Show Notes:
Learn the magic of marketing with us here at BoldBrush!
Get over 50% off your first year on your artist website with FASO: https://www/FASO.com/podcast
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For today's episode, we decided to compile the best social media tips from past episodes. The roadmap to growing your social media accounts is oftentimes complex and frankly confusing. Not every tip will work for everyone, but it's good to know what other successful artists have done so you can try it out yourself and see what works for you! Like I mentioned on the previous episode, these aren't the only social media tips we've discussed on the show, but they're some of the best ones to apply to your social media today! All of the artists mentioned in the episode are all linked in the show notes as well as their respective episodes so you may go listen to them if you'd like. And now, let's listen to top 10 social media tips for artists!
Nic Thurman:
episode 20
https://www.nicthurman.com/
Luis Colan:
episode 21
https://luiscolanart.com/
Mark Thompson:
episode 22
https://www.markthompsonart.com/
Shana Levenson:
episode 23
https://www.shanalevenson.com/
Kelly Eden
episode 24
https://www.kellyeden.com/
Jessica Oliveras
episode 28
https://www.jessicaoliveras.com/
Lisa Lebofsky
episode 30
Olya Babich Konnell - Daily Art Marketing Hacks
episode 31
Derek Harrison
episode 35
https://www.derekharrisonart.com/
Catherine Bobkoski
episode 37
https://www.catherinebobkoski.com/
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Transcript:
Nic Thurman: 0:00
You need to quit thinking about yourself and think about the people on the other side of the phone, right? What do they want what I've tried to think about and what has really worked like the videos that did the very best, where I got millions of views or whatever, those videos, were always grounded in that little thought, you just have to think about what's going to get people to actually stop, you know, if they're scrolling along what's going to get them to stop, and actually watch the video.
Luis Colan: 0:28
But then came a business tool, which I don't think a lot of people expected it to be, but it just developed into that. And so you have to refine your page. And so that's why my page is now constantly the sketchbooks in the prints and showing you the process of what it is and romanticizing it a little bit visually, in a way so that it becomes more appealing.
Jessica Oliveras: 0:51
So in terms of like how you project yourself on social media on the website, I would recommend always look professional, don't post anything too personal on your professional page. People you know, don't care maybe would you cook today, but maybe they do care what's in the studio.
Mark Thompson: 1:11
And the strategies that we employ have shifted over time and keep so keeping on top of them and figuring out what comprises a life in painting now as self sustaining life in painting is where the wonderful things that BoldBrush releases into the world and become so used because they they almost like the scoop up the desire that we all have, but rarely put into motion you know tips about how to improve your your social media following I gotta tell you, it works.
Laura Arango Baier: 1:44
Welcome to the BoldBrush show, where we believe that fortune favors the bold brush. My name is Laura Arango Baier, and I'm your host. For those of you who are new to the podcast. We are a podcast that covers art marketing techniques, and all sorts of business tips. Specifically to help artists learn to better sell their work. We interview artists at all stages of their careers, as well as others who are in careers tied to the art world in order to hear their advice and insights. For today's episode, we decided to compile the best social media tips from past episodes. The roadmap to growing your social media account is oftentimes complex, and frankly, confusing. Not every tip will work for everyone. But it's good to know what other successful artists have done, so you can try it out for yourself and see what works for you. Like I mentioned on the previous episode, these aren't the only social media tips we discussed on the show. But there's some of the best ones to apply to your social media today. All of the artists mentioned in the episode are all linked in the show notes as well as their respective episodes. So you may go listen to them if you'd like. And now, let's listen to the top 10 Social Media Tips for artists. We're starting off with Nick Thurman, who tells us his golden nugget advice for what has worked for his social media platforms.
