Hello and welcome to design and business conversations for creatives. I'm Cheyney
and today I'm chatting to you about Society6. In this video, I'll cover
Society6, what it is and who it's for, I'll talk about the pros, I'll talk about
the cons, I'll talk about how much I make from Society6, and then I'm just going to
share some tips. Number one, what is Society6 and who is it for?
Society6 is a print on demand website which is literally, it's in the name,
print on demand. So as an artist contributor, I upload artwork to Society6,
www.society6.com, and then it's superimposed on a range of products, they
have a huge suite of products, everything from mugs, to clocks, to bedding, to towels,
to furniture, tote bags, backpacks, everything. I mean you name it, there's
everything on there. I upload my artwork to the platform and then it's
superimposed on all these products and it isn't physically made until somebody
clicks the product, puts it in their checkout, and purchases it. So who's it for?
Society6 is for creatives who are wanting to make a little bit of side
income. I know there's some stores on there that make huge amounts of money
and it's probably turned into a full-time gig for them, however, I am not
there yet. For me, it's a nice little supplement to my income. I have a video
that I created a couple of weeks ago about how I make money as a graphic
designer so feel free to check that out, I'll pop
it in the links below. That will give you some other ideas of how to generate some
passive income. Number two, the pros. Society6 has a really nice functionality,
it's a really nice website, it's really really easy to use. When you upload to
Society6, it's "evergreen" so you do the work once and it stays on there. Someone
could purchase it tomorrow or in five years.
The beauty of Society6 is you do the work once, aside from the
marketing but that's a different story, once you do the work it's on there and
it stays on there. Until something happens to the website or unless you
have infringed on someone else's artwork and then they'll take it down and that's
serious business, don't do that. Don't be one of those people. Society6 will pay
you out monthly into a nominated PayPal account and it's super reliable, not only
as a purchaser but as an artist, to receive payments. In my experience, the
products have been really high-quality. I use Society6 as an artist and also as a
buyer. I have some of my products here that I thought I'd share with you and
show you the quality. One of the things that I designed is this dragon-
fruit, fruity, fun, colorful pattern and I put it on, can you see that, this bag. this
little, it's a little carry-all pouch, I think it's called. Amazing, so stoked with
it. I couldn't believe this one in particular is like my favorite. The zip,
super super heavy duty. The print is fabulous, the colors are vibrant, it's
really true to the artwork and yeah, it's just a really good quality pouch. So
that's one of the products. Stickers. I also had this design, I don't know if
that's going to focus, but I also had this design printed on a shirt, a singlet, and
really happy with that. This one here, so happy with that. This here is a shirt
that I, custom design that I did specifically for my partner, excuse the
language, really, really happy with the quality of the shirt. It's really nice,
it's really soft, and the prints pretty good, particularly for being on black.
Tote bag, 'take me to get candy please' so that's quite nice, good quality, and then
I had a whole lot of other products but gave them away as gifts. I had a travel mug
that was really, really, really nice quality again,
it was up there with the little purse. Those two, in particular, stood
out as really great quality. The other thing that I have is the giftwrap and
I designed, it's a line drawing of Auckland Museum. Could probably use that as a
poster, but really great quality as well, really thick, opaque, good quality
gift wrap. Probably the best quality gift wrap
that I've ever used. So to wrap up the pro's, nice website, easy to use, evergreen
content, good quality, and in my experience, quite reliable. Number three, the con's.
Society6 recently launched a new artist studio, they changed the interface of how
you upload your artwork, and tried to streamline it to make it
better. I think they're kind of on the right track, however I always find myself
switching back to the old artist studio. Even in the new and the old artist
studios, it can take a very long time to load your products. Especially in
comparison to some other print-on-demand websites I use. Another one that I found
is, if I wasn't driving traffic to my store I don't know how many sales I
would make. It seems that not many people are on the platform searching, you have
to actively point and direct people to your shop, which makes sense but it's nice
when you're on a platform where the platform is actively trying to send
people to your store. Another thing that I found, and this is from a user point of
view, however I think it does impact the designer because it could impact
people's decisions in the future to place orders with you, is the shipping
costs are separate. So how Society6 works is, say if I were to order the sticker and
this bag, they would be printed in two different
places and so then you're paying shipping for both, there's no way to
combine the shipping. You also can't see, as a purchaser, how much your shipping is
going to be before you commit to the purchase. It gives you a rough estimate,
which, I don't really like particularly, because
I'm in New Zealand, and I know that a lot of these products are coming from the US.
I know this bag is made in the USA, it says so on the tag in the inside
and it might be in a totally different state or even country to where this is
being printed. So that's something that I've, a little bug bear with Society6
where, I know with other print-on-demand websites they combine the shipping, and
tell you up front before you commit to the purchase how much your shipping is
going to be. Number four, this is the juicy part and if you're an artist this is
probably why you've clicked on this video,
how much do I make? Hold on to your hats, it is not much. I kind of go along
thinking that it's a lot and then I did the maths and I'm like, 'hmm okay', so I need to work
a little bit more on that. But I have been on Society6 now for nine months,
so since July last year, and in total I have had 55 sales. Those 55
sales have made me a total of $288 US dollars, so that's an average of
6.1 sales a month, round that down to six, six hours a month and roughly
$32 US dollars a month, so about a dollar a day ish. Not exactly breaking the bank
or paying all my bills, however it's very helpful to supplement my income as a
graphic designer. And lastly, I promised that I'd share some
tips with you on how to get the most out of your Society6 store as an artist. My
first tip is upload frequently. Research keywords and metadata and maximize that,
you're given the option in Society6 to upload 20 keywords, I recommend that you
do your research on these and you're putting in the best keywords for your
product, the most appropriate, the ones that fit your product the best. Placeit,
placeit.net, I've mentioned this in a previous video. Placeit's great, you pay
a monthly subscription. What you can do is upload your artwork and they
superimpose it on to different products and this just offers a little variation
from what Society6 gives you. Society6 will give you your artwork
superimposed on products, however, if you're uploading it to market yourself
on platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, which is what you'll need to do
to sell your Society6 products to your audience, it just offers a little bit
of variation and interest and also offers people something that they
haven't seen over and over again. Another tip is don't put all your eggs in one
basket. Any sale that comes in, treat it like a bonus. Other print-on-demand
websites that you can try out, Etsy, Redbubble Spoonflower, Teespring, and
selling direct, which will give you the best margin. iI you can upload your
products onto your website and sell direct, that's great. Thank you for watching.
iI you like this video, give it a thumbs up, or subscribe by clicking the button
below. Hit the notifications bell, that way you
can see when I next upload a video. I am trying to upload videos somewhat
regularly, I'm still new to YouTube and I'm moving around the house, which I've
done today, trying to get the lighting a bit better for you, so if you have any
feedback about that, if you've watch previous videos and you want to jump in
and give me any advice or hints, that would be fabulous. I'll see you next time.
Bye.