The Subtle Sell of Social Media
Since my post about how artist Jason Baalman uses YouTube to promote and sell his art, I’ve been pondering over the interesting concepts of how the Subtle Sell is the key with Social Media.
On the WetCanvas forum, when queried why he didn’t have a very obvious sales pitch, Jason discussed the fact that viewers go to YouTube to be entertained and that “blatant salesmanship would hamper what is needed to reach a level of success on YouTube”.
He continues “The whole system works on a very limited ranking system based on video views, comments, favorites and subscribers. If a video doesn’t get ranked then it is at the mercy of the YouTube search engine where it is grouped with millions of other videos. I’m trying to find a way to make art entertaining to build a subscription base. As I said without subscribers it is hard to get views and without views it is hard for new people to find you.”
Well this guy certainly knows what he is talking about. Since writing the above in February 07 he has nearly 40,000 subscribers to his YouTube profile and creates huge interest in his art and eBay auctions.
Here’s another artist using YouTube to promote and sell her art:
Val’s Art Diary - “This is my art/video diary. Each episode documents the process of me creating a painting but also includes my rants, reflections, and fun moments I often capture with my camera. Every week I end up with a painting together with a “making of” video that, I believe, is the closest I could ever get to an ideal artist’s statement”
Her artworks are promoted on YouTube for a week and sold by email silent auction at the end of the week.
In Allen Harkleroad’s blog post Social media is about subtle marketing he describes social media requiring “time and participation, if you aren’t willing to put in time and effort then don’t expect good results. Social media though can be very powerful in terms of getting people to talk about you, your brand and your products. The communication process must be a natural one. Nurture your brand and encourage others to talk about it. That is what social media is all about.”
For artists You are your ‘brand’ and Your Art is your ‘product’.
Some questions to think about - How can you entertain with your art? How can you stimulate conversation around your art?
Love to hear your comments below.
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Posted: September 23rd, 2008 under Art Marketing, Sell Art Online.
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