Readers who follow the Americana Hub and related Facebook websites will be familiar with — and possibly friends with — Matt Greig, who has been selling on Facebook and other social media sites for more than two decades. Emily Brandenburg is a business and social media strategist and web designer who has worked with antiques dealers, organizations and shows since 2018. Together, the couple have created a website and online selling tutorial aimed at helping folks use social media to sell online. Antiques and The Arts Weekly checked in with the couple for some insights into what tips and tricks their course offers and how they got started.
Matt, when you started selling online in 2018, what platforms were you using?
MG: So, I’ve actually been selling online since 2001. I first started with eBay and that was the only way I sold online until about 2010. Around 2010, I started selling some on Facebook and then on an online antique bottle community, but sales were sporadic through both. In 2014, I joined Instagram to post about my upcoming trip to Brimfield. There were very few antiques dealers on Instagram at the time, definitely nobody that I did walled shows with. I like to tell people I posted inconsistently on Instagram for a year before I sold anything and probably two years before I sold five items total. By 2018, I was more consistent in posting and would sell one or two items a week. By 2019, I was up to three to five items a week because I was posting five to seven times a week. Now, selling five items is a pretty good, but not great, week for me on Instagram.
I still use eBay and my website (www.matt-greig-antiques.squarespace.com) but the majority of my sales every week are on Instagram followed by Facebook (mostly Facebook groups). I prefer social media because it’s cheaper and I can speak directly to an audience that likes my style of merchandise. The course goes into how to build a following of your ideal clients.
Tell us more about this course on selling on social media and what prompted it?
EB: I have had a social media and web design agency since 2018 and my very first clients were antiques dealers. I saw a real need for a step-by-step course that will help dealers understand how to use social media for the antiques business, by people who get it! While my business now works more with female entrepreneurs, it made perfect sense to combine forces with Matt and create a course together, as he’s been selling online regularly since 2018. We have constantly seen just how frustrating it can be for dealers to master a new kind of technology and we genuinely want to see them succeed because we know they can! An online course felt like the perfect way to teach these important concepts, as marketing and business has changed so much in the past four years.
Where will this course be available and who is your target audience?
EB: The course will be solely online and readers can purchase access through our website (www.sellingantiquesandvintage.com) so users will be able to access it from any device and they will have lifetime access to go over the material as often as they need. Our ideal clients are antiques and vintage dealers who really want to use social media for their business but don’t know how. We break the course down into four different modules with a series of short, seven to 15 minute long videos, based around the Algorithm, Content, Strategy and more! It’s also the beginning of a series of courses we are going to create all about helping dealers sell online. While this one will be specific to selling on social media, we have plans for courses on how to create your own antiques website, how to use email marketing for antiques dealers and more!
This Chinese checkerboard had a great surface and was one Matt recently sold on Instagram.
What are some common mistakes people make when selling online?
MG: There are lots of common mistakes sellers make selling on social media. For example: posting a handful of times and thinking it doesn’t work. Just like anything else, you need to put a little time into it to see some results. But that doesn’t mean it’s not useful or doesn’t work. Selling on social media does work, and it works really well. You just need to know how to do it. Other problems are simply not using the right platforms, not having a strategy or just misunderstanding the platforms. Our course works to correct those mistakes.
Are there costs associated with selling online that many people aren’t aware of?
MG: The biggest cost associated with selling on social media would be running ads to boost your following. Of course, if done incorrectly, this will not help sales and cost a lot of money. Some people still mistakenly buy followers, which hurts you with the algorithm as well as a waste of money. Besides those options its mostly free to sell on social media (some Facebook groups charge sellers or ask for a cut, but I don’t use those groups). Online payment processing costs a fee for running a credit card, but that fee is the same as taking credit cards at a show. The best part about selling on social media is that these platforms are free. Unlike eBay, Etsy, Chairish, etc, that take a huge cut. Social media platforms don’t do that and it’s a great way for dealers to connect with a unique audience.
Are there one or two primary misconceptions or pre-conceptions people have about selling on social media? What are they?
EB: Many dealers think it’s too hard, or they’re too old to learn, and those are just simply not true, and that’s why we’re here! To help take the frustration out of harnessing the power of social media and make it easier to understand. Matt has been selling anywhere from three to eight items a week on Instagram for the past few years, and we want to share that knowledge to other dealers. It doesn’t have to be hard, in fact, it CAN BE FUN, and we can’t wait to share that with dealers to show them what’s possible.
What sets your course apart from others that might be available?
EB: There are obviously plenty of courses out there on how to sell on social media but ours is the ONLY course created by people who know the antiques business and I think that’s what really sets us apart. We both grew up in the business, know antiques in and out and have been actively selling online ourselves for years.
—Madelia Hickman Ring
