Social Media is a fundamental shift in the way we all communicate. It is not a fad, yet many artists and galleries are still intimidated and puzzled at the idea of joining in on the Social Media Revolution. Learn these 5 ways to harness the power of Social Media and improve your art marketing.

1. Build Your Brand:

What is branding? The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines a brand as: “A name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller of group of sellers and the differentiate them from those other sellers.”

• Social Media is the quickest way to build brand identity for you and your art business.
• Solid brand identity differentiates you from the pack.
• A strong brand is invaluable and serves to communicate credibility to your prospective customers and collectors.
• Use Twitter, Facebook and YouTube for building your brand by posting images of your art, tutorials and recent blog posts.

2. Networking:

• Your are not alone! Being an artist is a solitary occupation, but with social networking.
• Reach beyond your niche art market and attract new customers.
• Get instant feedback or a critique on your latest painting or blog post.
• Learn from other artists and business leaders.
• Gain inspiration from others.
• Become more business savvy.
• Facebook is a great way to make ‘real connections’ within my art niche marketplace. Twitter quickly and easily reaches beyond the art niche. I have sold my art using Twitter.

3. Keep Your Finger on the Pulse:

• Artists are the movers and shakers of the world and need to stay informed.
• Artists should follow new trends in design, decorating, fashion and technology and how it influences your art and sales.
• In this challenging economy, being a successful artist not only consists of creating great art, but also creating a strong business.

4. Marketing:

• If you don’t have a website you are invisible. A website is a must, a blog even better.
• It’s time for artists to “Think Outside the Frame” about art marketing!
• SM is already changing the rules of the marketplace.
• Use YouTube to share videos of your latest art tutorial or artwork. This builds brand recognition and drives traffic to your website or blog.YouTube is the #2 largest search engine in the world after Google!

5. Don’t be a Dinosaur:

• Artists and galleries must evolve to stay competitive.It is clear that those artists and galleries who do not join in will most likely go the way of print media.
• Now is the time of natural selection and survival of the fittest.
• Jump in even if you don’t yet understand it!

Source by Lori Mcnee