Are you struggling to get your art noticed on social media?
Social media is great for artists. It’s great for marketing, awareness, selling or whatever you want to call it.
But it’s not as simple as “get on social” or “do social”.
Here are some tactics you can use to get some traction with your art.
#1. Post More Often
If you’re really serious about gaining traction on social when it comes to building a following and selling art then the first step is to post more often.
At least everyday. Probably multiple times per day.
The first step might be to choose just 1-2 channels. Instagram is probably the best one. Forget about Twitter. Maybe do Instagram + Facebook.
If you are more into teaching then YouTube and Instagram might be the best ones.
But whatever the case, focus on more content. Document what you’re working on each day.
The most popular accounts on social, not counting celebrities, are accounts that post often. Or they at least did in their early days.
#2. Use More Hashtags
There is a feeling with some on social that it’s not right to use a lot of hashtags. But when I look at popular artists and photographers and others they’re almost all using 10+ hashtags for every post.
Find artists you admire. Find ones that you think you’re comparative too. See what hashtags they’re using. Click on them. Type them in the search bar and see how many followers they have.
Use the most popular ones for every post you share. You’re aiming for at least 10. Don’t be afraid to use 20.
#3. Influencers, Not Just Customers & Fans
One little hangup on social could be that you’re just focusing on customers. And that certainly makes sense, but it limits your reach.
You’re looking to connect with and earn the attention of influencers. An influencer is anyone that holds the attention of your customers. Or your fans too. The people that love you, but that probably won’t buy from you.
All three groups of people are important.
How do you win over influencers? Find a few people that love art and buy art. See who they’re following. Those are their influencers.
Or if you have sold your pieces already follow those people on Instagram and see who they’re following.
Do this a few times and you’ll start seeing who the influencers are. Start commenting on their work. Maybe even send them a free piece. More on that in a bit.
#4. Guesting
Social media takeovers are a pretty cool thing. I’ve seen some good ones on Instagram lately where one person will takeover the account of another person for daily instastories.
Start looking to do this if you can. Maybe there is a local art store that you could takeover for the day. Start small and build up.
Maybe you just have a colleague that has more followers than you. Take over their Insta for the day.
#5. Free Product
I’m a fan of using free product as a marketing tool. You could, for example, spend $100 on advertising. Or you could create a piece, give it away to an influencer and potentially generate way more attention that that advertisement.
Lots of successful businesses give away free product. It doesn’t dilute what they’re doing. It’s simply one of the best ways to generate awareness.
Your favorite band? They’ve given away plenty of free tickets.
Your favorite restaurant? Loads of free food. Bet on it.
Your favorite author? Probably has a stack of books on their desk ready to ship out to influencers free of charge.
Conclusion
Finding traction for your art on social media takes effort. And maybe you’re putting in effort. The tactics above should help direct that effort into areas that will lead to results.
One final takeaway from this all is that you may generate some direct sales, but really you’re looking to raise your profile. You want people searching for your name. You want people calling. You may not know that they came as a result of seeing your art on social, but chances are that’s exactly what happened…