Social Media Platforms to Share your Work

The following is a part of our One For the Creative Types Series. We are looking to help people transform their web presence from “starving artist” to “social media savvy entrepreneur.”

As you start to settle into the social media space, you are constantly inundated with news about “the next great social network.” You proceed to sign up to everything but let most of the accounts idle. Does this sound familiar?  I know it does for me.  It is amazing how many of the Twitter accounts out there are rarely used.

How do you differentiate what network is worth using?

It would be a mistake to be on every network for the sake of being there.  It is important to have a purpose for every network you chose to use.  Purpose can be traced back to creating goals and finding your voice. For example, my goal when I initially became interested in social media was to use it as an additional skill set that would strengthen an interview. As I learned more about the space, I quickly noticed that I could use the tools to build social capital and actually get a job. Here is the general strategy I took:

Create a blog that demonstrates that I have communication skills and interesting ideas to differentiate myself from other Gen-Y prospects. I did not have a business website, so this blog was my home base. From this point, I basically chose to use three social networks to build capital: Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. I used Twitter as a “mingling” tool, where I would primarily reach out to new people. I kept Facebook as a tool for close friends and contacts, but would also use it to share my blog posts. Finally, I used Linkedin as a virtual resume – but also to search for more information about companies that interested me.  Within a given company, I would typically search for the hiring manager or someone who had some understanding of social media.

You start to get the idea that I used each social network differently, but each in a way that made sense for that tool.  It is important to understand how you can gain the most from each network and then pull them all together in an integrated fashion. As an artist, you may consider using each network as described below:

Blog

Be creative here! Well, at least make it look like you are being creative. Be strategic. As a rule of thumb, I would say it is wise to talk about your niche rather than your product.  People get tired of self-promotion pretty quickly. For example, if you are selling puppets it would be better to blog about puppet theatre in general than about your own products.  You will create a community if you are constantly commenting on similar blogs and posting frequently.

Twitter

Besides blog comments, this is the place where it is easiest to make initial contact with individuals. There is no the stigma, sometimes present on certain other networks, with reaching out to complete strangers. This is probably the reason why I love Twitter.  There are plenty of people out there ready to talk art.

Facebook

I would suggest keeping your facebook profile as a personal place for friends and close contacts, but this is a personal opinion. You can share your day-to-day “mini successes” with people who care. You can also create a facebook page as a tool to inform people about your major successes, blog posts, upcoming events, etc.  Try to make it as interactive as possible.

I truly believe that the tools mentioned above are the (current) staples of using social media and may be all that interests you. If you are going to start, I’d start there. Other networks that may interest you are:

Etsy Social web meets artist market.  It is a network specifically created for people making things to make a living and could be an alternative to an online store!

LinkedIn You may want to keep a more businesslike image for your craft. If so, this is where I would suggest keeping your business contacts.

Flickr This is a great site if you are into photography.  Besides that, I think you can also work with posting your images to Facebook.

Youtube Can be a great solution to letting people into your world. It can be used as a tool to show how you create your art. I would post the clips to Facebook too if you decide to do this.

Deviant Art Similar to how Flickr would be primarily for photography, Deviant Art is probably only useful if you are into some form of graphic design.

MySpace Unless your art is related to music, I would avoid this network altogether.  It does have a great music playing system but the ability for awkward profile layout customizations ruins it for most people.

Myartspace This seems like a good location to connect and meet other artists.  There is also a great slideshow feature that can be used to create albums of your work.

Artition Similar to Myartspace, it is a place where artists can connect with eachother. I am not sold on this one, but you may find it useful!

Do you know any other networks worth a look?