Question: How Do You Successful Artists & Photographers Generate So Many Views And Followers?

simply showing up in the forums and helping people will get you some of that. having work that people enjoy and or want to copy from you is another. advertising generates views.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

I would imagine joining and participating in groups helps too. And sharing your profile page outside of this site.

You need to get to know those folks at Beverly Hills - they love my work - they don't buy - but they are always there for my count.

Social media requires participation. Its a two way street.

Gaining views and followers (mostly) requires joining groups and being social on FAA. That's not bad, but can be an effort in futility. The reality is that those things don't translate into sales. Just pats on the back. If that's all you are looking for it's easy but will occupy a lot of your time.

the numbers look nice, but you can only be a member to follow someone. i suppose its a show off point when people look at the page. i'm closing in on 2000 followers, but the number is just that.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

We have a lot of Beverly Hills buyers, not of my work but they do buy

I think followers come mostly from participating in groups, but they are mostly if not all of them other artists, so unlikely to buy. Views come from marketing, just start tweeting links to your images and your view count will start to soar, however the view count doesn't really mean much since it's mostly bots. If you do tweet you can get some idea of how many might actually be viewing your art though by looking at the stats for your tweets, it will tell you how many link clicks you got, that's far more helpful IMO than the view count here.

Keep in mind also followers aren't necessarily really following. I'm not sure why so many people "follow" an artist and then ignore him/her. If I don't post a new image to social media it gets almost no views, which says to me my "followers" aren't really that interested.

I appreciate all who have answered and explored this question with reference to Views and Followers. You are correct as far as my observations go....Numbers are Numbers! But do the numbers translate into significant sales of your precious and personal art and photography? I'm not convinced of this.

What I am exploring here are the methods and practices of making money....That is essential to all of us. Years ago, in the highly competitive, professional photography journeys of New York, I learned that accolades, while being somewhat satisfying, will ultimately wear thin. With that, I knew many pros who were my competition and, also, my friends. The central topic among all of us (who appreciated each other's talents) was photo assignments and getting work.

Here, in this discussion, I am hoping that those who have had great success in selling on FAA, share their business strategies. None of us are in competition with one another.

It is always...always my pleasure interacting with artists, whom I respect, in FAA. Thank you, Ross Lewis

Hi Ross,
I can tell with the confidence, joining discussions generated some, but not all of my million+ views. Use Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest to promote your art. Also, blog, blog, blog (I cannot emphasize it more than that). Google gives priorities to his child Blogger.com.. Open blog there and tell the World your story (not too many graphic details please ;0).
When you place photos of your art on blog, don't forget to link them (photos and some words in the description/article) to your Pixels.com (some might not agree, but I've seen lots of "views" right after I post the blog on Blogger). You can always make a similar blog post on you FAA blog. On you FAA blog you can always add the for more interesting visual.

Cheers!
Irina
http://www.artirina.com/

Thank you Irina for your most generous comment and suggestions. I hope many artists and photographers will see your thoughts here and be inspired by them.
My best to you,
Ross Lewis

Oh, you are welcome Ross. I've also heard that the new way that attract more visitors is the videos on YouTube. I cannot comment on that as I made just a few; and, they are not even videos just a slide-shows of my work. But, when I search for certain artists I often go to YouTube myself to see if they posted some art or instructions how they do things.

All the best!
Irina
http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/irina-sztukowski.html

"I am hoping that those who have had great success in selling on FAA, share their business strategies. None of us are in competition with one another. "

All you have to do is look around the forum. People have shared and re-shared their business strategies for years on this forum.

I'm new on FAA and I really appreciated the openness, honesty and tips from everyone!
Thank you for sharing you knowledge with a newbie:)