When you run a shop, consistent marketing across social media is a must. But unfortunately, the dreaded algorithms are art is only shown to a small subsection of our audience making it frustrating to keep feeding the Instagram machine while staying to create the artwork in the first place.
We can’t make the algorithms magically show out work to 100% of our followers, but we can make the most out of every piece of artwork by repeating ourselves a bit by showing more of the process. Plus, there are so many social media platforms out there where a piece of content could perform better if you only experimented a bit more.
By talking about each piece of artwork more times in your feed more of your audience will know it exists. On average only 3% of your followers see what you post, meaning you could post something over 10 times, and still, not even half of your fans will ever hear about it.
This is why I made a handy little social media checklist so you can remember to show off your work in more ways helping you get more profile views, website clicks, and sales.
Especially if you are like me and run a print on demand shop to create products from your artwork, this checklist could not only help you post more often but also making your advertising feel less spammy.
WORK SMARTER NOT HARDER SOCIAL MEDIA CHECKLIST
Step 1: Ideation
From the moment you have a new idea, I want you to share it with the world. If you add lettering to your work, you could post that phrase to Twitter, take a screenshot and post it to Instagram and Facebook. Hell, you could even do a green screen reaction to that tweet on TikTok. This is what I mean by trying out new social media platforms to see what performs the best where.
If you don’t do lettering, you could show a mood board of sorts of what you are thinking. Maybe something you saw online or in real life sparked an idea. Share that image, give credit where it’s due and share a little of what you want to make next.
Step 2: Process
You should be showing your process every time you draw something. You have built up these skills over the years, you might as well show them off a bit.
This could be a photo of you drawing on your iPad, a video on TikTok where you share just 3 secs of each step in your process or just a really satisfying 10 secs of your drawing the most satisfying part of your drawings like the details in the hair, or the final highlights of the eyes.
Step 3: Reveal
The reveal is you showing off the final image online whether it’s a flat lay of your painting or the image exported from Procreate. This is the image that is most likely to be shared the most so be sure that it has the most meaning possible.
An image is just a pretty picture if it doesn’t have any meaning. Even if it has some lettering in it to give your audience an idea of what that piece is about, you should be adding in some extra effort in the caption.
Always try to answer the question, “what does this mean and why should I care?” Can you share a personal story or give a pep talk sound the meaning of your piece? This isn’t a must, but it can go a long way in helping your followers connect with your art.
Step 4: Mockups
I love the print on demand partners like Printful because every single piece of artwork can be turned into a potential product with absolutely no upfront costs.
With mockups, you can start selling things in your shop as soon as the art is finished and use a place holder until you can afford to get samples sent to you. It’s up to you if you want to use the default mockups, or use places like Creative Market and Placeit to grab ones that are more unique.
Step 5: Photography
If you have the cash, I highly recommend getting a sample of everything that you plan to sell in your shop so you can take your own photos and videos for promotions. Plus, it’s important to note that you should get a sample of any new product you are selling to make sure that it’s up to quality standards before you start to sell it to your followers.
This photography phase is where I want you to go a little crazy and get creative. Once those items arrive I want you to a photoshoot to replace any mock-up photos you have on your site, since those will likely help sell your products better anyway.
Upload those photos on platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook. Plus don’t forget it’s okay to repeat yourself more here. You can have the same pin, on different boards. You can show different photos from the shoot at different times on Instagram and Facebook. Remember, only 3% of your followers see your content!!!
Also, video is something most artists forget about. I want to see videos of you wearing apparel, hanging up a poster, talking on the phone with your new phone case, and any other examples you can think of your products being used. Help people imagine having your products in their lives.
FINAL THOUGHTS
This might seem a bit overwhelming, and a bit crazy considering you can make all this content just from one piece of artwork. But remember this process is not a new idea and is something that all the big brands do. When you see Target release a new collection, you don’t see them just post just once about it, do you
As artists, we are in charge of all the creative, manufacturing, and marketing so we actually have an advantage over the big guys because we are there to document it all. We get to show people way more behind the scenes stuff so our audience can feel a stronger connection to our products from the very moment we think to make something new.
Now that’s fucking powerful.