There are a lot of different tools you can use to dye yarn, and everyone has their own personal set of these tools that are molded to their specific preference, workflow, dyeing style, dye space, etc. I know I mentioned grabbing a stock pot in the first article I wrote here, and that’s exactly where I began back in 2012. Now, after years of trying different things and having to adapt to various dye spaces, I think I’ve tried a little bit of everything short of a full-blown professional studio setup like some of the ones I’ve seen online. So I’d like to share some different options with you that might be a good next step after the signature stock pot.

The one thing that may most dictate the tools you build with is the heat source you have available. If you’re working out of your kitchen and can use the stovetop, that’s a great place to start—that’s actually how I got started. If you’re wanting to keep the wet wool and vinegar smell out of the house and have opted to work in a garage, shed, carport, etc., then you’ll need some sturdy folding tables and a portable heat source. I’ve used both single burners and big ole turkey roasters successfully. The single burners held stock pots for small batches, and then the turkey roasters were reserved for larger batches like sweater quantities. I had a good flow, and I used that setup in a couple of the places I’ve lived—I dyed yarn in a detached garage and also on a covered porch!

With my current setup, I’ve started using hotel pans on the stovetop. It uses two of the stove's burners, so it heats up pretty quickly, and the shallow shape allows a bit more control over the dyes than I've been able to get in stock pots. That was the biggest reason I liked using the turkey roasters, but hotel pans are less expensive and a bit more adaptable. But depending on your setup, the roasters might be best for you. I would encourage you to look into all of these to get an idea of space needed, cost, usability, etc.

Another important factor is water source. In a kitchen, of course, you will probably be able to use the sink—unless it’s made of something that can be stained with dye. Or in a garage you can use a utility sink. I’ve also used a hose when dyeing outside! You can get a bit creative if needed.

The easiest way to work with the dyes is to mix the powders with water ahead of time. To do that, I use a funnel and plastic squeeze bottles from Dharma Trading Co. They’re awesome for reducing any ongoing contact with the dye powders themselves (which can be messy and hazardous if you inhale them), and they make mixing colors for your formulas consistently a breeze because you’re working with liquid colors that are very easy to measure. To keep things super simple, I decided to use 8oz bottles, and then I decided how concentrated I wanted the dye solution to be. I use the same powder-to-water ratio for all of my dyes. Each dyer has their own preference, of course, but setting a standard of consistency is key to creating reproducible results. 

Oh, and make sure you label the bottles with the powder color so you know what to grab when! That’s a lesson I learnt the hard way, as I only had a handful of colors at the time and thought I’d be able to tell what was what easily enough…but I was wrong. So now I label every bottle with the exact dye powder name from the manufacturer. Oh, and before I forget, if you don’t want the whole artist look with very colorfully-dyed hands, rubber gloves are a good idea—for mixing the dyes AND for when you’re measuring them out later!

Speaking of consistent results, make sure you have a notebook and waterproof pen nearby for writing down what you do. I’ll talk more about that stuff in more detail in another article, but in the mean time, start writing things down!

When I’m prepping the yarn for dyeing, I like to put a zip tie through each hank to keep the loop from getting tangled as I work with it. It makes life so much simpler when you’re trying to move the yarn! Before I dye, I always pre-soak my yarn in warm water with a little bit of vinegar in it, and that requires buckets or tubs of some sort. What I use depends on how much I’m dyeing, so I have an assortment of tubs and buckets I can use.

As far as the post-dyeing process, I’ve learned to have dedicated equipment for each phase. So I have a rack for yarn that’s cooling, and then I have a separate rack placed elsewhere for yarn that’s finished and drying. The reason I don’t just put it out to dry right out of the dye bath is because I like to post-soak my yarn once it’s cool. It helps get the vinegar smell out. I don’t like my customers to open their package and get hit in the face with that strong odor! But if I put it in the post-soak while it’s piping hot, the cool soak water will shock the wool and make it not-so-happy (another hard-learnt lesson). So I let it cool, then I soak it, then I squeeze it out and hang it to dry on a separate rack to help me remember what’s finished and what’s not. You’ll probably want a couple of racks handy, and you’ll want to have several bowls and buckets available to transport wet yarn and post-soak it if desired.

The rest of the main tools you'll need are common kitchen items, like hot pads, oven mitts, tongs, measuring spoons, things like that. I have a full set of tools that are only used for dyeing, just like my pots, as my professional acid dyes are not food-safe. If you’re working with food safe dyes like Kool Aid and food coloring, you can relax about this if you wish, but generally I would still recommend having a separate set for dyeing.

Now that I’ve run through everything in a rather long-winded manner (thank you for hanging in there if you’ve read all this!), I’ll include a simple shopping list for you that will zero in on the basics (other than the yarn, dye, and mordant) that will get you started. :)

Pots / pans

Measuring spoons

Tongs

Stir spoon

Paper towels

Zip ties

Oven mitts

Rubber gloves

Bowls / buckets / tubs

Racks

Plastic squeeze bottles

Note-taking supplies

From here, you can take this and tweak it to be what you need. Have fun experimenting and growing into your own personal style and workflow as a dyer! And always remember that your creativity is unique, and there will always be a place for your ideas to shine!

About Me

Continuing with the previous article’s format of “defining” certain terms, I wanted to give a bit of info on various dyeing techniques and the finished products can be created with them. I know that there are techniques out there that I’m not going to cover, but my goal here is to cover the most commonly used ones. That way as you venture into this colorful world, you can better interpret the ideas you have into colorways you and others will love.

Note: I don’t have photos for every single technique, but I will include photos of what I can. They will all be photos I’ve taken myself, either of my own hand-dyes or others, and I will credit other brands as necessary.

Gradient: a gradual shift between two or more colors. This can be accomplished within a single skein with long color sections or an injection process. You can also create a gradient across multiple skeins, as pictured below. However you decide to divvy up the yarn itself, whether within a single skein or a set of skeins, you create the gradient itself by mixing the dyes in changing ratios that shift the hues from one to the next. If you want a quick color change, use a lower fraction, like 1/3: first cup would be 100% color A, the second cup would be 50% color A and 50% color B, and the third cup would be 100% color B. Then for a more gradual color change, use a higher fraction, like 1/6: first cup is 100% color A, second cup is 80%/20% color A/B, third cup is 60%/40% color A/B, fourth cup is 40%/60% color A/B, fifth cup is 20%/80% color A/B, and the final cup is 100% color B. Lots of math, but if you measure carefully and keep good notes, you'll be able to create seamlessly flowy gradients--and reproduce them if desired!

Hand-painted: the term used for the process of applying dyes to the yarn by hand in various patterns, color sequences, etc., to create a variegated colorway. You can use a foam brush, you can pour the dye out of a measuring cup, or apply it in other ways as you prefer. You generally use a flat pan of some type and just enough water to heat set the dye, but you intentionally avoid completely submerging the yarn, which gives you a higher degree of control over where the dyes go. This also creates starker color changes for a higher contrast look.

(photo by me of Cameo Yarns colorway Prim)

Injection dyeing: this is a fun process you can use to create a gradient effect within a single skein. First up, wind the hank using a ball-winder instead of leaving it in a loop. Then put it in the pot to make sure it's completely saturated. Then you use a giant syringe or baster full of dye to inject the color into the center of the skein. It will slowly bleed outward within the ball, creating a dark-to-light transition. You can include a second color by putting dye into the pot around the ball and letting it slowly bleed into the ball. 

Kettle-dyed: this process involves fully submerging the yarn in the dye bath and having extra water in the pot to leave room for the yarn to freely move in the pot and absorb the dye. It can be single-colored (semi-solid/tonal) or multi-colored (variegated) as desired, and it gives a more watercolor effect to the colors than hand-painting generally does.

Ombré: this type of colorway typically involves one very long, gradual transition between a light and mid or dark colorway. It can also be called a gradient technically.

Over-dyed: if you have some yarn you're not in love with anymore, or maybe your mad science experiment in the dye pots didn't turn out quite right, you don't have to toss the yarn! You can over-dye it and revitalize it! It's the same process as dyeing it up the first time, you'll just be a touch more limited on what you can do depending on the colors in the yarn that you're wanting to dye over. Light colors are easy and should be fine with mid-tones. If it's a mid-tone yarn, you'll be looking at dyeing it with darker colors unless you want to change the color by "mixing" the new dye with the existing tone. It's truly an experiment, so you'll have to see for yourself how the colors play with each other!

