Take Heart is the art and clothing brand of Alex Heart, making her mark on the world from her home down in New Zealand. We got in touch with Alex to find out her story, and see how she is using our GoSocial Store and other social media channels to reach her customers.

How did Take Heart get started?

Ever since I was young I’ve always wanted to be and artist. I scribbled on anything and eventually those scribbles turned into drawings that people really seemed to be liking. After studying Fine Arts and Graphic Design I finally got my first lot of T-shirt’s printing and It just continued on from there. It has always been a passion first and foremost and the more Take Heart grows the more opportunities I have to do what I love.

Do you sell exclusively online? Or do you have retail stores/distribution also?

At the moment I only run my online store takeheartordie.com. I also sell at main events such as Tattoo and Art expo’s, Armageddon and Art and Craft Expo’s, but every now and then you’ll catch me at a little market here in New Zealand selling my goods and meeting new people.

Which social media channels have you been using to promote your store, and how have you been using these?

I’ve always said the hardest thing about starting up a company is getting your name out there. There’s a fine border between telling people you have something interesting they should check out and shoving it down there throut like spam. I keep mainly to Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram as well as working with any t-shirt blogs and other artists.

How are you measuring the success of your investment in social media?

I think it’s always good to have goals, weather it be get this many followers by the end of the year or to sell so many of this product this month. As well as that most of the site’s help you out by giving you information on weather your growing or not online. My Site is run under Shopify which also lets me know who is coming to my site from where, so that really lets me know what types of social media are really working best.

Do you have any particular social media success stories that you can share?

I think the best thing is just randomly coming across your clothing or art on a website you’ve never even been to before. I remember one day I was visiting a site called iamthetrend.com and checking out there top 100 singlets for summer and just a few down from the top was Take Heart’s wolf singlet. That was definitely a surprise and an awesome acheivement at the same time.

What made you decide that you wanted to have a Facebook store?

I think it’s great that people and potential customers can just click through your products and store without having to leave their facebook or open another window. It’s one less hassle they have to go through especially if they just want to have a quick look. It cuts the middle man and shows people your all about offering them as much service as you can.

How did you come across our GoSocial Store application?

I was just looking at more ways to grow my store, I had seen it on Facebook and again on Shopify as a application so I thought, really what have I got to lose?!

What have you found most useful about the GoSocial Store so far?

Mainly the simplicity of it all. It’s not complicated or all over the show, It’s clean, its there and its easy enough for anyone to use without any hassle.

Anything else you would like to add?

If you have your own business I would definitely recommend GoSocial Store as another way for you to connect to your customers and as something extra to offer them. You don’t have anything to loose. Also you can check out my blog and ask me any questions personally through tumblr. This has been fun!

You can check out Take Heart’s awesome clothing and art prints at takeheartordie.com, or in their Facebook storefront (powered by GoSocial Store of course). You can also follow Alex on Twitter and Tumblr.