Understanding Etsy: Social Media and Marketing within a Community of Sellers
Social media use by online retailers and marketers has typically focused on developing brand relationships with consumers (Baker 2012; Castronovo and Lei 2012; Kim and Ko; 2012), and increasing a brand’s online social presence as a way to build a brand-ba
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ia two primary methods: (1) online participant observation and (2) auto-netnography. Observation data was collected over a 4 month period and focused on text-based interactions through blogs, such as community stories, online workshops, and team pages. Observation data was also collected from the “Seller Handbook,” which is a series of posts provided by Etsy Administration on how to sell products on the site. Auto-netnography requires the researcher assumes a fully participative role within the setting under study, relying on personal experiences within the community rather than observations alone (Kozinets 2009). To achieve this, one of the researchers participated in the Etsy community as a seller of handcrafted jewelry for approximately four months. This participation included engaging with the site every day and spending approximately 30-40 hours a week on the development and maintenance of the shop, as well as interacting with other sellers and posting comments on various blogs, forums, online workshops, and labs. Finally, further engagement was achieved by developing treasuries, corresponding with both sellers and buyers, as well as joining two online Etsy teams. Over 850 single-spaced pages of field notes, which included seller-to-seller interactions were compiled as a result of the data collection efforts. Spiggle’s (1994) suggestions for qualitative data analysis and interpretation were followed, wherein patterns in the data were first identified and labeled. Then, conceptual links between patterns were defined and examined for similarities and differences. A set of thematic categories emerged and relationships across these categories were identified to develop characteristics and dimensions of each theme. As a result of this iterative process of analysis, three main themes were identified and are used to structure the following interpretation: Sharing Trade Secrets, Etsy Karma, and Educating Etsy. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Sharing Trade Secrets For a shop to be successful, sellers must master the four elements of the marketing mix, which on Etsy refers to tagging and titling (product, promotion and placement), product photography (promotion), product descriptions (promotion and placement), and product pricing (price). Using the social media tools embedded in the site, sellers will often share information about their marketing mix with other sellers in the form of strategies, technical tips, or seller referrals. For example, Mary, a seasoned Etsy seller, shares strategies she has had success with in the past related to marketing her goods. She blogs, My advice to new sellers is to learn to use your tags and try to list something everyday instead of listing a bunch one day and then none for several days. Spread them out. As far as tagging, try going to a shop that is selling similar items and getting a lot of sales....Study their titles and the tags they use for ideas. And last...use your shop stats page to see what the people that ARE finding you are typing in for search terms. Hope this helps someone…When I st
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