...perfect for taking bead photos. However, hubs threatens he's going to stain it every single year. So far I've prevented it. We'll see how much longer that lasts...

The railing of the deck is also a great spot to take bead pics. Not only do you get the look of the weathered wood, but also back lighting from the sun. 

Example: 

The deck is a really handy because I will also sometimes use this post to take photos (thank goodness I always have a "helper" close by...)

An example of the post in use:

 

Once I make my way off the deck, I still have several options. We have had lots of stone retaining walls built over the years that serve various purposes...mostly so I have someplace to take bead and jewelry pics!

We had this fire pit area added onto our patio last summer. (Ignore the stripe of dead grass. We are getting ready to make that area into a landscaped bed.) This area is perfect when I've waited a bit too late to take photos or if it's overcast (like it was when I took this picture because we actually got RAIN yesterday!) Otherwise, this area gets too much sun and is too bright. 

Here I've piled up beads ready to have their portrait taken.

Again, I have a helper. My favorite rock on the fire pit wall is the one to the far right where one key is by itself. The reason I like that rock is that it has less red and brown than most of the other rocks. 

On the other side of the patio, we have a retaining wall with a bed filled with burning bushes. This spot is usually perfect late afternoon when it's too bright for the fire pit rocks but still later in the day so the sun is being blocked out a bit by the bushes.

My favorite rock is the big one where that red planter thingy is. I've been using that one the most lately. Example of it in use: 

I've even used this giant hosta plant to hold bracelets while taking pics (can't find an example at this moment). 

But what about when the weather is bad? Taking photos in the cold or snow does not appeal to me at all. Sometimes I break down and use the photo cube. Especially because in the winter days are so much shorter, I don't have time to take photos when it's actually daylight. 

However, when the light is good and the problem is it's too cold or too snowy for my outdoor photo studio, I have big southwest facing windows and the perfect bead backdrop ceramic tile in the kitchen. 

My other option is our kitchen table. It makes a great backdrop, but the wood has a lot of red in it, which doesn't always work.

 

Even though I spent money on a photo cube set-up and the mega daylight fluorescent bulbs, I prefer using natural light whenever possible. It's not that the photos are bad in a photo cube, quite the opposite. There are a couple reasons I prefer natural light.

#1- I personally cannot photograph the "hot" colors like red, orange and pink accurately with the photo lights. Natural light is much better for my current skill set.

#2- The lights are so bright and so nicely diffused, that it sometimes makes the bead look even better in the photo than it does in real life. I do NOT ever want to mislead my customers.

Thanks for visiting! Just so you don't feel cheated by not seeing where the magic happens, I will share a picture of my torch area right after I cleaned it up last January (it's not this clean any more).

I also want to invite you to my virtual beady pajama party on my blog tonight. There will be lots of door prizes, new beads, and other fun stuff. However, you do have to be present sometime during the party to win. Visit my blog for more details.