“Throw it at the wall and see what sticks”
Have you heard that expression before? Maybe in a sitcom office meeting, where some big burly boss is going over the quarterly goals. He’s brainstorming ideas, and is referring to trying out a bunch of approaches or tactics to see what may and may not work.
Or perhaps you heard it in a kitchen somewhere when a friend or family member literally threw a piece of spaghetti at the wall to see if it was done. The myth is that if it sticks; it’s done. If it falls off the wall; it isn’t. An ex-boyfriend of mine did this once, which was admittedly kind of funny. He left it there for me to clean up, which was less funny.
But what does it mean when you’re talking about building your online following?
Whether you’re first getting started trying to sell art online, or you’ve been doing it for some time, there are *so many* ways you can choose to spend your marketing time. I have been a part-time artist for years and recently went full-time. Up till now, I have tried a myriad of ways to bring attention to my art practice;
- Facebook Business page
- Facebook Personal page
- Facebook Groups participation
- Etsy
- Reddit Groups
- Having profiles on Print on Demand sites (Fine art america, Red bubble, ect.)
- Tik-Tok
- Tumblr
- Periscope (So briefly)
- Snapchat (Even more briefly)
- You-Tube
- Online Art Sites like Deviant Art and Elfwood (old school!)
- Online Art Contests (usually run via the art sites above)
- Blogging
- Commenting on other people’s blogs and social media art profiles
- Hoping
- Praying
Ok, ok.. so those last two bullet points are me being a little flippant. But it does feel like you’re doing that sometimes when you are putting all this energy out there and hoping for a return on investment. I was doing that for years, and wondering why I didn’t have more of an online following and success by now. But…
I have been proverbially throwing things at the walls for years.
In retrospect, these are some of the mistakes I think I’ve made in my approach to online marketing before. I was…
- Not Being Consistent
I had a very haphazard approach to posting and sharing. I would get on a roll on one platform or other and do well for a while. Then stop. Or do a lot in one place and neglect engaging in the others. There was a lot of starting and stopping and inconsistency.
- Not Measuring results
I was doing all these things and had no clue how I was doing because I barely ever looked at my website analytics or social media insights. I was going off “feeling” things like comments and “likes” vs. tangible statistics and actual sales. I was neglecting the metrics.
- Aimlessly syndinating my content
I recently realized that I’ve been losing an opportunity to engage with my audience (and potential new audience!) by having my Instagram linked to automatically post to my Twitter and Facebook Business accounts. Same with my Blog automatically posting to them. The problem with this approach is that each platform has a different format and way of speaking to your audience. What looks good on my Instagram is not going to look good on my Twitter! And If I never actually *Go* on my Twitter feed or Facebook then I’m less likely to actually engage and build meaningful relationships with people who dig my art and like to use those platforms. It feels “easy” to sync the platforms and check another *to do* of your list, but by doing it this way and not taking the time to tailor the message to the different platforms, I have been missing out on reaching a bigger audience.
- Not telling my story
In the same way that I was missing the mark by syndicating my content, I‘ve been missing a lot of opportunities to tell my story when I post to my social media accounts. A great example of this is this project I did a few years ago called the “30 in 30” challenge. I was painting every day and dutifully posting the completed piece to my Instagram account. But every post was just the basic information. Piece name, size, medium, etc. I wasn’t giving any context of the work or why I was making it or even where to buy it! I have actually done this a lot over the years of posting. Not giving context or telling my story, assuming someone looking at it already knows everything about me. This was a mistake because oftentimes they didn’t know or it was their first contact! For the people who did know a bit about me, I was missing an opportunity to let them get to know me and my art practice better.
- Trying to do it all
I simply did too much. I was trying to do *all the things* which eventually led to doing *none or very little of any of the things* In short, I got burnt out by trying to check all the boxes I thought I “had to.”
Those were all big revelations that changed the way that I both think and talk about my work now, and especially how I choose to share and market it.
Here are some of the ways that I am approaching it differently now, and some of the questions I ask myself before embarking on any new method or platform;
- Can I be consistent doing this?
Whatever I choose to do, can I be consistent? Can I come up with a schedule that’s in balance with the other things I want to do and what else is going on in my life right now? Sometimes that means I can post twice a day on Instagram. Sometimes that means I can only commit to a once-a-week Blog. Sometimes that means I am going to totally forget Tik-Tok or Youtube right now. There’s no wrong answer here. It’s what works for you.
- Can I measure it?
How do I know if what I’m doing is an effective use of my time? Do I have metrics enabled on my website to see how many people read the latest blog post or do I have my mailing list set up to see how many new subscribers a post generates? Do I check my insights tab on Instagram? Am I seeing an uptick in sales on my Etsy or webshop? I need to be sure to schedule some regular time to do this and check the analytics to see if what I’m doing is actually effective.
- Is this something I actually enjoy doing?
Art is my work but it’s also my play! And the best way to ensure that I’ll actually get my promotion and marketing time in is if I actually enjoy it. So I have started asking myself if the platform I’m using or the method I’m employing is something I actually enjoy? Not all the platforms I’ve tried are my cup of tea. Twitter and Tick-Tock are not really my thing. I enjoyed Reddit and Youtube in the past, but don’t feel like I have a ton of time for it right now. I very much enjoy Instagram and Instagram reels. I am really enjoying Pinterest. I am enjoying writing and blogging again! So those are the areas I’ll be focusing the most of my online time for the next few months.
Building your online following takes time and persistence. It also takes focus. You can throw things at the wall until they stick but you can also burn yourself out by trying to do too much and having unfocused energy. I’m thankful that I have learned some of these things and excited to put them into deeper practice as I enter my second year as a full-time working artist.
How are you planning to focus your marketing time this year? What are your favorite platforms to reach and build your audience? Drop me a comment or an email and let me know! Also, if you dig the blog and my artwork, subscribe to my mailing list for the latest updates. And as always, remember…
Every day is an opportunity to make art.
1/31/2022 Update- Just wrapped up my 2022 “Make 100” Kickstarter project! I generated 95 new paintings during the project!! Follow along on Instagram where I’ll be highlighting the finished works over the next couple weeks. In the month of February I’ll be doing the 5 large remaining paintings to complete the 100, and sharing my process as I go along.