Guild Requirements and Tag

[Barbsdesigns]

These are the same requirements and tag as we used on the old board...

1) Post minimum of twice a month in the forum

2) Minimum of one promotional activity a week ie Twitter, Blog, Facebook, AF collection etc. Promotion can be of whole guild, a single member or multiple members.

3) Participate in 2 challenges a year minimum.

4) Inactivity for 3 months without notification will result in removal (my intention is to send out a minimum monthly newsletter.. I feel this will be ample 'reminder' to folks that they need to participate). I do not have the time to constantly remind members to stay in touch with what is going on.. this responsibility needs to rest with individual members.. we are all adults after all.

The guild tag is - AFCMG PLEASE only tag your chainmaille pieces with this tag. DO NOT tag your entire shop with it if you don't sell chainmaille exclusively!

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I would ask that all members use the Global Editor tool in their shops to amend this tag to their chainmaille pieces. With the Global editor, you can pick and choose the items you wish to add this tag to.

Those members that use Twitter, please use the hashtag #AFCMG when talking about chainmaille.

[Barbsdesigns]

HOW TO APPEND THE GUILD TAG TO YOUR ITEMS

Go to My Artfire > Tools > Global Editor
On Step 1 choose the Specific Items option.
On Step 2 choose the Edit Item Tags option.
On Step 3 choose the Append to Existing Tags option.

There will be a menu with your shop items at the bottom of the page. Click on the +Add under the item image to add the item to the list to the right. Only add the AFCMG tag to your chainmaille items.

By adding this tag to your chainmaille items only, it is much easier for other members to search through for guild products for promotion and use in collections. If you add this tag to everything in your shop, then other members will not have to weed through the non-chainmaille items if they are doing a guild collection.

For the purpose of member promotion, I recommend adding your shop name as a tag. For instance, I always tag my items with "barbsdesigns". This way, people that want to see my product can search for just those terms and find my shop easily. One of my customer's biggest complaints at shows is that Artfire (or Etsy, or any other online venue) is that they are notoriously difficult to navigate if you're looking for a specific shop. I have even considered adding a line of text to the backs of my business cards saying to search for those terms on Artfire to make finding me easier. Putting a full URL on business cards doesn't guarantee your customers will get past the "artfire.com" part. Doing this will also help other members find your shop if they don't already have it in their favorites. If they want to look through your shop for a little member promotion, searching by your shop name can make it easier. However, this is more for customers who aren't familiar with Artfire and their search member shops option.

[Barbsdesigns]

Hashtags on Twitter

Just as the guild tag can be used in your shop on Artfire to help people find guild products and members, it can be used as a hashtag on Twitter when you are promoting your own chainmaille or the chainmaille of another guild member.

What do you do to use this? Simply write out your tweet, add any links (I recommend bit.ly to shorten your links if you don't already use it. They will connect to your Twitter page as a log in) and then use the hashtag #AFCMG at the end. You can also @mention the guild by using the @afchainmaille mention tag. Just make sure everything fits in under 140 characters and you're golden.

The best part is you can use twitpics (again, this is attached to your Twitter account as a log in) and post your pictures or your favorites on Twitter to let your followers know what you're liking at the moment. Simply add the guild hashtag or @mention to any of the guild member items you post. It's that easy, folks.

Don't like all the clutter in your Twitter feed? Make lists. Put everything into lists and you can easily retweet, mention, or message anybody you follow or any of your followers. Some examples would be:

• Put all the guild members into their own list.
  
• Put all of the humor posts into their own list.
  
• Put all of the celebrities into their own list (and then forget you follow them... )
  
• And so on...
  

Making lists will help to clean up your feed. Simply click on the list you want to check up on and those are the only tweets you'll see.