The Art League Blog is on vacation this week, so we’re reposting some of our most popular resources on sharing your art online! Please enjoy this post from the vault, originally published July 2, 2014.
This guest post comes to us from Casey Webb of Jung Katz, a blog for artists and creatives, where this was first published. Casey is an artist whose primary passions are business and creating art that’s personal to her. Together with Joey Souza, also of Jung Katz, she has a social media following of over 2,000.
Social media can be a very useful tool for growing a strong community of followers — if you tend to your networks regularly and in the right way.
However, it can be a bit overwhelming to try and post daily if you have no idea what to post or what not to post. These tips work great for any social media network, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, and Tumblr.
What to post:
- Artwork : Finished pieces, works in progress, and sketches. People follow you because they want to see your art. Give them a behind the scenes peak that they can’t see from just glancing at your website or portfolio. Maybe even take some pictures of your work space.
- Project Updates: Are you starting a new series or collection? Artists need to self-promote a bit. If they’re interested in your work, they’ll most likely be interested in other projects by you as well.
- What inspires you : Set aside some time to give a shout out to a fellow artist. This is a wonderful networking tool, just make sure you have permission to share their artwork beforehand. More than likely they will be extremely flattered and maybe even return the favor.
- Upcoming Events: Tell them about gallery shows or craft fairs you’ll be at, and that you hope to see them there.
- Accomplishments : It’s okay to be proud of a job well done. Talk about any features in magazines and other accomplishments or milestones.
- Anything Noteworthy: Are you donating 15% of all proceeds to your local animal shelter for the entire month of May? Or are you switching over to organic fair trade materials? Both are great things to know and could potentially drive more sales.
What not to post:
- Irrelevant Content : Post those on your personal account. If I follow you for your artwork and you only post art once in every four posts, chances are I’m going to become uninterested and unfollow you.
- The Same Things Again, and Again, and Again: Don’t post tons of pictures of a single project all at the same stage of development. Some different views are nice, but we don’t need to see it from ten different angles.
- Complaints : You probably don’t follow people to hear them complain about things, and chances are no one is following you to hear it either. Nobody likes being around someone who is always in a bad mood. You want to give your followers a positive experience, not a negative one.
- Gossip : Talking bad about other artists is not only rude, but can also burn more bridges than you may be aware of at the time. Saying rude and negative things can sever relationships between you and the artist, you and the artist’s fans, and you and anyone who thinks you’re unprofessional. It’s best not to chance it. Just do your best to be courteous and polite to everyone, and handle issues privately and professionally.
- Copyrighted Pictures: Don’t post pictures that aren’t yours unless you have permission to post them.
- Anything Controversial: Unless you’re known by your fans for your controversial ways, you could potentially lose many followers by talking about things like politics or religion. If it’s not relevant to your artwork, consider keeping your opinions to yourself.
Before posting to any of your social media channels, think about what it is people follow you for. What do they want to see? What is it that you like seeing from the artists you follow? Take note of what you personally enjoy seeing from those you follow, as well as what you think they could do without. Try your best to understand what you want and what others want from you and you’ll have a deeper understanding of what to post and what not to.
Have any to add? Let us know in the comments below!