Showroom vs. Workshop: An Instagram Strategy for Knife Makers
How to keep your Instagram wall beautiful—and still show the knife making process? That’s what we’ve been talking about with a bunch of you knife makers, and one simple publishing strategy came out of it that we like a lot: Let’s call it Showroom (Posts) vs. Workshop (Stories).
How does that look like?
👉 Let’s start with the Shoowroom.
Showroom
As the name suggests, the showroom displays your knives. Only the finished ones. And always at their best. Photographed in a recognizable way.
Where do you find the showroom? In your post feed. The ones you see below your IG profile. This post right here—it would be part of the IndieKnives showroom.
The showroom is planned and beautiful. It represents your IDEALS, what you’re striving towards as a bladesmith.
What’s not in the Showroom? Well, … angle grinders. And ovens, milled steel and greasy hands.
👉 That’s what the WORKSHOP is for, and the Workshop lives in your IG Stories.
Workshop
There you show yourself laboring hours on end for that final, beautiful blade. You show your errors, the flaws in the heat treatment, the cracked blades, the noisy drilling, all of it.
The workshop is spontaneous, it shows what is, not what you want to become.
Why we like this strategy
Okay that’s nice, but … Why is that a good distinction to make?
First, by keeping the showroom clean (like in a real showroom) you control the first impression that visitors to your profile get.
They see the showroom, and if they like what they see then they follow you and get to see the Workshop as well: in your stories.
Second, it takes the pressure out of posting process videos and pictures. After all, stories are gone after 24h.
Is it the right strategy for you?
🤔 Is that the RIGHT way? There is no such thing. 😁
The question is: is it the right way FOR YOU?
It may be the right way if you’re a professional knife maker who wants to build a certain brand.
It is probably not the right way, if you’re doing knife making only as side-hobby because then you don’t post often enough a finished knife.
Not the strategy you’re looking for?
This doesn’t feel right for your custom knife business? Don’t worry, that’s not your only option.
Head over to our way-too-long Instagram guide for knife makers and pick a different one.