Marketing your Art Socially

There is lot of stuff out there to study if you want to ship and market your stuff out there. In the past 115 days I spend a great deal of time studying online marketing experts especially Social Web Marketing experts. And I urge you to show your work to the world. The art you possess. The art that lives inside you. The book, the design, the prototype, the painting, the E-book, the thing you are madly in love with and work hard on. Gardening, cooking, inventing, working out, selling, leading, weight loss, health in general or whatever it might be. Share your knowledge and ideas, the world is waiting for that. There has never been a better time to share it. The Social Web is a massive medium for that.

But be aware, not every fart you make will get noticed on the web. There is a lot of noise on the Social Web. It’s just like old marketing. Fighting for your spot. Companies put commercials on tv, advertise in newspapers and magazines, put billboards next to the high way, send out some radiocommercials, inviting the best customers to a product launch. And so on. All the other competitors did the same. A lot of companies out there still do the same thing over and over again. Wake up. Effectiveness is hardly there. The numbers don’t lie.

Now in the time of endless possibilities of the internet you have a similar situation. Everyone is trying to put themselves on the spot, conquering their tiny space. Some succeed massively through a crazy viral, some succeed because the product is so unique everybody wants to have it, some succeed because the company story is breathtaking. What’s the secret of getting your message to a crowd of fans? And make them buy your art?

So, what do the experts say? How to make use of the marketing power of the Social Web and online marketing? Make no mistake about it, I am not sure myself. Just figuring out what works the best. Experimenting. One or two things I know now that work for me. I present you some other things as well. Take your pick. These are the best picks I found.

The list

1. ‘Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook’. Book by Gary Vaynerchuck. He urges you to use the Social Networks to your benefit. One big thing is that you have the make a choice. Choose which content to put on which platform. Facebook is meant for entirely different messages than Pintrest. That’s because the audiences are so different. For instance if you are a photographer, use Snapchat, he says. Snapchat users watch images for about 7 to 8 seconds. And that’s a lot these days. That’s far more than people spend their attention to your tweet. The title in short means you have to give (Jab), give (Jab), give (Jab) great content (remarkable content) and then, only then you ask them to buy something from you (Right Hook).

2. Give, give, give. Just be present and retweet, like, favor, reply, share like a mad man. And give lots of your content for free. You will sell eventually because people start to like you.

3. Make sure you get the attention of your audience at least 7 times presenting them great stuff each time for free. Then you ask them to buy. When they buy you give a bonus and a full money back guarantee.

4. Every moment you have available you must connect with your audience and ask them about their wants and needs. You have to do this frequently. Some of the experts I know even ask their clients directly by phone or by email. When they get an answer, they solve it instantly and they will not rest before they’ve solved it. For free. Making sure the customer will buy some other stuff you put out there.

5. Use the power of video. Video is big. It’s simple, people like moving talking images that share interesting and attractive information. Gary Vaynerchuck (him again) built a totally new Wine Business in two years. He made a video each day presenting and tasting wines on Youtube. Not asking the viewer to buy anything, he just presented his passion for wine combining it with valuable information. It became a great hit. So, you have to show up each day! And be happy when you got the first subscriber to your blog. It is not in the numbers. You don’t have to have 6.000 subscribers for your blog or videochannel in 3 months. Only few people can accomplish that. If you can get 1000 fans within a year you’re doing an awesome job! It’s about true fans, it’s not about the numbers.

My own advice (because I am pissed off)

Don’t only share the stuff others put out there. Where’s your stuff? Who are you? What do you find important? What is it that you absolutely have to give? Lots of people just send out quotes they find, sharing articles from other people who wrote it, putting images out there just because they like them, some people change their profile image each week sometimes each day, some people offend others. Are you mad? This is poison to the Social Web. Messing up the space for the art that’s out there. Like most stuff on TV as well. Or do you really think the news is real life? This pisses me off. All the violence, wars, abuse, greedy businessmen, spineless politicians. Shut up. Other people start talking about it on the Web. The Social Web is not made for rubbish and baloney, it’s there to spread art! Just like the news should share remarkabe Art News to the World.

Best Advice.

The best advice I found was that you have to be genuine in the strategy you choose for yourself. Choose something which suites you. It must fit like a glove. Like a great tailor made suite. Do not copy. Do something that makes you feel comfortable and at the same time don’t be too relaxed. When you start spreading your message it must be hard to keep at it. Showing up every time again. Gary Vaynerchuck made a wine video each day for 18 months in a row and not a lot of people noticed it. Finally it became a hit all of a sudden…..

What’s the best Social Marketing advice you have ever got?

Share it in the comment box. Let the world now. Share your secrets. Not sure what to do or choose, send an email; info@paulricken.nl I will find the answer no matter what it takes. Be welcome.

Become Awesome.