Self-striping: when dye is applied in super long color sequences that when knitted, it creates a striped fabric without having to mess with changing colors and carrying yarn or weaving in a bunch of ends. Very popular for socks!

Semi-solid: when the yarn is all the same color, but there are light and dark variations within the hue rather than being completely solid. This occurs when different parts of the hank absorb the dye at different rates, creating places that are more saturated, yielding darker tones, or less saturated, yielding lighter tones.

Solid: an even color application without light and dark variation. 

Speckled: a technique that creates spots of color on the yarn that add a splash of color and fun texture.

Tonal: same product as semi-solid, just a different way to say it.

Variegated: this term is used for colorways with more than one dye color. This can be accomplished via multiple processes as outlined above--hand-painted or kettle dyed.

I think I've covered the most common terms and the most widely-used processes in dyeing yarn, but if there's something I've forgotten, definitely leave a comment so I can add to this list! I hope this gives you a strong foundation from which you can truly build a love of this craft and enjoy the work of your hands and imagination!

About Me

In my last post, I tried not to throw around too much lingo… I think I succeeded, but now I’d like to talk about said lingo so that in my future writings, I can be all technical and stuff. It’s a lot more fun, and it makes me sound like I know what I’m doing. And then if I share it with you, then when you talk about it, you’ll sound like you know what you’re doing too, right? See, I’ve got your back. ;)

My real goal in decoding the terms for you is to deepen your understanding of dyeing itself. There is a lot of information to be found in simply knowing what things are called, and the why behind it. I won’t pretend to know ALL the why stuff, but I’ll share what I do know. It will still help demystify the art of dyeing and give you a better handle on it.

As I’ve been thinking about how to organize this list, I thought at first I would do it alphabetically, but I’m reconsidering because I want the most important building blocks you’ll need to be at the top. That way you won’t have to sift through it all and ask yourself what is truly relevant to you right now, at the beginning of your dyeing journey. Maybe it’ll help with the head-spinning sensation you might have from all the information I’m going to be throwing at you!

Ready? Then let’s get started…

Terms for Yarn’s Various States

Hank: This term is typically used to refer to the loop of un-dyed (bare) yarn you will be starting with. It’s just a loop, and it usually has a few ties to help it not tangle during the dye process.

Skein: Once a hank is dyed, dried, and twisted (or in my case, braided), we refer to it as a skein. It’s a form of measurement, if you will, and you’ll probably know this from working with yarn in general. The standard weight for a single skein is 100g / 3.5oz. Some dyers use larger skeins or smaller ones depending on their preference, or based on the need of their customers.

Ball/Cake: Again, I’m pretty sure you’ll already know what this one is. A ball or cake refers to a skein of yarn that’s been wound for working with. It’s hard to carry a loop of yarn with you when you’re working, so winding it into a ball or cake makes it easier. There are different tools used to wind yarn, such as a ball winder and swift. I use those for higher yardage yarns since it’s so fast, and the result is what I personally call a cake because of its shape. For thicker yarns with much lower yardage, I do admit to enjoying the process of hand-winding it into a traditional ball. It’s a quiet, meditative process, and I get to truly admire the yarn I’m working with for what it is, pre-knitting.

Terms for Basic Dyeing Ingredients

Base: If you’ve shopped indie yarn brands, you’ll know that they refer to the various types of yarn they carry as “bases.” It’s made of the various yarns’ characteristics, like weight/yardage, fiber content, plies (the number of individual strands of fiber twisted together into one strand), etc.

Mordant: This term is used for the substance that causes the dye to be absorbed by, and adhere to, the yarn you’re working with. There are so very many different mordants out there that it does make my head spin, I’ll admit! And each one can produce different color results depending on the variables involved in the dye process—temperature, fiber being dyed, dyes being used, etc. As I mentioned in my previous article, my personal experience thus far only includes two mordants: white vinegar and citric acid. But I’ve read about others, such as copper and iron, as more natural mordants.

Dye: I know this is self-explanatory, but this is the colorful part! This is where the magic happens because it’s what enables you to take a thought, place, food, or memory and turn it into a tangible piece of art that you can use to craft something lovely. The process of mixing dyes is one of my favorite parts. Watching colors transform from their normal state into the hues I pictured in my head is mesmerizing. I could go on and on about that, but I won’t. I’ll spare you. (wink) As far as the dyes themselves, there are quite a few options out there. I mentioned in my first article that I use acid dyes from Jacquard and Dharma Trading Co. because I work with primarily animal and synthetic fibers. Again, the use of the word acid denotes the type of mordant, being acid in this case, used to adhere the color to the yarn.

Colorway: The colorway is the product of all the other ingredients coming together. It’s the finished piece of art that’s ready to be enjoyed in a project. The base, mordant, and dye have all interacted and decided to be friends so we can knit, crochet, and weave with gorgeous colors! While we can refer to it as a “color” of yarn rather than a “colorway” technically, and some people do, it does sound more intentional to call it a colorway for some reason. Perhaps that’s just me, but I’ve always felt like that as a dyer.

That’s a lot of info, so I’m going to leave it at this for now. Make sure you come back soon, though, because I’ve got more to share with you!

About Me

I’m going to make a small assumption as the start of my writings here, and that is: if you’re thinking about dyeing your own yarn, it’s probably because you’ve been working with yarn and would like to dip your toes into having more creative power over the yarn and colors you work with. 

You might simply want a fun craft project, like a hands-on experience that gives you a look into the world of dyeing, or to teach your kids about color. Maybe you have this perfect shade in mind for that sweater you’re itching to cast on, but you’ve looked everywhere and can’t find it. Or maybe you’re like me, and you look around this big beautiful world and see the colors begging to be brought to life, and you want to express yourself through this very tactile medium.

Ultimately it doesn’t matter the exact reason you want to learn about dyeing yarn, I suppose, because it all stems from curiosity, and it all leads to this same starting point. That’s where it started for me, and it certainly took me a long way—I started a hand-dyed yarn company!

I know that standing at the beginning of this can be really intimidating, so my goal is to help make it a little easier for you. The first question I would like to answer is: how do I start dyeing yarn? Well, it’s easy…

Find some bare yarn & some dyes

Decide on a color

Dye it!

Oh, but there are so many details that go into each step! Easy yes, but simple, not quite. I’ll break down those three steps so you can get a more complete picture.

First, the bare yarn. My #1 recommendation is this very web site, Dyer Supplier. I have squished their lovely yarns, I’ve seen how well they take dyes, and above all of that, I’ve interacted with the people behind it and am so pleased with their customer-oriented mentality. They have single sample skeins you can get to start out with, which means you don’t have to break the bank. If you know the fibers you enjoy working with, you can find bases easily on the site.

Now fast forward to when you’ve got some bare yarn picked out and on its way to you… it’s time to decide on dyes. There are quite a few different types of dyes out there, but you want to make sure you’re choosing dyes that will work with the fibers you’re using. 

We’ll keep it simple for the sake of this starter article and say that you’re dyeing animal and synthetic fibers. So a few common fibers in that sector are merino, cashmere, and nylon. A familiar combo, yes? Dyes most widely used for these fibers are called acid dyes, which at first might cause some concern—isn’t acid dangerous? Well, in general, yes. But in the case of yarn-dyeing, the acid refers to what we use to cause the dye to adhere to the fiber. The two options I personally have used are distilled white vinegar and citric acid. Each one reacts a touch differently with the dyes, so they produce slightly different color tones. But more on that later—again, for the sake of simplicity in this article, let’s just say you went to your grocery store and picked up a jug of white vinegar for a couple dollars. 

Oh, better grab a stock pot to use while you’re there! You’ll want a stainless steel pot you use ONLY for dyeing, not to be confused with your food cooking stuff. The dyes I’m going to recommend to start aren’t food safe, so make sure everyone in the house knows not to grab your dye pot for their next batch of homemade soup.

For the dyes, the two brands I recommend are Jacquard and Dharma Trading Co. I’ve used both, and I enjoy working with both. Dharma has a bigger selection and better prices, but Jacquard is available at more online stores. It’s up to you what you’d like to try. Of course, you could always use Koolaid for the cheapest and most simple option!

From there, it’s basically a science experiment. Mixing dyes with water to make the right concentration, mixing the different colors with each other to get the exact hue you want, making sure you have a good balance of vinegar and dye for the amount of yarn you’re dyeing… That’s where it gets fun and magical. The dye has a mind of its own at times, which sounds funny (and is really just chemistry at work) but makes dyeing interesting. It’s a rewarding craft, and I hope from what I’ve covered here, you have a basic picture of how you can start easily and affordably. 

