Facebook: Is It Worth It?

I doubt it. Pushing artwork on people who are not exactly chomping on the bit to buy a luxury item. Better to have them come to you organically.

Hi Greg, I too post on FB and allow "word of mouth" to do its thing.Methinks being on FAA is great too.Sooner or later someone will stumble on your works and say that's for me. Rome wasn't built in a day so hang in.

I'm on FB as well and have many followers however unless many of my most loyal followers like the post it isn't seen by my less active followers. I post on FB so my most loyal fans see my recent work but I don't rely on just FB for sales. I use all means of social media to promote. It's the best way to get yourself out there.

Yes, it works. Just be sure not to be too spammy. Your friends will unfollow you in a heartbeat.

An album here & there of your latest works is a great way to strike up conversation amongst friends & locals.

I have made quite a few sales to friends who will track it back here, or contact me privately.

Best wishes !

I have been using facebook for a good number of years as a way of promoting my art but even though on one of my facebook pages I have over a 1000 likes my art gets seen but not by any of my followers as with FIne Art America and Pixels.com I have found a new way of trying to attract new interest and that is by using twitter

I lost my wife to cancer in 2013 and lets say she really helped me ensure I got the best out of my art and photography

I post at least once a day, either a photo or a painting, usually my latest work. I sold works to strangers because as soon as I post it, one of my followers commented on it it show up on their friend feeds as well I think it woks because I post it to share with my followers not as a sale pitch.

everything is worth it because you never know where people find you. some people live on facebook. and others expect you to be there, as does google. the likes are worthless. just keep posting new work, comment on other people's stuff, have an interesting avatar. if people like your work they might buy something or tell friends or write to blogs.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

Thank you everyone!

That is very eye-opening, that the more people like and comment on a post, the more people will see it. Should I point blank ask people to like and comment, letting them know that will allow more people to see it?

@ Andrew and Jacqueline: And yeah, I have to start looking into Twitter and other social media.
@Edward, Organic, yes... But intentionally organic, no spam/pesticides!
@Frederick: Thank you for the encouragement. You're right. it WILL happen!
@Janine: I definitely do not try to promote my FAA page through FB. I like to try to it where someone will approach me if interested. Maybe I should promote a sales once every quarter or so.... I actually really like the idea of an album with my latest work
@Alfred, your right, I need to get back to posting a photo very day. What time of the day do you usually post? I hear that can make a difference.

@Andrew, I am so sorry about the loss of your wife.

you can answer your own question easily by asking - would you comment on some other work just because someone asked? usually you have to strike up a conversation, and it has to be interesting or funny. but you will get a better response if you add something to the comments. i usually add a funny line or something off the top of my head.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

Face it, Facebook SUX .lol..sorry but true..

I don't think Facebook generates many sales, but it only takes a few seconds to post a link to your latest upload. So you don't lose much time trying, and who knows, one of those links just might lead to a sale. It's worth a few seconds, I think.

Thank you... For those that post to FB, do you post straight from the file, or from the FAA link?

I only post from my file never from the FAA link.
I usually post during work hours like late morning or late afternoon when people taking a break from work.

Straight from the file? I don't understand.

@Alfred, thank you! (Can you please give me your FB page link?)

@Anyone interested, Can you please give the link to your FB page? I would like to follow you.I feel I can learrn from you (I mean that sincerely, I am not looking to give out my FB page, I have enough likes :)
@Jessica, the my photo file on my hard drive... Maybe its called something else? I am not the most tech savvy person.

@Jessica: upload a low res file from the computer vice a link from the FAA site.

I post the FAA link to my page and a file to my FB profile

my FB page

https://www.facebook.com/JessicaJenneyPhotography

here is my Facebook link:

https://www.facebook.com/?q=#/alfred.ng.9028

"Face it, Facebook SUX .lol..sorry but true.. "
That's because you don't know how to make it work for you. Don't blame the item, blame the one(s) who use it wrong.

