How to Advertise Your Etsy Shop: Free & Low-Cost Methods

Advertising an Etsy store, like any small company, might seem to be a daunting endeavor. There are so many alternatives, studying marketing ideas on your own takes time, and many advertising approaches may quickly become pricey. But don’t be concerned! This post is a comprehensive tutorial that will break down all of the many methods you may begin advertising or marketing your Etsy Shop for little or no cost.

How Does Etsy Marketing Work?

Advertising an Etsy store is not the same as advertising other online companies. To host an Etsy business, for example, you do not need to have your own website. This is advantageous in many ways, but it restricts your capacity to employ conventional advertising strategies. Ad solutions such as Facebook Ads Manager are wonderful for increasing visibility, but without a specific domain, you’re promoting Etsy rather than your business.

To make things even more complicated, your successful marketing plan for your Etsy shop is dependent on various elements specific to you and your company, including product categories, marketing objectives, your target demographic, and more. If you aren’t in a position to hire an advertising firm, finding this out on your own might be difficult.

Having said that, there are still several strategies to efficiently promote your Etsy business (and yes, even for free). Creating a plan to produce more sales on Etsy is surprisingly simple if you understand your many alternatives and when they perform best.

How to Promote Your Shop On Etsy

Running Etsy Ads

Let’s start with a marketing tool that every Etsy merchant is familiar with: Etsy’s advertising platform. Etsy provides low-cost, easy-to-create adverts to your specific market. Here are some of the advantages:

Etsy may position your advertisements in search results (meaning they appear higher in searches), Category Pages, and Market Pages on both desktop and mobile.
You are not need to have a website or blog.
You don’t have to waste time or money on ad creatives (photos, text, etc.). Instead, the software creates your advertising using your product listings’ photographs and content.
You may create flexible ad campaigns for any budget – the minimum ad spend per day for an Etsy ad campaign is $1.
Etsy will target your advertising based on the choices you select for your store and product listings, such as keywords and shipping countries.

There are a few drawbacks as well:

Your advertisements are restricted to the Etsy marketplace, therefore you cannot go outside it.
You have limited influence over where your ad appears on the site; for example, if an item isn’t selling well in searches or category listings but is popular with customers once they visit a product page, there’s not much you can do about it.
The only method to adjust your ad targeting is to update all of your shop’s settings and keywords.

Running advertisements on Etsy will provide enough exposure for most Etsy stores to see notable results. If you’re new to eCommerce, this is a wonderful place to start, so don’t feel obligated to go any farther if you’re working with limited time and resources. The ability to establish an Etsy marketing campaign is available in the Shops Manager’s Marketing area.

Other Marketing Methods on Etsy

Other than abandoning Etsy, there are other strategies to increase traffic to your items. Etsy provides a wealth of information to help merchants evaluate their analytics data and improve their businesses to increase sales. To improve your Etsy business and attract more consumers through searches, you may utilize keyword finders like Keyword Tool Dominator or discover economical product photographers on Fiverr.

Using Social Media to Attract Customers to Your Etsy Shop for Free

Do you want to learn how to promote your Etsy store for free? The solution is social media! We’re not talking about paid adverts in this situation; simply ordinary company accounts and savvy social media promotion. Business accounts on most platforms are free to use as long as you don’t establish ad campaigns, making them a risk-free advertising approach to begin experimenting with. They provide thorough analytics data that will be incredibly beneficial for your Etsy marketing plan, as well as crucial insights into how to bring more quality visitors to your Etsy store, rather than merely passersby.

We’ll go through some fundamental strategies for using the sites most suited for advertising Etsy businesses on a shoestring or with no money at all: Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. But first, let’s go through some frequent blunders that sellers do while promoting on social media that might harm their sales potential:

Don’t Make These Social Media Marketing Mistakes

Using your own accounts to promote. Use a second (ideally business) account for boosting sales and traffic to your Etsy store and reaching a larger audience. A separate account will allow you to deliver more accurate audience metrics while also keeping your account appearing professional.
Posts are being treated as advertisements. With obvious nonstop marketing, you will not reach new clients. Instead, reach out to your audience with relevant and helpful information to establish a rapport. Find opportunities to converse with other vendors on social media channels as well. Connecting with other Etsy sellers on social media is an excellent method to reach out to new prospective clients who have shown an interest in similar companies.
Promoting on the incorrect platforms. Make a point of researching where the majority of your visitors and prospective clients are so you can determine which social media platform(s) they are utilizing. This tutorial lists four various social networking sites, but only 1-3 are likely to be the greatest match for your target demographics. Other sites, such as DeviantArt, may be worth investigating depending on your items.
Inconsistent posting. Regardless of size, all companies must maintain their social media accounts active with material at least 2-3 times each week. Consistently posting throughout the week boosts your content in algorithms like Instagram and TikTok and helps you to interact with more people via various content formats.

How to Promote Your Etsy Shop on Pinterest

For most individuals advertising an Etsy store, Pinterest is the go-to site. It’s a terrific approach to reach new clients, has a comparable user base to Esty, and is simple to get started. Using the Shop Manager Social Media Tool, you may even connect your Pinterest account into your Etsy account.

