Being an artist isn't just about painting, well it isn't if one wishes to sell successfully. I've been learning that one must embrace social media and the learning curve is steep. I can now see why people get degrees in this stuff! Here I provide my insights into five platforms I've been using.

In my current lockdown world I've managed to prepare badly and have just about run out of art supplies. So, not to be idle with my artwork I decided to research how to improve my presence on the internet. Here are my five insights with my two favourites at the bottom.

1. Pinterest

   I'm slowly learning to love this platform but, to be fair, it isn't really social media as it's more of a visual search engine for ideas and inspiration. I was interested to read articles that claim many people choose their purchases based on Pinterest research. Ive been using Pinterest for a few years but mostly to collect recipe and holiday ideas. It's only in the last 6 months that I've changed to a business account and started to really understand it. Don't get me wrong, my account still needs a lot of work but it's better than it was!

   What I have discovered is that if one pins regularly, like at least twice a day, then followers grow more quickly and the number of views dramatically increases. Now, I'm less concerned about the number of impressions or page views because this is really just s vanity metric. Just because my pin has appeared on someone's screen doesn't mean that they were actually engaging with my pin. But, the more exposure one has the greater the chance of positive engagement. I may only have less than 300 followers but I value them greatly and some have turned into buyers.

   However, I think from my research, that Pinterest is the key platform for driving traffic to my website and products and for that reason I've gone all in with developing it further. I'll write a separate post on this later but suffice to say, I now know that I need to be pinning several times a day! Thankfully, the scheduler, Tailwind, is perfect for this, or at least it seems to be. I've only just started using the trial version for free (first 200 pins free) and it's about £10 per month thereafter. I'm emracing it and, if it grows my following as I hope it will, then this may well turn out to be my favourite.

2. Instagram

   I love Instagram! I've only been using this platform for about a year in terms of promoting my artwork and it has already rewarded me with sales. I wanted to grow my following organically so I haven't used any methods that grow followed fast. Instead, I've worked hard to properly look and read others posts and comment on them - getting a dialogue and a connection is essential. I've found that if engagement is done well then those following those you engage with are more likely to follow you too. I don't follow others just because they follow me - I want to be seen as someone who follows great content. It's a slow process but I appear to have genuinely interested followers and good engagent some of which have converted to sales. I've not yet hit the 1k followers milestone but I'm getting closer. For me it's really about quality of engagement and not the total number of followers.

   One final insight is that I have learnt that posting everyday on Instagram is a must and twice, for me, seems ideal: in the morning and late evening. My mid-afternoon posts never seem so successful. I've got a lot more to learn with Instagram and I'll keep with it, especially now I've learnt how to do 60 second micro video blogs! There's just no stopping me!

3. Facebook Marketplace and Groups

Facebook has been great for initially telling people about my artwork but I've discovered that it doesn't take long before your friends and contacts lose interest or the Facebook algorithm limits your exposure. To improve matters I joined a number of marketplace groups. This did result in some new sales but I found it time-consuming and clumsy to keep posting my products into individual groups. I still maintain a presence and occasionally post to the group's but it's not my priority right now.

4. Twitter

I have to be honest and say that I've not really had a lot of success with Twitter. In over a year my following hasn't reached 200 despite posting regularly and trying to engage and use the right hastags. I'm sure it works for others but so far I've found it of almost no value. Perhaps I'll have to review my strategy.

5. LinkedIn

LinkedIn was my wild card option and it turned out to be surprisingly effective, albeit on a small scale. My account is mostly associated with my full-time job as a scientist so my connections are mostly in the science or managent fields. However, I decided to post some of my work and have actually sold quite a few of my paintings through these connections. To be fair, I should probably set up an account specifically for the art business but for now, if it's not broke…