All of my sales except one in FAA (and other selling sites) have been because I posted in Facebook. However, not because I posted on my art page but because I belong to Facebook groups and pages where I post things that may be of interest to others on those pages.

What good are "Likes" what do they do really? When someone "likes" your post, it isn't pasted on to their timeline, their friends don't see what you "liked".
So don't ask for "Likes" ask them to SHARE it. that is how it becomes viral.

James, don't you have to have friends on facebook for that to work? I feel funny going through pages and pages of people I don't know and hitting add friend ,add friend and these people are going .. who in the heck is this? Anyway .. yeah guess it depends on your network.. if you have 2000 friends..people that mostly collect them.. then you might and probably do generate sales or if you have all your family which can be big and you sell to them and their friends and such.. then yes I suppose you can really clean up.. It is just that facebook used to seem so user friendly now its all for NSA use lol.. I would think the way it was set up. also the creator. Mark Zuckerburg or whomever he was said some really nasty things when he first created facebook about the idiots giving out there personal info to him.. I wasn't impressed but this is just my one and a half cents.. lol. Jean

Alfred, how are they going to find that specific image to buy without contacting you directly? Nothing there that I saw linked to your website to purchase it. Also, with what I have been reading recently on FB changes (and I could be wrong as I am definitely NOT a FB expert), when you upload images like that and they are not a direct link from a site like your website (FAA/AW, etc.), FB has authority to use them per their TOS. They don't have copyright or ownership, naturally, but from what I understand, they can use them without giving you credit or paying you anything for it. I still post my images directly from my FAA uploads (when I am in a hurry and being a little lazy), or from my website which links to my AW store.

From my experience, no one ever comments or gets involved in a conversation on my FB fan page regarding images. I tried several times but just gave up because no one really engaged. Some will like them, but that doesn't really do a whole lot except maybe, as Mike said, get them in front of a few more eyes. The only problem with that scenario, as Gregory stated in his original post, I'm not sure how many people are actually getting my posts. I continue to put them up because it only takes a few seconds, but I'm not sure what good it is doing if any.

═ Carolyn Marshall
www.carolynmarshallphotography.com

Gregory -- I'm no longer on Facebook.

I'm sure if you do a discussion search for this topic you'll find something to answer your question.

Here is my contribution:

http://fineartamerica.com/showmessages.php?messageid=2148984


http://fineartamerica.com/showmessages.php?messageid=2192364

The problem I have with FB is the same problem I have with Twitter: too many people are just blasting out too much uninteresting, repetitious stuff. Once you get past a couple dozen active friends, the noise is drowning out the signal and you have to start blocking some of them - especially the ones posting pictures of their kids every day. Start posting your art or photos too often and they'll just do the same to you. I do stay in touch with a circle of friends on FB, but Twitter just seemed like a big waste of time - no conversations, just broadcasts.

I'm probably just not getting it.

To me, the question of "Facebook: Is It Worth It?" would be like asking someone in the late 50s or 60s is it was really worth advertising on TV.

There are also a lot of blogs and articles on how to sell on Facebook. Bottom line is you have to market to an audience, find groups and places where your art will be seen and NOT spend money doing so.

Gregory, Creating a contest helps tremendously as I have said in the past. Offer a free print to the winner.

A "title" contest works good as it has 2-3 stages that will be posted/talked about/shared. 1-title ideas. 2-narrow down to top three through votings. 3-final voting for winner.

Don't pay to boost it. All the excitement and involvement and participation self boosts. Your cost...the price for you to make your own print...your time.

& Gregory, don't let all the nay sayers discourage you. A facebook page for your photography is better than no facebook page. All the avenues help even if for just getting your "face" out there.

My most recent painting I posted on facebook sold me 24 prints in 2 weeks. None of it here on FAA. All via my facebook.

Dave, it's facebook.com/curious3d

Curious3d is the name of my website and was my business name.

