social media

Kamal X

The Art Biz ep. 172: Stop Incessantly Feeding the Social Media Algorithms with Kamal X

It’s easy to chase the algorithm these days. It’s more difficult to remain true to yourself and your art.

Kamal X started a collection of photographs after the murder of George Floyd—risking his health at the height of Covid because, he says, the moment was bigger than him. Kamal wants you to remember the light you have inside you, and that you can visualize and create something bigger for yourself.

The Art Biz ep. 172: Stop Incessantly Feeding the Social Media Algorithms with Kamal X Read

Cathy Nichols

The Art Biz ep. 154: The Key to Success on Social Media with Cathy Nichols

While not everyone will be interested in your art, you can choose to focus on those who genuinely love your work. To embrace what is rather than wishing for it to be different.

Cathy Nichols went from 5,000 to 107,000 Instagram followers in 3 years by researching who they were and why they were following her. She shares valuable insights about how she continues to grow her art business with joy and authenticity.

The Art Biz ep. 154: The Key to Success on Social Media with Cathy Nichols Read

abstract watercolor with blues, gold, orange, light red and textural black marks—the central image surrounded by a black arch ©artist Sara Schroeder | on Art Biz Success

The Art Biz ep. 119: Growing Beyond Being an Instagram Artist with Sara Schroeder

For more than a year, Sara Schroeder has been using tools like journaling and the Enneagram to discover more about herself and explore where she wants her work to go.

Now she wants more. She knows there is more than posting and looking for sales online, so she has stepped back and reassessed. She’s ready for a brave step.

In this episode of The Art Biz, we talk about how she’s approaching her business these days, how her Instagram strategy has evolved, and how she is preparing for her upcoming solo show.

The Art Biz ep. 119: Growing Beyond Being an Instagram Artist with Sara Schroeder Read

Painting by M. Jane Johnson

Test Your Art Marketing Efforts for Better Results

Have you been promoting your art the same way for years without seeing better  results? Allow me to remind you of this quote.

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

It first appeared in 1981 text from Narcotics Anonymous and has been misattributed at various times to Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, and Mark Twain.

If the quote is true, are you nuts?

Being Persistent and Consistent with Your Art Marketing

You are undoubtedly investing a lot of time and resources into your art business: websites, blogs, social media, videos, newsletters, postcards, and more. That’s terrific!

I’m a big fan of persistence and consistency—in doing the same thing over and over again—in marketing. You must commit to certain repeated marketing tasks before you can judge their effectiveness.

At the same time, I believe in tweaking aspects of your marketing as you go along. As an entrepreneur interested in earning money from your art, you want to understand what’s working and what isn’t. This is why it’s critical to track your numbers.

You should learn something with each new artwork, email, newsletter, or blog post, and you need to use that knowledge to get better results in the future.

Every marketing effort should be a test. Nothing in your routine should be considered sacred because you want increasingly better results.

What brings you the most clicks?
What blog post is attracting the most attention?
What results in more subscribers?
What leads to more opportunities?
What has given you the most engagement on social media?
What did you send that encouraged immediate responses from recipients?

Use the lists here to adjust, test, and repeat for improved results.

Test Your Art Marketing Efforts for Better Results Read

Pastel drawing of crashing ocean waves in blues, greens, and grays

The Art Biz ep. 67: Growing Your Art Business on Instagram with Jeanne Rosier Smith

So many artists have benefited from Instagram. This isn’t news. It comes up frequently in my interviews, and it’s so ubiquitous that I haven’t been able to pinpoint a specific lesson to devote an entire episode to.

Until now.

Jeanne Rosier Smith’s success on Instagram wasn’t random. She made a conscious decision to focus on using Instagram to grow her following and expand her art business, and it has paid off. As you’ll hear, she has been focused and deliberate in her use of the platform, while also allowing a great deal of flexibility in the process.

It’s important to Jeanne that using Instagram is, above all, fun.

In this episode, I talk with Jeanne about the strategies she has used for the past 3 years to build a following of 37,000 and reach the 6-figure mark in sales for each of those 3 years.

You’ll also hear about how she maintains good relationships with her 8 galleries even while selling on Instagram, and why she doesn’t schedule posts in advance.

