One Year Blogiversary

Today marks the 1st anniversary of starting this blog.



After one year and 213 posts (Wow, has it been that many?) it's time to declare: Happy Anniversary to "Musings of a Furniture Maker"!

In addition to this blog I have also made a few other changes in the past year with respect to my marketing efforts via social media. I have also joined Linkedin, Custommade and Twitter, and started a Facebook fan page for Wiggers Custom Furniture Ltd. Recently I have also started a parallel blog at Wordpress.

If I've learned anything in the past year regarding blogging and social media, it's that the efforts involved can be very time consuming. While my work days are typically spent dealing with the nuts and bolts of running a custom furniture business, my evenings now seem to be focussed on blogging and digital marketing.

My biggest motivator for making these efforts has been to market my work more effectively. Markets today are transforming rapidly, and in recent years it has become painfully apparent that many of the old ways of doing business are obsolete and falling to the wayside. Traditional "mortar and bricks" showrooms have seen sales declines that have literally fallen off a cliff. Virtual showrooms and other forms of marketing via social media, meanwhile, have generated results that I never could have foreseen as recently as 5 years ago.

Is all of this extra effort paying off? At this stage it's difficult to tell, but I can say that my shop is busier now than it was at this time last year - so something must be working.

Probably the biggest thing I've learned is that although social media can be an effective tool for marketing it is not the be-all and end-all when it comes to generating sales. If I could somehow manage to create a Facebook fan page that had 1,000,000 fans, for example - so what? From a business standpoint what good is it to have a million fans if not one of them is doing a lick of business with you?

When it comes to transacting actual business it seems that the paradigm is fundamentally no different than it has ever been: namely delivering quality and service to your customer. Yes, social media has changed the means by which we can now REACH our customers, but the basics of quality and service still rule.

In addition to celebrating the first anniversary of this blog tonight, there is one other anniversary taking place in my world today. Namely, it was exactly 28 years ago tonight that my wife and I went out on our first date.



And, so, while I am now sipping a Guinness and tapping out the 213th post to my "Musings of a Furniture Maker" blog, it was 28 years ago tonight that I was sitting in a cinema with my date - watching "War Games"; starring Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy.



Happy 28th first date anniversary to Teresa, and Happy 1st blog post anniversary to "Musings of a Furniture Maker" !

Social Media Does Sell Custom Furniture

Some new custom furniture commissions have come my way recently, and in at least two of those cases Social Media has played a significant role in the manifestation of these sales. A few weeks ago a gallery located over 2000 miles from here received an Internet order for a Kidney Shaped Desk from a client located over 600 miles away. Although neither the gallery nor the client has ever seen or touched this actual desk, it seems that the client has been researching it online for more than 3 years and has fallen in love with it - so much so that she has now decided to invest in a purchase.

This commission is currently in the process of being made and it will be the subject of an upcoming series of blog posts. Last night I received word that another Internet order for a custom desk is also coming my way, although in this case the design will be a modification of my 1927 Console/Desk design.

With this commission the client was doing a tremendous amount of online research to find a writing desk that could be customized both to the size and aesthetic he was trying to achieve. Thanks to Google he came across several examples of my custom furniture work, and decided to make an inquiry.

Subsequent emails were exchanged, including digital renderings of suggested designs. Once the design parameters were established it was possible to determine actual pricing. The process behind the making of this custom desk will also be the subject of some upcoming blog posts.

Although I don't know specifically how much of a role my website, Facebook page, Twitter feed, Linkedin page and/or Blog has played in either of these commissions, it is clear that the Internet and Social Media are both playing ever increasing roles in the marketing and sale of my work.

I am pleasantly astounded at how a small, rural custom furniture shop such as mine can now use digital technology to carve a niche in a global marketplace that is becoming ever more fluid and dynamic.

Using Social Media to Save Mary Lake

In yesterday's post entitled "Social Media is Just a Tool" I contented that services such as Facebook, Twitter and Youtube are merely helpful tools in terms of sales and marketing. In my opinion the marketing of high quality custom furniture requires more from the craftsperson to instill confidence in a potential client .

