Artdomain Art Marketing Blog

After receiving an email from Steve Popkin of The Thriving Artist about some of the advantages for artists in joining Facebook, I decided to take look closer. 

Now I had no experience of any social networking sites…I didn’t ‘do’ MySpace, or Friends Reunited, or Bebo or anything like that, and couldn’t understand quite why anyone would want their personal info ‘out there’ for all to see.  However, intrigued by the potential to promote Artdomain and the artists on Artdomain, I duly signed up to see what all the hype was about.

To summarise for those of you not currently using Facebook, basically you have a user profile and page that you update with whatever info you wish, then you connect with existing friends that are already using Facebook by searching on their email address or name.  You can also request to be friends with anyone else on Facebook.

When you become Facebook friends you then receive info via your Facebook news feed, every time you log in, telling you what they are doing on Facebook i.e. what groups they are joining, what discussions they are taking part in, what pictures or videos they are posting etc.

You can start a group on any theme or topic and join groups created by other Facebook members.  You can also create a Facebook page on your business or on you as an artist.  People can become ‘fans’ of your Facebook page, receiving info on updates to your page. You can also post pictures of anything i.e. your art, exhibitions etc. on your user profile page, or on a groups page, or your Facebook page.

The beauty of Facebook is that you can participate and connect up with people with similar interests or in your area (called Network i.e. Glasgow) or globally.  In addition Facebook is expanding hugely (60+ million users and growing) and the demographic of users is no longer just the young.  Because other Facebook users who you become ‘friends’ with, receive a stream of info on your activities on Facebook, there is constantly opportunities to let people know about your art activities, therefore increasing exposure of your art.

This interest generated in Facebook can be used to drive viewers to your own website / web pages, or blog and to build relationships with customers.

And for those concerned with privacy, Facebook is totally customisable in what info you allow to be visible and what info you receive.

I’ll shortly be writing a more in depth article on techniques and viral marketing that artists are using on Facebook to promote their art.  You can subscribe to this blog if you want to find out when this is available, or check back shortly.

If this brief overview has inspired you to join Facebook and have a look around, then come and join the Artdomain Art Gallery group.  It’s all free which is all good!