Social media can be a powerful tool for building buzz around your show. It’s also a great way to reach people who wouldn’t otherwise know about you. But if you don’t have time to manage your social media strategy, it may not be worth the effort. The key to making social media work for you is to set up your own personal automation system so that when something happens, you get an alert and can take action right away!

The number one rule of thumb when promoting your show is to start early.

The number one rule of thumb when promoting your show is to start early. If you start early, it gives you time to test out different strategies and experiment with what works for you. This will also give you time to build up some excitement for your show before it airs. You’ll want to be able to tell people about the release date and make sure that they know where they can find it!

You should also try getting involved in social media communities related both specifically and tangentially related areas. For example, if I were writing a sitcom about two friends named Claire and Danny who run a coffee shop together, I would join groups on Facebook like “Coffee Shop Owners” or “Coffee Lovers.” These groups may not be as huge as something like Comic Books as a whole but they can still reach people who are likely interested in my show!

Write a great pitch for your show.

When promoting your show, you’ll often find yourself with the task of writing a short, catchy headline. This is the most important part of your pitch and should be concise, informative and engaging in order to get people’s attention.

• Include the show title and dates (ex: “The Great Gatsby at Theater XYZ”)
• Include the venue (ex: “Theater XYZ”)
• Include ticket prices (ex: $15–20)
• Include time/location information (ex: 7pm–8pm Saturday Jan 14th at Theater XYZ)

Start by making a poster that includes all the information people need to know about your show.

Start by making a poster that includes all the information people need to know about your show, including:

• The date, time, and location of your event.
• A catchy title for your event.
• An image that visually shows what you’re promoting (for example, if it’s an art show, include a photo of an artwork).

The idea is to grab people’s attention with something visually appealing so they’ll want to learn more about what you’re doing. The more professional and clear your poster looks, the more likely people will want to come see it in person!

Start a Facebook event and invite all of your friends.

Facebook events are a great way to promote your show. You can use the event page to promote ticket sales, or you can create an event for free shows so that people who aren’t familiar with your work know about them.

You’ll want to include a link on your event page that takes users directly to the ticketing site or your website, so they know where they need to go in order to buy tickets.

Share your social media posts as often as possible, but don’t annoy people.

You don’t want to annoy your audience with too many posts, but it’s also important to show that you’re actively working on your content. If you post very infrequently, viewers will assume you aren’t doing anything and will lose interest in your account. To maintain a healthy balance of posting frequency, try posting five times a week at most. In between those posts, share other relevant information that isn’t related specifically to the show (behind-the-scenes photos; personal stories).

If people are tired of seeing only one kind of thing from you, they might unsubscribe from your channel or stop following along on social media altogether. There are plenty of different types of content—try mixing things up so that each social media platform has its own unique feel (for example: use more photos on Instagram than Facebook).

Consider creating a hashtag for your show.

Now that you’ve got a show, it’s time to promote it on social media. While you might be tempted to jump right into creating a Facebook page, Twitter, TikTok and Instagram feed for your show, remember that creating a hashtag can help people find your work more easily.

To create one, ask yourself this question: what are people going to say about my show? If the answer is “it’s too long,” then you should probably rethink your idea. But if the answer is “this is hilarious” or “I love all the characters” or whatever else comes up during your brainstorming session, try turning this into a hashtag using these steps:

• Make sure it’s not already in use by another company or person. This may seem obvious but just wait until someone else has used “#FunTimesWithCandiceAndKirby” before you get started on yours!
• Keep it simple—you don’t want people having difficulty remembering how they found out about the show in the first place!

Post reviews of your show on Instagram or other social media sites.

As a playwright, you have likely seen the importance of reviews. Reviews are an opportunity to share your show with people who haven’t seen it yet, as well as a way to thank fans who have supported you by seeing the performance.

If you’re running a show that has been produced before and is being revived in another city or region, consider posting reviews from previous productions on Instagram and other social media sites. You can also gather friends or family members who have seen the production previously and ask them for their thoughts about it so that you can post their feedback online as well.

Create link-backs from outside resources to drive traffic to the url you want people to visit (the event page or ticket sales page).

Here’s how it works:

• Create link-backs from outside resources to drive traffic to the url you want people to visit (the event page or ticket sales page).
• For example, if your show is about dogs and you have a blog on dog training, create an article on your site titled “Tips for choosing a good dog trainer” that links back to your show.
• Or if one of your sponsors is a pet supply store in town, they might want to create a coupon code just for people coming from their website. They will then post the code on their site and promote it on social media.
• Link-backs work best when they are written by someone who has expertise in the same subjects as your content but aren’t directly involved with promoting it online themselves.

Build buzz with contests.