Thinking about pursuing natural dyeing your yarns? These are some of our top picks for great books on the subject. 

The Modern Natural Dyer, by Kristine Vejar

This beautifully photographed guide outlines basic dyeing processes, recording and refining your dye experiments, and covers working with both full materials and powdered dyestuffs. 

Harvesting Color, by Rebecca Burgess

A regional and seasonal foray into natural dyeing that focuses on harvested dyes in the United States.

Botanical Color at Your Fingertips, by Rebecca Desnos

Available in both digital and print, this natural dye book is UK based and talks about an unusual mordant: soy milk (or soya milk as the author calls it). 

Natural Color, by Sasha Duerr

Written by dye professor Sasha Duerr, this book outlines a mix of different plant, wood, and material dyes, both fugitive and bonding. 

Wild Color, by Jenny Dean

A comprehensive dye book that outlines several mordants, modifiers, as well as cold, hot, or solar dyeing methods, in addition to guides on dyes themselves. 

The Art and Craft of Natural Dyeing, by J. N. Liles

Considered the ‘bible’ of historical natural dye recipes and methods. 

Natural Dyeing, by Jackie Crook

A wonderful introduction to natural dyeing at home.

Natural Dyeing with Plants, by  Franziska Ebner and Romana Hasenöhrl

Getting started dyeing your yarns using acid dyes? These are some of our top picks for great books on the subject. 

Teach Yourself Visually Hand Dyeing, by Barbara Perry

A beginner’s approach to hand dyeing with step by step visual instructions.

Yarns to Dye For, by Kathleen Taylor

A guide to dyeing patterned and self striping yarns.

The Yarn Lover’s Guide to Hand Dyeing, by Linda La Belle

An introductory guide to hand dyeing yarns. 

4 Easy Steps to Tie Dyeing Yarn & Fiber, by Tulasi Zimmer

A very basic guide to dyeing variegated yarns.

Dyeing to Spin & Knit, by Felicia Lo

Sweet Georgia’s lead dyer and founder talks techniques and dye methods.

The Beginner’s Guide to Dyeing Fur, Feathers, and Wool using Acid Dyes, by Gary Bevers

A digital-only dye guide. 

Hand Dyeing Yarn and Fleece, by Gail Callahan

In the last post in this Dye Color Theory series, we talked about basic color theory and ended on a discussion about diluting (tinting) or darkening (shading) colors. While adding black is the easiest way to create a darker version of a dye, it can be a bit tricky with acid dyes, as most acid dye blacks lean cool and add blue to colors that you might want to create a semi-neutral for. To get deeper into that, we need to understand what semi neutrals are. 

A semi-neutral is a color that lies within the transition of one color to another. These colors have nuance and depth and serve to highlight bright, true colors. When you add a semi-neutral to a palette for a single skein, it allows the brighter, true colors to pop. Semi neutrals also occur accidentally when layering color--more on that in a bit. Here are a few examples of semi neutral transitions:

Notice how the first two blues to oranges look kind of like soft teals and duck-egg blues? Or how a red-orange is created by adding a little green, or a mustard by adding a little more green to the red? If you took these color transitions and moved them further out, with more colors in between, and included adding a little black, you’d see even more color opportunities! 

Color theory comes into play in really practical ways when planning a colorway to dye. Let’s start with an inspiration photo from Unsplash:

The primary colors in this photo are purple and green, right? So we’ve created a semi-neutral transition line using those: 

But if we look closer at this picture and pull out other colors we see, you can tell that this photo’s depth is created by not just tints and shades of purple and green, and not just by semi-neutrals created by purple and green, but the addition of a few more colors: 

If we wanted to capture the look of this painting, we’d want to include those too, right? So we’d think about how those will layer with the others. Some layering experiments are easy to think about: if we have a green section of our skein, it would be easy to layer in that mustard yellow and add some nuance there, because those colors are analagous: they blend well together. Likewise, if some of that soft pink touches the soft purple, they’ll also blend well together. But what about if any of that pale yellow layers over the purple? 

As a dyer, it’s so important to know your color theory! Of course you’re familiar with the color wheel, and you know what colors work well next to each other and harmonize based on their positioning, but being a dyer is a lot more than having ‘basic’ color theory knowledge. It’s all about color layering, too. Today on the blog, we’re going to run through basic color theory, and in part 2, we’ll look at layering and how it works when planning colors of yarn to dye. 

Here’s the basic color wheel. As you know, if you divide the wheel in half, you get warm, and cool colors: 

You probably also know that colors directly across each other on the color wheel are complementary, meaning they enhance each other visually with high contrast: 

And colors that form a triad on the color wheel also have great impact together (these are called tertiary colors, and include the primary colors): 

Colors that sit next to each other on the wheel, like the yellows and oranges in the warm half of the wheel, are called ‘analogous’. If it touches on the wheel, it will get along pretty well. 

When planning a colorway, though, there are additional colors outside of the ‘pure’ colors we see in the wheel. Tints, the lightened version of color, and Shades, the darkened version of a color, play a big part in dyeing, too: 

And why you want to be there!

Way back in Instagram History, there was a “Popular” page, where the most popular posts on Instagram could be viewed and it was usually a mess of celebrities, cats, and memes, all posted by the same few enormous accounts. Years have past and the Instagram algorithm, an ever-evolving machine learning that analyzes each user’s Instagram behavior, has ushered in a new era of discovering new content and new users. Enter the Explore page.

Instagram’s algorithm knows exactly what you (will) like.

Instagram is paying attention to each of your engagements and it’s algorithm is constantly learning how to better deliver you content that is relevant to your interests. In case you’re curious what all they’re tracking, here’s a short list of what we know, as Instagram surely keeps plenty of their aces hidden:

Likes and comments on any piece media inside the platform.

How quickly you’re liking and commenting.

How unique your comments are.

How frequently you engage with certain accounts and certain subject-matter posts over others.

Clicks on ads.

Follows and unfollows, and how quickly this happens.

Post frequency and consistency.

Use of posting applications that are either push-notification oriented or publish automatically (which will get you shadow-banned, so be sure you’re not violating Instagram’s terms of service!)

How often you open the app and how long you stay in the app each time.

How long you spend looking at a photo or video.

Whose Instagram Stories you are watching and what subject matter you favor within Stories the most.

How frequently and consistently you use Instagram stories.

How frequently and consistently you interact with the comments on your post.

And so much more.

By tracking all of this information, Instagram gets to know what kind of user you are, what you like, and what you’d like to see more of. If you head over to your Explore page after you’ve liked a fair amount of similar-subject photos or followed a handful of similar accounts, you’ll see the page morph to include more of that subject-matter.

How does Instagram choose whose posts are featured on the Explore page?

I’d assert that the majority of posts on anyone’s Explore page are deemed “quality,” either by their subject matter (great photo, artwork, or video), or by the sheer engagement the post received (thousands of likes and follows). Sometimes, especially in niche markets, users with only a few thousand followers who are on a streak of consistently quality posting with high engagement will have posts hit the Explore page and see a surge.

What do these Explore page-featured accounts have in common?

Positive, consistent engagement, either in super high quantities or with large following accounts. When an account with thousands of followers engages with a smaller account, that recipient of that engagement will likely receive a boost from the Instagram algorithm. Why would the algorithm prioritize an account that has fans with a big following?

First and foremost, Instagram is built on trust.

When a user reaches a large following, deemably over 10k, with consistent engagement and growth within their community, the algorithm trusts that account more than those that are smaller. Trust is relative, as we’re talking about a machine, but that trust is a prioritization of that person’s content because it will most likely be genuine and quality.

There are exceptions, like the celebrity rag photos that receive thousands of likes because they’re perpetuating drama, but for the most part, the content creators who are consistently posting good work are being rewarded with more visibility and therefore, more opportunity for engagement and growth.

How to boost the algorithm’s trust in your content:

If you’re Instagram needs a little refresh or you’d like to kick your growth into high-gear, implement these five tips to see a surge in your engagement:

1. This should go without saying, but publish quality content. Quality content is clear, on-brand or within your established style, has a related caption, and is relevant to your followers. Remember, your following is your target market and your posts are the product they are consuming. Feed them well and they will return again and again.

2. Post when your followers are paying attention. My favorite app for determining when my followers are most active is Prime, available for iPhone and Android. The app analyzes when your followers are most active and engaged with your posts, so you can use this information to inform when you publish your content.