Nic Thurman: 2:53
Here's a little golden nugget, okay, this is my tip to everyone out there, if you have something that you're really understand about your painting process, maybe you understand that makes your paintings unique or really elevates them to a higher level, you need to express that to your audience into you know, potential collectors, that's been something that has really set apart some of my paintings is just getting that opportunity to express my collectors, why these paintings are actually more valuable, you know, when it comes to the foundation, having good quality supplies, having a good oil, ground, good quality linen, and being able to tell them why that's actually you know, setting it apart and pushing it to that higher level where they can rely on the painting for the long term. So if you have anything like that, whether it's the philosophy, it's your process, it's the materials, anything that you can really tell them that's going to elevate that painting, you need to express that to them. And actually, my biggest piece of advice, I think, would be to lose your ego, need to quit thinking about yourself and think about the people on the other side of the phone. Right? What do they want what I've tried to think about and what has really worked like the videos that did the very best where I got millions of views or whatever, those videos, were always grounded in that little thought. It sounds very simple, it's very difficult to execute. You just have to think about what's going to get people to actually stop, you know, if they're scrolling along what's going to get them to stop and actually watch the video. And if they feel happy, or they feel some sort of emotion afterwards. Generally, you know, I want to make people feel either happy or feel like they just learned something that's kind of my goal. If you get them to feel something like that, and they watch it all the way through, then you've done a great job. So you can imagine, you know, a lot of the stuff out there. It's just not it's not doing that job or getting people interested or getting people to actually watch because it's too much about what you have ideas about for yourself. for something that something like that. So my advice is to lose your ego. Think about what's actually going to get somebody to stop and watch.
Laura Arango Baier: 5:07
Shana Levinson tells us how she uses social media to reach out, connect and sell her work.
Shana Levenson: 5:12
I think I sell a majority of my work through social media, I would say 95% of my paintings I sell purely through Instagram. And I think it's all through reaching out to people making sure that if someone's reached out to you about a painting that you are constantly like, hey, just seeing if you're still interested in this piece, or, you know, if someone's a collector already, typically a collector will become a repeat collector. With my repeat collectors, I always give a special discount too, because, you know, we've created a relationship. But not being afraid to announce that your work is for sale, not posting. I know I have a lot of mentees, students that I've mentored. And they've been so fearful of sharing their work on social media that the only way for people to see it is by posting it. Also being active on social media meaning, don't just be a passive social media person by only posting your own stuff going on. Looking up art, commenting on people's art, going to Gallery Instagram pages, commenting on their Instagram pages, being seen is important as an artist, it is not a passive career being an artist, we can't just sit back and wait for people to come and buy our work. We can't wait for a gallery to sell our work. We are our own gallery, whether we're represented by another gallery or not, or several galleries, we still are the first place that the art is made. So we're the ones that need to go out and reach out to those people. Every couple of months, I reached out to all of my collectors with the work that I've just created. And I say, Hey, I have these new pieces, let me know if you're interested. I also take payment plans from collectors, I want to make my work collectible. But I also want I also know that my work is going up in value, which is exciting. And it starts small. I remember, in 2014, I sold a painting that was a 60 by 40 for $3,000. And now I sell painting that size for $40,000. So knowing constantly putting the hours in knowing that the more hours you put in, the better you'll get, the more value your work will create and believing in your work. I don't know I just I never sit back and wait. I'm always the person that's very proactive. Because this is what are my survival is being an artist. So, you know, it didn't start off that way. It started off teaching mostly like teaching in my other studio. And I was teaching little kids classes, I was just trying to make little money here and there. And then and it's been, you know, a journey for sure. And it's always I think that little bit of fear, too of thinking, oh my god, what if I don't make money next month, makes me work that much harder makes me hustle that much more makes me reach out to people that much more, you know, you're just constantly thinking of ways to create interest in what you're creating,
Laura Arango Baier: 8:04
do we skolan reminds us that steady growth and romanticizing your work can go a long way. Actually, it's
Luis Colan: 8:11