Contests are a great way to build buzz, and they’re especially effective if your prize is something related to your show. For example, if you’re promoting an improv comedy show, give away tickets or free passes. You can also set up a social media contest with the prize being tickets—just make sure it’s easy for people to enter by tagging the post in their own post and including the hashtag #ContestEntry. Don’t make it too complicated or time-consuming; just ask them to tag themselves once on Twitter or Instagram. This will help you grow your following because users will be exposed to the content of others who’ve already entered (and possibly shared) this same contest!

A successful social media marketing strategy can be simple and not time-consuming if you make it easy for yourself by getting ahead of it and automating some processes!

In order to be successful, you need to be consistent and get ahead of your social media marketing. You can do this by using tools like Buffer or Hootsuite that allow you to schedule posts in advance, so that all you have to do is post and forget about it! Also, if you’re not sure what kind of content people want from your show, just ask for feedback. If people are responding well to one type of post over another then keep doing more like those!

If there’s a trend in the industry or news that could benefit your show’s audience, make sure they know about it and add it into their feed somehow! Don’t just stick with what works though—you need to stay on top of new trends so that when they come out next time around they’ll still be relevant enough for people who weren’t paying attention before (because who has time?).

Conclusion

As you can see, promoting your show is not complicated or time-consuming. The most important things are to start early and be consistent with your efforts. If you do those two things, then your social media strategy will work for you!

The post Strategies For Promoting Your Show On Social Media appeared first on Social Media Marketing for Creatives.

Tiktok is a great platform to show off your work! It’s got the perfect combination of millions of active users and high-quality content. If you’re an artist, post a few videos on Tiktok to build your audience and gain exposure. Here are some ideas for artists on Tiktok:

Behind the scenes

You can give us a glimpse of your life behind the scenes.

We want to see more than just your art, but also the process that went into making it. Show us what you do behind the scenes, and we’ll be impressed.

Perhaps you’ve got an interesting workspace that helps inspire your work, or maybe you like to show off some of your tools for creating art in progress—it doesn’t matter if it’s messy or organized if it’s functional for you! Your process might include anything from putting together new materials (like wood) to writing down ideas and building out from there.

Materials

This is an obvious one, but worth mentioning. If you’re an artist, or even just someone who enjoys creating things, show your audience what materials you use to create your art! It’s almost like the ultimate realism in a sense—showing people how their favorite artists go about their craft can be so satisfying and educational for them. For example, if I had been able to see how Michelangelo used his tools while painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling, I might have been more interested in becoming a sculptor myself (instead of becoming a marketer). Plus, it gives viewers something to look forward to seeing as they scroll through their feed—and it may even spark some creativity within themselves!

The process

Show the steps of your process from start to finish. For example, if you draw a landscape, show the outline and then color in the details. If you’re an abstract painter, show how you start with a color and then add more shapes to make it interesting. You may choose to show what materials you use for your art (e.g., pencils or paint).

Display the final product. This is where people can see what they’ll get when they buy a piece of your art! Make sure it’s something that looks good as a poster or wall hanging so that people feel like they actually want to hang it up somewhere in their house or office space.

Time lapses

Time lapses are visual representations of how long it takes to complete a task. For example, you can use a time-lapse video to show the transformation of your workspace over the course of a week.

When you’re starting out, it is best to use a simple camera and tripod. If you want more control over the quality of your time-lapse, you can use an app like Hyperlapse or Framelapse to record your creative process and then speed up the footage in post-editing. These apps have built-in stabilization features so that even if there’s some shaking while taking pictures, they will still be smooth and high-quality when played back at normal speed.

Time lapses can be used in different ways. You can show how your drawing changes with every stroke of a pencil or pen, or you could show what happens when you’re painting one part of a canvas after another.

Your workspace

Take a look at your workspace. Are you feeling inspired? Do you recognize the materials lying around?

If so, then this is an obvious choice for TikTok. Why not show off the tools of your trade? Whether it’s wood, clay or paint—the process behind those materials can be just as interesting as what they create. We love seeing how artists work their magic and how different ideas come together to make something beautiful and unique.

Conclusion

If you’re looking for a new platform to share your visual art, Tiktok has a lot of potential. It’s easy to use and has a large audience full of people who are interested in seeing what goes on behind the scenes. You can use it to post behind-the-scenes videos or even highlight your process as an artist!

The post Why Visual Artists Should Be Using TikTok appeared first on Social Media Marketing for Creatives.

“I’m not a sales person”

This is a common misconception. You are not selling your art, you’re simply sharing and promoting it. The difference between selling and sharing is often in the mindset of the artist.

The best way to change your mindset about marketing is by reminding yourself that it’s not about you as an artist or what you have to say; it’s all about the audience receiving something from you that will aid them in their journey toward making art or becoming more creative themselves.

There are many examples of artists who hated marketing their work at first but eventually saw its value, including Pablo Picasso, who said: “I do not seek, I find.”

