For a small Team, EtsyPatrons are an active bunch! Following is a recap of our current projects and activities:
Make Someone's Day! During MSD we encourage Etsians to Make Someone's Day by purchasing from a new seller and posting about it. We use a two pronged approach for this, our permanent "Five Sales or Less"thread in Promotions (here:
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5691842 ) where the items of shops that qualify are posted (we actually use this thread to find new shops for a number of our projects). Then we have the actual MSD thread where people are encouraged to talk about making someone's day, having their day made, what they've purchased, and general MSD experiences. Our Make Someone's Day Director is TheDaintyDragonfly.
Treasuries EtsyPatrons make awesome treasuries of new shops and help others to do the same in our ongoing Undiscovered Treasuries project. Once an EP treasury is up, we work to promote it and try to sell as many of the items as possible in an effort to gain visiblity and sales for new Etsy artists. Our Treasuries Director is VintageEmbellishment.
EP Blog If you're reading this, then you know our team blog is at
http://etsypatrons.blogspot.com/ . We use our blog to promote whatever's going on with the team. Members are encouraged to come up with ideas and articles, and the blog does double duty as as our Team newsletter. We promote every new blog entry in the Etsy forums, we're on the Etsy Teams Blog Ring, and StumbleUpon.
Other Blogs We also blog for others, often in exchange for some kind of promotion for the team. We're currently on
http://etsyaddicts.blogspot.com/ where we exchange an occasional article for a spot for our EP Mini. It's great exposure for a new shop, and we encourage our members to participate by writing an article about their favorite artists.
EtsyPatrons on Etsy We have a Team account on Etsy which you can see at
http://etsypatrons.etsy.com/ . It lists all of our links and members, and we use it as a reference for potential members in addition to our team page. We select favorites from new sellers, which adds them to our EtsyMini. Our EtsyMini is then seen on our blog and across the web, on the blogs of our members as well as other Etsy themed sites.
EtsyPatrons Personal Shopper We have a new project just getting started called EtsyPatrons Personal Shopper. Some EP's are planning to help new Etsy buyers over the holidays who need help finding the perfect hardmade gift. Personal Shoppers will choose items based on the buyer's parameters and present them with a short list of items that meet their request. We're hoping to attract new buyers who might otherwise be overwhelmed by Etsy search. The service will be at no charge, and there will be no obligation to buy. We've had a ball testing this concept over the past couple of weeks and have discovered just how much fun it can be to be (and have!) a Personal Shopper!
Being a Patron Most Patrons choose a project that fits their idea of how best to help promote Etsy artists. Some members focus on artists with zero sales. Others like to help artists get "over the hump' of just a few sales. At least one member focuses on artists with special needs such as health issues. We all support each others projects where we can, and encourage members to come up with a project that they'd like to focus on. So if you're an Etsy buyer in search of a team, check out EtsyPatrons!