3.  Create content ahead of time and publishing with a scheduling app to remain consistent. UNUM is available for iPhone and Android and it’s my favorite (free!) app to pre-schedule and design my Instagram feed. I call it design because I can upload posts, add captions and hashtags, then arrange my pre-made posts into a grid pattern that looks the best. Then, I schedule each posts accordingly and publish them when I receive the push notification.

4. Use Instagram to its fullest:

Post frequently.

Engage with Instagram Stories and publish your own.

Comment back.

Use @mentions, #hashtags, geotags, and Insights.

Engage with posts in the hashtags you’re adding to your own posts.

Engage with the Explore page and follow new accounts you genuinely enjoy.

5.  Tag niche and subject-relevant accounts with large followings in your photos. Tread carefully when tagging large accounts in your photos, but do so when you’re in any way engaging with or paying homage to their brand. If a large account sees your tag and engages with your post (to show their appreciation for being in their community and because they like your work), you’ll not only receive a bump in trust from the algorithm, but you’ll appear in that account’s Activity Page. Followers of that account may be surfing their Activity page to see what new, great profiles they can discover.

Instagram’s latest algorithm update + how to enjoy to the fullest.

A few times each year, Instagram updates their algorithm, AKA the wizardry that organizes your feed, helps you find new content, and determines how many (or how few) users see your content. The algorithm is usually a source of stress for business owners, whose primary complaint is that “if you aren’t paying for ads, your posts aren’t getting seen.” While this may be true for parent company Facebook, this couldn’t be farther from the truth about Instagram!

How Instagram’s algorithm creates your experience

The content - photos and videos - that you engage with, the accounts that you follow, and the hashtags you follow and use determine how your Instagram feed is displayed. Whether you follow 50 people or 5000 people, you’re only seeing a small fraction of what your following is sharing.

Each time you like or comment on a photo in your feed, the Instagram algorithm recognizes this engagement and prioritizes photos by that same person and that have similar subject-matter over the rest of your following’s posts. I engage frequently with 10 - 12 people, so I see their posts first, at the top of my feed, whenever I open the app.

Your Explore Page is curated just for you.

In addition to content posted by the users you follow, your Explore page is a cornucopia of photos, video, and Instagram Stories that the algorithm is certain you will like. Instagram uses machine learning to analyze your behavior within the app, and customizes the content it choose for you, especially inside the Explore feed, based on all of your activity.

Say you recently followed a few illustrators, following a trail of “Similar Accounts” and discovering new artists. Your Explore feed will shortly update to include not just more artists, but illustrators who are publishing similar-style work and may even be profiles you viewed, but chose not to follow.

To learn more about the Explore page, read our [latest post on why you definitely want your business page showing up in the Explore page]!

How the algorithm delivers (or doesn’t deliver) your content to your followers

Just as the algorithm customizes your feed based on the accounts you engage with the most, and the content you seem to like best, Instagram determines whether or not they will deliver your content to the people who follow you based on the same principles. If a users continues to engage with your posts after they’ve followed you, and especially if they engage with similar-content and similarly styled posts from other users, your posts will continue to land closer to the top of your followers’ feeds.

Seen a dip in engagement lately? Or feel like you can’t break through? Lack of engagement from your followers leads Instagram’s algorithm to believe that you aren’t creating quality content, and therefore pushes your posts lower down on everyone’s feed. This can happen if you are inconsistent in your posting, publishing at inopportune times, and if your content is - unfortunately to say - not very good.

If you’re worried your content isn’t up to par, visit our comprehensive [guide to taking better Instagram photos].

Try these tips to increase engagement on your posts and boost their standing in your followers’ feeds:

1.  Publish quality content consistently. By improving your photography, keeping a consistent style and subject-theme, and posting regularly (almost everyday, if you can manage), you’ll surely see a boost in engagement.

2.  Engage with those who engage with you. While it’s nice to have friends and family consistently supporting your posts, building a community outside your immediate network is crucial to your growth and success on Instagram. When a new person follows you, head over to their profile and like a few of their photos. When someone comments on your post, comment back and visit their page to show some love. I’m not suggesting you ‘follow back’ every person who follows you, but build trust and community within your network to improve your sustainable engagement.

3. Write captions people will actually read. Some of us are scrollers, some of us are readers. Regardless of your personal Instagram style, put thought into your captions for the people who will read them - which are more users than you might think!

How the algorithm delivers your content to new people and non-followers

Growing your Instagram following might be the best thing you focus on for your business + brand this year. Instagram’s algorithm is one of the most powerful advertising tools when used correctly. Think of it as a word-of-mouth robot that knows 800 million people and only shows your content to people who will actually care about it, because they’re proven to have cared about similar content in the past.

If you haven’t heard this enough yet, I’ll reiterate: HASHTAGS. Think of hashtags like a community - by applying the hashtag to your photo, you’re entering your photo into the pool of posts by hundreds, thousands, or millions of people. Anyone who clicks on that hashtag has the opportunity to see your post. While Instagram allows you to use up to 30 hashtags, we’re starting to see that using only a few targeted, specific hashtags that relate to communities in which you’re cultivating a network, are most effective (and attractive) for regular posting.

Learn more about hashtags in our Hashtag How-To post.

Geotag your photos, as specifically or as vaguely as you want. Have you ever surfed the geotag (the location that appears at the top left hand corner of an Instagram post) and marveled at all the different perspectives, angles, and photos users have shared? By geotagging your posts, users who are interested in that specific area will see your post in the location feed, and potentially discover your profile.

The Explore page is where the algorithm shines, as it is an aggregate of posts (which expand into specific topic-like feeds) based on a user’s direct interests. If a user is interested in your style, craft, business, product, or lifestyle, they are the users you want to see your posts. By increasing the overall engagement of your posts, you are increasing the chance that your post is featured on the Explore page of a user who doesn’t follow you (yet). There isn’t a way to track if you’re featured on the Explore page, but we’ll share how once the option is released!

Stuck in a rut or in an uncomfortable growth phase? Overwhelm at the sight of your to do list, no joy anymore at the dye pots and terror when thinking about posting on Instagram? Hanna Lisa Haferkamp shares when and why it might be a good idea to find yourself a business coach.

You’re stuck, and you don’t know what to do.

I firmly believe that a business doesn’t have an “end point”. Every business changes and evolves and we need to change with it. Often, though, these change periods are hard and messy and scary and we’re deeply uncomfortable, heck, even unhappy, when we’re in the midst of them. Sometimes, these periods come by themselves. Other times we realize that we’re stuck in processes that no longer serve us, in a structure that is too rigid for our current life or with a product line we no longer love and we are the ones who need to kickstart a change.

Dealing with these changes is scary, but necessary part of building your own company. But: It’s really hard to do on your own. Why? Because it’s almost impossible for us to have the distance to our own businesses that’s necessary to figure out what needs to change about them.

When we’re stuck in our day to day business, it’s hard to have the headspace to think about change. Photo Credit: David Schreiber

Having a coach by your side who can gently guide you through these hard phases and provide a much-needed outside perspective (as cliché as that might sound) can work wonders! They’ll help you figure out where exactly you need to go for you to find joy again in your business and how to get there - and if they’re really good, they’ll also build up systems and structures with you that help you deal with these growth phases on your own the next time around.

You’re overwhelmed, and you don’t know how to fix it.

The beautiful and at the same time terrifying thing about a lot of the small creative companies we’re building is that we’re creating our jobs ourselves. What we do didn’t exist in this form 20 or 10 and not even 5 years ago. It can (and does) often feel overwhelming to figure out all the bits and pieces of running a business on our own, and sometimes there are things we’re just not very good at.

A business coach helps you deal with this overwhelm in a few very practical ways: They can help you prioritize which bits and pieces are really important for you right now. They can challenge you to look at outsourcing the things that need to get done, but that you simply don’t have time for. They can help you find someone who can do the things you’re not very good at for you - and tell you if you really need to do them.

A good business coach helps you set up structures to deal with overwhelm early on - like a whiteboard to keep track of goals and to dos. Photo Credit: Hanna Lisa Haferkamp

You’re lonely.

Hear me out - I’m not saying you should pay someone just to listen to you for an hour. But the reality is that running your own creative business is hard, not only because the day-to-day work can be exhausting, but also because we very rarely have people directly in our life who really get what we’re doing. If we’re lucky, we have a partner or a friend or a local business owner group who can relate to our struggles and ideas, but more often than not I’ve found that that’s not the case.