The Art Biz ep. 67: Growing Your Art Business on Instagram with Jeanne Rosier Smith Read

Multiply Your Content by Repeating Yourself

You sweat over your bio and artist statement.

You make a heroic effort to create interesting content for social media.

You work tirelessly to craft a decent artist talk that will engage an audience.

You curse at the person who told you that it was easy to use iMovie as you grit your teeth through the process of producing your first video.

You meet your deadlines for newsletters and blog posts because, ahem, somebody said you should. (Okay, maybe you didn’t meet the deadlines, but they did go out. You get points for that.)

You Are a Word Collector

You didn’t know it, but if you’re doing even a few of the things I mentioned above, you are a word collector.

Don’t worry! Being a word collector doesn’t entail heavy responsibilities. Nor is it likely that your word collection will make it to the auction block one day.

But that doesn’t mean your collection isn’t valuable. It is! I wonder if you know just how valuable.

If you’re like a lot of artists, you have all of these words that are probably being used only one time.

That’s a shame.

There is so much more you can do with your collection of words.

Multiply Your Content by Repeating Yourself Read

Painting by Barbara J. Hart

What’s Your Social Media Schedule? (Curious Monday)

One of the things we do in Content Camp is create an editorial calendar so you know what you’ll be posting and when.

This naturally got me thinking about what your social media schedule is like.

How frequently do you post? And to which platforms? Facebook? Twitter? Instagram? Pinterest?

What time of day do you post?

Do you schedule posts or always post live?

What types of things do you post?

What’s Your Social Media Schedule? (Curious Monday) Read

Seeking Inspiration While Topic Hopping

It’s Friday.

My calendar says “Writing Time.” Every Friday at this time is blocked out to write. I like going into my weekend knowing that I have written something that will contribute to next week’s newsletter and blog post.

I wish I could say it’s as easy as marking off to write, and it will happen.

It doesn’t always work that way for me. Actually, it rarely works that way for me.

Today I don’t feel like writing. I don’t feel like doing much of anything.

Everything seems to distract me. Do you know this feeling?

Seeking Inspiration While Topic Hopping Read

Content Crimes: How You’re Misbehaving Online

As I wrote last week, you could waste a lot of time online if you’re not paying attention.

Let’s look at this subject a little closer so that we’re not just looking at where you’re wasting time, but at how you’re harming your art career goals.

My friend, Cynthia, calls them content crimes. Nobody is going to throw you in jail for committing these transgressions, but you might check yourself into rehab when you decide to do something about it.

Here are the top 4 content crimes you might be committing.

Content Crime #1: You’re inconsistent.

You sent a newsletter for a few months and then nothing. Nada. The big zippo.

You tried blogging for a while … um … whenever you felt like it.

You heard that artists were selling art from Facebook, so you built a business page and put a few pictures up. It’s just not working for me, you claimed. Waste of time.

If you are truly excited about your art, you’ll share it repeatedly, even if you think nobody is listening, because you believe in yourself. You don’t give up.

If you do give up, I’m led to believe …

Content Crimes: How You’re Misbehaving Online Read

Painting of a bird by Linda Nolte

Stop Wasting Time on Social Media

Are you wasting time trying to promote your art on social media sites?

I’m not implying that you shouldn’t be on those sites. I’m just wondering if you’re using them to their potential.

It’s not that you need to be posting and sharing more. It’s that you want to make sure your effort is worth it for you. In other words, you should invest in quality, not quantity.

If you don’t, you might be wasting time.

Mindful sharing will bring you more friends, more shares, and more likes, which results in more people to buy your art or to offer you opportunities. It’s not only more rewarding, it’s also more fun.

Here are some tips to help ensure that you’re spending time wisely online.

Pick Your Platforms

Think of all the photos you have to take. The videos you intend to make. The words you need to write. So. Much. Work.

You don’t have to be everywhere.

You don’t have time to be everywhere!

Stop Wasting Time on Social Media Read

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Your Artist Mailing List: Rethinking + Assessing

Get a transcript of episode 182 of The Art Biz (Rethinking Mailing Lists for Artists) followed by a 3-page worksheet to evaluate the overall health and usage of the 3 types of artist lists.

Where can we send it? 

To ensure delivery, please triple check your email address.

You’ll also receive my regular news for your art business.

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