Instagram, Instagram has been somewhat of a blessing. I used to have a website. And and then also prior to Instagram many years ago, blogging was a thing. And so I used to you know, I got on that right away when when that became something that people were getting their voices, you know, heard out there, and you know, their art was being seen that way. So I didn't have much I mean, I had some luck through blogging, but not much. And then someone a friend of mine, so you need to get on Instagram. That's where That's where is that that's where things are happening. And I said, Oh God, another thing for me to keep up with and and also like, oh, I don't know. And so I got on Instagram, I think it was 2013 12. And it was it was all new, it actually it's taken a while for me, it took a while for me to figure out what it needed to be. Because a lot of times I would be posting personal things or things that were happening in the studio things that were not super related. And again, we didn't know it was Instagram, it's supposed to be what's happening in your life at that very moment. But then came a business tool, which I don't think a lot of people expected it to be but it just developed into that. And so you have to refine your page. And so that's why my page is no constantly the sketchbooks in the prints and showing you the process of what it is and romanticizing it a little bit visually, in a way so that it becomes more appealing. So it's those are things that you learn as you as you go and like I said, I get a lot of messages from from different people around the world and they're gonna like how do I get these, you know, followers and how do I and it's like, do you pay for them? I'm like, Well, number one, I've been at it since 2013. It is now 2022 And it took quite a number of years for my account to reach 5000 And then from there just kind of started to you know snowball a little bit. So just like any anything else, it's time and patience just like my work a lot of people's like, oh, how do you do that? I'm like, It's time patience, devotion, it's, it's all of those things. So Instagram has become a tool for me and that's why and I have gotten you know, sales through it. Thank God luckily, and so I keep using I keep exploiting it until the next thing comes because I Instagram I think might be coming to an end and soon I think I'm gonna give him maybe another two years but I think something else is coming up. There's a lot of stuff going on on Tik Tok. Apparently, a lot of artists are selling a lot of work through tick tock, I am not on tick tock. I don't know how that works. But I do know that that there is a younger generation of artists who are now making bank on tick tock
Laura Arango Baier: 10:51
Lisa Lebowski emphasizes the importance of being your authentic self.
Lisa Lebofsky: 10:55
Well, yes, social media is great. Finally, and especially thanks to BoldBrush LIVE really learned how to how to use it as a as a marketing tool, but not spend so much time fussing over it and have fun with it, because it and utilize it to be able to better tell my story because, you know, again, people like the vignette, they like to feel like they're a part of something. So, you know, the especially the way that a lot of these, these platforms are pushed right now it's, you know, they really want to see like, okay, there's your hand making the whatever, like they really want that inside look. And I think I'm a little fortuitous. Because when I was younger, I think Secretly, I wanted to learn all these secrets about me secretly, I'm shy, and secretly, I wanted to make music videos. So so the real thing is like, and Tiktok all this. So that's like, so I'm this, like, oh, I can do the thing. I always kind of wanted to, like, I love music. And I'm, you know, I like, I think I like to try to be funny. So I just I have fun, like, I have my cat there. And I'm like, you know, the goofy, and I'm showing my painting technique, and I got a good song on. So it's this really enjoyable thing that I devote just a little bit of time to, I won't let it take up too much of my day because again, I'd rather be painting. But but that gives an insight. And you know, I've definitely had, especially this last year, a lot of people reach out to me, I can't say necessarily that this is led to anything concrete, but it usually does like it always has. When I first when I went nomadic, I really utilize social media a lot to show the journey I was on, I got a lot of collectors through that process. So I feel like this, this, this is doing a bit of the same and where people see my work at a show, they then look me up and they're like, Oh, you have this whole thing going on. And it just, you know it that makes it more intimate and something that they're a little bit more invested in.
Laura Arango Baier: 12:56
Although Babbage Knight discussed how growing your social media using fastest art marketing calendar can be a game changer. It's always important to remember the growth is easier and more steady with incremental daily steps. It's really tough, like you said, to be an artist, and not really have like other businesses do like a real marketing plan. You know, what am I supposed to do today? And then you can get so confused, because you're like, should I spend all day on social media? Or should I spend all day doing this? Or I don't want to do any of this. And then you're just getting an analysis paralysis, and you're like, I'm just gonna hide in my studio and never post again. And then of course, we make less sales because well, you're not. Yeah, doing the stuff. Right? Exactly. Yes. So this brings us to fases. Art marketing calendar. Do you mind telling us a little bit about what it is?