So having a coach who functions as a sounding board for your ideas, someone who you can ask if the inkling to extend your product line is crazy or whether selling wholesale makes sense for you, can work wonders! A regular check in with a coach also helps you stay accountable to your goals and plans - and takes out a bit of the loneliness of creative business owner life.

Photo Credit: Jill de Dieuleveult

Continuing our series on crowdfunding success from this post, today we’re diving into the aspects behind getting the word out--one of the biggest challenges for most Kickstarter campaigns! 

Strategize authentic cross-platform engagement in the primary places your community gathers.

We live in the age of lean entrepreneurship, and marketing is not exempt from this trend. What are the top three ways you can reach your customers? One of these ways will always be a website. You can grab a $12 domain and a free Tumblr theme and have a simple one-page informative website in a day, or you can go bigger with a Squarespace or Shopify eCommerce site if you plan to scale. Make sure your website complements your Kickstarter campaign and redirects them to your funding page at every available opportunity, without being spammy.

This leaves two more avenues through which to reach your customers. While I am partial to email, I know that not every business model incorporates an email list. What’s most important is that you are reaching the majority of your community with the fewest variable touchpoints. If your market lives on Twitter and Snapchat, focus only on those. If your community loves email newsletters and gathers on Instagram, focus only on those.

The content for these platforms will come primarily from your campaign, so engineer your media and content to be re-purposed thoughtfully across platforms.

When strategizing for cross-platform marketing, you’re establishing pathways to your story, which ultimately leads to your rewards. Each platform should work together, meaning they lead to one another, sharing complimentary stories on complimentary days and times, and all maintain the same brand-image.

Generate buzz with ambassadors, articles, and word-of-mouth marketing.

Just like a brick-and-mortar business, you want a line at the door on opening day. By pre-planning everything above, you’ve set the stage for a successful launch. What will bring your launch to life are the voices who already believe in your project sharing their passion with their personal networks.

Three things to look for as you create your list of word-of-mouth community ambassadors:

Do you and your target ambassador have complimentary or similar markets? And, does their market contain potential customer segments you’d like as part of your brand’s community? 

Does your project benefit the ambassador and their market?

Do you the resources and time to capitalize on the ambassador’s promotion?

Rather than going the promotional road entirely on your own, bringing 10 - 15 ‘ambassadors,’ which can be brands, individuals, or platforms into your marketing mix will amplify your message indefinitely. Diversify your ambassador pool with blogs, social media influencers, friends and family, and brand-faced platforms who can speak plainly, knowledgeably, and personally about your project to their audience. This may include sending product or a sample to individuals, leveraging connections for interviews and videos, and taking a leap of faith into someone’s inbox.

When you believe in your project, and others feel your passion through your communication, they will surprise you with their generosity and support.

Review this plan with your team and with a trusted advisor.

Measure twice, cut once. Once you have your business plan, operating budget, reward pool, compelling media, curated project page, cross-platform marketing strategy, and a confirmed list of campaign ambassadors, you are ready to take the plunge.

During your campaign, you’ll act on all the plans you created, solve the problems that inevitably arise, and continue to promote your campaign as much as possible. You’ll be chopping through your goal with a sharp axe, and your plan will create mental and functional space for your team to work on what matters during your campaign:

Updates.

The updates section inside of Kickstarter is beneficial in so many ways - mainly, it’s your first touchpoint for new marketing before you distribute the messaging across your platforms and ambassadors. By creating your updates for Kickstarter, you’re communicating with your supporters and showcasing your continued commitment to an evolving project page. Then, syndicate that message to your website, your social channels, and your direct audience communication as fitting.

Updates are a place not just for logistics and specifics, but a place of celebration and gratitude.

Kickstarter is first-and-foremost a place of community support.

Thank your community. Praise your community. And celebrate with them the success of each project milestone! Good luck on your crowdfunding adventures.

Thinking of pursuing some crowdfunding for a new product line, collection, big collaboration, book, or project? Amelia Bartlett shares her tips for building a successful crowdfunding campaign, regardless of your end goals. Even if you don’t want to pursue crowdfunding, you’ll learn about business plans and structuring budgets in this informative piece.

Hosting a Kickstarter campaign is akin to your business receiving funding from a lender or investment organizations - you’re asked to present your work, your team, and your plan. The platform makes it incredibly straightforward to set up and display your project attractively. However, the amount of planning and creation that goes into a Kickstarter campaign can be daunting and overlooked in lieu of just going for it.

I want to see your Kickstarter surpass it’s goal. Utilize this list, garnered from a number of unsuccessful and successful Kickstarter experiences, to plan your campaign far ahead of its launch date.

“If I had five minutes to chop down a tree, I’d spend the first three sharpening my axe.” -- Abraham Lincoln

Start with a business plan.  

Business plans are stuffy, long, require lots of math, and can be quite redundant. My favorite is the Business Model Canvas, which can be drawn and completed on one big piece of paper. Or, and this is my favorite way, drawn and redrawn over again on an erasable white board. By starting with a business plan, you’re starting with a road map to success. I promise it’s worth it.

If you don’t feel confident venturing into business planning on your own, do an internet search for the nearest community Entrepreneurship center. These organizations typically provide free business counseling or classes and can help you form your plan of action within a few meetings.

Know your pitfalls and points-of-failure before they happen, and plan to solve problems that arise.

Blindspots, pitfalls, and problems are inevitable. When I ran my first unsuccessful Kickstarter campaign for a self-published magazine, I couldn’t have perceived that I’d be traveling in Brazil during the biggest, spontaneous opportunity for marketing and that my printer would deliver 50 books whose bindings broke immediately upon opening the product, claiming this wasn’t their problem.

Inside your project dashboard is a place to list potential points of failure called Risks and Challenges. It doesn’t feel great to share your shortcoming with potential customers, but on Kickstarter, your customers are also your investors. They want to know that their money will be well-utilized and that the team in which they are investing is confident and agile.

Ask yourself, what could go wrong in these areas?

During your project funding period - what if your marketing doesn’t work as intended, your collaborators fall through, or your production timeline changes? 

Product production, packaging and delivery.

Team conflict or difficulty making deadlines, especially if your team is nationally or globally distributed. 

Legal, licensing, and logistical activities. 

To fully understand all possible points of failure, list each moving piece in your organization, your supply chain, and your accountable partners. Know how each piece functions and how each piece could break. Prepare your team for inevitable hiccups and outline briefly and confidently the top 3 - 5 that will impact your customers with a pre-plan for how to overcome the challenge.

Understand your complete financial landscape before establishing your Kickstarter budget.

Whether your aim is to sell self-published comic books or launch a six-figure-valued clothing line, understanding the financial landscape before you’re set to launch is key. The funding goal is the target amount for which we’re solving, and understanding how each working piece will weigh into that total will take a bit of math (and showing your work).

Here’s a list of expenses to keep in mind: 

Salary for yourself and your team. I wouldn’t suggest running your Kickstarter for free. The best teams are the ones that are completely focused on their business, and setting yourself up for post-funding success is key. How much will you and your team need to fulfill each of your post-funding promises? What is the timeline on those post-funding promises and how much will you need for the duration of that timeline, until you’re selling on your own?

Costs of: Production, marketing collateral creation, social media advertising, returns and production gaps. These are your general business expenses, but more importantly is the timeline on which you budget. Know your timeline for the campaign (30 - 60 days), your production season (which is the first date post-funding to the last date of initial product delivery), production season two planning and development, and the cost of producing your second ‘season’ or round of products for your cultivated market.

Taxes, which vary in rate by location but are completely necessary to prepare for with Kickstarter. Your Kickstarter earnings are taxes, so be sure you’re utilizing the money appropriately with a business bank account, an accounting software, and keeping your receipts for end-of-year filing ease.

Create rewards your community will love.

At this point, it’s imperative to know your community. Your community is the group of early-adopters who will see your campaign, know who you or your brand are already, and be the first to support you. They are your inner circle. Brainstorm a long, far-reaching list of what this inner circle would value from you.

It’s common for Kickstarter campaigns to offer their products as rewards, and this is a great strategy for those sharing products. Additionally, and especially if your products come at a high price-point, developing rewards that allow a low-cost entry point will help generate even more buzz as your campaign grows. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Stickers that represent your brand, your products, or most effectively, your mission. Your mission is the collective understanding between your brand and its followers, what you are both committed to creating.

Graphically-branded or decorated swag such as tee shirts and tote bags. Most of us are pretty over the lame, throw-away cheap swag we get loaded with at conventions, so choose items that are useful and worth enjoying over time.