“It’s just so awkward”

Artists don’t like to talk about themselves. It feels awkward for them to do so, and they don’t want to be seen as greedy or unappreciative of their work. The irony is that by not marketing their art, artists are actually being unappreciative of it.

The solution? Make marketing your art part of your creative process. Promote your latest piece in a blog post on an artist website, or tweet out pictures from the studio when you’re working on something new! If you can’t bear the thought of talking about yourself, ask someone else close to you (like a friend or partner) if they’d be willing to help out with social media posts and other forms of promotion so that marketing doesn’t feel like such a chore for you.

“I just want to make art and not think about it after that!”

When you’re trying to create art, you’re in a very vulnerable state. You need space and time to focus on your creative process without distraction. You want to put everything into the work itself and not be pulled away by things like marketing or sales.

Artists often feel overwhelmed by “the business” aspect of their work—it can be difficult for them to figure out how best to promote themselves and their art, especially if they haven’t been trained on these skills yet (which many haven’t). This is one reason why many artists choose self-publishing: they enjoy the freedom it provides them with when it comes down to promoting their books independently rather than handing this responsibility over exclusively to a publisher or agent who may or may not have any knowledge about how best promote an author’s book online today.

For some creators, this feeling of being overwhelmed by “the business” goes beyond just creating content—and extends into other areas like making sure there are systems in place so that someone else could take over if something happened unexpectedly during production or distribution processes that could leave everyone involved at risk financially if something went wrong!

“I don’t want to be pushy or aggressive.”

This is a common fear of artists. They don’t want to be pushy or aggressive, because they don’t want to seem like they’re just trying to make a sale. But being authentic is important in marketing your art and yourself as an artist, so it’s important that you find the right balance between being pushy and aggressive, and being personable. You need to be able to sell your art without sounding like you’re just selling “the product.” Instead, focus on who you are as an artist and how your work reflects that identity.

An artist’s identity is important and being an artist is usually not compatible with being an aggressive salesperson.

When you’re an artist, your identity is important. You need to be able to separate yourself from your art so that you can make the most of it. Artists are not salespeople; they have something more important to offer than just a few minutes of entertainment for someone who isn’t interested in it. Your art should speak for itself and have a message that resonates with whoever sees it—it shouldn’t feel like a generic advertisement trying to get someone’s attention (if only because the person who made it would probably be offended by that).

Being an artist does not mean being an aggressive salesperson who forces their work on people indiscriminately, but many artists think they do because they see themselves as having something valuable or meaningful enough that other people should want to buy into it or learn more about it. This perception makes them want to share their work with everyone they meet—and while this may seem like a good idea at first glance, if you’re always pushing yourself on others without taking time away from creating new works or engaging with those who already appreciate what you create, then there’s no room left over for growth or community building!

Want to learn more? Check out this amazing guide by Porch titled “How to Build Your Online Presence as an Artist”.

The post 5 Reasons Why Artists Hate Marketing Their Art appeared first on Social Media Marketing for Creatives.

Start with a small, specific audience.

Once you have established your brand, it’s time to get the word out about your digital art on social media. While there are many ways to market your work, one of the most effective is through Instagram.

With over 800 million monthly users, Instagram has quickly become one of the most popular forms of social media platforms—and for good reason: it allows artists to showcase their work in a fun and engaging way that draws attention from potential buyers.

While starting small and targeting a specific audience may seem like an obvious step in marketing your digital art online, it’s important not to overlook those who don’t know about you yet. As with any advertising campaign, consistency is key when trying to reach new audiences through social media channels such as Instagram and TikTok—which means posting regularly so that people will come back often enough (and eventually start following)

Choose the right social platforms.

When it comes to social media, the first thing you need to decide is where your target audience hangs out. If they’re mostly on Facebook, you may want to focus there. If they’re more active on Instagram or TikTok, those are also good options.

There’s no right answer here; it depends entirely on your target audience and what kind of art you produce. For example, if your work involves video game development and animation (a field that’s booming), then Instagram and TikTok might be better bets than Facebook or Twitter because those platforms offer a more visual experience—and the audiences who use them don’t necessarily have time for lengthy posts or articles about gaming trends.

Experiment with different kinds of content.

Don’t limit yourself to posting your own art. If you want to grow your following and become an influencer, consider re-posting other people’s work. This helps ensure that the content on your page is diverse and engaging, and it allows you to connect with a wider audience.

You can also experiment with different types of content beyond just artwork: videos are especially helpful since they allow viewers to see how artists work in their studios or living spaces, which can be useful for understanding their creative process in more depth. Make sure the video is clear and easy-to-follow; don’t worry about making it perfect—just get something out there so people can see what kind of stuff you make!

Use hashtags that match your goals.

When hashtags are used properly, they can be incredibly powerful for your brand. They allow you to reach a larger audience and engage with other audiences who share similar interests. However, when hashtags are misused or applied incorrectly, they can make your post feel irrelevant and lose its intended audience.

