What’s different about marketing your Art on Facebook in 2015
Facebook, aka Facey or FB, is a social networking site with over a billion users i.e. quite a lot of users. Facebook posts and fan pages are not just seen by members of Facebook, but potentially the rest of the internet too, so the reach of this social media site is broad. Like Twitter, search engines on the Internet also include posts and pictures from fan pages, so your reach on Facebook has unlimited potential.
BUT recently there has been much discussion around Facebook’s organic feed declinling. Long gone are the days of a FB fan page’s posts reaching all its fans, or even most of it’s fans. Facebook says this decline in organic feed is due to the inevitable creation and sharing of more and more content everyday, but they also ‘encourage’ pages to pay for sponsored posts which will hit all of their fans. Just how constricted is the average FB page post? People are saying at the moment the average post reaches just 3% of their fans!
A person with many friends and page likes, could receive as many as 15,000 posts a day on their feed. Facey filters your feed and chooses what it thinks is most relevant for you to see, based on your activity and likes. This news feed will filter content from example 1,500 posts down to 300. It does this by ranking the importance of each item that pops up. This raises the question: is FB the best way to market my art? The answer is NO, it’s not the best way. But it is a way, and it does hold value. Not as much as Instagram, but it is worth having a fan page, as it’s still a destination for fans of your art to connect with you as an Artist. Especially if you don’t have a site, a Facey Page makes you findable on Google.
Below are some tips as to how you can successfully market yourself using the complicated string of news that is Facey.
Why use Facebook to promote your Art.
The number of users of this site is more than a billion – what other website can offer you this type of exposure? Everyone in the public domain not just members of Facebook can see fan pages. With FB fan pages there is an unlimited number of people that can “like” you – the like button spreads the word to friends of friends. Google actually indexes Facebook fan pages too – this means that when somebody searches for the keywords that you have in the username and on your page the results will be seen near the top of the results – which is where you want to appear. It is free to have your Facebook fan page, they do have some paid AD options but for a fan page you pay absolutely nothing.
Some technical advice: Set it up.
Firstly, if you don’t have an account with Facebook create a personal account, you can also create a fan page with a business account but there are limitations if you don’t have a personal account as well. Create a Facey fan page that is an official page NOT a community page. With the “type” choose artist, band or public figure (not local business). Add the name of the page in the space provided, and click on “create an official page.”
Example: Bluethumb’s Facey Page. Keep information relevant.
Use the galleries: Create galleries under the photo’s option on your page; show your work on Facebook rather than making people click off the site to find it. Make sure that you use good quality pictures to show your work at its best.
Include credit lines: This is where you ensure that your name is attached to each picture as the artist. Add these to each photo in the caption; make sure that you include artist name, the title of the art, the dimensions, media, and the copyright date. Do this for all of the pictures that you feature on your wall as well as the ones located in the galleries.
Personal profile: If you have a personal profile page as well, make sure that you connect the two together. It helps to encourage your friends to become fans.
Welcome: Add a welcome message to your page. This is another opportunity to show your creativity and it can be the first thing that people that come to your fan page for the first time see.
Like button: Add a Like button onto your pages on your website or blog. You can give each piece of your work that you are displaying on your site a separate page with the like button, which multiplies the possibilities of each piece being seen and shared.
Page name: Think carefully about what you choose to name your page this will show up in search engines and help people find you when they search for art on Facebook.
Some marketing advice: Bring it to Life.
Ask yourself what your ideal customers would have in common? What are they like, what’s their persona, how old are they, what do they like? Then figure out how your art could help them. For example: If your art is large, bright and on canvas maybe your target market includes people who have big blank walls to fill. How could you reach all these individuals? We suggest you find similar art pages, like their pages and invite them to like yours. Connect.
Encourage your current friends and supporters from your personal page to like your fan page. When these people like your page their friends will see it on their feed. Exposurrreeeeeee. Invite some business contacts to like your page too.
Bring it to Life! Be authentic guys. Respond to your fans promoptly. Be consistent with your posts. Show people your heart is in it and be enthusiastic. This energy will bounce around. People love seeing others do what makes them happy, it’s inspiring. You can leverage your friends of fans by creating activities that will encourage your fans to engage. For example : Create polls with questions that people can not resist answering. Run promotions. Run competitions.
Spread the love 🙂
Share, share, share your work. The most successful posts are the ones that drive people to like comment and share. Make them short. Describe your pieces but don’t ramble. Make them visual also. After you post, keep an eye on your page insights and learn. If you have the money promote the posts that get the most attention.
Share others work who inspire you, and credit them!
Advertise your FB fan page outside of FB. Add your Facebook page address to: business cards, your website, in the emails you send, brochures you create, and other marketing materials. Keep it all connected. The idea is to allow your customers to bounce around from social platform to social platform with ease.
Facebook Artist Pages: They are doing it right!
Name: Loui Jover
URL: http://www.facebook.com/lojoverart?fref=tsp
Name: Kei Meguro
URL: http://www.facebook.com/keimeguro.art?fref=ts
Name: Georgina Kreutzer
URL: http://www.facebook.com/georgina.kreutzer.originals?fref=ts
Name: Ben Quilty
URL: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ben-Quilty/290611141314?fref=ts