A personal mention in a plaque, printed brochure or book, or on the “Sponsors” page at your website. This is warm-and-fuzzy option for aunts and uncles, friends of friends who will throw $5 - $15 dollars at your idea, and for folks who are unsure yet if they want to dive into your brand.

Create the imperative elements of an engaging Kickstarter campaign:

What made Kickstarter special from the beginning is its storytelling-focused platform. Inside the campaign setup page, you’re prompted to upload videos, media, quotes, and various engaging pieces of content to drive-home the message of your brand. Consider these elements to be your commercial, your press-release, and the foundation of your marketing.

Create your content once, repurpose extensively.

Connect with talented, brand-aligned media creators and plan your content.

Boulder Denim did this stupendously with their video, photos, graphic design, and layout of their project page. Which none of what they have created requires a massive video studio or huge design budget - most of the photos were taken in spaces the team had access to utilizing the talent and gear of friends - their attention to detail paid of in an 800% funding of their $15,000 goal.

Here’s a checklist for your project page, and be sure to add anything you believe to be additionally necessary:

Place your product in the environment in which you hope your ideal customer with maximize their enjoyment of the product.

Capture angles that allow the viewer to place themselves in the shoes of the subject.

Utilize an application like VSCO (for iPhone or Android) or Adobe Lightroom to process the photos with consistent color-correction and brand-themed ‘filter.’ Uniformity breeds trust

Graphics that illustrate the use, features, and specifics of your product. This can include sizing charts, fit guides, content or context breakdowns, and illustrations that further your brand storytelling.

Stellar layout of your media and written content. Go through Kickstarter campaigns that have passed and reached their goal and take notes on project page elements you find impactful and that would fit your brand. Picture collages, certain graphics, paragraph styles, lists. You’re designing a user experience the same way one might design a landing page, so create a pathway that leads them to fall in love with your project.

Quality brand video that outlines your Why (mission), how (method of production/creation + team), and what (product), preferably in that order. This can easily be done on an iPhone utilizing iMovie.

High-quality (non-blurry, grainy, or poorly-lit) photos of your product, team, and brand. How does one photograph a brand? 

Be sure to get at least two additional pairs of eyes, preferably from entirely different demographics and interest-groups to look over your profile and provide feedback.

Not all feedback needs to be taken and acted upon, but having outsiders experience your storytelling can help eliminate blind spots and missed opportunities before you launch.

Next, get your Kickstarter campaign seen--we’ll outline this in the next post in this two-part blog series.

This two-part series on Instagram Story fundamentals helps you to foster community, reach new viewers, and cultivate your story style.

Part One examines how to consistently create engaging Instagram Stories using brainstorming, story-boarding, and the in-app effects you can add to your finished video. In part two, we’re diving deeper into the impact Instagram Stories can have on your community and your following. In essence, these are one in the same.

Think about the hashtags you’re using on your Instagram photos. Inside the feed each tag is a group of creators sharing photos and videos along the same theme. That theme may be craft, a special event, virtual gathering or celebration, and even a self-created community. Stories have found their way into everyone’s Instagram experience, so take these tips and create stories that encourage your viewers, customers, and circle to connect with your daily experience.

Connect to various communities with Instagram Story’s tagging features

Instagram has recently streamlined more ways to connect with viewers and other profiles from inside of Stories. There are four main ways to foster interaction with your content, so try each one and see how they can amplify your storytelling.

Geotag

You might be in your hometown, at a cool local coffee shop, or on a trip across the country - geotagging is a direct connection to Instagrammers wherever you are. By geotagging your story, you may be featured in the Story for the exact location, the city, or the state you’re in.

@ Mention

There’s this warm and fuzzy feeling that happens when we shout-out a maker whose product we’re enjoying or a collaborator on a recent project. Connecting one-on-one with fellow makers, vendors, businesses, and friends deepens the viewer’s Story experience and invites the tagged user to come enjoy your Story.

Hashtag

Stories utilize hashtags similarly to the Instagram grid, though you’re only allowed one and it’s based on the algorithm whether your tagged story populates the overall Tag Story. Check out your favorite’s hashtags’ Stories to see what others are sharing and how many viewers are tuning in.

Poll

Use an Instagram Poll to start conversation with your followers: consider asking their opinion on a color or product with which you’re working, or inquiring if anyone is experiencing the same thing you are, like a crazy hectic day or peaceful Sunday evening. Polls are also a fun way to incorporate humor into your stories, asking funny questions or inviting people to choose from funny answers.

You can view the results from your poll inside the Story Archive section of your Instagram Business profile dashboard.

Experiment with and incorporate different story techniques

In part one, we took a quick look at the in-app design elements you can add to your stories, focusing on the Static and Interactive options. When considering Story techniques, go beyond the available stickers and tags and get to know each of the media recording and sharing elements at your fingertips.

In-app filming options: Photos, Boomerang, Superzoom, Rewind, Stop-Motion and Live

By creating different “scenes” to your story, from close-ups to a panoramic spin, you’re inviting viewers to enter your world. Have fun with each of the different filming options as you try them out in different environments - on your next supplies run, when your dog is doing something hilarious, while you’re cooking dinner, showing off your weekend read, taking your viewers through your home brewed coffee practice.

Over time, you’ll get to know which of these elements works for your style and which are reserved for specific occasions.

When you develop a consistent story style, one that is smooth and complete, your followers will watch not just to catch up with your life but for the pure enjoyment of great entertainment. Instagram Stories have a Discover function of their own, so your thoughtful storytelling has the potential to capture new followers every time you publish.

Create a selection of Story Highlights with graphical thumbnails

You’ve probably seen examples of graphically-illustrated Story highlights on some of the accounts you already follow. Showcasing a clean, matching set of graphics that are relevant to your brand or your personal style elevate the professionalism of your Instagram profile. Here are the steps to creating Highlights:

Instagram shows your first five highlights whenever someone enters your profile. You can certainly add more, as the highlight reel will scroll, but let’s stick with a top five to keep it simple.

1. Start by outlining what you publish most in your Stories. Not every story is worth highlighting, but considering the ideas you’ve brainstormed and the subjects that are most popular with your following, choose the top five. A few examples are: Process, Design, Inspiration, Travel, Projects, Home, Family, Resources. 

2. Choose the colors and style of your graphics. By style, think: rustic, modern, linework, cartoon, feminine, geometric, etc. Consider the colors you work with most frequently or go with your already established brand colors. If you don’t feel confident drawing your own graphics, consider resources like Creative Market or Graphic River. You can find image packs of transparent-background PNG files that you can use as your highlight illustrations.

Important Note: The first story of each Highlight (which becomes a story collection as you aggregate Stories in it) must be your graphic to ensure the graphic is the cover of your highlight, also known as the thumbnail. Position your graphic over a complimentary and on-brand full-color background sized: 1080 pixels Wide x 1920 pixels tall, or 9:16 aspect ratio. Save each graphical image to your camera roll and share it on your Instagram Story. If you feel odd posting seemingly random graphics in your story, do a quick shout out before and in-between to let your followers know what you’re doing.

3. Once your Story has posted (and sometimes they take up to 15 minutes to appear) go into your Story Archive and select your first graphic you’d like to appear as a Highlight thumbnail.

4. At the bottom-right corner of your screen, press the circle-heart Highlight icon to “Add to Highlights.” Select + New and name your highlight, ideally a one word title.

Repeat this process with the remaining four graphics, establishing your top five Highlights.

Once all five highlights are established, go back through your Story Archive and organize your previous Stories into their respective Highlight Collections.  

Learn from and engage with the stories you watch

The number one, hands-down, undeniably best way to cultivate a following is to connect. Connect with the Instagrammers in your network and the ones you discover. You can reply to their Stories, participate in their polls, and share their Stories with your own network.

One popular way to connect via Stories is #FollowFriday. On Fridays, millions of people share screenshots of some of their favorite Instagram profile grids, @ Mentioning the user and sharing a bit of kind praise for their style, aesthetic, or craft. Being featured in a Follow Friday by accounts of all sizes can certainly grow your network, but featuring users in your own Follow Friday deepens the connections you already have.

Brainstorm ways beyond Follow Friday that you can employ to connect with users sharing their journey on Instagram Stories.

Beyond sharing your journey, direct your followers to your latest content

Keeping in mind that Instagram Stories are seen not only by your followers but by potentially unlimited users in the Discover tab, incorporate your latest Instagram posts, blog posts, and shared links into your Stories (in a tasteful way).