To avoid this issue, make sure that you’re using hashtags that match your goals as an artist. For example, if you’re trying to reach potential buyers interested in buying art like yours or just looking for something new to purchase online (like on Etsy), using tags such as “art,” “painting,” or “paintings” may be more effective than including tags like “#newartist” or “#firsttimepainter.”

Collaborate with other artists and companies.

One way to get noticed is to collaborate with other artists and companies. Collaborations can be a win-win situation for both parties involved, as it allows you to gain exposure from a larger platform while also showcasing your work in an exciting way.

To find potential collaborators, try Googling around for art contests or marketing campaigns that could benefit from your style of art. Once you’ve found some opportunities, reach out to the organizers directly and ask if they have any openings available.

Be patient! Digital art takes time!

While social media is a great way to connect with your audience and build up a fan base, it takes time.

If you’re just starting out, don’t get discouraged if your numbers aren’t as high as you’d like them to be. It will take time for people to find and follow you on social media; sometimes it can take years!

Instead of focusing too much on the numbers, focus on making art that makes your heart sing. If you find yourself getting frustrated with low views or unfollows, remember: patience is key!

The post How to Market your Digital Art on Social Media appeared first on Social Media Marketing for Creatives.

You can’t explain it, but suddenly your lives seem to intersect in this weird way. And there’s something really magical about that.

That’s how we felt when we listened to jsin’s music.

It’s music that makes you feel as if you’re on a journey with someone else. It’s reassuring, it’s comforting, and it’s also not afraid to make a statement about the times we live in.

You may have heard of jsin if you live in Toronto—he’s been making big waves in the city lately with his debut album Surrender. But even if you don’t live here, it’s time for you to get familiar.

jsin is a musician, and like many artists and creative entrepreneurs, he’s spent years trying to make it as a musician. But as a performer, he knows that building an audience is all about connection.

So jsin got to work creating social media accounts for his music, but he quickly found that posting on social media had become a chore. He was trying to post at random times throughout the day, whichever stories came to him first, and it wasn’t working.

After tirelessly working on his new EP, jsin wanted to release his music out into the world in a meaningful way. He pulled together music videos, lined up a few media interviews and started working with a major publicist in the music industry. He reached out to The Social Media Artist team for help to manage his Instagram as it was the platform that was the most effective for him and his music.

Problem

jsin wanted to reach more fans through social media and maximize his visibility on Instagram. The visualization of his brand was already in place, but he required help in developing a strategy that would communicate the right messages and reach the right audiences.

The challenges jsin faced included:

• Creating a social media strategy for Instagram that included posting for stories, IG reels and posts.
• Creating a brand identity on Instagram that matched jsin’s existing music brand.
• Finding the balance between personal and promotional posts to keep audiences engaged.
• Learning how to manage Instagram independent of a marketing agency.

Solution

Our work with jsin started by establishing his brand voice. It was important that his brand would feel like it fit jsin’s unique way of connecting with the world. We used Canva templates to help maintain consistency for his feed—but we also researched the kinds of hashtags that were trending in the music scene in Toronto. This allowed us to help jsin grow his following by joining in on conversations already taking place among musicians and fans.

We helped him create a posting schedule that would help him grow his audience in a more intentional way. Instead of scrambling to come up with posts on the fly, we came up with a plan together and created content that he could use each week. Our strategies incorporated ideas and images from jsin’s own life so that the posts felt authentic to who he is and what his music represents. We also focused on building trust with his followers by encouraging him to show more of himself behind the scenes—we’re talking childhood posts, mental health awareness and personal stories.

We made sure that each post on Instagram had a distinct purpose: meditative lyrics videos featured jsin’s songs playing over soothing video backgrounds, while we encouraged his followers to play games with him on his stories. In this way, he was able to connect directly with his audience—and it helped him become known as an artist who cared about other people.

Results

• Engagement increased by 536.1%!
• Followers resonated with jsin’s personal posts and shared their own stories with him
• A clear content plan including a content calendar with ideas for Instagram posts and stories as well as video and image templates that jsin can continue to use to connect with his fan base!

Now, jsin has an engaged audience of fans who are excited about his music and are ready for more! Here’s what he had to say about working with us:

“My main challenge was figuring out what/when to post. Lara helped me out with putting a plan together for the month and even created content that was published as per the plan. Lara was curious, thoughtful and thorough in getting to know me as an artist, giving me content ideas to build on and always making sure I was happy with it. Easy and a pleasure to work with.” 

jsin, Musician

We are so excited to see what the future holds for jsin! He is a talented artist who is passionate about connecting with his audiences. We have had an amazing time working with him and we can’t wait to hear his new album. Check him out here.

