Iskra Fine Art

  • Prints
    • ColorBath
    • Industrial Pastorale
    • The Scaffold
    • Industrial Strength | Urban Landscape
    • The Floating World
    • Construction/ Reconstruction
    • The Natural World | Botanical Prints
    • Infrastructure
    • The Street
  • Drawings
    • The Waterglass
    • Drawings in Dust 1
    • Drawings in Dust 2
    • The Garden
    • Signs & Symbols
  • Photography
    • Construction Sites | Photography
  • Mixed Media
    • Modern Botanical | Mixed Media on Plaster
    • From the Sea | Water Paintings
    • Sleep Studies
    • The House | Archive
  • Journals
    • Wayfinding
    • Tacoma Suite
  • Shop
  • About
    • Contact
  • Blog
You are here: Home / Archives for Social Media for Artists

Instagram for Artists (or, Social Media for Introverts, You Know Who You Are…)

July 30, 2018 by Iskra 9 Comments

Instagram for Artists Blog Post by Iskra
Everything looks different in a grid….Painting © Iskra Johnson

As an artist and a designer I have been involved in blogging and social media for many years. I coach creative individuals and businesses in how to use social media, and Instagram is the platform I recommend most. I have found that many artists, particularly older ones, remain on the sidelines unsure if the distraction will be worth the effort and time. Although 60% of Instagram users are between 18-24, the percentages drop to 18% for 50-64 year olds, and only 8% of those over 65 use the app. Given that many artists reach maturity and do their best work at well over 50, this is a startling waste of one of the best marketing platforms available to artists today.

There is a common perception that Instagram is a shallow and narcissistic platform devoted to selfies, lifestyle, and Beyonce’s latest platinum baby bump. (True!) But dig deeper and type a few key hashtags into Instagram search: #abstractart (10.3 million posts) or #artgallery (9.3 million) or #painting (56.5 million). There are serious followers of art online: 79% of art buyers under 35 years old use Instagram to search for new artists. According to the Hiscox report 4 in 10 art buyers bought online in the last 12 months, in a market valued at an estimated 4.22 billion. If you are aware that the older generation of art collectors is, um – dying? – these statistics might get your attention.

The two basic strategies of social media for creatives

When I first started looking at Instagram I had my own doubts. I was dazzled by the caliber of art illuminated on my phone, and overwhelmed by the quantity. Was it true that Instagram could “make” your career? What if nobody followed you? Did you have to be young, beautiful, rich or pierced in strange places? Could you be a quiet introvert? I watched from afar for a long time, trying to understand what made this platform work.

In studying a wide spectrum of artists and creatives it became clear to me that Instagram, like other social media, follows two main strategies, paths that I call Audience and Witness.

The path of Audience is driven by entertainment value and puts the viewer in the driver’s seat: it aims to please. If you are following the strategies of Audience you respond to what the audience likes by doing more of it, and giving them what they want. “You,” in a sense, follow “them.” The path of Witness is related but different. Yes, there are viewers, but they are secondary to you, the maker. The viewers are there to fall in love with your journey, to learn from and to be present to you. They are your peers and your community. They truly are following you and not the other way around.

In social media both paths are important. Witness and Audience intersect in many places, and each has elements of the other. But it is important to know the difference between them and to know what you are doing when you are doing it. This article is an in-depth look at the important principles behind social media marketing for artists, with a roadmap for how to use them, specifically on Instagram. First, a look at a popular buzzword.

What does it mean for an artist to have an Instagram “brand?”

It’s a doctrine of social media marketing that you need to be on Instagram to build and promote your “brand.”  An online industry has spring up to teach you how to harvest attention, get followers and (theoretically) Sell Your Work and Become Famous. “Branding” is a word that has evolved in popular usage far from its origins in Madison Avenue. It is often equated with “logo” or “identity” in terms of a unique identifying trademark. But its original meaning as used in 1960’s advertising is more complex. David Ogilvy’s famous definition is “The intangible sum of a product’s attributes.” In other words, what you say, how you say it, and what people associate with you. More than a recognizable symbol or name, it is how you are perceived. How does this translate into the highly visual platform of Instagram? [Read more…]

Filed Under: Recent Posts, Social Media for Artists, Teaching Tagged With: instagram for artists, instagram for introverts, Iskra teaching, Seattle Artist League, Social Media for Artists

Join Iskra’s Mailing List

Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to receive show announcements, first peek at new work and my semi-monthly blog by email. I primarily use the blog for news and updates but by signing up you will also receive the occasional newsletter and special offers for items in my shop.

Iskra Fine Art Blog

the creative process | conversations with artists | the contemplative impulse in art

Instagram

Featured Posts

  • How to Purchase Artwork from Iskra Fine Art
  • About This Blog
  • New Directions in Contemplative Art: Conversations with Artists
  • What is a Transfer Print? (Artist Statement)

Categories

  • Architecture & Sense of Place
  • Art Reviews
  • Artist Studio Visits
    • The Mystic Muse: Artists Working in the Contemplative Traditions
  • botanical art
  • Collage
  • Construction/Reconstruction
  • Current Affairs
  • Digital Collage
  • Drawing
  • Essays
  • Featured Post
  • Fire Hydrant Art
  • Greenlake
  • Iskra Shows, Upcoming and Past
  • Iskra Sketchbooks & Journals
  • Iskra Writing on Medium
  • Living With Art
  • Meditation & Buddhism
  • Mixed Media
  • Music
  • Object Lessons: Essays and images inspired by "A History of the World in 100 Objects."
  • Painting
  • Photocollage
  • Photography
  • Poems
  • Press
  • Print Sale
  • Prints
  • Recent Posts
  • Road Trips
  • Social Media for Artists
  • Teaching
  • The Alaska Way Viaduct
  • The Garden
  • The Spiritual in Art
  • The Street
  • Transfer Prints
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized
  • Watercolors

Archives

Search

Connect on Facebook

Iskra Fine Art Facebook Page

Creative Inspiration

  • Alternative Photography
  • An Artist's Retreat
  • Anonymous Chinese Textile Genius: Moo Won
  • Chocolate Is A Verb
  • Contemplative Art Process: Danila Rumold
  • Eva Isaksen
  • Fernwoodsy
  • Old Industrial Japan
  • The Altered Page
  • The Heart Sutra Loop
  • The Patra Passage

Galleries for Contemplative Art

  • ArtXchange Gallery
  • Seattle Asian Art Museum

Links

  • CollageArt.org
  • Iskra at SAM Gallery
  • Iskra Fine Art on Houzz
  • Seattle Art Museum Blog
  • Seattle Artist League
  • Seattle Print Arts
  • Seeing Fresh: Contemplative Photography
  • The Painter's Keys

What I'm Reading: Online Magazines and Books I Love

  • 16 mi.
  • Essays by David Whyte
  • Evening Will Come: Poetry
  • Hyperallergic
  • Painter's Table
  • Shu: Reinventing Books in Contemporary Chinese Art
  • Streetsy
  • The Original Van Gogh's Ear Anthology
  • Tricycle Magazine
  • Unincorporated Persons in the Late Honda Dynasty
  • Vanguard

Let’s Connect

  • Contact Iskra
  • How to purchase artwork
  • Iskra Fine Art Blog : The creative process, conversations with artists, the contemplative impulse in art

Join Iskra’s Mailing List

Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to receive show announcements, first peek at new work and my semi-monthly blog by email. I primarily use the blog for news and updates but by signing up you will also receive the occasional newsletter and special offers for items in my shop.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

All Images Copyright © 2019  Iskra Johnson · Site by LND · WordPress