Olya Babich Konell: 13:51
Yes. So fasters art marketing calendar is a collaborative project, one that I've been able to kind of help create the infrastructure for, and the design of like, how it works based on what I've done for other businesses. So there, there are some things in marketing and executing certain things that overlap. You know, on the business side, however, there's some nuances to marketing artwork that are unique. And so, you know, with input from BoldBrush, and faasos, marketing experts, and even Clint himself, the CEO and founder and everybody else, you know, all the advice, and all of the programs that FASO already has had, you know, they have a lot of great resources, you know, to help their customers market their websites, basically taking all that information and putting it into a day by day calendar in a way that actually helps move the needle. So, for me personally, The challenge that I had was like, Okay, so I'm going to post on social media, how is that going to help me sell my artwork? Nobody's going to my website, like, how do you connect all of that together, and the art marketing calendar actually will kind of show you well, if you do this, this is helping you build awareness. If you do this, this is helping you build relationships with your audience, and you can now sell to your audience. If you do this, you're building relationships with your existing collectors. And prior, you know, anybody that's bought art from you. So you as the artist, not only get, you know, a, it looks like an Excel spreadsheet, because it's built in Google Docs, you know, a day by day box telling you what to do. But based on where you are in your journey, you know, what you you know, what you can focus on. So if you only have an hour a day, to dedicate to these business tasks of selling art, and then you have to pay for the rest of the day, you can jump in there, get it done, and jump out, and at least you know that the things that you're doing, you know what they're contributing to? And you don't have to think about it, you just do it, set a timer, get out, and you're done.
Laura Arango Baier: 16:09
Yes, yeah. And I think I've mentioned this before, where sometimes, you know, you can, you can follow certain steps. And like you said, if you don't know why you're doing them, personally, I don't, I don't dress something when someone tells me yeah, just do this. It's like, okay, but like, why what's, what is coming out of this? What is the purpose of this? But thankfully, you know, like you said, it does have a purpose. And at first, even though you already know the purpose, it still kind of feels a little spooky, because I've seen it happen with myself, you know, I've been following the calendar, not too faithfully the past two weeks. So because it's been a disaster, but I started following it. And I'm already seeing results from it. And it's literally, I only did maybe like three or four days of following the calendar. And that's us. So yeah, I went back up, like I went up another, I think 100 followers within a week, and I was like, wow, this is crazy. And then hopefully, once I start, you know, following more of the calendar, I will see even more effects. And that just goes to show how easy it is you really I think maybe I spent 10 minutes a day, or 20 minutes. Yeah, just doing all that. And bam, 100 new followers, more comments, more connections. And that's what this calendar is all about.
Olya Babich Konell: 17:30
Right? So exactly. Yeah, it makes me so happy to hear that. Because that is kind of what I've experienced. I mean, when I am actually following my own, you know, instructions, it works. I have seen it work. And it's not anything, it's not like snake, it's not, this isn't something like, you know, people say, Oh, this is a secret, there really is no secret. The secret is consistency, and small efforts, consistency and small efforts. And sometimes we spend too much time figuring out what to do. And we waste instead of just doing the thing that's going to help us right there being on a schedule being on a pattern. That's the secret. And, and not and you know, I've I've worked on putting these things together for myself before. Before. So this is where, you know, we took kind of like my format, I pulled these formats from, you know, my inspiration was other businesses, what do some of the best businesses in marketing do? And so anyway, it's, but the information is unique to artists. And like a really good example is so we have one thing on there where we remind artists on a certain day every week to go in. And if anybody has followed you recently, like on your social media platforms, any of them, send them a DM, like, Hey, thank you so much for your support. I have heard you know, welcome to my page, I would like to invite you to subscribe to my newsletter, and you give them the link, because this is the best opportunity to do that. And like that wasn't, you know, it's not something we always think about. And we get so busy we forget. But that little prompt that reminder, spend 10 minutes today doing that, bam, you can already grow your newsletter because even if out of the 10 messages that you've send five of them sign up there you go, you got five new subscribers, so stuff like that.