Sometimes as an artist, you may not have the funds to work with a marketing agency – and that’s okay! As long as you have a plan in place and a bit of time each week, you can manage your social media on your own. Let us help you strategize, create templates and take the heavy work off you so you know exactly what to post on social. We’d love to help, tell us about your art here.

The post Case Study: How We Helped A Musician Reach More Fans Online appeared first on Social Media Marketing for Creatives.

So how can artists and creative businesses use the newest tools and trends to make their social media really POP in 2019? Let’s find out!

1 – Narrow your focus.

With so many different platforms available and so much strategy necessary for each one, unless you have a small team it can be a full-time job just trying to keep your social media updated. Your best bet is to figure out what the best platform(s) is for you and your brand.

Choose a select few channels and focus on them – don’t try to spread yourself too thin over too many channels. Focus on developing those few specific channels over the next year and tracking the analytics to see what is working and which platform is really giving you great engagement from your audience.

If you’re not sure where to start, get some tips from our recent article The Secret To Social Media Success For Creatives: Original Content!

2 – Rise of the “chatbots”. 🤖

Bots and automatic messaging are becoming more and more useful. The best part of a chatbot is that it can give the same information over and over to individual customers without you having to repeat the same conversation over and over again. With everything being automated it saves time, whilst still engaging and building a relationship with your customer.

Here’s a great example of a chatbot from online clothing brand, Kindred Bravely:

It can also be much quicker than your customer trying to find the FAQs page on your website, and of course negates the need for having to keep up with replying to all the messages being sent to your FB page (or website), without losing your high response rate. See more about what chatbots can do here.

3 – Organisation.

If you haven’t already, create a content calendar – or refresh the one you already have.

Pay attention to key dates in the new year (for example, if you’re an actor, September 8th is National Actors Day), and plan your social media accordingly. You can also use plugins and apps to automate things like publishing your blog posts on your website, managing multiple social media feeds, and creating simple but effective content.

4 – Consistency.

Make sure that the social media channels you are using are all consistent, paying attention to: consistent handles (names you’re using), brand colours being the same throughout (if you don’t have brand colours, create some!), ensuring all platforms link to each other (with all of them indicated on your website too), and of course, making sure your ‘story’, or what makes you unique, is exactly the same throughout. Lack of consistency will make you look amateur and can lead to losing interest from your audience.

5 – Commit to engaging with others.

It’s advised time and time again that engaging with others does wonders for building an audience, but still sometimes with all the other tasks and things we have to do, engaging with others can be pushed to the side. Whether it be commenting on other accounts on Instagram (particularly those in your niche), answering Facebook comments, or making sure every comment on your blog posts gets a swift reply, engaging with others should be seen as something that is absolutely crucial to success.

If you are already engaging with your audience and instead want to focus on networking and making connections, writing articles or having ‘your say’ on specifics of your industry can help (LinkedIn can really help here).

Even as a creative type, offering your opinion or knowledge of your niche can really portray a sense of authenticity and being a ‘master’ in your field, which can only improve your professional image. Try sprucing up your LinkedIn profile and start posting articles there about the industry you work in, and/or your take on current events in your niche.

6 – Videos!

If you haven’t already, start investing in video content. It has been said that video will account for 85% of social media content output in 2019… so do not underestimate using this type of content! People are getting busier and busier, with less time to invest… so give them content that’s quick to ingest! Not only that but live-streaming, VR & AR are set to explode too so keep an eye out for how you might be able to use these types of content too.

If you’re not familiar with creating videos, try a simple online tool like Animoto (click here to visit and get a free one-month trial). It’s a super simple way to make videos that look really professional!

7 – Instagram ‘stories’: time to invest!

Time to really focus on your Instagram stories! This tool blew up in 2018 and 2019 is looking to be only more prolific! If you’re not already making the most of the stories feature then try to focus more on it to build your audience on Instagram.

Stories is a great way to truly express your personal or brand personality, and is perfect for mixing video, gifs, emojis and more to create media that your audience will really love to follow – Stories makes your audience feel like they’re really there with you!

So, which one of these do you think will be the most important for you this year? Or are you already having success with some of these tips?

Whatever your thoughts, leave a comment below!

And also… HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Please note, this blog post contains affiliate links. 

The post How to Up Your Game on Social Media in 2019 appeared first on Social Media Marketing for Creatives.

In this article we are going to explain exactly what original content is, what it means for you, and how you can start to create content that works for both you and your audience. Let’s go!

So, what exactly is “original content”?

Social media marketing expert Kimberley-Ann Jiminez describes original content as:

“Any piece of content created by your brand used to instruct, educate, entertain or empower”.

That means basically anything that you create from scratch, whether it be a blog post, an infographic, a photo, or a video; all of these are original content.

Why do I need to create “original content” when I’m an actor/ singer/ artist/ other?”

