SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING TIPS
The use of social media can be a great tool for Artists to promote themselves and their work if used correctly. All Artists and Creative Practitioners should seriously consider using a social media platform and creating an Instagram profile at the very least. It can be a daunting task, but once you fit it into your everyday practice and get into the habit of enjoying sharing your work and progress with others you may be surprised at what being on social media can do for you, and the best thing is, it’s free marketing.
INSTAGRAM
This is one of the most popular social media tools for Artists as it is such a visually orientated platform and as Artists are more visually minded it is a great match to promote yourself and your work. Below are just a few helpful tips to making your Instagram Profile more professional and increasing your followers.
- Consider having a separate account solely for your work and daily artistic practice to your everyday social activities.
- Treat your Instagram profile as an online portfolio of you and your work, so be aware of how your posts look together.
- Post an image at least twice a week as this will increase followers and keep people interested in your work.
- Post images of work in progress and your studio practice, not just finished works of art as people like to see an artist’s process too.
- Use relevant #Hashtags in a posts caption i.e. a post of a new painting of a landscape with a sunset over the South Downs should use hashtags such as #newpainting #newwork #landscapepainting #painting #oilpainting #sunset #southdowns #southdownsnationalpark
- Tag other relevant users in your posts i.e. a post of prep work on your open studio for the Chichester Art Trail should have us tagged in the image with our user’s name @chichesterarttrail.
- Use Stories to visually post thoughts and interests such as things you find inspiring. Note, stories only remain visual for 24 hours.
- Try to comment on other people’s posts as well as liking them as this can increase your following as well as being great for networking with local creatives
- Make sure you respond to people commenting on your own posts, as this shows that you value their input and that you are available to talk further about your work if need be.
FACEBOOK
Creating a page on Facebook is a great way of letting people know more about you and your practice in the written from. Here people can read into more depth about your work and you can explain so much more about your practice. Below are some key things that you should be doing to create an appealing page on Facebook to increase your audience reach.
- Create a Facebook Business Page. This is separate to your Facebook profile and will be a great way to separate your social activities on Facebook with your creative practice.
- Make sure that you have filled out all aspects of your About section of your page, this information is used by search engines so people can easily find you and your work.
- Consider creating a “button” that allows people easy access to contact you or to get them signed up to a newsletter.
- Try to make your profile picture the same as your Instagram profile to create continuity and so that people will easily recognise your pages.
- Choose an engaging cover photo, or even use the slideshow tool to show various examples of the work you produce.
- Link your Facebook page and your Instagram page so that when you post on Instagram you can automatically post of Facebook, this will help you save time whilst reaching more people. However, be careful if you have included links in your Instagram post as these links do not always work through Facebook so you may have to consider writing a separate post.
- Try to post at least twice a week to keep your audience engaged and interested and to reach more people – if your Instagram page is linked it will help with this.
- Look at joining certain local and national groups so that if it is relevant, you can share your post in them to reach more people who may be interested in your work.
- If you have work for sale, consider opening up a shop, this in turn will allow you to open a shop on Instagram.
If you would like any further advice or have any questions regarding any of the tips then our Social Media Rep. Becky Rose will be happy to help you. Just contact her via email on accounts@chichesterarttrail.org or even drop her a message via our Social Media accounts of Instagram or Facebook.
Download as a PDF clicking this link: SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING TIPS