Laura Arango Baier: 19:26
How BoldBrush reinspire artists to inspire the world because creating art creates magic, and the world is currently in desperate need of magic. BoldBrush provides artists with free art marketing, creativity and business ideas and information. This show is an example. We also offer written resources, articles and a free monthly art contest open to all visual artists. We believe that fortune favors the bold brush and if you believe that to sign up completely free at BoldBrush show.com. That's the O LD BRUSH show.com. The BoldBrush Show is sponsored by FASO. Now more than ever, it's crucial to have a website when you're an artist, especially if you want to be a professional in your career. Thankfully, with our special link faso.com forward slash podcast, you can make that come true. And also get over 50% off your first year on your artists website. Yes, that's basically the price of 12 lattes in one year, which I think is a really great deal considering that you get sleek and beautiful website templates that are also mobile friendly e commerce print on demand in certain countries, as well as access to our marketing center that has our brand new art marketing calendar. And the art marketing calendar is something that you won't get with our competitor. The art marketing calendar gives you day by day step by step guides on what you should be doing today, right now in order to get your artwork out there and seen by the right eyes so that you can make more sales this year. So if you want to change your life and actually meet your sales goal this year, then start now by going to our special link faso.com forward slash podcast. That's FASO.com. Forward slash podcast. Jessica Oliveras reminds us of the importance of keeping your business page professional and filled with the best work you can possibly make.
Jessica Oliveras: 21:14
Before jumping into into marketing, I like to say that building up a strong portfolio is very important. Sometimes we want to rush into something we might see other artists very successful on Instagram, or we know clearly where we want to arrive. But we're failing the basics, which is make sure your technique is good that you like the way you are, your artist is going to the direction that you're getting to, you know the style you want to develop or explore more. So the majority of the time should be spent in the studio. This is the first step. And if, if for any aspiring artist, they feel like they want to go very fast and they want to jump on the internet and Instagram and go big very fast, I would recommend like sometimes it's best to get like a part time job for a while, make sure that you have time to develop your art and your studio in a very protected space experiment proving things until you find your way. And then when you're ready, you say okay, this works I'm proud of, of course, they always can be better because we're always learning until the very end, perfection does not exist. So you know, I'm not saying into until it's perfect, but at least until you are convinced that it's a good piece. And then you can focus on the rest marketing yourself doing a good website. And myself, I really found that very much easier to rely on the services of companies and organizations that they already established. So for example, chess or BoldBrush has really helped me on that because I had the website before but they were it was not a platform that was meant for artists only. So with my no knowledge on technical stuff as you could see before of me trying to join on the on the podcast I had to you know really like try and investigate and try my best to do this and website but we have so many services that they are all set up for us ready to go it's so much easier when you have these platforms and you make use of them. So this has really helped me to at least have first of all the website was faster so I could do my newsletter, my subscribers, everything is organized, everything is controlled and then you can start things from from order from from things that can gives you a result the product instead of trying something really chaotic, which doesn't bring you anywhere. And then yes, as well like marketing my my art on Instagram, the way that BoldBrush gives tips and helps artists to do the video everything. And the photoshoots of the work has really really helped me with the engagement of my page and the followers which is always very, very important to have a good press and on Instagram and then convert these followers into into art enthusiasts and collectors and buyers and even a students. So in terms of like how you project yourself on social media on the website, I would recommend always look professional. Don't post anything too personal on your professional page. People you know, don't care maybe would you cook today but maybe they do care what's in your studio. So try always to be respectful. Never play like the rock star and don't answer people. I mean, you know people, they like your work they they love you they spend time commenting on me they spend time messaging you. So answer the DMS, answer them, the comments, be grateful, be generous. So if they ask you questions, share with them, you know, I think this is very important. We in, in every stage, all artists we've been, you know, let's say, in general is like we did not within all the information, it was not maybe available to us when we were starting. And now that social media is such a big thing. And we have so many platforms. It's it's good to guide people into them and say, Okay, maybe you can try these, why don't you try that without an economical proposals for helping each other. So yes, and then make use of your newsletter and try to engage into more private and personal conversations to people they are really engage with what you do. So I think that really works as well. And eventually we are interested as well in art galleries and stuff, they will find you anyways, if you have a good portfolio and you have a strong presence on Instagram and a well designed website. The photos, they look nice, with like me good quality, you know, it's just, it's a journey. So everything will come up, everything you know, will work out. But we have to work step by step. And this is the advice that we give to anybody who's listening, to not to try to rush into, you know, becoming this like superstar artists, but do things properly from the beginning and try to bring things slowly but steady.