If you’ve never used Pinterest, it’s similar to a visual search engine in that search results are accompanied by pictures that include links to goods, blogs, videos, and other content. People search for phrases relating to their interests or things they want to purchase, then pin their favorites to create boards.

Create a few boards on Pinterest where you may pin your product listings in addition to re-pinning others to make your boards aesthetically beautiful and fascinating. The more people who like your board and re-pin your items, the more people will see you!

How to Promote Your Etsy Shop on Facebook

Facebook is one of the most prominent social media sites, therefore it has a large user base. It’s also free to establish business accounts using your personal account for fast login access.

Facebook strikes an appealing mix between social networking and purchasing. It is ideal for small companies such as Etsy merchants since displaying yourself as a person may improve your Facebook marketing and help you connect with your audience better. For example, you might publish your most recent bespoke work for a pleased client (and tag them if they follow you) and then the following day share a nice photo of your cat. These morsels of your personality give your company a personality, which leads to stronger relationships with your audience.

How to Promote Your Etsy Shop on Instagram

Instagram is the younger sister of Facebook, and Meta (previously Facebook) controls both. To market your Etsy business on Instagram and Facebook, use the same strategies. There are simply two major distinctions to be aware of: audience and hashtags.

For starters, Instagram’s audience is younger, so keep that in mind while creating content and branding yourself on Instagram. Second, hashtags are more vital on Instagram to help your posts reach a wider audience. You can use hashtags on Facebook as well, but Instagram requires them. You may acquire ideas for hashtags by stalking other Etsy seller Instagram accounts or thinking what search phrases are linked to your post.

How to Promote Your Etsy Shop on TikTok

TikTok is the new kid on the block, yet it’s “the” platform for millennials and Generation Z. It provides a wide range of material, including creative films, memes, lessons, and so on. TikTok has devoted specialty groups such as #CleaningTok — yeah, everything about cleaning — and users have generated jokes and material that is unique to the network. TikTok may be the ideal match for your company if your consumers are usually 25 years old or younger.

If you want to market your Etsy business on TikTok but have never used it previously, you need spend some time lurking. Search and browse through several hashtags that you believe may be relevant to your audience. Check out #sewing, #sewingtiktok, and #sewingtok if you offer handmade skirts. Look through the material and see what other hashtags people are using and what content they are creating. Take inspiration from company accounts on TikTok as well; as an individual vendor, you’ll need to consider both personal and commercial material to attract buyers.

Create material that highlights your creativity and personality without explicitly marketing your Etsy items on TikTok, and leave your store URLs in pinned comments and your profile. Consider both those who appreciate your items and those who have similar skillsets – provide lessons and suggestions, or create a timelapse video of you constructing a product with an amusing voiceover. People adore true community content from small companies like this and will spread it widely!

Promoting an Etsy Shop for Free on Social Media: Key Takeaways

To summarize all of those factors, keep the following in mind when you begin promoting your Etsy business on social media:

The platform you utilize is important. Consider your consumers and what they’re like — their typical age, hobbies, and so on — and concentrate on platforms they’re likely to utilize. Stick to 1-3 at most to avoid spreading your marketing efforts too thin.
Promote yourself rather than your stuff. Though it is not the same as a personal social media account, your Etsy social media account should have intriguing facts about yourself and what you do. For the most part, leave your links and company information in your profile or comments. Sneak peeks of new items or product announcements such as specials are also enjoyable at times! Just make sure there’s a good mix of other material, such as how-to videos, behind-the-scenes images, and so on.
It all comes down to the substance. Each platform has a distinct personality, so don’t go in blind. Familiarize yourself with your audience and think about what they would find amusing, adorable, or fascinating. Keep up with relevant and related information to your Etsy business and consumers to ensure that your content doesn’t seem out of place in prospective customers’ social media feeds.
Interact with your audience. Don’t be a ghost that merely posts and does nothing else. To optimize your reach and convert fans into customers, interact with your audience via comments, tag other Etsy professionals in a related sector, commend articles you enjoy, and build true business contacts.

Growing Beyond Social Media Marketing

If your Etsy shop is generating significant revenue, it may be time to consider investing in a website and paid advertising. Fortunately, it does not have to be a pain! An Etsy Plus subscription provides you with a unique domain while allowing you to stay on the platform you know and love, or you can use services like Squarespace to create a website without any coding or advanced computer skills.

However, if you’re just getting started or have a modest Etsy business, paid promotion may be a little much to take on right now. It is critical to master social media marketing before investing in other methods of increasing your company.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are several strategies to advertise your Etsy business for a little or no cost. You may promote your Etsy shop without breaking the budget if you use the correct social media marketing strategies. It’s critical to understand your audience and the features of each channel before developing an Etsy content strategy so you don’t come across as overtly promotional and can interact with your prospective consumers on a more personal way. With all of this in mind, as well as your newly discovered Etsy marketing approach, you’ll be well on your way to developing your company and keeping consumers coming back for more!