Why Social Media Is the New Gallery For Artists
If you are an artist, whether you're a professional who's been doing this for years or an amateur who's just starting out, it's important to understand where the new art scene is at: Facebook photo galleries.
You may not think that the smaller size of Facebook photos does your work justice; you may believe that the only way to see your work is at full size, in person, preferably, but a high definition photograph will do in the meantime.
Unfortunately, that's not where the world is at right now. In the past, there were artists who stole the scene and became the center of attention the world over, who would be worshiped and admired by the art crowd at large and their work was truly appreciated to its fullest. Times have changed.
Instant Gratification
A number of factors including the internet and reality television have led to an interesting statistic: One in four young girls think that they're going to grow up to be famous. This is merely a sign of the times. Anybody can go on the internet and post a video of them singing, of a comedy sketch they did with their friends. They can post the comics they've been drawing or their short stories, and here's the thing: Everybody is so wrapped up in their own quest for fame and success that there's not that much of a captive audience left.
Everybody who you show your work to, especially if you fraternize online with other artist types, is going to be so busy with their own work that they're not always going to have time to visit some gallery show you're doing, even if it's in driving distance. They won't have time to visit your website and look at every single piece you've done in rich, HD detail.
The Golden Rule of The Internet: Everybody is Busy
The way to appeal to a crowd that is always busy is to never waste their time. Waste their time and they'll unfriend you, unfollow you and cut your website off of their RSS feed. Here is an interesting article about 10 tips on how to boost your local network.
One way to appeal to people through social media is to offer a version of your new painting or comic or drawing that they can click on and see right in Facebook or load up from Twitter and then link to a high definition version that they can look at if they have the time.
You Have To Compromise
The bottom line, though, is that you're going to have to compromise. People barely have enough time as it is for their own problems, let alone taking time out of their day to look over all of your work and tell you what they think. You need to make it easy on them, and making it easy on them sometimes means making hard decisions such as scaling a gorgeous landscape painting down.
On the upside, while the internet may be a noisy and confusing place at times, everybody has a chance to talk. If you find the right social circles on Facebook you can get your work in front of people who can get you a wider audience, other artists who can turn their people on to you, agents and gallery curators and so on.
The thing that you need to understand in order to make the most of social media as an art gallery is that it's not really an art show anymore, it's a conversation. There's a back and forth now. In the past, a person would say of a great artist "(S)he really speaks to me," but today, a great artist doesn't speak to their audience, (s)he speaks with them.
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Tags: ART, artists, artists marketing, facebook marketing, INTERNET, social media, social media marketing, STORIES
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3 Respones to "Why Social Media Is the New Gallery For Artists"
I caution artists and anyone else against spending your time and effort creating content on the shifting sands of a site owned by someone else. Facebook and other major social networks regularly delete accounts arbitrarily - just do a search for Facebook account deleted or Google+ account deleted or Twitter account deleted - and you'll see plenty of proof of that!
You want to put your content on a domain you control and then use these other sites to bring visitors back to your domain and make sure you get contact information for those you interact with online. Do not risk having all your connections and hard work go *poof* one day.
January 23, 2012 at 2:30 PM
Rightly said, Herbert! Social media has definitely given artists not just the attention they deserve, but have opened doors of opportunity that, back in the day, have been closed to them. I remember growing up, a lot of my friends who are artists (writers, photographers, painters, musicians) would have to bear getting employed and have a career so far from their passion for the sole reason that there is no money if they pursue their passion. Those days, thankfully, are long gone, thanks to social media and the Internet.
January 23, 2012 at 5:26 PM
The golden rules for Social Media is "Everybody is busy".That's very nice and very informative information about the Social media.
January 26, 2012 at 1:35 AM
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