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If you're wondering how to get your art seen by more eyeballs more often, keep reading!
Andreas asked me, "I have been focused on Instagram and my views and my attention have gone up really well organically, no tricks. I have sent in mail to galleries and some interior designers to see my work. What else can I do to be seen?"
Excellent question, Andreas!
Get your artwork found using what I call visibility activities. The more you do them, the more Ideal Art Buyers you can bring in. Keep in mind though, that visibility activities are only a piece of the pie. Don't forget to nurture your leads and sell to them as well!
Good news -- You aren't dependent on social media posts, stories, lives, reels, etc to get your art found!
There are many different types of visibility activities you can choose from. Use the lens of what you're feeling inspired or called to do and what feels like fun in that moment in time.
Focus on one, or no more than two, of these activities at a time. Done right, over time, they will compound and start working together!
I've broken this article down into a couple of different categories to give you some examples of each type of visibility activity.
Get Your Art Noticed Category #1: Search engines that can keep working
Category one is things that can keep working. Notice I said can keep working. It's pretty difficult to absolutely guarantee that these activities are going to work every time, but with some trial and error, you'll start to see patterns of what performs the best for you so you can focus your efforts.
Search Engine Optimization for your website
One artist that I've talked to recently has a six-figure business and she attributes most of her success, not to Instagram, but to search engine optimization, otherwise known as SEO.
This is great for artist who have specific things that they like to make over and over or work in collections. If you're someone who rotates through collections, you can use SEO by creating a landing page for each one.
Social Media Sites that use Keywords (like Pinterest, Etsy or YouTube)
Along these same lines are both Pinterest, Etsy and YouTube. What these platforms really are are search engines. YouTube is a search engine for videos, Etsy is a search engine for handmade products, and Pinterest is a visual search engine. They work very much like Google.
The reason they are so valuable is because a) they can keep working for you and b) if you are getting found, people are already searching for what you do. In other words, they require less warming up to buy.
They're not like most media platforms where you put out content and then it disappears into the void.
The more you can help someone find what they're looking for, the more people it will show.
If these platforms don't seem to be working for you, find an easy masterclass on how to find the right keywords and plug them in to your pin, listing or video.
Get Your Art Noticed Category #2: Social media trends
Now, the next category is actually social media, but with a lot of caveats. Just posting on social media every day is not going to help you get seen by tons of people all at once, unless you're one of the lucky lottery winners.
So how do you use it to get found? Try one of these tricks.
Use your Favorite Social Media Platform's Newest "Baby" Daily
Get in the daily habit of practicing whatever their newest baby is. If that's reels, congratulations, you are now a reel maker (if this is the visibility activity you choose).
Now, I know that that's frustrating for some people because they are always having to learn how to edit their content to fit into a new format. However, think of it as a cheat sheet, a way that you can almost guarantee if you're putting out quality content that's going to put you in front of more people.
Using Instagram as an example. Instagram wants to stay relevant so it created reels. People like to watch reels, which is why they are investing in reels in the first place.
If you can put your spin of amazing content into the reels mix, it will reward you.
By just barely paying attention, you can know what their baby is and you just make it a daily habit of practicing that type of content.
Ads
The other way that you can make sure to get seen on social media is paying to play, also known as ads. Now this is not something that I am an expert in. I've dabbled a tiny bit, but it is a really good way to get more views on your work.
Will they lead to immediate sales? Possibly. But more likely, you'll use them to to get found by people that you'll then nurture and sell to.
Remember, selling and being seen by more people are two separate marketing activities. Just because you promote a post and you don't make sales off of it does not mean it did not work. Always keep in mind the intention behind where you're spending your time.
And don't forget to be looking for your Ideal Art Buyers within whatever visibility activity you are doing so you can nurture and sell!
Get Your Art Noticed Category #3: Super Connectors
Our third category is Super Connectors. I define these by creating a relationship with one person who has the potential to connect you to many buyers.
Andreas mentioned earlier about showing and talking to interior designers about his work. That's one example, but here are some more:
There are artists consultants, which are not at all the same thing as interior designers, but they would serve the same purpose.
There are partnerships. Perhaps you have a local artisan that you really love who have a similar or complimentary audience to yours and you promote them and they promote you.
Maybe it's a local business. How can you go partner with local businesses in order to help them get what they need? Maybe they need more inventory and you can offer some stuff on consignment.
Maybe there's a really great restaurant that has your people going to it every day. And you could offer a rotating selection of artwork if you're a prolific artist and you have that in stock.
If you're interested in being a part of a gallery, those individual leveraged relationships could create lots of sales for you. If you get into the right types of galleries.
Reaching out to PR where you would love to be featured. Whether it's a podcast, a magazine, a online article site, an influencer.
When you're thinking about relationships, always be thinking about how can you help the other person.
When you do that, they're so much more likely to help you. And that can just, by nurturing that one relationship can expand into many more people seeing your art.
Get Your Art Noticed Category #4: Events
The next category is events.
The most obvious event here is an art show. Where are the local art fairs or the local art markets? Is there a group show anywhere near you that is asking for artists to submit? Usually these types of events are fun parties with lots of eyeballs.
It could be a fundraiser where you are asked to donate artwork or to get a percentage of sales.
It could be a charity event that you are asked to either donate a piece of art or give a certain percentage of an art sale to a certain charity. This is great because you can align with charities that you love and feel passionate about, and help make some money for them as well. Oftentimes you don't end up making much money from the sale of those pieces of art, but you get in front of more eyeballs of people who care about what you care about. Many times these result in things like commissions.
If you're having a hard time finding something that you want to be a part of, put it on yourself! I've had lots of clients sell things through like backyard art shows or renting a space and putting on an art show yourself or inviting other people into it so you can get more of their audience in to see your art as well.
These are just a few visibility activities, but I hope this helped to get your mind flowing with ideas.