I started out promoting posts because FB choked down the organic reach and I wanted to be able to reach more of my followers. I may have to just not boost anything this year and see if I notice a difference. Besides $60 in my pocket.

What about paid promotions on Pinterest? I get paid stuff in my Pinterest feed all the time and am curious about that.

GALLUP: Advertising On Facebook And Twitter Barely Even Works

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/gallup-report-questions-social-media-ads-2014-6#ixzz3RvmFZLTg

Ads don't work. No one said they did.
Again, you have to bring (market) your work to specific audiences and you do that through groups and pages.

I do not use it. Can't take it................................................. got too many miles to drive off road and too many photos to take in the wilderness to sit in front of a monitor talking to invisible friends.

People cannot resist spilling their most intimate emotions on it as if they are horribly isolated and lonely and have nom one real in person to communicate these emotions with.
Real nerdy and self- indulgent activity.

Cynthia,

It is a terrific page with a very large following.

What I see happening now, FB is getting into compartmentalization. FB execs want each
of us sitting at our desks and focused solely on what they get paid to advertise.

You have over 3500 followers.Starting out today on FB that would be much harder to achieve.

Reach?? Not so easy any more.

Mike is right they will take your money and water down your brand with fake likes. Then some folks
think they need to spend more money on ads.

Sour grapes? I have 28 likes. I am not even up to the level of sour grapes. I am at pointless.

I feel great because I go elsewhere to other SM.

You did a great job of discussing FB and the artists' pages, their ins and outs.

People with several hundred likes already on their FB/artist page need to listen to you.

The only big draw back to any strategy when it comes to selling art is that buyers GENERALLY
are in the market as a one off. If you sell them a work of art dont bank on them coming back. You need
fresh new customers constantly. FB is less useful for that, JMO.

Dave

I tend to agree with David Bridburg - from what I've read, what used to work in the past doesn't work nearly so well anymore. And the trend is clear - FB is now all about pushing targeted ads.

The 'social media' ship has sailed.

"Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded". - Yogi Berra

BTW the monthly visits to FB are down from over 180 million unique visitors per month to something like 164 million.

FB's policies are not working well. The competition is making small inroads.

Twitter also has seen growth slowing. I am taking advantage of that. Twitter is much more commercial. If they keep
cutting of the accounts that are automated to grow quicker then they stop their growth altogether. They can roll backwards.

IG and a couple of others are seeing growth. Growth is based usually on how people see images on their pages, not the verbiage.

Cynthia your page on FB looks very professional, but most do not.

FAA needs to update how it works with Twitter to use Twitter cards to show images. Still waiting on that.

I want longer term acceptance for my art. Abstract art in the late 1940s, early 1950s did not sell well. Today people
commonly buy abstract paintings. I expect to use large numbers without many sales at first to accomplish my longer term goal.

Dave

Telling someone who is running a business to not have a presence on facebook because it is a dying network is like telling the business not to have their phone # in the phone book because it's a dying source!

They are both still very viable sources!

How do you sponsor on your facebook?

Julie,

FB is looking more and more like a TV set. Would you tell artists here to advertise on national TV?

The FB channel is getting more and more commercial for the big boys and creating less and less opportunity
for you and I. Just is what it is. I never said FB was dying. Hardly. It just is not doing us any favors. If
you need a different brand of soap FB will have it for you, but art? Where?

Addition you might have your land line in the phone book, but who here advertises their art in the phone book?
I am purely and very reasonably speaking about cost/benefit analysis. Can we have that discussion?

Addition number 2 phone books are dying. Just say'n.....

Dave

Julie,

I am on FB. I have 28 likes on my artists page. I have some 40 to 50 friends and family on my regular page.

Should I boost or advertise my art to add to my 28 likes for $20? I will have 500 likes over night? Should I?

Reaching 28 people who have not bought at all, but like the work is nice, but does not matter commercially to
anyone. Reaching 500 people over night in third world countries that were paid one cent per click is a big
negative. You said presence specifically on FB, does that mean you would not stretch for spending on FB?