In order to share a link in your Story that swipes up to open the webpage, you must have 10,000 followers. If you’re not quite there, here’s a workaround available to iPhone users to share a link in an engaging way:

1. Add Screen Recording to Control Center. Go to Settings > Control Center > Customize Controls, then tap the green plus circle next to Screen Recording.

2. Open Control Center. 

3. Tap the gray circle in a circle symbol, then wait for the three-second countdown. To capture sound while you record, press deeply on that same button, and tap Microphone Audio.

4. To stop recording, open Control Center and tap the red circle in a circle. Or tap the red status bar at the top of your screen and tap Stop.

You can find your screen recording in the Photos app.

Directions from Apple. (For Android users, try Googling: How to record screen on [Your Phone Name].)

You can recording your latest blog post, a scroll of an article in which you are featured, a snippet from a YouTube video, and so much more. Get creative with your screen recording shares and be sure to direct viewers to your link in bio to view the full source.

What are some of your favorite Instagram Stories to enjoy? How can you craft your story to be your follower’s favorite?

If you missed Part 1 of this series, click here to catch up! 

This two-part series on Instagram Story fundamentals to foster community, reach new viewers, and cultivate your story style.

In the eyes of many, Instagram Stories are the new television. Watching the lives and experiences of friends, strangers, celebrities, and inspiring personalities - all without commercials - is a quick way to stay connected and engaged with stories that interest you. Stories come in all lengths, styles, and subject-matters, so there’s never a dull moment. As creatives, we have a single line of communication with our customers and fans, capable of sharing our process, our struggles, our triumphs, and our newest offerings.

Part one focuses on the foundation of Instagram Story publishing. We take a look at your audience, plan ahead, and utilize the in-app features to create engaging stories. Part two delves into fostering community and growing a following with consistent Stories.

Even if you’re familiar with Stories, these ten tips will undoubtedly upgrade your practice.  

User Anna Nunez has a highly curated feed and uses stories to create categories for her followers.

Understand why people watch your stories

Ask yourself, “Are they watching because they know me personally?” “Are they interested in my craft, my products, or my process?” You may answer YES to all of these and more… and that’s great! By understanding your audience, you can tailor what you share to be of interest to those watching, and to those you want to find you and begin following your journey.

Quick tip: Make sure that inside your Instagram Business account (which we highly recommend, and is completely free!), make sure you have Stories Archive turned on by going into: Settings > Story Settings > Save to Archive.

Then, open your profile page and choose the small clock and arrow icon at the top right corner of your screen. This opens your story archive. Open any story by clicking on the image, and in the bottom left corner, click the small eye icon to open the list of profiles that viewed your stories.

Take note of how many story views you have per story, what profiles are viewing them, and if there are any “outliers” that have tons of views or not many at all.

User Farmandfolk showcases current projects on video to share with viewers.

Brainstorm the stories you want to tell

You can certainly create stories in the moment as they’re happening, and you can also  establish yourself as an engaging creator by creating and executing a specific story with an outcome.

Take for example your creative process. How could you demonstrate each step, from the conceptual drawing or painting to the actual finish of your dye lot? Keep it simple, but trying to enjoy experimenting with different story ideas.

Here are a few to get you started:

Breakdown of each product and tool you use and why.

Full experience of creative process.

Collection of elements that inspire you.

Learning a new technique or skill

Plan your stories ahead of time

It may seem strange to plan Stories ahead of time, but think about what great video producers do. YouTube personalities, documentarists, directors; they storyboard the story they wish to tell. Use one of the above ideas or a story you’d like to tell and write out a sample plan.

Include what steps or “scenes” you would employ to tell your story. What order in which those scenes will fall. Are three scenes or fifteen? What you’ll need to create each story, whether it’s tools from workspace or good music in the background.

By getting to know how to creatively tell stories with video, your instant stories, the ones you make in the moment when something share-worthy is happening, will be more engaging and informed.

One of the best things you can give yourself when making an Instagram Story is time. Life happens to fast, moments happen and they’re tough enough to catch in a single try. Try capturing the video or photo and sharing it later, within the hour or even the next day.

Take this one step further and utilize your phone’s internal camera app, rather than Instagram, to create photo and video. You’ll notice a major improvement in Story quality when your crisp iPhone or Android camera is your go-to image creator.

When you want to utilize in-Instagram media options like Boomerang, Rewind, Superzoom, and selfie-masks, create them to perfect then save them to your camera using the downward-pointing arrow icon at the bottom left corner of your screen. You can post that saved Superzoom anytime, especially if it would go better as part of a larger Story you’d like to tell.

Stories are the perfect way to share new shop updates without overloading your feed with product

Spice up your stories with in-app design features

Instagram continues to up the ante with its in-app design options, divided into two categories: Static and Interactive.

Static, effects that act as embellishments to your story.

Colorized filters

Multiple font, text size, and color options

In-media photo capture

GIF library

Stickers and emojis

Interactive, effects that provide opportunity for interaction from viewers.

Geotagging

Hashtagging

@Mentions, user call-out

Polls

Developing your sense of style when it comes to all of the opportunities available to you can be overwhelming. Are you a crass-by-creative GIF user who knows just what community to hashtag? Do you connect with your community with local geotags and daily sharing? Experiment with each element to see what fits your preference and lends authenticity to your stories.

Polls are one way to help your audience feel involved. 

It’s possible you have more information than you asked for about Instagram Stories! What makes this part of the Instagram platform so special is that it’s personal - it’s a glimpse into the life behind the person in the little squares. The Instagram grid has become so curated, yet Stories still allow for a balance between creativity and authentic storytelling.

In the second part of this series, we’re examining all the ways you can cultivate a community following for your Stories through connectivity, communication, and consistency.

Yesterday afternoon, I sent the following email to the KnitCrate & Dyer Supplier team.  We are at a point in the our company’s life that it will serve us and you, our customers and extended community, well to define what KnitCrate and Dyer Supplier’s mission and values are. Who we are as a company... what we stand for... and what we were put on this good Earth to do.  We did a lot of soul searching as a team.  I was going to put up a separate post separately listing our Mission Statement and Values but figured “Hey, why not just copy and paste the entire email I sent to the team internally and let everyone know what we are up to?”  Below is the unedited copy and paste of that email.  I hope you enjoy and can continue to help us improve and be the kind of company you deserve.

All the best,

Rob

From: Rob Colon Sent: Wednesday, April 25, 2018 3:52 PM To: Team Subject: Our Mission Statement and Values

Hi team,

It’s been almost 2 years since we took over KnitCrate, and what a ride it has been! After working as a team for some time now, growing as much as we have, and getting to know our customers and the industry a little better, I feel that KnitCrate is at an inflection point.  It is time that we define, not just who we have been and who we are today, but who we want to be as a company.  

What will we stand for?  We all have a pretty good sense of that in the office… you can sense it in the air, in how we talk with each other, how we make business decisions, and how we treat our customers… but I feel it is important to put this into concrete words… and then share those words with our community: customers, vendors, social media communities, our newsletter readers, service providers, families and friends and of course each other.  Everyone should know who KnitCrate is. More importantly, once we have publicly stated what we stand for, everyone can hold us accountable to that.

As we continue to grow as a company, it has become more and more important that we define our Mission Statement and Core Values.  These will define everything about us: what businesses we get into or don’t get into, our business tactics and strategies, branding, and company culture.

The Mission Statement

A mission statement should answer the question: How do we plan to win at this game in the long run? It shouldn’t be some vague, nice-sounding platitude that you read once and ignore.  It should be the driving force behind everything we do. And it should be enduring: inspirational and aspirational, yet grounded and achievable.  

We must also define what the word “win” means for us.  It is not just about our profits, although profits are extremely important (otherwise we cannot continue improving and growing).  To take a page out of Tony Hsieh’s (Zappos CEO) book, Delivering Happiness, I think if we can balance Profits, Purpose and Passion, then we are truly winning.  Do we feel that there is a larger purpose to what we are doing at KnitCrate beyond making money? Are we passionate about our work? Can we do what we do profitably? If we can answer "yes" to all these questions, then we are winning.

Reflecting on our past two years, the many conversations we have had with customers, and the internal conversations we have had as a team, I think it has become clear that there is only one way for us to really win: And this is by Delivering the Most Extraordinary Customer Service. Customers should experience a level of service from KnitCrate (and our sister companies Dyer Supplier and Destashio) that they have yet to experience anywhere else, and most likely will not experience anywhere else.  We need to be THAT good at providing the best customer experience.  If a customer is not smiling and deep down inside screaming “wow” every time they interact with KnitCrate, we are failing. Great Customer Service and KnitCrate should be synonymous in customers’ minds.

