Use of social media for artists

Use of social media is important in promoting one's art.  There is an increasing number of options for artists. Here is a quick review:

Facebook

Facebook is the market leader of the social media space.  It has more than 1.86 billion active users as of March 2017,   There is a good chance that potential art enthusiast are on Facebook.  However, because Facebook is so popular and widely used, there is a tremendous amount of noise in users’ newsfeeds.  The owner of a page has to compete with advertisers, your client’s friends, and all of the major news outlets to catch a potential buyer’s attention.

YouTube

Although YouTube may not be the first social media platform that jumps to mind.  It allows viewers to comment and start discussions about the videos that they see. I’ve  heard that artists video is a great way to engage users by showing the work in progress and telling stories. Unfortunately, it's not conducive to discovering new artist admirers.

Instagram

Instagram is owned by Facebook, and allows one to integrate the Instagram posts into their Facebook network, but Instagram has a life of its own. A recent survey indicated that Instagram was the second most-mentioned platform used by artists, after Facebook. Similarly to Facebook, Instagram also allows artists to create a network of followers, it also encourages users to discover new contributors, and, by tagging posts, artists can reach out to art lovers who might otherwise never see their art. The downside is that Instagram is skewed toward younger users, a demographic that doesn’t match up to slightly older art-lover demographics.

Twitter

For some time, Twitter was considered a top-contender in the social media space. Over the last few years, however, it seems to have settled into a niche primarily used for the distribution of news, celebrity gossip, and presidential rambling [no comment].  Changes made a few years ago allows one to share images. Because Twitter is a smaller network, it’s active users tend to be more engaged.

Pinterest

Pinterest is a natural for sharing artwork. It is designed to allow users to pull together images they like so that they can then share them with their friends and with the world at large,

LinkedIn

LinkedIn has also become a niche service that seems primarily to provide professionals with job opportunities.

Snapchat

I don't know any artists promoting their are on Snapchat, which is aimed at the younger crowds.

BlogSpot

This platform allows artist to tell stories and also attach emails. Blogspot allows followers to receive new posts as they are published.

It is almost impossible to keep up with all of the social media There seem to be countless avenues for sharing one's art.  I have been using Facebook, Pinterest and Blogspot for a few years. Recently, I started using Instagram.

Here is my most recent painting.  I saw these old dishes when I was in Florida a few months ago.

Have a great week,

Danielle