How 3 Artists Use Facebook Pages to Promote Art and Get Fans

Certain artists have been having huge success promoting art with Facebook fan pages. For those who are virtually unknown, the initial growth of a fan page can be a slow, pain staking process. It is easy to become disillusioned when you see artists with thousands of followers and yours sits there in the hundreds.

But, there is hope for your fan page. From looking at many successful artists on Facebook, I have learned something very interesting.

It seems that growth of a consistently updated fan page is exponential.

 

That is, if you take 6 months to reach 1000 fans, it may take about 3 months to reach 2000. This is because with an increasing fan-base comes more interaction, and therefore more people seeing your posts. Of course, there are several other factors involved – the main being the quality of the artwork and the personality of the artist.

I know many who dislike the Facebook Timeline feature, but I find it extremely useful. Using it, I can go back and see what the artist posted at the very beginning and examine the progress of the Facebook page over time.

In doing so, I can see which posts captured the most attention – from comments, shares and likes. Of course, posts at the early history of any page normally have little interaction.

But with continual updates, sharing your artwork, and interacting with fans, the page will grow. This does require producing lots of art and showing it often.

An inactive artist leads to an inactive fan page.

Incidentally, if you have some inappropriate past posts at your Facebook page, it is advisable to go back and delete them – so they will not be viewed by future fans of your page.

I examined 3 successful artist pages Hiroko Fine Art, Monika Mori Art and Natasha Wescoat.

When you visit these Facebook pages, check out the number of likes. They didn’t come upon this high number by accident – but by using their pages to interact with their audience. Learn what the pros are doing for their Facebook pages and don’t be afraid to copy it.

 

3 Artist Pages to Watch on Facebook

 

1. Hiroko Sakai Fine Art – 22,780 Likes

   Hiroko Sakai is a contemporary Japanese artist currently residing in San Francisco USA. You can view her Artpromotivate spotlight entry here: Hiroko Sakai
   
   This is an enormous number of FB likes. How did she achieve this many fans?
   
   Using the Facebook Timeline, I went back to when she first created her page, May 13, 2009.
   
   She began by posting all of her artworks, and from the start included a title, description and links to her website and Fine Art America profile. At the outset, she shared favorite quotes, personal messages, and photos from her gallery showings and events. Hiroko also created albums with photographs detailing the progress of specific artworks. In recent posts, she does all of the above, but also shares interesting and funny images. It is evident that Hiroko Sakai has dedicated much time to her page from the very beginning and it has paid off tremendously.
   
   

2. Mori Art | Moo – 12,619 Likes

   Monika Mori is a contemporary abstract expressionist from Austria. She has been previously featured at Artpromotivate - Monika Mori.
   
   Monika began her page in 2007 but it initially had a very slow growth. By April 29, 2010 she had 800 fans. In 2011, Monika updated regularly, sometimes several times daily.
   
   She consistently added lots of art and photos from her gallery events, and interacted with her fans. By May 19, 2012 she reached 5000 likes. Today, just 4 months later, her followers have almost tripled! (Congratulations Monika!)
   
   From Monika’s example we learn that it is never too late to begin working at your Facebook page and updating it regularly. It is one of the easiest and effective ways of promoting art online. By constantly updating and keeping regular followers interested, they will continue to share and like your posts – in effect helping you promote your art.
   
    

3. Natasha Wescoat – 7132 Likes

   Natasha Wescoat is a self-taught fantasy artist and illustrator from Michigan, USA.  Natasha began her page in 2008.
   
   Initially her Facebook page was surprisingly barren of artwork, but she made extensive use of the notes feature. It wasn’t until 2010 that she began displaying her art at all!
   
   
   Today, she aggressively makes use of Facebook, Twitter, and other social media to connect with fans, and has become very successful with doing so. She uses some very effective promotional tactics at her Facebook page.
   
   Make an offer – gives her fans the opportunity to name a fair price for an artwork
   Ebay – She posts all her Ebay auctions at her Facebook page.
   New artworks – Natasha announces her upcoming artworks and publications at her page.
   Connect with fans – She answers all questions and responds in a very down to earth tone.
   Posts unique offers - This makes being a fan and visiting her page regularly valuable for her fans.
   
   There are many other marketing tactics she makes good use of as well. Go through her past posts and take note of things you can do at your own Facebook page. You will gather incites on how a successful artist and illustrator is making a very good living combining her Facebook page, Ebay, and several other sources.

 

Get Your Facebook Page Featured at Artpromotivate!

Would you like your Facebook page featured in a future post? I am planning a post or series of posts featuring artists on Facebook. Being featured may bring a lot of visitors and hopefully likes.

Please send us answers to the following questions:

1. What is your name and FB page URL?
2. Include a brief bio of yourself.
3. How do you promote your art through your art on Facebook?
4. What advice do you have for other artists on Facebook?

Please send all of this to the following email:

Are you struggling with getting fans for your FB fan page? What methods are you using to bring awareness?

Feel free to post your Facebook page below, and tell us how you use it to promote art.