Fine Print Imaging - Marketing Tips
Ten Tips for Marketing Your Art With Social Networking
by Kate Dardine
The basic premise of marketing your art using social networking is building relationships. Since many artists and photographers are rather solitary creatures, spending hours in the studio, in the field or in the darkroom (digital or actual), online social networking provides an opportunity to connect with people – people from your past, family, friends, colleagues, your friend’s friends, your family’s friends, and so on. And in this mix of people there are people who will be struck by your work when it pops up on their computer screen and some of those people will be motivated to find out more and to purchase.
True story: I put up my personal Facebook page a few weeks ago and posted a few images and a link to my website. I connected with some old friends from my hometown in Connecticut, and with some of my friends here in Colorado and a few other folks. Within 48 hours of putting up my page, I sold a painting – as a direct result of my Facebook page. Talk about instant affirmation: I was onto something.
I don’t claim to know everything there is about using social networking sites to market Art. But I can tell you what has worked for me. And I don’t mean to imply that you can just use social networking alone to market your art. This is just one more cog in the Marketing Wheel.
1. If you haven’t already, get over your fear of social networking sites and set up a (free!) Facebook account. Yes, there are lots of other social networking sites out there, including a bunch that are geared toward artists. But for the purpose of creating a buzz about your work and connecting with people who might buy your work, Facebook will give you the most bang for your time invested.
2. If you haven’t already, get a website! This is where you are going to drive traffic TO from Facebook. If you have a website, make sure it is up-to-date, professional looking, and easy to navigate. I have my website (which includes my personal art blog) hosted by Fine Art Studio Online, and give them the highest recommendations for ease of use for both the artist and the viewer. Bonus tip: If you don’t have a website and just want a way to get your images online, go to Blogger.com and set up a free account and post images to your personal blog that you set up.
3. You’ll also want to open a PayPal account if you don’t already have one. That way you can sell paintings and photographs directly from your website or your blog (PayPal will give you a link to embed in your website’s or blog’s html coding.)
4. Plan on devoting an hour a day, five days a week to social networking. Sounds crazy, I know. But it takes time to upload images and content.
5. If you already have a Facebook profile, you are ahead of the game. The rest of you can catch up by opening an account with Facebook and creating a personal profile. Next you need to add some friends. Facebook makes it easy. You can search for people who graduated from high school the same year you did. Or college. You can search for people by name. At any rate, spend some time searching for people you know and “friending” them.
When you are on your profile or home page on Facebook, look down at the bottom of the screen and you’ll see a little icon that looks like two square conversation bubbles. Click on that. Then click on “Help”. There are FAQ’s there that will guide you in creating your public page.
Once you’ve got your page created, you’ll want to add at least one photo album and upload images of your paintings or photography. Once they are uploaded, write a short description about each piece. You don’t have to go crazy and upload every last image you have – maybe five to start out with. You’ll see why I don’t want you to go overboard to start with.
6. OK, so now you’ve got your public page on Facebook. The adage “if you build it they will come” does NOT apply here! They will not come (at first) unless you invite them. So, start with your friends from your personal FB page. There is a place on your public page to invite people to become “fans.” Invite them to “fan” you. How do you get them to act? Offer a little incentive. On my page I’m having a contest of sorts. I let my FB friends know that the first 100 fans on my public page will be put into a drawing for a free custom birth totem animal painting. But…and this is important to know…you can’t just send out one message. The thing about social networking is that it is all pretty fleeting. You post, it appears, but then other people post, and your post gets pushed down until it is no longer visible on your friends’ pages. So this is why I said you don’t want to go overboard uploading all your images at a time. You want to upload and publish a new image once a day so it’ll be fresh “news.”
7. Post a link to your public page from your personal page once a day – preferably in the middle of the day when FB is getting the most traffic (yes, when people are at their jobs…). It is true: most people DO need to see something at least three times before they “see” it and seven times before they act. (Another way to do this is to fan yourself, and when you post new stuff on your public page it will show up on your personal page. You can then hit the “share” button and that will send the post to all your friends.)
8. Post links to content on your website from your public page – new images, your blog, shows you are in - anything interesting that will drive traffic to your site. Hint: write an intriguing “teaser” that will get people click the link to see what you are talking about.
9. You can also buy advertising on Facebook for your public page, on either a pay-per click or pay-per-impression basis. You can set the maximum amount want to pay per click or impression, who you want to see the ads (region, age groups, education level, etc.), what days or times of day you want the ads to appear, how long the ad will appear (one day, one week, one month, etc.) and the max amount you want to spend per day (the ad will stop appearing when that limit is matched.) The trick with this is to figure out who your market is, and when they would be likely to be using Facebook. And to “bid” enough per click or impression that you will appear on the side bar on your target market’s profile page (that’s where paid ads appear.) But – and here’s the thing – you have to have something compelling on your public page to either get people to your website to buy OR a compelling reason to have them fan your page (so you can continue marketing to them.)
10. The other two social networking sites I recommend are Linked-In and Twitter. Linked-In is a professional networking site, and a great place to exchange ideas with other professional artists and photographers – as well as connect on a business level with people who went to the same college as you, people who are interested in the same things you are (there are thousands of “groups” you can join and promote to) and people who work in the same industries you work in or have worked in. Again, you use it to drive traffic to your website. Same with Twitter, which is a “stream of consciousness” site where you are allowed 140 characters to tweak someone’s interest.
11. OK, I know I said ten tips, so this is a bonus! Remember with social networking, you can’t be all business all the time, or people will feel like they’re being hustled. Think of it like a big party. People talk about the weather, exchange personal stories, tell a few jokes, discuss current events, discuss the arts and...make business connections. Even though your intent is to make connections with art buyers, you have to be a person. Someone people know and like. And trust. So instead of just blasting people with buy this, buy this – educate them, entertain them, introduce them to other artists/photographers whose work you admire.
Yes, all of this takes time and thought. And as I said, it can’t be the only way you market your art. It is another tool in the toolbox which includes your website, e-newsletter, blog, postcard mailings, business cards and brochures. And remember, the whole point is to drive people to your website or blog where they can see and purchase your art.
If you have specific questions about using social networking to market your art, feel free to email me at kdardine@fineprintimaging.com.
Kate Dardine is the Marketing Director at Fine Print Imaging and is a professional artist who uses Facebook, Linked-in and Twitter to market her work. You are welcome to make reprints of this article as long as you cite Kate Dardine and Fine Print Imaging.