Laura Arango Baier: 26:58
Kelly Eden emphasizes the importance of being a kind and genuine person, as well as, don't be afraid to reach out to the people who inspire you
Kelly Eden: 27:07
always feel yourself painting, even if you're a slow painter record, maybe three minutes of painting action every hour, so you have tons to work with in the future, there's so much you can do with it. Even if it's just a fun clip of a little fun trick or technique. For example, you might have seen this 22nd Clip going around from Christiane bluegills. And I hope I'm pronouncing that correctly, where she takes a strand of her hair, and she slides it across the paint that's on her palette knife, and then she lightly touches it to her painting where she has this unbelievable rendering have hyper realistic hair. So that little clip that 22nd clip has over 1000 comments and 200,000 views. So if you have a little trick like that filament and post it, you never know what type of exposure you're gonna get from that. And the reality is tick tock and reels are the present and they are the future. It's an excellent way to get seen and honestly there are very, very simple ways to make a real without ever appearing on camera, if your camera shy, you know, and you don't necessarily want to have like 4070 plus hours of footage, you know, you want to make sure you're not overwhelming yourself. But if you do, you can always use that footage for pre recorded workshops, which is a great way to make passive income. And honestly, I prefer pre recorded workshops as opposed to zoom because with Zoom, zoom is great for workshops, but you're never going to see the painting demo in high res, which can make it really hard to get a real sense of the technique that's being taught it I think it's important to make sure you are on every single social media platform, even if you're not the type to keep up with social media. At the very least, you should register and reserve your name, especially if it's a new app that came out even if you think you're never going to use it. Reserve your name, fill out the profile details, including your profile pic bio link to your website, all the content that you film is recyclable. So you could and should use it everywhere you can. There's an editing app that I'd like to recommend. It's called in shots in shot. It's a video editing app that allows you to basically do anything that iMovie can do and more. And you can edit, you know, vertical videos. So there's not that many apps that allow you to do that. So vertical video, that's what you should be filming in going forward because, you know, everything that we're seeing now is like that is the direction that all the main platforms are going is vertical. And it's just it's really easy to use once you get the hang of it. Let's see. Okay. The other tip I have Tiktok and reels. This can scare a lot of people for various reasons people are really afraid to put themselves out there and keep up with Gen Z. But here's the thing, you just need to come as yourself, you're an artist, you, you know you have actual talent to show you have substance, you have a reason to be there. So, don't follow trends, you don't need to dance on camera or share storytimes. Just keep it short, keep it simple. Show a technique show the first couple of brushstrokes, and then the final brushstrokes of a painting. Basically, you just need to use it to be able to show off what you can do. So you know, you don't need to go viral for this to be helpful. going viral is great, but it's fleeting. And it's really easy to end up. You know, always compare yourself to that standard. And it's like a distraction, you just have to be very careful to not let that redefine what success looks like for you. So if you get more comfortable with that, I would invite you to get a little bit more personal. Now this is a double edged sword. So you need to tread carefully. Sometimes sharing a personal story behind a painting may create a love mark in someone who identifies with the story. On the other hand, there are unfortunately some very sick people on