A Dive Into The Social Media Abyss!

Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Snap Chat, Pinterest, LinkedIn – the social media vortex is one that threatens to engulf us all in a sea of information and a time consuming abyss of hashtags and updates. Given that us creatives need time to actually create, what is the low down on social media for creatives?

I recently organized a local artist networking event aimed to connect like minded spirits who live in the beautiful and creative Byron Shire where I live. Because social media can be a major cause of stress, Dotti Media, a team specializing in small business and the arts, came along for a half hour Q and A.   An hour and a half later we emerged with new direction after diving deep into the often confusing and overwhelming oceanic eco system of social media and online presence. Here are the top tips I took away.

1. Have a website. Your website is your universe and no-one can take it away from you. You can sell freely and be the shining sun of your own solar system. This is your space to communicate exactly who you are and what you have to offer.

    

2. Use social media to direct people to your site, share links to your site on Facebook and pin your site on Pinterest. Even make cooperative spaces and online stores like Etsy a gateway to your site.

    

3. Etsy is not the be all and end all. On Etsy you are one of very very many. People can find it tricky to find you and can be easily distracted by other arts on offer.

    

4. Use social media to build customer relationships. Connect and engage with your market. Let customers and peers know who you are and get to know them in return.

    

5. Have etiquette in how you use social media. One shocking example of bad etiquette was from an artist in our networking group whose personal trainer “friend” kept tagging her in posts for personal training. If a personal trainer walked into a room and pointed out you and all the folks they thought needed a bit of trimming down as a means of flogging their service people would get offended and upset. People get upset on Facebook too and that’s not great for business.

    

6. No one likes a spammer. Don’t tag people or businesses you don’t really know and who aren’t really relevant in an attempt to align yourself with people who don’t want you aligning to them.

    

7. No one likes a thief. Credit people’s images. Share, retweet and use people’s images and ideas with respect for their personal copyright.

    

8. #Facebook #don’t bother. Hashtagging on Facebook isn’t really catching on.

    

9. #Instagram #don’t go crazy. 5-10 hashtags will do the trick

    

10. Try webstagram to find ideal hashtags to connect with your market

     

11. Know who your market is and target them. P.S your market isn’t everyone P.P.S A clear niche can be scary because it feels like a small pool but nailing who that small pool is actually is great for business.

     

12. Find out where in social media land your target market is hanging out.

     

13. Likes is just a vanity metric. No point having people who “like” you but don’t engage, connect or buy from you. No-one wants to look like a no-mates loser but there’s no point having loads of likers that don’t really interact with your business. P.S if you actually like me here’s my facebook page www.facebook.com/CreativeConsultancies     and my instagram    https://www.instagram.com/yourbestcreativelife/

14. Be thoughtful about your posts. Quality and clearly branded posts will work better for you.

     

15. Social media is not the golden goose.

     

16. Social media is only 1 part of your marketing mix. Allocate around 30% of your weekly marketing time to social media.

     

17. Schedule posts so you don’t have to be attached and distracted by all those blings and tings and tweets all day long.

     

18. If you have a local business have a Google Local listing

     

19. Have a social media strategy.

     

20. Pick one form of social media.

     

21. If one form of social media is going well then pick another.

     

22. Facebook and Instagram are good ones to pick because you can run ads and most people are on it.

23. Don’t use your personal profile for your business, you can’t run ads and Facebook don’t like it and could shut you down.

24. Don’t screw with the Facebook rules, Facebook don’t like it and will shut you down.

25. If you use a fake name or have a super awesome name that sounds fake Facebook don’t like it and could shut you down. P.S if your super awesome name is actually your name they will un-shut you down once you prove you are genuinely awesomely named.

26. There is no magic time to post. Check your pages insights to see what your market is up to.

27. Pinterest and Instagram are awesome for visual products and services.

28. If you’re a visual artist you probably need to have Instagram.

29. Pinterest is great when you have a tangible item to sell. Fashion, food, homewares and kids products go especially well on Pinterest.

30. Twitter is handy for market research, subscribe to feeds that give you information about target markets (galleries, organisations etc)

31. Twitter can be an okay way of connecting with key players.

32. Email is still one of the best ways of communicating with your customers

33. Sometimes you have to get offline and speak to people face to face.

To stay in the loop with Arts Marketing blogs like these sign up to our newsletter here  and like our Facebook page.

And for more social media tips and advice check out the Dotti Media blog.

Dotti Blog | Social Media | Business | Inspiration