Etsy Teams can be a great way to participate in the Etsy Community. You can meet people from around the world or down the block who love handmade things and want to promote Etsy. Sellers might form a Team to hold joint promotions, organize fun events like scavenger hunts through your shops, throw Virtual Trunk Shows, or just share information. Teams come up with many great ideas because, after all, you are a group of creative and enthusiastic people! Sometimes it’s important to step back and make sure that all the effort your Team is exerting is achieving your Team goals.

Here are some steps your Team can take to accomplish common Team Goals. Many of these tips include clickable links to guides and previous Team tips. Enjoy!

If your Team aims to increase sales in your Etsy shops:

• Mentor one another on successful shop practices
• Help one another take fantastic product photos
• Organize critiques among Team members
• Drive traffic to your shops by:
  • Using Etsy Mini’s
  • Blogging about member’s shops
  • Joint advertising on popular websites or blogs
  • Exchanging links and Etsy Mini’s with other Teams
  • Including Teammates’ links in each member’s shops
• Use and promote a Team Tag so buyers can find your items easily
• Use your Team name as a tag on product photos on Flickr or other sites
• Send professional quality press releases about your Team events to relevant online publications

If your Team is a social outlet, and you enjoy meeting interested crafters around the world:

• Get to know Team members by taking some time each week to really check out your Teammates’ shops and blogs
• Card swap with your Teammates
• Hold Team challenges where you’re all creating based on one common chosen theme
• Use a group forum, like Yahoo, Google or Flickr groups to communicate often with your Teammates
• Share tips and advice with your Teammates
• Help each other out! Hold friendly critiques, ask questions and mentor each other

If your Team’s goal is to help others:

• Communicate well among your Team so everyone is familiar with the goal
• Be public about your goal
  • Blog about how your Team is making a difference
  • Use your shop announcements to give shoppers information about your Team
  • Come up with an FAQ about your Team’s mission, perhaps on a Team blog
• Be sure to follow through
• Let others know your Team’s accomplishments to date

If your Team wants to grow and attract many members:

• Follow some of these ideas for recruiting members on Etsy
• Simplify and streamline your joining process for new members!
• Consider a membership committee to distribute the work of accepting new members in an organized way
• Create some guidelines for the Team to prevent potential issues among the Team
• Communication! Determine the best ways to communicate effectively:
  • Yahoo, Google and Flickr Groups make “talking” among members easy
• Be a visible Team:
  • Coordinating avatars attract attention
  • Members should mention the Team and its Team tag in shop announcements and profiles
  • Have a badge or image members can include on blogs and social networking sites

For more Team Tips, please check the Teams Resource page.  Also, we discuss the Team Tips, news and ideas in the Etsy Teams email list! Keep up the great work, Etsy Teams!