When it comes to your online presence, there are so many reasons why it’s important to always be creating and sharing fresh, new content with your audience (and a variety of types, if you can!). Let’s outline the main reasons:

1 – Helps you stand out in a crowded online space 

Even though there may be thousands of people all working in the same niche; it’s your individual story and experience that can really create and provide value to your audience. A good way to stand out is to truly show your personality and what you have to bring to the table.

Even in an industry where there are “industry standards” for work or for content creation, adding your personal flavour to the conversation can really make you stand out.

2 – Become a subject matter expert

When you give your audience more information about your topic you are establishing yourself as someone who really knows what they’re talking about. Your confidence in your knowledge shines through, which in turn makes people trust you. When people trust your opinion and advice (and it works for them) they will come back time and time again to seek out more information. For a lot of people starting out in your industry or niche, they want and need all the help they can get. That’s where you can provide real value to them, in turn building an engaged audience!

3 – Build your community

Original content that your audience enjoys and can utilise helps forge relationships – they trust you and they want to know more about what you have to offer. Similarly, even if your content is something that entertains or inspires your audience, it’s still eliciting a response from your audience, and that’s what helps build your audience. Similar to how your art can make the audience feel or think in a different way, your posts should do the same.

The more your audience love your content the more comments, likes, shares and mentions you’ll get. Not only that but people will trust you and feel like they know you, which in turn will make them comfortable approaching you and initiating conversation via social media. Interacting with your audience will make potential fans think you really care about the people you’re interacting with, which in turn will make them want to join the club. The more engaged your audience is, the more you’ll attract more!

4 – Add value to your audience

When creating original content, whether you entertain, inform or educate, you’re offering your audience something of value. It could be knowledge that helps them in their industry, information that helps them progress in their niche, or just something to entertain them when they have some free time. Whatever role your content has for your audience, it’s important to maximise it so they keep coming back.

5 – Builds rapport with your audience which potentially leads to sales

Although we’ve already covered building a community (see #3), it’s important to note that building an engaged community can also lead to potential sales. If you’re a creator who is selling your products or work online, a thriving community will be more likely to buy.

It can be particularly hard for independent artists to make sales online, but if you have a community that like and trust you, they will want to support you, and in turn feel much better about parting with their money for you.

So how do I choose what type of content to create?!

The easiest thing to do is to look at what others in your niche are creating and pay attention to the pieces that have had a lot of likes, comments and shares.  If it works for your competitors, it’s probably going to work for you. 

However, this isn’t a fail-safe method. Others in your niche may have more fans, or may be more established, and therefore it’s hard to tell whether their audience are really enjoying the content, or whether they’re more inclined to like it because they already support the person.

Ask yourself the following four questions to help figure out the best way to create original content that works for your target audience:

1 – How does your target audience normally (and prefer) to consume content?

How does your audience consume content? Do they prefer video content? Are they avid readers? Do they need direct and informative infographics? Pay attention to what has worked for you before – and what works for others in your niche. This will give you hints as to what type of content your audience actually enjoys. And therefore you can modify your social media offering to incorporate that!

For example, if you are a comedian that makes jokes about the lives of Millennials, you may find more luck sharing short videos, sketches and jokes on a platform such as Snapchat. After all, it has been proven that some 78% of 18- to 24-year-olds use Snapchat, and a sizeable majority of these users (71%) visit the platform multiple times per day (Pew Research Center, 2018). Therefore, clearly your target audience prefers to consume content on Snapchat, so start to invest time and effort on that platform!

2 – How often and when do you want to post?

There is no specific formula to how much you should be posting, or when, although studies have shown that there seems to be some trends. Check out the graphic below to help you figure out the best time to post: 

3 – What feels natural to you?

Above all, an important thing to keep in mind is what feels natural to you. What type of offering actually suits your personality? If you’re quite a shy person videos are probably not going to present the best version of yourself. If you prefer to write your ideas down than to share them vocally, writing could be the best option for you.

The great thing is that there is something to suit every personality type, and whatever your strengths are, you can find a media format that really can connect with your audience whilst also encouraging you to offer the absolute best of your personality, and in turn, help to cultivate your relationship with your audience.

4 – What are your audience actually going to be interested in?

There’s no use sharing original content if nobody who sees it is going to be interested in it; it’s a waste of time and effort.

Try to think about what your audience would really love to see; for example, if you’re an artist, perhaps you love seeing behind-the-scenes of how particular artists work, the paint brands they use, how long it takes to make their pieces…. and so on. Why not create the same thing for your audience?

Ask yourself: what kind of value can you create for your audience that will keep them coming back again and again?

Examples of original content

• Blog post 
• Video
• Podcast
• Infographic
• Newsletter
• Social Media Post
• Webinar
• Gifs
• Films
• Memes
• Live video or chats 
• Ebooks
• Online events 

Some examples of original content for creatives

ACTORS: A video explaining how you grew a passion for acting, a blog post with your top tips for successful auditions, a photo diary of tips for taking headshots. Here are some more content ideas for actors, including a 30 day calendar!

