Do you use your FB photo albums to their fullest?
I’m betting that you could use some fresh ideas here. Now is the perfect time to put photos of your wonderful merchandise up, so your FB, Twitter, blog, site, broadcast email friends/ fans/ followers can see just
what their holiday dollars can get them in your shop.
Here’s how. Get an “extravagant” present together. Say, not just a sweater, but a sweater, scarf, gloves, headband and jeans together. Work towards making the WHOLE OUTFIT the price of, oh, the jeans or the sweater. Photograph it. Do a caption that includes a list of items in GLOWING terms. Compare it to “new”.
Here, let me take a stab at it so you can see what I mean.
You’d pay $383 for these HIGH jeans alone. At MyShop, get the hottest designer jeans, add a leather messenger bag and a shearling jacket and you’ll still have $ left over for the aviator cap, available (once in a while!) in our Weird and Wonderful department! Talk about a great outfit for the hippest chick on your list (we won’t tell if that happens to be YOU!) for less than $300!
BTW, do add your shop’s name and a message like the “Happy Snow” above, to your photos. Makes them MUCH more effective.
Do a variety of looks, as in these examples. And swap them out every few days, so you can send another GIFT IDEAS from MYSHOP message out.
Try YOUR hand at a caption for an outfit like this.
Ball cap, T, overalls, sneaks, AND what he really wants, the truck!…all for $32, which is less than the overalls alone would cost at the mall.
This caption could be about the unique artist-created things you have, versus made-in-China dreck.
Okay. Now, after the holidays,
continue to use the free FB photo albums in business-boosting, reputation-building, word-of-mouth ways. Like to show folks how you examine incoming merchandise (a great opportunity to reinforce Clean-Current-Cute) or your staff planting that pretty flower garden that enhances downtown.
Some photos borrowed from web venues including Interior Motives WI for illustrative purposes. Obviously, you’ll use your own merchandise and your own photos.
Auntie Kate The Resale Expert 
[…] Why captions count. And how to add them in Facebook, after the fact. […]
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[…] more from Auntie Kate (who knew she felt so strongly about using your social media time […]
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Hi Sweet Repeats, It’s hard to say what to do without knowing what you are doing… but one thing for sure, people will not buy from you unless: A: You’re selling what they want more than they want their money (selection, display, ambiance, price, etc) and B: They not only know it, but you remind them constantly.
For example: Why don’t you have a Gravatar here on the blog? Here’s what I have suggested in the past: https://auntiekate.wordpress.com/?s=gravatar Do you have a web site? If you use FB, do you direct people to your blog?
You say your shop is beautiful and your prices are fair, and I’m sure you think they are… but do your potential customers? Or maybe they love you but you’re not open when they want to shop? Why do they go to GW instead of your shop? There IS a answer to that, so find out. Have you made plans to try what I suggested here: https://auntiekate.wordpress.com/2011/12/11/start-planning-better/ ?
And: December is never a prime month for resale, so don’t let a bad month get you down. I assume you have grand seasonal-clearance things planned, and the advertising of it, for January. If not, get that in place! Oh, and don’t forget the whole resort-section idea as well for January!
If you’re doing “okay”, and are only 9 months in, you’re doing better than many small businesses. Don’t be so hard on yourself!
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Kate I need your input. I am starting to get really depressed again about the business. It is going on 9 months and I am doing ok, I would really like to do better. I am finding out that in my town people would rather shop at the Goodwill. It is really hard for me to compete with the prices there. Our Goodwill is really nasty and the clothes are smelly and torn and they don’t care what they get but people flock there anyway. I am trying really hard not to get discouraged. I have a really beautiful boutique shop and my prices are fair but I can’t compete with the prices that they offer. I am wondering what I should do. I really want to succeed, but this month has been terrible. I am making the rent, but just barely.
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[…] I think I’ve mentioned that before. […]
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My caption for the above picture:
Whether it’s a walk in the jungle or a stroll in Central Park, this giraffe print skirt ensemble is sure to turn heads…or necks !!
Whatcha think?
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Definitely cute… perfect for this “cute or wild?” outfit! Thanks, Leila!
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[…] Use your Photo Albums […]
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[…] Use your Facebook Photo Album to build business, recognition, WOM about your consignment, resale, th… (auntiekate.wordpress.com) […]
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Thanks for the input. I use my iPhone for the pics and the captions have to be added. They don’t show up on the main page so it did not seem necessary. But, I’m willing to give it a try and see how my customers respond.
Most of the time when the pics go up the item goes out the door, and I can put a SOLD! on as the caption. It seems to be creating a sense of urgency to get here quickly before the piece is gone.
I love ping.fm, it makes my social media soooooo easy. Thanks again.
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Thanks Ruth! But I would call to question your policy of not using captions “unless it is something super special”
…first, it obviously IS or you wouldn’t have taken a photo
…and second, would you stand mutely by while a real-live customer looks at a real-live item in your shop? ‘Course not: you’d point out its attributes, its value, how they could use it to make their lives so much more! 😉
Speak up, Shopkeeper! If they don’t want to “hear”, they won’t read the caption. But me, I LOVE to know that it’s flame veneer, has 7 hidden dove-tailed drawers, would work in my front hall or as a sofa table…. gimmee a couple reasons to COVET it!
I need to look into ping.fm. Thanks for the reminder!
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I love our FB album. I don’t add any caption as a general rule unless it is something super special. We let our customer and consignors know that we post pictures almost daily (3 at a time, so they don’t have to open anything just take a quick look!) FB is a great tool for us. We frequently get a phone call or email wanting items just posted. And it is really easy for friends to “spread the word” by forwarding out pictures.
I use Ping.fm to send a message daily on our specials or something posted on FB. This free program allows me to update my webpage, Twitter and FB all at one swoop.
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