the internet. And you should never underestimate that even if you have a very, very small following. I found that making friends with other artists has been profoundly helpful in so many ways. Make sure on social media, you're following as many artists in your genre as possible, engage with them, leave them nice comments, a critique, hype them up in a way that you feel is genuine. Take one of their workshops, if it strikes you, you really have nothing to lose and everything to gain. This is also about the algorithm. So the more you engage with other artists that have similar work to you, if someone follows that artists, you're more likely to come up in the suggested people to follow right after
Laura Arango Baier: 32:04
Mark Thompson tells us how through being consistent your page can suddenly grow. Yeah,
Mark Thompson: 32:11
I mean, you know, social media, we've had to learn how to film ourselves whilst attempting to be unselfconscious and yet retain a kind of honesty and integrity with the work. I mean, I certainly never expected to become a amateur filmmaker. You know, but having said that, it's still capable of the true connected social media, you know, the actual social part of it, rather than the rapid skim past I think is invaluable. I mean, let's face it, it is ultimately a free advertisement that yes, is can be very difficult to spot in amongst billions of people, but it is still capable of providing extraordinary opportunities. I think the business aspects of courier in painting are the the mechanics and the framework through which to push the object or the thing that you make out into the world and the strategies that we employ have shifted over time and keeps on keeping on top of them and figuring out what comprises a life in painting now as self sustaining life in painting is where the wonderful things that BoldBrush releases into the world and become so useful because they they almost like the scoop up the desire that we all have, but rarely put into motion, you know, tips about how to improve your your social media following I gotta tell you, it works. And I last spoke, I think I had about 4000 followers. You know, we talked a little bit earlier about becoming a video editor, whether we liked it or not. And I got on the reels program, you know, geez, it takes me Yeah, it was a little bit strange to perpetually be filming the process, but piecing it together at the end of the day for a couple of minutes and putting out a 32nd video into the world that just was like a diary of the day actually became kind of a pleasure. One day, I put one out into the world, and it had a springboard effect, you know, my usual kind of numbers of views for a real world. I don't know 1000 2000 4000 If I was lucky, and this thing took off, and I think now it's had 800 and something 1000 views, which for me was bananas. I thought, well, this is exactly the same as all the other ones I've done, but timing, pacing, just the thing happened at a moment. And off it went and the process becomes exponential. So those very useful conversations and you know, articles that BoldBrush Create do have tangible real world benefits, which surprises me more than anybody else talked to being such a moaner about, about having to deal with social media. Yeah, it's It's great. I mean, it's had an actual effect, you know, the most interesting one. And I'm not sure whether the two things are exactly related, but they're certainly adjacent. Yet recently, I was contacted out of the blue by a gallery in New York, who occasionally pool artists into quite interesting group shows how they couldn't have that last gallery on orchestrate. And they asked me to submit some work to their their next group show, and it was accepted. So October 28, I have a painting that actually weirdly was the subject of that explosive post will be on show in New York. Yeah, it was purely an Instagram thing. If it hadn't been on Instagram, it wouldn't have been seen.
Laura Arango Baier: 35:46
Derek Harrison explains how social media is useful to allow people to find you and to connect with collectors.
