Using social media to promote your woodwork

Your workshop is already a content studio

Most woodworkers I know are quietly brilliant at what they do and quietly terrible at telling anyone about it. That is a shame, because woodwork is one of the most naturally photogenic trades there is. Shavings curling off a smoothing plane, the first coat of oil darkening a walnut board, the satisfying thunk of a dovetail closing up — this is content people actually want to watch, and it costs you nothing but a few minutes of thought.

Social media is not about becoming an influencer. For a small craft business, it is about being findable. Someone in the next county is looking for a handmade oak shelf, and right now they cannot find you. A steady, honest stream of posts fixes that. Below is how to do it without losing your evenings to your phone.

Pick two platforms and do them properly

Spreading yourself across five apps is the fastest route to burnout. Choose based on the work you make and the customers you want.

• Photo-led platforms suit furniture makers, turners and carvers. Finished pieces photograph beautifully, and the app rewards a strong grid.
• Short-form video is where process wins. A 20-second clip of you sharpening a chisel will outperform a studio shot of a completed table almost every time.
• Local community groups and marketplace listings are unglamorous but convert brilliantly. People buying a £900 dining table want to know you live 15 miles away and will still answer the phone in two years.
• Longer video rewards the makers who teach. Build-alongs and tool sharpening guides build authority that converts into commissions.

Two platforms, posted to consistently, beats five posted to sporadically. Give it six months before you judge anything.

Photograph your work like a maker, not a magician

You do not need a camera. You need light and a bit of discipline.

• Use daylight, never the workshop strip lights. They cast a yellow-green tinge that no filter fully rescues. Move the piece near a door or window and stand side-on to it.
• Keep a photo board. A sheet of MDF painted mid-grey costs a few pounds and gives every piece a clean, consistent background.
• Wipe the dust off before you shoot. A tack cloth takes ten seconds. Dust on a finished surface undoes a beautiful joint.
• Shoot the three essentials: a full view, a close-up of the detail that took the longest, and the piece in a real room if you can manage it.
• Get low and get close. Phone cameras flatter timber when you are near the surface and the grain fills the frame. Tap to focus on the wood, not the background.

Make posts people want to save

Saves and shares beat likes every time. The posts that get saved tend to do one of four things:

• Show a transformation. A reclaimed plank that becomes a hallway bench is irresistible. Shoot the "before" even when you are impatient to start.
• Teach one small thing. "Three ways to stop tear-out on figured timber" is a useful post. Keep the caption tight and specific.
• Tell the awkward truth. The joint that split, the finish that bloomed, the client who changed their mind. Makers who admit mistakes get trusted, and trust is what sells a £2,000 commission.
• Show the person. A photo of your hands, your bench, your dog asleep under the lathe. People buy from people, especially in a craft trade.

Write your first line as a hook, because that is all most people see. "This oak was a skip find" works far better than "New project update".

Hashtags, locations and being findable

Hashtags are a search tool, not decoration. Use around ten to fifteen, mixed deliberately:

• Two or three broad ones for reach, such as #woodworking or #handmade.
• Eight to ten specific ones where you can actually be seen, such as #handcutdovetails, #greenwoodworking, #oakframing or #bespokefurniture.
• Local tags that bring buyers, not just makers — your county, your town, or something like #woodworkinguk.
• Location tags on every post. They are free, and they put you in front of nearby customers.

Write captions in the words your customers use, not the words in your head. "Solid oak coffee table" is searched. "Celebrating the materiality of timber" is not.

Turn followers into customers without turning them off

The makers who sell well on social media follow a roughly nine-to-one rhythm: nine posts of process, teaching or finished work for every one direct ask.

• Pin a post that explains what you make, your typical lead time and your price range. It saves endless repetitive messages.
• Reply to every comment in the first hour or so. It lifts the post and it builds a relationship.
• Ask one question in your caption. "Would you have chosen a darker stain?" gets far more replies than nothing at all.
• Use your stories for the messy, everyday bits: timber deliveries, glue-ups, a brew on the bench. That is where the personality lives.
• Check your insights monthly and note which three posts got the most saves. Do more of that.

Add a simple next step to every finished-piece post: "This one is available — message me for dimensions and price." No hard sell, just an open door.

Keep it sustainable

Batch your content. Spend one hour a week photographing and writing captions, then schedule them across the next seven days. Save the clips you film while you work and use them later. Two or three posts a week plus a couple of short videos is plenty for a small craft business, and it is a pace you can hold for years rather than weeks.

The point is not to become a content creator. It is to let people see the care that goes into your work, so that when they need something made, your name is the one that comes to mind. Your bench is already the studio. You just have to point the camera at it.