An Artists View of Social Networking and Spreading Your Color to the World

 I will make every effort to spread my world of color to you....

    To be a Visual Artist in in our modern technological era has given us a bounty of opportunity to spread our talents and art to the far reaches of the planet. Never before has an artist had such a platform to get ones work seen. In days past, One had to get published in a periodical, book or poster to get your art to the masses. If you where lucky enough to get in a gallery, you where still confined to the folks who attend. Artist had to work hard, very hard to get noticed. This is still true today, you must work very hard to get noticed but we have great new tools at our disposal so we can spend more time creating and less time marketing our work. All Hail the dawn of Social Networking!......What can we do to get the most out of these wonderful tools?

I am by far no expert on this subject, there are a million blog posts about this very subject. I learned a few tricks, I have done a few experiments. I went from 0 "likes" (When I started my artist page on Oct. 2011) to 600 "likes" and about 600 "other page likes" (other artists pages that are not in the usual "like" count) from all around the world. I am more popular, as an artist, in places like Australia or  Europe than even in my home city. I have sold paintings to these far off lands and they continue to be my biggest supporters. This was achieved by a lot of work with social networking. I will share a few tips with you (Some are pretty much common knowledge but you may not have looked at it in this way).......

-Spread your page by enjoying others: Like anything else it is who you know more than what you know....Go seek out and "like" as many other artist pages as possible and interact with them as much as possible (with your artist page not your personal profile). Not just the type of art you enjoy but all artists. Spend time each day looking at your news feed and commenting and "liking" the things you enjoy. Get involved. Every time you do it posts that hyperlink to your page, thus increasing your visibility. I don't know how may fans I have made by commenting on a post and one of their fans seeing it and checking out my page. Remember this is community building....

-Put Some Time into It: Try and dedicate time each and every day to "working" your page. Do not make this the same time every day. We are on a global platform and time zones make a huge difference. When I put up a post at 5:30pm it is like 10:30 in the morning the next day in Australia. Learn to vary your when you post, cause it makes all the difference. Learn to know when to post let say a photo of a new work to get the maximum exposure. Remember there are powerful algorithms at work that can be your friend or your enemy. Learn and research these to put them to work for you. It takes some time and a clear understanding of the "insights" that are provided on your facebook page to get a hold on this. This is your work you are trying to share with the world so the more time you work it the better chance you have of growing your fan base...as they say It is all up to you....work smarter, not harder!

-Do not Over-Post or Under-Post: They amount of posts you do in each day will make a world of difference. To many post and people become complacent and may tend to overlook it and thus not interact with it. To little posts and folks will also not react, cause they may forget about why they liked you in the first place. In order to be seen you must find the fine line...This also plays a very large role in how facebook will put ones posts in order on fans timeline. The most relevant posts, to that fan, get posted higher on their news feed. If you overdo or under-do this will effect where facebook puts your posts. This takes some time to learn but can make the world of difference.

-Make your Interactions\Posts Work for You: When someone takes the time to comment on your posts or a share make sure that you interact with them. A quick thank you or conversation goes a long way. People are inherently predisposed to acknowledgement and will gravitate to places that fill this need. They more they feel like you are a friend, the more they will interact. (Remember every time they interact with you it is published in their timeline...increasing your visibility...if their friends see cool interaction they become curious and may become your next fan?).

-Post Relevant and Interesting Material: This is a pretty wide subject....Make a big deal out of your posting of a new work...I will write a blog about it first, debuting the painting there first....posting the link a few times on facebook...letting the folks know.....then a few days later, after I have seen the drop in views on my blog, I will post the painting to my facebook. It has worked well. I also make an photo album of certain paintings that I will post pictures of my work in progress....after each painting session I take a photo of my progress and post it to this album. It acts as a sort of a "Serial" like in the days when an author would publish only one chapter of a larger work, each week in a periodical....the cliffhanger....How is going to turn out?....it gets them involved in the finish. Spread it out over a few days or weeks (depending on the type of work). It also opens the door for interactions with other artists about technique and workflow....... I do this with some of my work, just enough to keep it interesting. It is also a big rush for your fans when you post something new without any previous viewing. The goal is to spread your Love of  form, color, value and movement to as many people as possible....make it fun for them!

-Have Fun!!!!!: One of the small reasons we become artists is to enjoy life and have fun with the beauty of the world. We express this love through creation of visual candy for others eyes. We can create emotion and wonder with basic materials. We can light up a room with color. We can get images from our minds eye to a medium that others can enjoy and hopefully relate to on some level.....Do not take yourself to serious if you do it will show.....Kid around with your page....have fun in meeting new people and learn about what they are all about. It will help you grow as an artist....

Thank You for taking some time today to read a few of my thoughts and things I have learned. If I can say one thing that will change your page into a "hit" .......The more you interact with the world the more folks will interact with your page! Be smart and make lots of mistakes.....We learn by doing!!!! If you have any other questions or thoughts on the subject or any subject..... please do not hesitate to come over to my page and drop me a line....I would love to hear from you.....We can all help each-other....this is not a contest but a team sport to spread Color and love to everyone......Peace and Love to you all

https://www.facebook.com/LanceJeschketheArtist =If you have not yet....Please "like" my page hehehehe

I would Love to hear your thoughts on this subject.....Please share some of your ideas and tricks! 

*Note* I am a visual artist....not so much a writer....I try?....So ignore any grammatical errors, run on sentences or paragraph construction errors.......I write like I talk....fast and crazy LOL.....again Peace and love to you.