Online Marketing In The Post-twitter, Post-facebook World.

Are real-world exchanges out of the question? If so, then one must utilize online channels OR have someone else handle marketing.

If real-world exchanges are on the table, they can really supercharge your online efforts. Like you, Jim, I have no time or desire to spend on FB or Twitter. To be clear, lots of people do, they love it, it works. I'm not a FB guy.

I hand out business cards and talk to people. But rarely about art. The card is an aside, an afterthought, and has my fine art website URL, email and phone. I'm in bands, so I'm around people for totally different reasons. But those seeds sprout! And that's all you need -- a way plant the seeds.


Dan Turner
Dan Turner's Seven Keys to Selling Art Online

Get personally involved in the art community in your town or in a town near you. Enter contests. Check places like artdeadline.org for show opportunities and competitions.

I have a couple of local strategies I could pursue but they're pretty limited at this point. I've gotten into a couple of art/craft shows but they're small.

So yes, the real world still exists, but the topic I'm proposing is: what can we do online, once we've decided FB and Twitter aren't working? Or are we giving up on the internet because "nobody goes there anymore - it's too crowded"?

Google+ is an option. You can join some Google+ "communities" and go from there. Personally, I like Google+ much better than facebook. Also, amazingly, I get 1-5 print sales on eBay every month. EBay is free, list some of your seashell prints there. I haven't yet started ramping-up my FAA effort, but when I do I'll be doing direct marketing locally mostly. And when it comes to internet marketing, use every available option, blogs, facebook, eBay, twitter, Google+. Even if it's posting a keyword laden boiler plate advertisement weekly with your link, it's better than nothing and takes a few seconds.

BTW, Jim your photography is fantastic, some of the best on FAA...

there are only so many social sites. you can't give up on any of them. its hard to know if any work or not. but advertising in any form take a lot of time, effort and energy. i'd like to sell more too, but.... i have little plans on paying for ad words, too many have them. big companies win. google does take in account if you have a facebook and twitter account. google plus i consider a waste of time despite me getting back on there again. some use it, i don't think many take it seriously. many were banned for unknown reasons.

if you tag your stuff right in twitter, it won't matter how many millions there are.

you want to link drop where ever you can. sign your mail with links to your sites, get onto blogs, find fans, or let them find you. if you find your work on a blog, don't fight it, sign it. get a facebook account with your link here, and add your 2 cents on news articles, youtube etc. they will find you that way.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

I have memberships in two local art leagues and have had photographs hanging in each for a couple of "monthly" exhibits. I also attend local shows, meet people and hand out cards. I have magnetic signs on the side of my car with my NAME, LOGO, AND large and 'easy" URL.

But I also do well with a couple of location-specific Facebook pages. These are not my personal page for family type stuff but, instead, have info about Ocean City, MD (for example). That page has just over 17K fans. A lot of my photography is beach and coast related. When I post a relevant image there I can watch the clicks start to appear via Google Analytics (real time) on my ArtistWebsites site.



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~ Bill
~ US Pictures .com

Paid search on Google and other engines.

Blogging has really worked for me in the past; but you should 'push' your blog through social media outlets, so . . .

I'm working my way back up to a regular blogging schedule. In advance of that move, I've spent the last few weeks really beginning to beef up my long-ignored social media presence. These days, I believe both -- blogging and social media -- will be required to move my online business ahead. That's just the way it is.

Real world interaction is a horse of a different color; but I think even real world networking will benefit from supplemental social media exposure.

There seems to be no getting around the curse/blessing of social media.

Best of luck, Jim!

Ebay? That's an interesting idea. I wish I could sell on Etsy and have them link directly to FAA, with some partnership deal.

The thing about a blog is, you need to have something interesting to blog about. Otherwise it's just another web page of my photos that no one looks at.

Maybe I should find out about a FB 'artist' page. My main issue with FB is that over the years they've changed the rules so many times that I gave up trying to follow it - and they could change them again at any time.

I think Twitter is also going to change in some major ways. The real problem with Twitter is that it's way too complicated and obscure for the average person. The people running Twitter understand that all too well but it remains to be seen how they'll address it. I think it needs a whole new user interface, and one created by some top designers, not the back room geeks.

A G+ business page is great it seems. It allows you to show your work in "community's" that are related to your work. And then every time someone likes your picture you add them into a group and then next time you post a new picture you post it to that group as they have already shown an interest in your work and you also post it to your community's more people more people like your work. And you add them to your group. So your group of fans continue to grow. Also if you g+ from your faa page when someone taps your picture it takes them to your picture on faa. Of course you don't want to spam community's.
I am still learning the ropes of g+ but hope it s a bit useful
Garreth Brown

Sorry no punctuation typing on my phone its painful

G+ is another possibility I suppose. On the plus side, it's probably not going to become a cesspool of targeted ads like FB, because Google has other ways to make money. On the minus side, I have to believe that inside Google Inc, G+ is a dead man walking. It never became the Big Thing they wanted it to be, and they have a history of walking away from projects that are no longer getting them a lot of attention.

Selling on eBay question...I am assuming you purchase your print first then list it, right? Or do you manually submit the order yourself through faa, after the purchase is made? Advice please


www.umeimages.com

"The thing about a blog is, you need to have something interesting to blog about."

Don't you take a photograph because you see something interesting / mysterious / fascinating / disgusting / motivating -- whatever -- in the subject? Write about that!

I know from experience that readers and viewers love back stories. It's the first question that comes up at real-world exhibitions, and has always been my go-to topic for starting a lively blog discussion.

Besides -- you're an artist. The world finds that endlessly fascinating! :-)

Honestly though, if you don't enjoy writing, a blog will get old for you, really fast. And, as it takes time for a blog to build momentum, you'd be out of the game before you started.

RE: G+, I think you're right. I never got comfortable there, and know many others who have said the same. Dead App Walkin', I think.