Collection Inspirations

When you are using social media, it’s useful to collect posts that make you stop scrolling. Saving these posts can give you a creative pool of ideas for your future content. Here’s how I do it:

• From instagram, save successful content that falls into the 5 Core Content Categories that I’ll mention in the next sections
• You can put them in folders that correspond to the 5 categories
• You can also do that in Pinterest and TikTok
• Whenever you need inspirations, open those folders to reference and get inspired by successful content

Core Content Categories

Here are the 5 main categories that I recommend Etsy sellers create for their Instagram account. These categories are designed to fulfil anyone of the objective: Educate, showcase, engage or inspire:

• Product showcase
• Educational content
• Behind-the-scene
• User generated content
• Engagement & community

Comprehensive Core Content Ideas

Let’s dive deeper into the Core Content Categories. Here I’ve included the common ideas to present your products and brand in each of the category.

Product Showcase

• Product in motion/in use (e.g. rotating a sparkly gemstone in sunlight, using a tote bag in a supermarket)
• An aesthetically pleasing showcase of the products
• Before and after (e.g. before and after using your skincare product, desk organiser, etc.)
• Highlighting impressive details (e.g. closeup on the texture of your quality fabric, finishing, etc.)

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Educational Content

• Tutorials/step-by-step guide on how to use your product (e.g. how to put together this decor, 5 ways to style earrings)
• Fun fact about your product (e.g. do you know our packaging is also recyclable?)

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Behind-The-Scene

• Day in your creative life (e.g. your routine to prepare for crafting, shopping for raw materials, etc.)
• Crafting process (e.g. Timelapse of creating a painting, pouring candle wax, etc.)
• Order packing (e.g. how you pack your order with a handwritten thank you note, going to the post office)
• Workspace tour (e.g. top down view of your workspace, the mess after a day of creating with the resulting creation)
• Artist/staff introduction
• Tools & material (e.g. threads and fabric before they are transformed into a tote, a raw material shopping tour)

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User Generated Content

• Customer reviews and testimonials (e.g. feature happy customer using your products)
• Shoutout customer photos that feature your product (e.g. resharing an Instagram story where a customer praise your product)
• Quote from customer review (e.g. share the quote with your appreciation and insight, alongside the product they purchased)

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Engagement & Community

• Polls or questions for your followers (use Instagram stories. e.g. which colour do you prefer: pastels or earthy tones?)
• Milestones & achievements (e.g. your product get featured by xxx)

Convenient Content Ideas For Busy Etsy Sellers

For busy Etsy sellers, I understand the list above could seem daunting. So here I have handpicked a list of lower-effort, but still effective, content ideas.  

1. Take your product out to a park, cafe, or a place that make sense to take some videos. You can hold it in your hand, film your friend using your product, etc.:

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2. Film what you need to do for your Etsy shop anyway. The video is better when it’s steady. So buy a small tripod for your phone to record a video of you creating products (make sure to tidy your work space first). You can consider filming this as a time-lapse video:

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3. Before-and-after video of two shots between raw materials vs finished product

4. Comparison video of two shots between sketches vs finished product

5. Give a flat-lay/top-down view of your products organised cleanly on a tidy desk:

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6. Show customer appreciation by sharing new reviews you got for your Etsy shop as Instagram stories

7. Walking in and holding up your creation:

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Capturing Your Content

Engaging content doesn’t necessarily mean expensive equipment. Your phone, your product, and a few actionable tips are enough to create captivating content that resonate with your target audience.

• Natural light: Aim for well-lit natural lighting. If shooting indoors, shooting near windows during the early morning or late afternoon can offer soft, flattering light. If the light is too harsh, consider adding a sheer curtain to soften the lights.
• Avoid shadows: Harsh shadows distracts from your product. Experiment with your position compared to the product, or move the product around, to minimise shadows. Sometimes shooting the product from the side could eliminate most of the shadows.
• Experiment with different angles: Try out different angles like top-down, eye-level, from below, etc. For example, a necklace may look completely different shooting from top-down, compared to eye-level.
• Steady hands: Blurry photos or shaky videos don’t come across as professional. If you have shaky hands, consider getting a cheap phone tripod, or stabilise your phone against books, mugs, or other household items. Or if you have a newer phone, experiment with the action-mode (iPhones) or super-steady mode (Samsung phones).
• Simple, clean background: Use simple backgrounds like wooden tables, white sheets, or coloured papers to make your product pop.
• Balance & Symmetry: Our eyes are naturally drawn to patterns and symmetry. When creating content, think about positioning your products in the centre, placing similarly sized props on two sides, etc. For phone camera, turn on the grid view to make it easier to capture a balanced content.
• Variety: Unless you are a professional, don’t just capture one photo or one video. Taking multiple shots from different angles or different arrangements gives you more options when posting.
• Edit your videos: Use apps like Inshot, CapCut, Lightroom Mobile, or even Canva to edit your videos before posting. From my experience, most Etsy sellers content can benefit from lifting the shadows and brighten the video so that your product pops more.
• Practice, practice, practice

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