Artists today have the opportunity to connect to their audience using social media. While the most important thing for an artist is the process of creation, it’s also important that the work reaches the desired audience. This is why artists use social media to engage with people who admire their art.
But, what happens if you fail to get the people to engage? In that case, you need to improve your social media strategy. Here are 6 tips to help you as an artist engage your social media audience.
1. Share The Process of Creation
People who follow you on social media already admire your work. If you want to give them something special to truly enjoy, show them how you work. “Behind the scenes” of creating a piece of art will make people feel:
- special
- included
- invited into your world
In addition, they’ll feel like they’re getting to know you and your art better. Share videos or images of how you create a piece of art from beginning to end. Try a time-lapse video for extra excitement and fun.
2. Story Behind the Work
Storytelling is another strong tool artists can use to engage their social media audience. It implies sharing the story behind the piece of art and telling people about:
- the inspiration to create it
- its true meaning
- the secrets it holds
- the reason you made it
Once again, you’ll be letting people step into your world and give them a reason to connect to you and your work. This will inspire them to comment, share, like, and communicate with you more freely.
3. Live Videos
Everyone would love to have a face-to-face meeting with their favorite artist. Luckily, social media gives you the chance to connect to your followers using live videos. Live videos can be perfect for increasing engagement. All you have to do is:
- announce it in advance
- set a goal or purpose of the session
- invite people to join you
You can discuss your upcoming events, talk about your latest work, and answer questions from followers. This will bring you even closer to them and help you create a stronger bond with them. Therefore, use live videos whenever you have a good reason to do so.
4. Master Classes
Your audience isn’t only made up of people who love and appreciate art as viewers. There are those who are artists as well, and look up to you or see you as a role model. To increase engagement with that part of your audience, you might think about offering educational content such as masterclasses. Make an IGTV, Facebook, or YouTube video and teach them about:
- improving their painting
- being more confident with their art
- different techniques
- quality art equipment and tools
- anything they’d enjoy
These online workshops and training can be extremely valuable to your followers. They’ll be able to learn from you and advance as artists themselves. And in the process, you’ve made them even more loyal to you.
5. Promote Your Work
Your work is what makes you the artist you are. Social media serves as a space where you get to promote your work and show it to the world online. Presenting your work is what will get your followers engaged. All you need to do is:
- post images and videos of your latest work
- ask for feedback
- read the comments and answer them
Make sure that you truly embrace what your followers are telling you and pay attention to their perception of your work.
6. Be Social
Finally, there’s one last tip we want to share with you and it’s a big one. In order to get your followers to engage with you more, you need to reciprocate. They need to see how social, interested, and open for communication you are. And any time you are communicating, make sure that everything you write or post is proofread and accurate. That means that you should:
- answer their messages
- respond to their comments
- thank them for their support
- respond to every action they make
This way, you’re showing them that you welcome their engagement and, in turn, you inspire them to keep up the same way.
