Using Social Media Effectively As An Artist With Disabled Artist's Network CIC
One of the things that we try to do for artists is drive some attention to their websites and social media platforms ... but in order for a social media strategy to work, you, the artist, have to put some effort into publicising yourself on a daily basis in order to cultivate a following.
We have poster templates ready for the exhibiting artists to use that have our supporting companies' logos on. Use them wisely as you never know who will be watching and it could lead to a good opportunity or sale for you. The best way to use the posters is to write a piece on your own channel and get other people to 'like', comment and share. Look at how other people are using them on LinkedIn. This way, the clicks go back to you. I've set my main social media feed up over the last 10 years and have a good following - use it to your advantage. If I see you've tagged me in something, I tend to respond and share in the hope of driving more traffic to you.
Which social media platforms should I use?
This is down to your personal preference. I like the functionality of Facebook and it gives opportunities to community projects to flourish through various tools. The downside to Facebook is the constant changes in the way that groups and pages are managed.
The positives of Facebook are that you can easily incorporate it into your corporate scheme and feature the feed on your web page, set up private groups (very useful if you have members that are vulnerable people) and very easily share all manner of content. The other reason to develop a Facebook following is that it is consistently still the platform with the most users (July 2021)...and you can use it as an SEO tool.
DAN CIC actively invite and interact with artists from all disciplines via Facebook and LinkedIn on a regular basis.
LinkedIn is more for business contacts rather than sales. So you might gain a connection that wants to exhibit your art ... but I doubt that you'll get many sales on the platform. LinkedIn is very useful for finding workers/volunteers and sharing ideas, particularly technological advances. If you're looking for ways of sharing awareness about your projects, there are many bloggers/journalists on the site - just watch out for the ones that want you to do their work for them. A good journalist should want to interview you rather than have you send them a written piece that they can spin off as their own work.
Twitter is very limited by comparison and not as functional across the board. They've doubled their character limit to 280 per post but I feel it's still too limited ... and encourages a smaller attention span. Yes, you have to be more creative to get your point across but I prefer more information about an issue or post.
The best bit about Twitter in the past was the link with Facebook: you could automatically share your Facebook post onto your Twitter feed. That was removed a few years ago and will have had a negative impact on the numbers of recorded users. While we share posts to our other branded channels - we regard them as secondary and don't monitor them for re-posts, followers, replies etc.
My advice is to develop your Facebook skills and make it your primary platform and then to share posts from there to your other channels.
Daily social media strategy
It's in the paragraph title, do something every day! It doesn't have to take long. It takes a few seconds to share a post. You will see something on the Wolf Photography page about your art - 'like', comment and share it!!! It's for your benefit.
You should be using your posters on your other channels and writing something meaningful on there about your art that we can share from YOUR Facebook page or personal profile (remember to make it a 'Public' post - not just for friends). This way, you're building up your online persona. Do a search every week and see what starts coming up with your name on Google.
Helping each other
Remember that you're part of a network. If you see a post from a fellow artist - 'like', comment and share it - even if you are not currently exhibiting! It doesn't take long and I'm sure it will be much appreciated. It also highlights you as a good human being that isn't just looking after your own interests. We started rejecting applications from people that don't share anything about their fellow artists from the group.
You decided to exhibit with a worthy cause - underline your commitment with your actions ... it's time to walk your talk.
Remember not to share posts from the closed groups on Facebook and LinkedIn - those posts won't be seen by the public.
Reaching out to other artists
You all know other artists - invite them to exhibit with us. Spread the opportunity! Also, feel free to exhibit in the next exhibition yourselves. There's no limit to how many times you can exhibit - but you can only apply to one show at a time - when it goes live, you can apply to the next one.
Do not invite people you know into the closed groups please. We have a security system in place. The only people allowed into the groups are those that have submitted an application to exhibit via our system.
Reach out to your local and national media
Feel free to use your story and information about DAN CIC on joint pieces to your local media outlets. Write to them and tell them your story and about your art! Don't be shy - you've made something that should be seen - so write something that should be read. Your story is on your PDF - download it and use it.
I want you to benefit from this experience as much as possible. Please ensure that anything you write about DAN CIC is checked by me for accuracy though.