Twitter, Facebook, and now Google Buzz…social networking has certainly been the buzz on the internet for the past few years. If you have an online presence for your art, then you’ve no doubt heard that you need to be on at least one of these networks. Or do you? Do you HAVE to jump on the social networking bandwagon in order to promote your artwork online? In this show, I’ll talk about 5 reasons you might want to avoid using social networking to promote your artwork
1. Your customers aren’t on social networks- While there are a lot of people online, not all of them are using Facebook or Twitter. As of August 2009, it’s estimated that 17% of the time spent online is on social network sites like Facebook or on blogs. If you have an audience that’s not social networking savvy or an audience that don’t spend a lot of time on the computer, then social networking might not be a priority for you.
Reality check- That 17% figure cited had actually increased by 6% from the previous year. Keep in mind that while your current customers aren’t there now…there’s nothing saying that they won’t be in the future…plus there’s a chance that you’re ignoring potential new customers.
2. You’re too busy creating art- While it’s important to market your art, you also have to make sure that you’re spending enough time in your studio so that you actually have something to market. Social networking can be an enormous time sink if you’re not careful.
3. You hate being on the computer- If you only use your computer to check email and avoid it like the plague the rest of the time, you’re not going to be really excited to spend even more time setting up a Facebook page or taking time to tweet about your latest work…and your lack of excitement will show.
4. You’ve tried it and not gotten any results- If you’ve already been on these social networks and don’t seem to get any results, then there’s nothing wrong with moving on to other techniques that will yield better results.
Reality check- a good honest effort is more than just a month or two of sporadically tweeting or logging onto your Facebook page. Just like any other method of marketing, social networking does take time.
5. You’re doing quite well without it- You’re selling out at shows, you’re getting plenty of sales on Etsy, and you’re always filling in orders with your gallery accounts…so whatever you’re doing now is working just fine.