Plus, this is the one thing our competitors cannot take from us.  They can copy the color of our boxes and website (two of them already have), they can imitate our newsletters and promotions strategies, they can copy almost everything, but they will not be able to replicate the level of customer service we aim to achieve nor the relationships we will be developing with our customers because of it.

Now, I think we do offer great customer service, and we pride ourselves in this.  But there is much room for improvement.  It is important we take the next month or two to really go over our customer’s journey with KnitCrate and see where we can improve to make it the absolute best customer experience.  They must be able to say “wow” at every point of that journey, and we must change whatever does not lead to a “wow.”

Values

Our values are the specific behaviors that will help us achieve our mission. If Delivering the Most Extraorindary Customer Service is the end game, then our values/behaviors are the means to that end.  These behaviors are also what we should value in one another as co-workers. More than being nice-sounding, they have to be real… so real, in fact, that living by these values (or not) determines who gets rewarded and promoted (or let go) at KnitCrate. These values should also be universal, meaning that they improve our lives in KnitCrate and in our personal lives, as well.

I asked each of you to separately send me what you thought our company values were.  I wanted the team’s input in this exercise because at the end of the day you are the embodiment of our values.  It made me super happy to see so many of you hit upon the same core values over and over again.  This means that we have a true understanding of what our mission at KnitCrate is.  I have summarized our core value into 9 categories:

KnitCrate’s Core Values

Be Transparent and Honest through Candid Communication

Be Passionate and Enthusiastic

Be Selfless

Treat Customers and Partners the Way We Would Like to Be Treated

Build a Community

Continually Innovate, Problem-solve and Drive Change

Be Impactful

Be Humble

Be Creative and Have Fun

Values are embodied in very specific behaviors.  Otherwise, they are difficult to put into practice.  Below are the major categories with supporting behaviors that make up that category.  The list is by no means exhaustive, but it goes a long way in bringing to life each of our Core Values.  If you think of others you want to add, please send them to me so I can add them.

Be Transparent and Honest through Candid Communication

Be candid with each other and our customers.  Tell the truth, especially when it is difficult to     do so.

Be honest with ourselves and our customers about what they can expect from us.

When we make mistakes or there are issues, own up to them quickly and be up-front with our customers about the issues, what has caused them, and how we plan to solve them.

Provide clear communication to team members to minimize errors and mistakes.

Be open and honest with team members and customers about changes KnitCrate is undertaking, both good and bad.

When in doubt, err on the side of transparency with our customers.  While there is some sensitive company information that should not be out there, we should make sure we remain as transparent as possible with our customers and community.

Listen well, instead of reacting quickly, so you can understand what is being communicated to     you.  

Treat your team members and customers with respect, independent of status or disagreement with you.

Only say things about fellow team members you are willing to say to their face.

Be Passionate and Enthusiastic

Inspire team members and customers with your own excitement.

Care intensely about KnitCrate’s customers and work hard to provide them a great experience.

Seek to fully understand our customers, suppliers, strategy, products and market.

Continuously be learning.  Don’t let your curiosity stifle.

Celebrate wins!

Embody a sense of urgency in everything you do.

Be optimistic and positive.

Be Selfless

Seek what is best for KnitCrate (and therefore our customer), rather than simply what is best for yourself or your group.

Create an environment that is friendly and inviting.

Strive to eliminate cynicism and negative interactions.

Be a team player. Never use the words, “That’s not my job” or “That’s not my responsibility.” Our main obligations are to our customers, so any issues in any area of KnitCrate, are everyone’s responsibilities because they ultimately affect our customers. Everyone’s job is your responsibility.

Make time to help your team members.

If you are a manager, lead by example.  You are here to serve those that you lead and make sure they have the tools and means to succeed at their daily jobs.  After all, it is your team members who are closest to the customers and daily issues.

Take the initiative.  If you see something can be done better, start doing it better or bring it to the team’s attention.

Take ownership of issues that arise and work with your team members to solve them so that the team and company can succeed.

Show the same level of respect and courtesy that you expect in return: to your team members, customers, vendors, etc.

Help one another be great.

Treat Customers and Partners the Way We Would Like to Be Treated

Don’t forget to say, “Thank you.”

Give customers/partners a good, fair deal. Building great customer relationships take time.

Look for ways to make it easier to do business with us.

Never let profit conflicts get in the way of doing what is right for our customers and partners (dyers, designers, etc.).

Don’t try to maximize short-term profits at the expense of building long-term relationships with our customers and partners.

Keep a positive and friendly attitude when dealing with our customers.  Keep an attitude of gratitude when dealing with our customers and partners.  They are the ONLY reason we are able to do what we do every day.

Be accessible to our customers and partners. Answer all their inquiries in a timely manner, whether by phone, email or messages.

Go the extra mile for our customers. If you need to do extra research to properly answer their questions or concerns, invest the time and do the extra work for our customers.

Be comfortable, casual, relaxed and friendly when speaking with our customers and partners. We are people dealing with people.

If we make a mistake, let’s own up to it and more importantly, find a way to make it right by our customers and partners.

If a customer or partner calls in because they are upset about something, hear them out fully and try to understand what happened. Then try your best to make it right.  Pretend it is your very best friend calling to let you know that something you said or did made them upset.  You would immediately try to make it right or explain what happened.  Have that same urgency with our customers and partners.

Build a Community

We are building more than just a great company here at KnitCrate.  We are building a community.

Take customer and community member feedback and advice into account when building our company, launching new products, and improving systems.

Launch new programs or products that continue to build our community of knitters, crocheters, dyers and designers. For example, we recently launched Destashio so community members could interact directly with one another.

Make our online presence on Ravelry, Facebook and Instagram as welcoming and inviting as possible so members feel safe expressing themselves.

Take the time to let our customers and partners know how important they are to us.

Make customers and partners feel that they are as much a part of KnitCrate as anyone who works in KnitCrate.

Continually Innovate, Problem-solve and Drive Change

We are a fast-growing company in which change is constant: embrace that change.

Be prepared for constant change, and even better, be the force driving that change.

Stay ahead of our competition by continually changing, evolving and keeping them guessing.  They will not be able to evolve as fast as us, as long as we are driving the change.  In the last year alone we have launched Destashio (a peer to peer marketplace), Dyer Supplier (wholesale line of undyed yarns), KnitCrate Marketplace (a marketplace where dyers and designers can post products for sale on our website), and our in-line brands of yarn.  What’s next?

Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. They are bound to happen when we are growing and innovating as much as we are. You will never be reprimanded by me or anyone in management for making a mistake because you tried something new. We will own up to our mistakes and course correct as quickly as possible.

Be Impactful

Always look for ways to improve yourself and KnitCrate and be more efficient.

Realize there is always room for improvement.

Learn and grow from your own mistakes.

Innovation is not enough.  We need to continually make incremental improvements to the way we operate, always looking for ways to do something better.  If we make 1 improvement per day, that’s 365 improvements in a year.  Every small improvement matters!

Never settle for “good enough.”

Set and exceed our own high standards.

Focus on great results, rather than the process.

Do great work so team members know they can rely on you.

Think strategically.

Separate what must be done well right now from what can be improved later on.

Get to the root of the problem.  Don’t just treat symptoms.

Make tough decisions even when you don’t have all the information in front of you.

Be Humble

We don’t tolerate “brilliant jerks,” those who are technically good at their job but behave like jerks and aren’t team players. This hurts our teamwork-oriented environment and will cost us in the long run.

Be respectful and kind to everyone.

As we continue to grow and be successful, don’t let it get to your head. Remember that we surmounted a lot of obstacles to get here, and there are more challenges ahead.

Carry yourself with a quiet confidence and let our results speak for themselves.

Be Creative and Have Fun

Instill originality and creativity in everything we do: from our monthly themes to our Instagram posts to our marketing strategies

Keep it fresh and inspiring for our customers.

Have fun, otherwise you will end up not enjoying coming to work, and our customers will be able to note the difference.

Be different and don’t settle for being average.  You are here to be extraordinary.

Have an open mind when confronted with challenges; it will let you find creative solutions.

Take risks and get out of your comfort zone.

Be original.  Be the best version of YOU.

So there you have it team: Our company Mission Statement and our Core Values. This will inform every decision we make going forward… from who we hire to what products we launch to how we brand ourselves.  I hope that this helps us continue growing as a team and also helps each of us live better lives personally.

All the best,