My March Meet the Maker Review
My review on how this years #MarchMeetTheMaker challenge went
March Meet the Maker was set up by Joanne Hawker, encouraging small creative businesses to show the stories behind their work, who they are and what they love. It gives prompts to follow so that you can show the same topic as others each day.
This was my first ever attempt at March Meet the Maker, so I took part on Instagram and Facebook, to engage two groups of my followers and reach out to more people- I find that followers are more likely to comment on Facebook and more likely to 'like' a post on Instagram. On reflection, I wish I had posted on one or the other platform or even used different images for both. I now feel like I may have bombarded my followers with the same information in an unimaginative way (lesson learnt for next year!).
I gained 42 new followers on Instagram throughout the month and made some good connections with other makers- including sharing hints and tips. I really enjoyed having a nosey into other makers studios and learning more about them as a maker as well as a mum/dad/wife/husband etc.
Unfortunately I lost interest in a couple of prompts. Boomerang for example, I don't use those little videos in my usual feed and I find them quite difficult to use with my work. 'Work clothes' was another one that I lost interest in because I come to my studio in comfy trousers and a top and wasn't willing to wear something extravagant for the sake of one Instagram post.
Occasionally I did actually find the challenge a little bit stressful (I know it was supposed to be just a bit of fun). Because there weren't any breaks in the days- weekends for example, I found that I was constantly searching for things to post and taking up too much time debating the things I had found or trying to write a caption to go along with it. Plus trying to keep up along with my day job was some days just impossible.
On the plus side, some prompts really helped me to look at things in a new way or try a different photography method. The 'how it's made' prompt inspired me to make a quick lino-printing video for those who don't know how it's created. This made me realise how easy it is to create a little video and I had to learn how to edit it in Movie Maker. I also really liked the timing of the 'Postage & Packaging' prompt, it fell on the same day that my potato starch display bags arrived so I advertised that through my Meet the Maker challenge to attract more attention.
I can now see that I did get more engagements on the posts that included myself or my studio in them- something my followers don't usually get to see, and the posts that I wasn't particularly interested in (and therefore not putting much effort into) also didn't gain much interest from my audience.
Moving forwards from this little challenge I want to include more of myself and my personal stories within my social media feed and I also want to include more honest captions. I think sometimes I get too caught up in trying to prove I have the perfect studio business but I'm human and I don't. I want to show more of my messy desk, more of how I work and more of who I am as a person.
March Meet the Maker was set up by Joanne Hawker, encouraging small creative businesses to show the stories behind their work, who they are and what they love. It gives prompts to follow so that you can show the same topic as others each day.
I gained 42 new followers on Instagram throughout the month and made some good connections with other makers- including sharing hints and tips. I really enjoyed having a nosey into other makers studios and learning more about them as a maker as well as a mum/dad/wife/husband etc.
Unfortunately I lost interest in a couple of prompts. Boomerang for example, I don't use those little videos in my usual feed and I find them quite difficult to use with my work. 'Work clothes' was another one that I lost interest in because I come to my studio in comfy trousers and a top and wasn't willing to wear something extravagant for the sake of one Instagram post.
Occasionally I did actually find the challenge a little bit stressful (I know it was supposed to be just a bit of fun). Because there weren't any breaks in the days- weekends for example, I found that I was constantly searching for things to post and taking up too much time debating the things I had found or trying to write a caption to go along with it. Plus trying to keep up along with my day job was some days just impossible.
I can now see that I did get more engagements on the posts that included myself or my studio in them- something my followers don't usually get to see, and the posts that I wasn't particularly interested in (and therefore not putting much effort into) also didn't gain much interest from my audience.
Moving forwards from this little challenge I want to include more of myself and my personal stories within my social media feed and I also want to include more honest captions. I think sometimes I get too caught up in trying to prove I have the perfect studio business but I'm human and I don't. I want to show more of my messy desk, more of how I work and more of who I am as a person.
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