Derek Harrison: 35:53
It's just it's, you know, if you handle it responsibly, it can be an amazing thing. I have connected with many collectors through Instagram, I started to do I do a studio sale once a year now that's only on Instagram that does, you know, great. There have been, I It's hard to keep track, like, there have been so many shows where it's been with a gallery, but the collector who bought the painting, found it through my own Instagram account. So I remember at first it was like, you know, are these collectors because you know, a lot of them are a little bit older. So they're not going to be like super social media savvy. But lo and behold, I found a lot of them, were creating Instagram accounts, just for that reason, you know, to follow artists whose work they like. And so they started to reach out. And yeah, I communicate with them all the time. You know, maybe every week somebody messages about some painting, know where it's going, how much it is, whatever it may be. So it's really nice to have that, that connection and have it be so easy, so direct, I sell through Instagram a little bit, I still like I gotta tell you, like I kind of prefer the gallery world for that, you know, I just love to be in the studio painting, I don't really want to worry about much else if I can help it. So every once in a while I'll do the Instagram selling thing. But most of the time i i do prefer if I can just paint and then and then send it out you know and have the gallery handle that. But it but marketing and all that kind of stuff, connecting with other artists, it's really helpful. When you know Instagram, I can just link it right up to my website. So a lot of people will maybe find me on Instagram and then go to my website, and they wouldn't have found my website otherwise. So that's pretty helpful.
Laura Arango Baier: 37:35
Finally, Catherine Bobkoski reminds us that social media is a two way street. And she also reminds us of the power of gratitude.
Catherine Bobkoski: 37:43
This has been on my mind a lot lately. I think back in September of last year, I had maybe almost 10,000 followers on Instagram. And now I have I think, I haven't really checked today. But I think as of today, I have somewhere around 55,000. And which I think in my mind, I thought when I got to a certain number of followers, life will be completely different. I'll be set. You're laughing. It took me a while to connect the dots on that. But that's not how it worked. Which probably your audience is already so knowledgeable about this already. They're probably thinking like, da. But it was not obvious to me that social media is like an aspect of marketing. It's maybe a heart or a first step. But it's not the whole thing. And the thing really, that I've been realizing lately, especially is that Instagram doesn't care if Katherine Bob koskie grows and has a successful business. They care about Instagram growing, successful, and actually helping me out might be counterproductive to that goal, right. So the thing I've been realizing is that, and I think what people want to is an actual human connection, like actual interaction conversation, a personal connection, that is not what you get from watching a 22nd reel on Instagram, although I will continue to make 22nd reels, and I'm very grateful for all the people that enjoy them. Thank you. But But there's more. There's more than just that. And, I mean, so I think, you know, take that opportunity, whatever opportunity you have to make that connection on Instagram, and get those folks that really love you off of the platform. Get them to subscribe to your newsletter. Let them know about your classes and workshops. Let them know about who you are as a as a person, I mean, I listen, I, I respond to every comment that I get on any of my posts. Wow. And if someone leaves me a nice and especially nice comment, I will thank them individually. And if someone leaves me a comment asking something about painting technique or asking something about, or even just saying something about art in general, like I will answer their question, I will engage in that conversation. Always, because to me, that's like the whole point of this thing. It's social media. It's not just there for me to like, collect compliments, and likes and followers and stuff like, this is great. No, we're supposed to make some kind of a social connection with people. And I would advise anybody out there who's trying to like, figure out how to use social media for their marketing or for their business. Like try to make it personal. And if someone leaves you a nice comment, or if you notice that you know, someone has followed you, maybe someone who's not in your circle of people that you're already familiar with, or someone who's maybe an artists that you like, or maybe a account that's bigger than yours, or whatever, like send them a message, DM them and say, Thank you so much. Oh, my gosh, I love your work. Wow. If people are asking you questions, because they want to know about you or about your work, like engage in that. Check your message requests, quite frankly, so many things get just kind of lost in the shuffle. Oh, I'm speaking more truth. I see.
Laura Arango Baier: 41:40
We here at BoldBrush want to give a huge thank you to all of our fantastic guests for the wonderful advice they've shared with us. We hope you enjoyed this episode. And if you did, it would help us a lot if you could leave us a review on Apple podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. And also remember to follow our Instagram and subscribe to our YouTube channel at BoldBrush where we have become posting the video episodes of the podcast. If you want to see the video episodes before everyone else however, and also get the best marketing advice out there. Simply go to BoldBrush show.com. That's BOLDBRUSH show.com. And of course you can find all of the links in the show notes
Social Media Mastery - Top 10 Social Media Tips for Artists