Few Screen Printers Have Social Media Game Like Hers

PIGSKINS & PIGTAILS is one of the many screen printing businesses fueling its success through online growth and content generation. If you’re a screen printer on Instagram, you know there’s a tangible opportunity to become a leader in the online community. Social media users and potential customers are craving information from educated printers. They want to see the shop floor, understand printing techniques, and, in many cases, eventually make their own branded apparel.

Early COVID brought on a boom of DIYers who had extra time at home to try out some hobbies and explore new interests. People wanted to learn how to print their own shirts for different causes, or even just for fun. For Pigskins & Pigtails owner Jennifer Sanderson, it was a great time to capitalize on her knowledge.

“The influx of DIYers and home crafters during COVID definitely helped my business grow. With more people eager to start a business at home, my videos on screen printing with vinyl using a Cricut came at the perfect time,” says Jennifer. “For crafters who already had a Cricut or silhouette machine, this opened the door to a new way of making shirts.”

“With more people eager to start a business at home, my videos on screen printing with vinyl using a Cricut came at the perfect time.”

Pigskins & Pigtails now has more than 90,000 Instagram followers and 40,000 YouTube subscribers, but it wasn’t always a big operation. The business began in the local football field bleachers, hence the name. Jennifer would bring her daughters to their father’s football games decked out in custom gear made using her Cricut and silhouette method.

“I didn’t set out to start a business selling shirts. In fact, I never dreamed making shirts for my daughters would lead me to where I am today. I’ve always had a passion for figuring out how to make things in my craft room. With a vinyl cutter, I was able to DIY shirts for my girls to wear to the Friday night games,” says Jennifer. “Because these were custom, one-of-a-kind creations, I would get asked, ‘Where did you get that shirt?’ This led to taking a few orders and making shirts for gifts. While I wasn’t ready to scale a T-shirt business at that time, I did enjoy sharing the process on my blog so I could inspire other moms to DIY their own shirts.”

Social media, specifically Pinterest, played a large role in Jennifer’s business growth. “I started on Pinterest in the early days, when it was by
invite only. I would create and pin graphics from the blog posts I was writing in hopes that more people would read them,” she says. “People saw them and pinned them on their own boards. This re-pinning was great for the algorithm at the time and led to lots of views. Over the years, Pinterest has been a huge source of traffic for my blog.”

Jennifer has now become an online coach for DIYers eager to get in the shirt creation game. Her success is due to persistence and education. “I started by sharing my process in very raw and informal YouTube videos and on Instagram. This is essentially where my teaching started, although I didn’t see it as teaching at the time. I was just sharing my process and hoping others would find it inspiring. As I started to get positive feedback, questions started coming in. I would experiment with new projects so I could answer their questions,” she says. “I was learning as I was going! I’ve since created two online courses, an eBook, and have published hundreds of blog post tutorials. I also teach in-person classes at MADE Lab in Fort Worth, Texas, alongside screen printing veterans Ryan Moor and Brett Bowden.”

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