I am running a business, I have a presence, I never said I would not have a presence, but if a bear blanks in the woods
and no one is around..........

Dave

"Should I boost or advertise my art to add to my 28 likes for $20? I will have 500 likes over night? Should I?"

No. You join groups that may have interest in what you offer. If your hometown has a group, join it. If you draw or paint flowers, join a garden page. "Like" galleries". I keep saying it and no one is paying attention, but again, your art page will NOT get you sales unless you draw people to it and the way to do that is go where the people are.

"Reaching 28 people who have not bought at all, but like the work is nice, but does not matter commercially to
anyone. Reaching 500 people over night in third world countries that were paid one cent per click is a big
negative. You said presence specifically on FB, does that mean you would not stretch for spending on FB? "

You don't have to spend a dime to get REAL people to see what you are offering. Joining groups give you presence and that is what you have to do.

**David, it works for some..not for others. I don't pay facebook for anything.

I posted a recent painting on FAA & Facebook middle of January, within 2 weeks I sold 24 prints off my Facebook and 0 prints off of FAA...just sayin. Facebook works for me.

Google analytics don't lie :)

Neither does my over $1,000 in sales, solely through Facebook. And that is my share, not the total amount sold and doesn't include the galleries.

Edit to add: There is no way your "google analytics" can tell you that posting artwork on a particular page outside of the owner's is a direct result of sales elsewhere-impossible. The only way to know is through anecdotal evidence, which I and others have.

I haven't spent a cent on Facebook but got far more being on it. Other than had sales from posting on it, I was found by a TV producer and invited to be feature on a show the whole half an hour was about my art and of being an artist. Months later, a high-end restaurant contacted me, gave me a large commission because of that feature.
Sometimes all you need is to be seen by the right person.

I've had a few sales directly from FB that I'm aware of - and possibly quite a few. And perhaps several people found me somewhere else and FB helps keep me top of mind - not too sure...

But I feel the most important reason for being on facebook is that it's a competitive world out there and by *not* being on FB and other social media, you fall that much further behind the ones who do all those other things.

(edit) wow Julie, that is quite the testimonial

Facebook, is it worth it? I think so. I've sold paintings through fb because I posted them on my page. Yes not all my (1,633) followers are seeing my posts but enough do and many of them share my posts. I've spent maybe a total of $25 on fb ads, I gained a few 100 new followers that way.

https://www.facebook.com/Darice.ArtEstudio

DAVID PATTERSON: I was reading your post about using FAA Facebook app on your business Facebook page. Mine ended up on the left side of my page saying APP. Can it be incorporated differently than that? I thought it showed up in the news feed, not as a side app. Thank you for any help. Kathi

Interesting ... Just found this in my FAA weekly newsletter ... perfect timing.

Barney Davey talks about marketing on Facebook. If you don't know Barney ... you do now!

http://fineartamerica.com/blogs/marketing-art-on-facebook-replay-open-letter-to-art-marketing-mastery-grads.html

Frank,

Very very interesting video. The two artists struggled to comprehend FB. They go through the history up until now and the drawbacks, the expenses....

I have ten works of art. When I have twenty or so much later this year, I might promote a video on YouTube through FB. See
if I can get it to fly.

Still listening.

Addition: FB offers advertising guides that everyone here with an interest might want to read.


Dave

Hi Gregory! Great discussion!
I have a FB Artist Page. I do think it is worth having one. I haven't paid for any promotions yet but have been thinking about trying a few.

FB should be seen as a step in your marketing workflow... and this step can become a key factor...

I just got a contact from a regional newspaper as they noticed my FB pictures posts (related to a specific touristic site I'm known as a photographer) and they want to do a full page article about my work and my photographic experience.

Still not a sale ! But my FB posts will generate a full page article in a newspaper addressing thousands of people. It happened already last year and this brought significant sales increase...
Let's hope it will be the same this time !