Hello Artists and Art fans!

In this blog series, we are going to discuss some very elementary subjects related to promoting your art, not just social networks. This will likely become a series of articles, as there is much to cover on this topic. By the way, how often do you post on Instagram?

One of the first questions we ask artists who are considering exhibiting or promoting their art in our Hybrid Gallery is how much online art promotional activities they regularly engage in. There are creative individuals who are skilled enough to create their own websites so they do not have to depend on multinational corporations like Facebook or Instagram. There is not that much social aspect left on those platforms, let alone their tactics to mentally compel you to create content for them regularly. For free. Think about the lack of balance in this interface between the platform and the end-user. We could almost say, forget social networks. But is it really that simple?

There is one thing we must be honest with ourselves about. Success on any well-established social network largely depends on whether you have the ability to achieve it or not. There are certain things that cannot be replicated, analyzed, and practiced to guarantee the same results as someone else. I believe this is something that Facebook demonstrated in its early years; if you are not popular in real life, chances are a virtual social network will reflect that. It may not be fair, but that goes for many things. An experimental platform called "Second Life" comes to mind. Remember that? Many users were hoping for different rules than those of real life, but that's not how it turned out.

But okay, not everybody has an interest in social networks or the internet in general. This topic is not meant to challenge the artist's skill set. It is instead a simple check to see what areas people are comfortable discussing or have a wide range of appreciation for. I believe it is fair to assume that you can't appreciate something you don't understand. So it is important to have some understanding if you want to engage in a closer cooperation, especially when it comes to online marketing, especially when it is for something as unique as art.

The name of this Art Blog post may be slightly inaccurate. We are referring to social networks in general, but I believe I am not far off in saying that Instagram is probably one of the most used by artists, simply because it is a picture-based social network. Did you try Tumblr? It is interesting what tremendous difference does it make even though the concept is so similar. Tumblr is actually much more Art content oriented and less “I´m popular” network, still it doesn´t get a fraction of the success as the Instagram when it comes to volume of users and the intensity of engagement. Is it a secret next best thing to do? Let´s get to that in detail in one of our next Art Blog´s.

And there you have it! We should probably acknowledge that all of this has more to do with self-promoting and networking and less with content communication or socializing. I mean, just think of the basic rules that are recommended to everyone who wants to ensure their follower count grows - post regularly, reply to every comment, post again, make sure you are nice even to a mean commenters, post again. Essentially, you are forced to be feed the system. It has very little to do with actual socializing. But yeah, internet is open and you simply have to deal with “Keyboard warriors” no matter where you move on the web.

But anyway, let's stick to the pure networking aspect of any given social network for the sake of online art marketing. People network with each other to navigate or support each other's initiatives in real life just as much. So it is just fine to do the same online. Do you paint figurative, abstract, or minimal art? Are you fully booked this year, or would you still consider a collective exhibition? It's that simple because as artists or art associates or collectors, we need to know where to start from to make our next step.

The same goes for art fans. Who isn't eager to share their impressions of the latest art exhibition they saw? There you go, networking! We recommend Artists staying active on social networks even if it's not your thing. You can't isolate yourself and expect people to find your art. This is especially important if you don't have your own website, which is actually the case for many artists in our experience. Below you can find a chart of users volume for all the major social networks in 2024. Ignoring social networks when promoting your Art means no one of those millions of people will ever get a chance to see your Art.

We strive to connect artists with art fans. Stay with us and subscribe to our Art Newsletter below!

Peter von Hauerland