Etsy Australia focuses on community management

Online marketplace Etsy sees itself as a community hub for artists, creators and collectors. Kirsteene Phelan has joined as the Australian Community Manager.

Etsy

“Etsy is the world’s handmade marketplace. We connect shoppers with independent creators and designers to find inspiring handmade and vintage goods and supplies, while providing a platform for people to start and grow their own businesses,” explains Phelan. In the year ahead, Etsy aims to increase their presence in Australia and provide, increase overall awareness of Etsy and provide more support to local sellers.

Community Manager

“Before joining Etsy I created my own accessories label Scrumptious Productions which sells in a selection of boutiques across Australia and New Zealand,” she explains. “As part of this business I became part of the Etsy community and opened a shop in 2008. I started as a Community Manager for Etsy in September 2011.”

Phelan was attracted to nurturing the community through her new role. “Etsy attracts a wide variety of talented and unique people working on their creative businesses which is inspiring and wonderful.”

Social media

Etsy uses social media to communicate with a variety of stakeholders. “We use social media to inform and engage our sellers and buyers, to educate them about new features and highlight unique and beautiful products. We also highlight other inspiring stories and work of the greater global creative community,” says Phelan.

“We have a very vibrant community, eager to connect with other makers, creators, and communities. This can happen offline and in person but, more often than not, people connect online. Etsy sellers are active on many social networks (Pinterest, ring a bell?) and they use social media to tell and share their story in creative ways. You’ll see product videos and visual tutorials on YouTube and Vimeo, weekly tweet parties, collaborative Pinterest boards, and so much more. That said, we recently gave sellers the ability to connect their Etsy shop with their Facebook and Twitter accounts, so that the conversation between maker and consumer can continue even after the transaction, on those familiar social networks.”  

Purpose

Phelan sees Etsy’s social media activity as serving many purposes across PR, customer service and marketing. “We have several Facebook pages for different languages and markets as well as several twitter handles including one exclusively for customer support: @etsyhelp,” she explains.

Blogging

“Around the world, there’s a new clamoring to know the stories behind what we buy – who made it, how, by what route did it travel to our door?” says Phelan. Blogging those stories is a great way to communicate them. “On the Etsy Blog we report on issues that matter to Etsy members – like supporting independent businesses and artists, eating well, living sustainably. Our blogs allow us to communicate our values with our passionate community, respond to their comments and stories, and forge a deeper connection.”

Listening

@Etsy is mentioned over 1million times each month, and Etsy is diligent about listening to the conversations about their brand and sellers on the platform. “We spend a lot of time listening to these conversations, gathering feedback, and iterating changes based on their tips. So quite a bit of our time is spent on social media.”

Measurement

Phelan uses Bit.ly and Google Analytics to monitor traffic “How are people consuming our content? Where are they coming from? But since our social media strategy is more about fostering conversation than driving traffic, we also pay close attention to Facebook Insights and engagement levels on Twitter to determine the kind of content people are responding to. At the end of the day, though, how does one honestly measure the value of a positive comment or a big smile? Social media is more than just numbers and I think we, as community managers, know it best.”