However, this is not to say that social media can't be powerfully effective in certain applications. Here's an excellent example of someone using these tools to effectively deliver a message by suggesting simple "things you can do" to help.




In British Columbia there's an 86-year-old man by the name of Bob McMinn who, despite his age, has gone to great lengths to learn and master social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter and Youtube in an effort to save a piece of endangered forest around an area known as Mary Lake.



Bob's website is Save Mary Lake and the following Youtube video will explain what he's trying to do.




By simply donating $10 you can symbolically "adopt" a square metre of endangered forest (from a digital map provided on the website) to help Bob achieve his goal.

Without question what Bob McMinn is doing is inspirational beyond words, and his tireless efforts have not only convinced me to support what he's doing but also share his story with others.

At the end of the day it won't be Facebook, Twitter or Youtube that saves Mary Lake.

Bob McMinn will do that, and the social media sites will be his tools.

Social Media is Just a Tool

Three days ago violent mobs overthrew the government of Tunisia. While many are quick to credit social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Youtube for this sudden turn of events, the fact is that it was the people who overthrew the government - not social media. As far as I'm concerned Facebook, Twitter and Youtube were merely tools that helped mobilize disgruntled Tunisians to facilitate the outcome.

In my own little world of custom furniture making I have come to similar conclusions regarding the effectiveness of social media sites for marketing and sales. Over the past few years I have undertaken a number of digital initiatives including starting this blog, setting up a Facebook page, and signing on to Linkedin, Twitter and Youtube - in addition to maintaining a website that was started well over 10 years ago.

Given the considerable amount of time that's been invested in these efforts I've come to realize that, in the grand scheme of things, all of this marketing via social media is really little more than a means to an end. While this blog , or my Facebook page, or my Linkedin profile, or a clever tweet made on Twitter might catch someone's attention - at the end of the day it's going to take more than a digital presence for me to successfully sell my work to a potentially interested customer.

In this regard I feel that doing business today is in many ways no different than it was back in the days before Internet. Namely, somewhere along the way a potential client has to feel confident that I will deliver on my promises at a level that's going to meet or exceed their expectations.



This is something I've been trying to stress to my son Kevin as he prepares to participate in next week's Interior Design Show (IDS11). So far he's done an admirable job of creating his own Facebook page, Youtube site and Twitter feed . While these tools will help him tell others about who he is and what he can do, his success at this show will ultimately be determined by how he presents himself and instills in others the confidence of wanting to do business with him.



Nevertheless, I can be counted on to use social media tools in the coming week as I shamelessly promote Kevin and his abilities as a custom furniture maker.

Would you expect anything less from a Dad?

It's New Year's Eve

It's New Year's Eve which means that today is the day of making resolutions a.k.a. lists of promises to ourselves for 2011.

For most people New Year's resolutions revolve around things like quitting smoking, exercising more, losing weight etc. Since I am not a smoker (aside from the occasional cigar) you can forget about that being on my list. More exercise? Yes, that will be there because I realize I need to be in better shape if I plan to be around a long time - which I do. Losing weight? Well, by default that's on my list as well, and now that Christmas is over I know that Teresa will be facilitating this (whether I like it or not) by not having snacks such as cookies around the house.

Beyond that I have a few other resolutions in mind. In my earlier post I talked about the book "Six Pixels of Separation" and how I intend to implement suggestions from that book into the marketing of my custom furniture work in the coming year. This will involve things like blogging more proficiently, and expanding my digital network further in areas such as Facebook, Linkedin, Zecozi, CustomMade, etc.

Part of the purpose for broading my network is, naturally, to help market what I do for a living - namely designing and making high quality custom furniture. But this is not my sole motivator.

Back in February 2007 a serendipitous chain of events brought me to the tiny village of Kykotsmovi on the Hopi reservation in northern Arizona. While there I was invited into the home of the eldest elder of the Hopi - a man by the name of Grandfather Martin Gashweseoma.

During this visit I was told many things, including how now is the time for all of us to be speaking our Truth. While I do feel I've been speaking my truth, I've also come to realize that I haven't been doing enough of it. And, so, as part of my resolutions for the upcoming year I vow to broaden my discussions to include more of this as well.

Best wishes to everyone for 2011 !