SINGERS: A fun video where you do impressions of famous singers, a Spotify playlist of famous artists in your genre that your fans may like, an Instagram story of a day in the studio recording

MUSICIANS: A video of a band practice, a curated Spotify playlist of your musical inspirations, a blog post about your songwriting process

ARTISTS: A blog post about what inspires your work, a video behind-the-scenes in your workspace, a product review of paintbrushes you use or have used

WRITERS: A blog post on how your career as a writer started, a video interview of yourself so your readers can get to know you better, host a writing competition on one of your social media platforms, a webinar about how to find ideas for writing fiction

PHOTOGRAPHERS: A behind-the-scenes video of a photoshoot, a blog post about how you edit your photos, a webinar on photography basics for beginners

Now you’ve asked yourself some key questions, take some time to analyse what sort of value you want to offer your followers and what you think they may like to hear about. Research other people in your niche and see what’s working for them. Also take some time to self-reflect; ask yourself what’s going to work best for your personality and what you feel comfortable with. Once you know the answers to these questions you’ll better know how to provide quality content that your audience will love!

The post The Secret To Social Media Success For Creatives: Original Content! appeared first on Social Media Marketing for Creatives.

Find Your Insta-Aesthetic

Finding your Instagram aesthetic and creating a common theme throughout your content is a great way to stand out amongst the crowd and have a recognizable style that followers will come to know you for. Are your shots clean and sophisticated, or colourful and full of energy? Figure out what it is you are trying to say with the content you are creating, and try to reflect that through your posts. The same goes for your captions; short and sweet captions pair well with simple shots, while more engaging, longer captions may pair better with posts that tell a deeper story. Neither option is wrong, it just depends on your brand and the persona you are trying to create for it. Think of your Instagram page as an art gallery for your brand; everything should be reflective of the message you’re curating.

Get Creative With Instagram Stories

The Story feature on Instagram just keeps getting better. Posts on Stories last only 24 hours and appear on top of the home feed. From starting off as a basic photo and filter method for sharing a quick moment from your day (think Snapchat), it has turned into a storytelling tool that can really let you flex your creative muscles when it comes to producing quick content. Polls, gifs, and photo in picture tools all allow for fun content creation, and provide a space for letting your imagination run free! Not to mention, using polls or posing questions is a great way to stay engaged with your followers, and keep them interested in your Instagram page as a whole!

Instagram Stories Are Awesome!

Mix Up Your Content

Getting too repetitive with your content can be a quick recipe for disaster when it comes to any social platform. Unless posting the same content over and over again is somehow churning up engagement for you time after time, you will want to get creative with your post variety. For example, if you’re a painter, posting nothing but your artwork can be great for showcasing your talent, but this method misses the potential for showing off the many other aspects of being an artist! Creative studio setups, time-lapsed videos of art being made, and stylized shots featuring your tools of the trade are just a handful of prospective ideas for content that can bring your followers a little closer into a day in the life of you!

Quality > Quantity

This is a pretty consistent premise in many aspects of life, and it continues to ring true when it comes to creating content. While it may be tempting to pump out post after post from fear of missing out, there is nothing worse than spamming out content that tries to make up for lack of quality with overcompensation in quantity. Take your time, create a post you love and are proud of. Your hard work and patience will definitely pay off this way!

Spend Time In Post Production

Spending that extra bit of time using Instagram’s photo editing tools can sometimes be the deciding factor between a good post and a bad one. Luckily, Instagram makes it easy to tighten up any photo before showing it off to the world. If a basic filter isn’t enough to do the trick, you can manually adjust the brightness, contrast, colour and so much more, with a variety of tools that can have a huge effect on your content. Even the dullest of photos have a chance to be livened up in the editing suite, and spending the time adjusting the multitude of settings can go a long way in prettying up any picture.

Long story short, Instagram is great. It’s a platform that allows for complex creative expression without being overly complex. If you stick to these tips and continue to post regularly, engage with followers, and follow trends, your Instagram page will definitely be turning some heads before you know it. Now get posting!

The post 5 Tips For Creating A Compelling Instagram Feed appeared first on Social Media Marketing for Creatives.

Make New Connections

The most obvious and most important aspect of social media is engaging with other people and making connections. Reaching out to potential followers and like-minded individuals through liking, commenting and even creating a 1 on 1 dialogue is a great way to build a network. You can meet new fans, fellow actors who you admire, as well as casting directors and agents who can get you in the audition room. Making connections has never been easier than it is now; using relevant hashtags and posting on Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram or Twitter can bring you new, relevant followers fast. Social media is a party and the only way to meet new people is through interaction, so don’t be shy!

[Tweet “Social media is a party and the only way to meet new people is through interaction, so don’t be shy!”]

