Watanabe Seitei, Birds on Branch, 1878
Its been 6 months now since we posted our article, “Selling Art With Twitter – Have You Sold Any?“, in which we asked the question:
Are artists genuinely selling art as a result of Twitter?
Back then in September 2009 we had a range of comments from artists – a few like Daniel Edlen who had actually sold art directly through twitter, some who had seen no success whatsoever, and the rest – the majority, including Moshe Mikanovsky and Jude Maceren – who had found it helpful as a means of getting the word out and building relationships that would hopefully results in sales.
Where are we now – 6 months later? For our part, we’ve been observing artists on Twitter to understand what works and what doesn’t. From what we can see the art marketing success stories seem to associated with artists and art lovers like our friends Tara Reed, Misty Wuori, and Alissa Fereday who engage in real direct personal connections with other artists and clients, focusing on quality and genuine joie de vivre.
What doesn’t appear to be working is building huge lists of followers and not putting any uniqueness and personal spirit into the connections. What good is it, after all, having 40,000 followers if none of them is listening or could care less what you have to say? Its like that great tag line for the original “Alien” movie:
In space, no one can hear you scream!
Sorry – couldn’t resist that! It’s the same as bloggers who just copy content and don’t put any of their own energy and enthusiasm into their work. Where does it lead – nowhere! A complete waste of time.
That’s what we’ve observed so far. How about you? We’d like to get some feedback from you about how social media in general and Twitter in particular is working for you in March 2010. A few questions:
- Are you connecting with real art buyers either directly or indirectly through Twitter?
- Have you sold any art either directly or as a result of connections through Twitter?
- If you’ve sold art, what was the value?
- Do you think it would be more or less valuable for you to have spent your time on other art marketing techniques like mailings, phone calls, search engine optimization, etc?
- Generally – are you feeling more or less positive about Twitter as a marketing tool?
We welcome your comments, thoughts, and experience on this topic!
No sales but lots of valuable information that I believe will make me better at marketing myself. I have been published in a magazine several times because of Twitter.
"have been published in a magazine several times because of twitter" – that's a major marketing success Nadine!
Yes, I love Twitter. I think it's a fun way to share my whimsical art with people who are interested. And yep, I've had some sales of originals and prints. I am often creating smaller, affordable works and that might help with the sales/marketing. I've met some great people online and love creating a community. I like to combine all my different social media tools and use them together to share my paintings and artist journey with others – the main ones are my website/newsletter, blog, Facebook Fan page, Twitter, youtube channel, 12second.tv, and LinkedIn. It probably helps that I'm a bit of a computer nerd too.
Good thoughts,
~ Lindy
@lgrugerhanson
Twitter has not yet proved at all beneficial for me. It is, however, entirely possible that this is because I have not figured out who to connect with nor where to find them (since they clearly haven't found me).
This is a great question, because Twitter (as well as FB and LI) can seem to be a "black hole" for time spent while marketing. I am no longer a working artist, but have a blog which features artists, so I am using Twitter on their behalf while also promoting my site. We all need a critical mass of traffic before sales happen – that is true for any business. It's not always easy to tell what exactly spurred sales, because multi-channel marketing efforts include many activities. Still, I have heard from artists that they have sold work due to being featured on my site. And they may have found me on Twitter – so that complicates things, doesn't it?
Thanks for including me! Since your initial post, I did a post of my own sharing some stories about my successes on Twitter:
http://vinylart.blogspot.com/2009/10/how-twitter-…
Since that post, I've begun to connect with more people on Facebook as well. A Facebook fan page is a different animal than Twitter, for sure, each with their use. I'm hoping the discussion potential on the Facebook fan page becomes a gathering place for people to share about my art and related topics. That may be a lofty goal, but goals are what become our reality. It just takes work and time and energy, like making Twitter work with actual connections and sales.
Peace,
@vinylart
Hi Daniel! Thanks for including me in your post! As you know, I currently represent Artist/Designer Rickbischoff of Rustic Contemporary Spirit. In 2009, we began a large-scale social media campaign. The goal: to build brand awareness, expand online presence, and grown a community to network within. I absolutely feel that we attained that goal over the year. Although this has not necessarily led to an increase in actual sales of artwork, the benefits of this marketing strategy are easily recognizable. I am so greatly appreciative of the contact I've made, and relationships established (I know Rickbischoff feels the same.) I highly recommend any artist, agent, publisher, etc to implement a social media plan this year, if they have not already done so. For those currently marketing themselves through social networking platforms, I cannot stress enough the value of sincere relationships. Communication is key. After all, we call it Social for a reason!
~ Misty (Mysticle)
Thanks for these excellent comments everyone. I think that, "I cannot stress enough the value of sincere relationships" says it all