Weekly update. . . you're doing it wrong

I have spent considerable time in the last year on social media, a lot of that has been focused on facebook and instagram, but I still have this blog and a Pinterest account. I have done pretty well on my "Weekly" blog posts, keeping it consistent and sharing the link around. 😉 I've done ok with facebook and instagram, at times my posting has been sporadic, but I've learned a lot and increased my audiences on both. 

I do think the insight tools and planner things have helped, once I got used to them and figured out how to use them. Although, looking at a blank calendar that only has 1 active post time suggested is kind of intimidating. . . 😐  

Especially since the recommendations for the week are for a lot more than 1 post 😏 like 3-6 stories and 10, 11 posts per site. (Plus, as I re-read what I wrote above I'm not sure I should say I've "figured" things out because social media platforms are constantly changing things.) 😕

And while I will try to meet or exceed those numbers, I regularly wonder if it's all a waste of time, I mean, I think I'm doing things right and making strides towards something, but who really knows if any of it is worthwhile. 😕

I have been half-heartedly working on Pinterest for the last few years.  I never really understood it, but I pin things and sometimes they are seen or shared or clicked. I've never been convinced that I get sales from Pinterest, but I have seen some traffic in my google analytics. I have joined some goimagine based boards to re-pin to, but again I admit I don't understand Pinterest.  So, last week I watched a replay of Kara Buntin's Pinterest 101 on Maker Circle and . . . well sh*t!  I've been doing everything wrong, and Pinterest changes their stuff too often and I have a lot of work to do to fix and reorganize what I have and then going forward I need to do things very, very differently, or just give up on Pinterest.  😅 

Nah, I'm too stubborn to give up on things 😉 I'll keep plugging away. 😎

Weekly update. . .almost

Well, it has been a week and this is an update, although not much to talk about business-wise. 😑 I haven't made anything new, I haven't been posting much, and I failed to meet my facebook posting goals for this week. 

This is one of those "life" got in the way weeks, but it's not even my life stuff I'm dealing with. 😅 I'm helping a friend move, actually this has been quite the process and work in progress for months I just haven't been real public about it. There absolutely is a story, a big, long, complicated not-mine-to-tell kind of story, that I've just been quietly dealing with while trying to maintain a semblance of normalcy. 😶 

Of course, lots of things are Not normal, like some of the stuff in my google analytics lately looks super weird. First, goimagine is USA only sellers and Buyers, people in other countries cannot purchase, so it always looks a little strange when I see foreign countries in my stats. Second, many people don't have Mosiac or don't have goggle analytics set up with it, so they won't see these types of things in the stats provided in the seller dashboard. 

However, in the last 3 days I've had a huge spike in views and they all seem to be in Poland?!? 😦 What?!? Why?!? I don't understand. 😟 This looks crazy, nearly 150 views from a single foreign country in 3 days, something is very strange. 

Seriously, the whole live realtime box continuously having Poland visits showing is Weird. Do you have any idea how rare it is that I actually happen to look at the same time someone is actually actively on my site?!? I mean I don't do statistics or that kind of math but in my experience previously I've had about a 1 in 10 chance of seeing someone active, but for the last 2 days it is continuous, which is starting to really freak me out. 

Weekly update. . . just tired

I would say I'm still sick, but I think I'm really just perpetually tired. However, I did manage to complete another week of facebook goals including my monthly goal to increase followers. 😁😌🎇

I kind of love the "medal" of achievement, it's cute. 😇

And I managed to increase my follower count on both instagram and facebook! I am surprised but really happy about it. I'm also pretty happy with how the rainbow dumpsters turned out we bought 2 different "rainbow" filaments and both came out fabulous. 😎 Although, they are completely different looks, and the one is definitely more pastel and not a true Roygbiv rainbow and the dumpsters are small so getting multiple colors in one required some tweaking. 

These are listed and available for sale now.

https://rainbowmaille.goimagine.com/mini-dumpster-rainbow/ 

As a matter of fact, I created a whole new shop category called Desk Decor for the dumpsters and I converted one of the chainmaille ball listings from "christmas ornaments" into "fidget toys". 😉 Work that I was really happy with until I went to screenshot it and realized the photo-sizing is a titch off on one of them. 😏 

Maybe it's just my OCD and no one else will notice. . .except all you lovely people who read this post. 😅

Weekly update. . .recovering

Well, it's been a whole week of being sick and while I did throw some fresh photos on the existing listing for the dumpsters and added white and blue to the color options, I did not get photos or create the new listing for the rainbow versions. 😏 

I did manage to meet the fb goals but mostly by accident. 😅 I'm not used to stories, so I didn't realize that trying to put multiple photos in one actually counts as multiple stories. 😉

In other facebook-y news I got another reminder email that they plan to screw everyone that does not convert to fb's checkout and give fb their cut, like the permanent banner in my commerce manager was not enough. 😏

I mean it's only been there for nearly an entire darn year. 😐

Now, I suppose it is possible that some people who never venture into the meta suite would not have seen the banner, but then again if you've never been into the meta suite then you very likely have never set up a pixel or connected a "shop" to begin with. 😏

So, I imagine that for some people an email notifying them of the disabling of something they never used anyway could be confusing, like a "what's this about?" or "why do I care?" However, for those of us that fought the battle to set up and connect a pixel and have the "Shop" link to our real shops on goimagine, this is a supremely annoying attempt at a hostile take-over of our "checkout" process, and I will not go along with it. 😠

No matter how many times they change the color of the banner or the font or if they make the whole thing bold or the size of the screen. I refuse to be bullied into changing my business or accepting yet another 3rd party into my finances.  😐 I don't wanna and no one can make me!! Yes, I still have the childhood stubborn streak and I realize how childish the previous statement sounds, but it is true, and I am lucky enough that I can make that kind of choice. My small business does not support a family it's just a self-sustaining hobby, an outlet for my creativity and events to force myself to socialize instead of becoming completely agoraphobic. I'm sure there will be many who feel they have no choice, people who actually do rely on their business income and cannot afford to lose out on possible sales.