I started writing for the COLOR Magazine in January 2017 and am honored that I can share my knowledge about social media marketing and web design with my fellow colored pencil artists. I cover Business Accounts on Instagram for Artists, Facebook Art Groups, Facebook Art Pages and Pinterest for Artists. With your own artist website being the cornerstone of your online marketing I also cover how to use your website as your *home base* and connect it to your social networks.
Here an overview of the articles I have written with an affiliate link to purchase them if you wish to do so. (I will get a few cents if you click my affiliate link, this comes at no extra costs for you).
01-2017: Introduction into Social Media!
There are so many social media platforms out there, that you can easily feel overwhelmed. Let me tell you, that you don’t need to be on everyone. This article talks about picking up 2-3 that are most important for an artist and what to use them for. We also cover the handle or username and the profile picture. Click on the picture to the right to purchase the magazine.
02-2017: Instagram Bio
It is so easy to get lost in the huge amount of artist profiles on Instagram. Besides posting great pictures your Bio is one of the most important things to get people interested in your account, so that you convert them into followers. Read in the article how we optimized one artists bio and what are the things to keep in mind when choosing your Username, your Profile Picture, the text for your Bio and the link. Click on the image on the left to get to the magazine.
03-2017: Attract the right followers on Instagram!
To attract the right followers we first need to know who they are, and what they like. Once this is clear – and I talk about some common pitfalls in this article – you can start with the hashtag research. The right hashtags let you get in front of your ideal follower. Click on the image to the right to purchase and read the whole article.
04-2017: Social Media etiquette
While there are some things we would never do in a conversation – online or offline – like discriminating others or being rude, Social Media has it’s own set of rules.
In this article I cover commenting, tagging people and following. What is seen as best practice and what is a widely spread habit but sooo annoying. I want you to know how your actions are seen and how to come across as a professional business.
05-2017: Introduction to Pinterest
Against common misconception Pinterest is a search engine and not a social media platform. A search engine an artist should not ignore.
This Article gives a quick introduction, how to set up your account properly and why you should switch to a business account. As a homework I will give you some first steps into your SEO – Search Engine Optimization on Pinterest.
07-2017: Boards and Pins on Pinterest
What are Boards? How to use them? What boards to create?
When we covered the basics about boards we move on to Pins. Here you will get some tips about what kind of pictures and articles to pin, and how to design them for the best results.
08-2017: Groupboards and Pinterest Strategies
What are group boards? How to find and join them?
How to read your analytics and setting up some simple strategies for your Pinterest account. I will also introduce you to 2 third-party apps that cuts down your time spend on Pinterest.
09-2017: Facebook Groups
This Article is all about groups. While groups seem to be the easiest thing to do there are some pitfalls and I will show you what to do to have some benefit and which things will have the opposite effect – always from the Art-Business perspective.
here the points I talk about:
- A brief Groups vs Pages
- what groups to join and what groups you should not join too many of them
- time waster groups
- and we talk about Spam – and I guess you have never thought that what I am talking about is spam! But other people and even Facebook does – which might get you penalties
10-2017: Facebook Pages
Facebook Pages are not dead! In this Article I will walk you through the setup and which super important information you should add to your page. Also what to post to keep your page interesting for others so that it can continue to grow organically (this means without paying for ads).
11-2017: Facebook Ads
Have you boosted one of your Posts, with NO results?
After asking your friends (who did the same with the same results) you are convinced that ADs do not work. Facebook just offers them to get the money out of desperate people. YES! This is how it has to be, right?
Maybe there is more to the story and nothing is just this Black and White.
Facebook Ads are really complex and for you to make a return of investment on your money, you have to do more than just hit the *boost post* button. Read my introduction on Facebook Ads in the November Issue of the COLOR magazine to get an idea what is possible and how to avoid wasting your money!
12-2017: What and How to post on social media
We are in an ALL VISUAL Business. We live from good pictures, and still one of the most used captions is: ‘Excuse the bad picture…’ followed by an excuse why this bad picture has been posted.
Let me tell you: there is never the right time to post a bad picture.
In this article I introduce you to my absolute favorite APP for editing pictures on your phone! I also cover what content to post on the different platforms we have covered so far: Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest.
01-2018: Social Media Roundup
During 2017 we covered the basics to the most important Social Media platforms for artists: Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook. This months article gives you an idea of how to use them together in order to have a great coverage and a good exposure to your art. What kind of content you publish on each of them.
Also how you use your website as the cornerstone for your whole web presence. And why it is important to have your own website.
02-2018: Be unique!
You wouldn’t just copy some other artists artwork, so stop copying their business approach. You can’t build a business on the small snippets you see others posting on social media. There is so much more involved in running a business. I want you to focus on YOU and what YOU like doing and go from there. Focus on the WHY you are doing something.
Some other things we cover:
Should you Blog?
Should you do commissions?
and other should or should nots – and how you can find out the answer to these questions.
03-2018: Facebook Pages – Algorithm Changes
With the latest changes in the algorithm many artists give up on their pages. This article focuses on the biggest changes and what you can do to still be in the game. Pages are not dead – yes Facebook themselves are focusing more on other areas of their platform but you can still reach people organically. This article will help you to find the right content to post, and how to post so that people find it interesting and sharable.
04-2018: The ‘next’ Instagram
Everyone on the Internet was talking about VERO and how this app means the end of Instagram. There are hundreds of different platforms out there and we talk about which one YOU should choose for YOUR art business. While one social media network might make sense to one artist it is a total waste of time for another one. Read how you can find out which one is the right one for you!
05-2018: Balance
Everything in our lives needs to be balanced. The same applies to the time we spend on social media. Many of us are ‘wasting’ lots of valuable time on different networks – and the reason why I put wasting into parentheses is that not all the time we spend on social media is actually lost.
This article will help you identify timewasters and will give you some tips on how to use your time on social media more effectively.