“All lasting business is built on friendship.” – Alfred A. Montapert
- by Natasha Wescoat
What is great about Art and Social media is that they are complentary and beneficial to one another. It’s a symbiotic relationship. But there is much to understand about social media that we may fail to see. One of the things we are realizing as we take advantage of the benefits we see in Social Media, is that we have to “want” to be part of the conversations and to be genuinely interested in the people that are following us on social networks. We can’t use Myspace, Twitter, Facebook, etc as billboards. People who use social media do not respond to empty posts or random links.
Do they know you?
Do they want to know you?
Are you making the effort to make them WANT to know you?
Social Media is like an incubator. It’s a “social” tool. Not a adwords tool. Not a keyword tool.
The work involved when you take on social media:
- You’re building relationships
- You’re spending time with people
- You’re learning about others
- You’re investing in conversations – about everything BUT what you may be doing or are about
It’s not just joining every network in sight, plastering your work on every page, and messaging all your followers with ads on the latest work. You cannot just add a whole bunch of people and only log in once in a while, and half-assedly talk to people. It doesn’t work like that. The profits of using social media are only the after effects of utilizing it to meet and establish relationships with others.
Our intentions must be about making friends. Not sales. Social Media is complex, time consuming….and rewarding.
What are the rewards of using social media for business?
- lasting friendships
- established brand reputation/web presence
- business opportunities (which you couldn’t have received through email or any other traditional way)
Social media provides for an array of amazing possibilities for you as a brand/business if you invest the time to use it for what it’s meant for. It can offer you opportunities that you cannot get by simply contacting businesses via email, attending events/conferences, or traditional advertising.People respond better to those they KNOW.
How does Art + Social Media coexist so well?
- You’re sharing the process of your creation
- You can let people understand your thoughts and feelings about your work
- Art is visual and social media tools offer a variety of ways to transfer your visions to an audience.
How do you integrate social media into your business?
- Decide how or when you will use social media in your business. Those who use it well never really stop using it. It’s integrated into their life. And they enjoy it. Is this something you want to integrate into your life? Will you enjoy it or will it seem like it’s taking too much of your time? or is it just annoying?
- Find the social media networks that work with your audience or your brand? Do you fit in the Myspace crowd? Is it worth it to Twitter? Where are your people at? (assuming you have already decided that your audience CAN be found online)
- Learn about social media practices or watch others who’ve been doing it. Follow them, introduce yourself, make friends. The best way to learn is to learn from those who use it. Scrap those lame ebooks and guides that tell you how you should be using Twitter or social media. They are normally people who’ve never really touched the tools and just want to make a quick buck.
- Decide to be HONEST and genuine. Decide not to be a billboard. Be yourself. Find people that have common interests and talk to them. Do you love dogs? Are you a gardener? You love heavy metal? Have political issues you love to discuss? Decide who you’re following and share.
- Remember that Social media connects you to your audience. They want to KNOW you too. They want to learn about you, what you like or don’t like. What you do day to day. The mundane is actually quite amusing. Don’t be afraid to be normal. It’s never boring.
Here’s a video rant about just this very subject:
(c)photo by Herodoto
Filed under: Off topic, Tech | Tagged: artists guide, business, social media
So I’ve been following you on twitter for 2 weeks now. You post some interesting stuff and I love how artists are starting to come aboard with all this social media stuff.. I believe social media and the internet can reignite fine art in a way that it hasn’t been able too in a long while.
I really like this post and would like to know how you as an artist use social media to sell your art. Maybe a blog dedicated to showing artists how to be successful online?
[...] 29, 2009 by imakeart Art and Social Business – a great article from Natasha Wescoat. This was featured at the EBSQ blog in May. If you [...]
Natasha, you really shouldn’t video-rant while driving. It’s too hard to hear you and it probably isn’t the safest thing to do.