Art & Social Media, a few Tips
Before I start, these are all just things that I’ve found useful or insightful. I’ve been at this for less than a year, but if you’re starting out or stalled, these are a couple of tips that have been helpful to me.
In terms of exposure, this has to be one of the best times to be an artist in human history. There has never been a time when people have been able to widely share their work so quickly and easily. The great thing about social is that no gatekeepers are saying what is and isn't worth showing, you can find your audience.
What to make: Before jumping all in on design, I was casting a very wide net. Large oil paintings, ceramics, woodworking, you name it. My Instagram was a cluttered mess, and while individually all of these projects had merit in their own way, together things were not cohesive. I still enjoy these other art forms, but when I decided to push my career towards design, I knew the others had to go, I archived the posts and essentially got rid of anything that wasn't design-centric. If you have other interests, let them influence and feed into your main craft, rather than fight with it.
Rules: Setting rules for your work sounds restrictive and like it’s going to limit you creatively. The opposite is true, it allows you to go deep rather than wide. By setting rules for our art we're able to better focus it. In design school if you look at someone's sophomore portfolio it’s usually a scattering of dozens of styles, each usually alright, but most of the projects tend to scratch the surface of what it could be, kind of a caricature of the style they're imitating. The portfolio of a professional has a cohesive style, each project is different, but shares an aesthetic. General is cheap, anyone can do it, this is why you see places like Fivver shelling out generic logos for a couple bucks. Specificity is valuable, people will seek you out because of YOUR work, not just because they need work done.
Consistency: This is something that virtually everyone fights, myself included. In the beginning, it’s genuinely hard to share your work, getting little or no feedback can be discouraging, and we ride the highs and lows of likes and comments. The best way I can describe it is like going to the gym. Early on its not very fun, you put in work and see no reward for it, there are people around you in way better shape, and you say “well I’ll never be like them so what's the point”, you may go a few days in a row then get burnt out and not go for a week. Like the gym posting is a long game, don't expect anything for weeks, months maybe a year. If you post every day for a year and are smart about it, things will happen. The funny thing is, the more you do it, the easier it gets, and at some point, you start looking forward to it. Be patient, and don't micro analyze, things will come.
Engagement: It amazes me how many designers with good size followings get heartfelt comments from fans or kids in design school that go unanswered, where a simple acknowledgment would make their day. It takes such little time to say “hey thanks glad you like it!”, that it's almost rude not to. If you walked past someone on the street and said “hey I like your shoes” and they stared blankly and walked away, how would you feel? Beyond just the decency of it, it’s a great way to build community and friends. I’ve met some awesome people, and worked on some amazing projects, just because I took the time to say hey back, or looked to see what they were working on themselves. The basis of this is kindness, if you're nice to people they're more likely to be nice back. Don't expect anything in return, kindness doesn't cost you anything, and friendships are not zero-sum.
Subtly: We’ve all gotten the irrelevant “follow me” comment on our posts, or see the “Hire Me” bios. That level of desperation if usually a turn-off. If you sit down at a dinner table and a stranger tries to sell you something before you’ve taken a sip of water, internally you go “well fuck this guy”. It’s a reaction, you know the person has no interest and wants to use you for their gain. No matter how good the offer is that initial gut feeling sticks. On the other hand, you sit down and they're a genuine person back, not fake small talk, waiting for the moment to pitch, but genuine, a relationship emerges. Building trust is huge, eventually, you'll find out what they do for work, and if it’s a fit you’ll seek them out. Don't be a used car salesman, be the friend that knows cars and is there to help when they need it.
As always thanks for reading, if you're interested, the last few weeks I've started to expand into a couple different platforms, I’ll be creating unique content on those as time goes on. So if you're on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, or Tik-Tok, stop by to say hey!