Tangible Tidbits 2010 #29: Welcome to August!

Here we are in a brand new month! Sorry I missed you all yesterday, but I had a really bad headache off-and-on all afternoon and evening, so I took a much-needed break and watched "The Bounty Hunter" with Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston On Demand last night. Cute movie! :)

So, I forgot to mention last week that I picked up my printed brochures! They look very nice, although I would have preferred cream glossy paper if the printer had it. Instead, we went with the matte finish because I didn't want it printed on white. The photos look a little flat on the matte finish, but the overall brochure is very good. Many thanks to LightWork Designs in Arizona and Signal Graphics in South Orange, NJ for pulling these together for me! ;) I should really ask the designer for a PDF of the final version, in case I want to email it to anyone. I tend to do a lot of business with people who do not live locally, so I have an email version of my invoice that I can send without having to scan letterhead. :)

I had a very productive week, completing three necklaces, two bookmarks, and a key chain...not to mention putting in a few large chunks of time on updating my database! That project is naturally ongoing, but I feel that I'm accomplishing more on it when I devote a number of hours at a time to it rather than just one a day. It probably averages out to the same amount of time, but it still makes me feel like I've gotten more done this way. :\

My mother changed my mind about the pink braid on the embroidered rivoli from my class a couple of weeks ago. She said it was distracting attention away from the pendant, so I'm waiting on an order of some satin silk string, satin, cotton yarn with matching Swarovski(R) Crystals, polyester chain, and hand-dyed silk, all in dark green, to see how they will look with it. I just received notification that my order was shipped today, so I will hopefully get that completed and posted this week. However, I did finish an embroidered key chain with a Granite stone for a friend in Canada, so you can see that in the Design Samples Gallery on the website or on the Facebook Fan Page if you're curious. ;)

Unfortunately, we had a technological snafu with the Virtual Mall...the file got corrupted somehow over the weekend. We are working on getting it completed sometime this week. Keep your fingers crossed for us! ;)

That's about it for this Monday morning. Hope everyone has a good week! :D

Tangible Tidbits 2010 #2: Something Tangible Makes Its Mark on Facebook

During the week before we launched this website, I launched a Something Tangible Application and Something Tangible LLC Fan Page on Facebook. In the world of social media, that's where I have the largest presence. I have Twitter and LinkedIn accounts, but I actually participate regularly on Facebook and have 411 Friends on my personal page, gathered together and combined from the various phases of my life. Of course, that number also includes some strictly Facebook friends, made playing one Facebook application or another.

Since the week between Christmas and New Year's, the company Fan Page has garnered an impressive 880 fans as of this evening! I will gladly give a large amount of the credit for that to a Facebook sidebar ad I've been running since December 27, but the ad has a limit of something like 88-95 clicks a day. I'm actually paying per click up to a set dollar amount per day. In any case, just because people click on the ad and check out the page, that doesn't automatically mean they will be interested in our message or opt to "Become a Fan" of the company. So, while the ad is driving traffic to the page -- an ad I wrote the copy and selected the photo for, I may add -- it is still the company and its message that is getting their attention and keeping it there. I am very proud of that.

As for the application...to date, we have on record 59 "monthly active users," 28 of which are people on my Friends list. Facebook actually gives me that statistic as the developer of the app. We've also given 686 gifts so far -- again, since the week between Christmas and New Year's. The application only has four fans, including me and three friends, but that's okay. I don't think too many people think about becoming fans of applications or post much on their pages. The gift-giving is the more relevant statistic here. :) For anyone not familiar with Facebook applications, the idea is that users send friends something like "success," accompanied by a photo of one of my jewelry pieces that have gemstones in it with properties that address success. The photo is marked as "Success (Turquoise)." Other traits included so far are truth, sincerity, wisdom, prosperity, love, balance, among others. Basically, I just look up whatever is in a particular piece and select something from the list of properties I find on the internet. I thought it was pretty clever for a marketing scheme. :D

I started my Advanced Wire Jewelry class last night at the Adult School and had my Montclair State University Orientation this past Saturday. That class starts next Friday. I also have my first meeting with the Bead Society of New Jersey (BSNJ) next Thursday. That will be a beading challenge presented by Kabula Designs.

And I should mention that the gurus at LightWork Designs managed to sidestep GoDaddy's standard format and set up a photo gallery in the Store, so I'll be moving the NOT FOR SALE photos there when I get a chance. That will be less confusing. That was what we originally wanted, but GoDaddy's standard format wasn't cooperating. :\

Take care and, as always, feel free to contact me if you have questions regarding any products you see here or if you'd like to request variations on a particular product, either in stock or no longer in stock. I'll do my best to accommodate you.

Thanks for reading!