Media Marketing

February Promotion Give-Away
visit:
https://www.facebook.com/bachscrafts

      What a challenge! I opened a Facebook page for my BachsCrafts, have two blog sites, follow Pinterest, have a YouTube channel, and maintain my Etsy shop. I can easily spend two hours a day working promotions from one to each of these sites. And that doesn't even come close to the time I need to spend on on these tasks! My niece, Camas Rain-- https://www.facebook.com/camasrain77 -- has started a business managing the convoluted maze of media marketing for small businesses. She lives on her computer and phone! She's given me a few pointers along the way which keeps me steadily plugging along hoping to gain some piece of that "viral" media that is floating around. In the meantime, I feel robbed of the hours of actually making jewelry. Maybe, someday, if I become "successful" enough I can hire her to handle the media marketing end of things, though I have to admit I find the challenge of winning "likes" fascinating.
    Yesterday I substitute taught in an economics class. I brought out my little travel jewelry kit (I take it everywhere for when there is down time), and used it as a show-and-tell aspect for an introduction to Economics. Production, opportunity cost, scarcity, along with the 3 basic economic questions: What to produce? How to produce it? For Whom to produce? This lead to some interesting discussions. I'm always drawn to why people do the things they do, including myself. Why do I make jewelry? Why do I spend hours online trying to market it? Profit certainly couldn't be my biggest motivation as evidenced by my PayPal account, it must be something else. The desire to create seems overwhelming at times. I've seen it in my husband, niece, and brother--all writers--who burn with an intrinsic motivation to write, even when no one reads what they write. I believe there is something immortal about the arts that draws us to express ourselves in such a way. It might also account for why I try to keep making what I do better. 
     At times I think my goods don't sell because they are not good enough. That might be the case in some designs. I can get rather crazy with trying new things. On the other hand, it's hard to disguise when someone likes a piece of jewelry or their sincerity in saying, "You should sell this stuff!" I understand the economy is sluggish and few have disposable incomes for such commodities (have to get in those lessons), but to get a showing for items--with the least expensive cost--is huge challenge in today's media world...and I'm always up for a challenge!