It’s Your Online Resume

Using IMDb Pro can give you the chance to showcase the work you’ve done as an actor, including the roles you’ve earned, training you’ve gone through and education you have under your belt that qualifies you to be the amazing actor that you are! Using sites like YouTube or Facebook are also great for uploading direct photo and video content to demonstrate your talent and personality, showing people what it is that sets you apart from everyone else out there. Also, having an online resume/portfolio showing off your experience gives those with work opportunities a much higher chance of finding you and all that talent of yours!

Connect with Your Fans

Having a relationship with your fans and showing them some love and appreciation is a great way to keep them around, and possibly even bring some new fans in along the way. Reply to comments, share interesting content if it’s relevant to you, give fans a follow back, and advertise upcoming performances. Let people easily know when, where and what you’ll be performing, and how they can come to see you. Don’t be afraid to thank people for coming out; if you noticed specific individuals in attendance, reach out and show your gratitude. Be there for your fans and they’ll be there for you!

Find Work

Finding work with social media is much easier than finding it without. Making connections with the right people and having an online resume can boost your chances of finding work opportunities significantly, and many people looking for talent will post notices on social media sites quite frequently. Social media also presents entirely new opportunities for work in itself. YouTube web series, vlogs, sketches and more are all popular potential options where many now-famous actors got their start in the entertainment industry. It also gives you the freedom to make your own decisions and express your own creativity in a medium that has proven to be quite popular in online communities.

Find Communities

These are a great way to find alike people with similar interests. They could be a community of theatre actors, a community of film students looking for talent for their next short film, or even a community of fans who just appreciate acting and enjoy talking about what’s trending in the world of entertainment. The point is, these are groups of individuals who already like what you like and are talking to each other about it. If you insert yourself into these discussions, you can dramatically increase your chances of finding new followers, work opportunities, exciting offers and more!

Social media is only growing bigger and more prevalent in our world, and it is definitely here to stay. Having an online presence opens up more doors for possibility, provides a better outlet for building a name for yourself, and is essential for self-promotion…so what are you waiting for?

The post 5 Reasons Why Actors Should Be on Social Media appeared first on Social Media Marketing for Creatives.

Spend 30 Minutes Per Day on Social Media

Seems simple enough, right? Spending a minimum of 30 minutes a day on social media can help you see a dramatic change in your online presence. Use this time to check your major social platforms, talk to current followers, reach out to potential fans/collaborators, and post new content. Dedicating this small amount of time every day may not seem like much, but it can really make the difference in the long run. 

Engage More With Your Followers

Why do you think it’s called social media? If you’re only using your social channels to post content, you’re only fighting half the battle. Engaging and conversing with followers and fans on social media is an absolutely crucial way to build your fanbase. Respond to comments on your posts, thank followers for sharing your content, and use hashtag searches to find relevant posts and accounts where you can create your own conversations.

[Tweet “Why do you think it’s called social media? If you’re only using your social channels to post content, you’re only fighting half the battle.”]

Find Your Best Social Platform, and OWN It

Although being present on multiple social platforms and having a huge following on various channels would obviously be ideal, it isn’t a necessity – especially if you’re just starting out. Do some research to find out who your core demographic is, and what social platform they typically use the most. Also think about which platform would be best to promote your specific type of work and reach potential followers. For a rundown on different popular social platforms and what each is best for, take a look at our post here. 

Learn a new Social Platform

This one may seem a little overwhelming, but partnered with our first resolution idea, it’s quite easily achievable. Many platforms make things simple with user-friendly interfaces and designs, and there are more than enough tutorials and articles on the internet that are available to help with almost any problem you may face. Just be sure to learn a platform that is going to work with your goals as well as the artwork you’re creating. Not sure where to start? Here are a few suggestions for up and coming social networks that speak to artists. If you’re a musician, have some fun with Musical.ly , the social network dedicated to music lovers. If you’re an actor, YouTuber or any kind of content creator who loves live video, check out Hype,  which is a combination of Vine meets Snapchat meets Facebook Live! If you’re looking for a professional platform to showcase your creative work (think LinkedIn for artists) Behance, is a great tool to display your portfolio while connecting with other artists.

Put Some Money Into Paid Social Ads

Paid advertisements on social channels are an amazing way to boost your follower growth, as well as put your work in front of eyes that may have never seen it otherwise. And the best part about paid ads, is that you get to choose exactly how much money you want to spend, and exactly when you want to stop. With only a few dollars a day, you can put out content that can help you see a significant change in the way you use social media.  

Hopefully this list puts your mind at ease a little bit when it comes to thinking of that New Year’s resolution; just stay focused and stay determined and you’ll be sure to see results. But most importantly, Happy New Year! 

The post 5 Social Media New Year’s Resolutions for Artists appeared first on Social Media Marketing for Creatives.