Promote Art Links With Social Networks and Online Bookmarking Services

 

Promoting art links online often requires a huge time commitment. I realize many artists do not have time to constantly promote their art or to build networks of friends at various websites. This is why I decided to write this article to share with you what I do to massively promote my art links, sacrificing very little time.

During the past year, I have signed up for various online bookmarking services and social networks, which I have listed below.

 

I have been a member of some outlined here for years, such as Facebook and Myspace. But, only in the past few months have I installed the Addthis plugin to my web browser. This has helped me save quite a bit of time for my art link promotion efforts.

I do recommend that you use this cautiously, and not over-promote.

Here is great advice that will help for networking with other like-minded artists using artlinks:

• When someone likes your link, like their art-link back. Go even further and follow the artist on various social networks. Most will appreciate it, and will be more likely to like and share your stuff in the future.
• Follow others first! Do not wait for others to come to you. Usually, when you follow someone, they are notified, and have the opportunity of following back.
• Do not follow indiscriminately! Even though I said above to follow and share other artist’s links back, if you genuinely do not like it, or are even offended by it, then most certainly do not share. The point is to build a network of contacts that you can relate to, who will continue to support you in the future.

 

How to Promote Your Art Link on Bookmarking Services and Social Networks Fast and Efficiently Using Addthis

Addthis supports over 300 bookmarking and social networking services. This is way too many to choose from, so I will recommend the best ones you may use to promote your art links.

Visit Addthis 

1. Pick the browser that you are using then install it. Addthis supports Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari.
2. After completely installing, click the plus button in the top right of your browser window, and select options.
3. Here, you may customize the web services that appear in your menu, since there is a maximum of 11.
4. Simply choose the services that you want added and click save changes.

Now, whenever you want to share a Facebook fanpage, art blog post, or a particular page on your artist website, simply go to the addthis menu and click each social network or bookmark service consecutively.

They all should open in a new tabs, depending on the internet browser you are using.

Fill in the tags and description for one of them and copy this to the link submission boxes of each of the websites. Some only require the link description. This will save you tons of time, than having to log into each website separately.

 

Connecting With Other Artists Through Online Social Sharing

Here are the social networking websites and bookmarking services that we recommend. Use them regularly in your art promotion efforts.

1. Digg – Digg is mainly a huge recent news site, where users can vote your link up or down. There is no particular arts category here. For art, I regularly post to lifestyle or offbeat.
   
   
2. Linkedin – Your art link can be posted to your Linkedin profile, as well on several art groups that you belong to. If posting to groups, please do not do it too often, as you can appear spammy, and annoy some people. Also, try to participate in group discussions along with posting your links.
   
   
3. Facebook – If you have Facebook pages, or belong to art groups, your art can be very easily shared with them right from your browser. Also, you may share it with your friends by posting the link straight to your Facebook Timeline.
   
   
4. Google+ – Google plus is relatively new, but has a huge community of artists already, and you can share with them straight from Chrome, Internet Explorer, Safari, or Firefox. You may either post to your Google+ profile, which can be seen on their live stream, or +1 the link.
   
   
5. Twitter – Sharing you URL with your Twitter followers is quite simple. The link description pops up immediately if you are sending a blog post, and you only have to click submit.
   
   
6. Friendfeed – Friendfeed is quite useful for sharing with artist friends you have there. You may also set it up to share artlinks with various other web services, such as social networking websites, blogging platforms, and social bookmarking sites.
   
   
7. Myspace – Although Myspace is not as popular as it once was, you may benefit from sharing your art here, especially if you already have a large network of friends. Simply fill in your description and send.
   
   
8. Multiply – Multiply is actually a blogging platform, so it is recommended that you add at least an image of your artwork here, along with your link. Tick the box on the bottom to share the post on your Livejournal Blog, if you have one.
   
   
9. Delicious – Delicious is primarily an online bookmarking service and can be very effective for making your bookmarks appear in search engines. Simply choose the correct tags and description, as well as the stack that you want your link to appear in. Be sure that you mark your artlinks as public.
   
   Stacks are a very new addition to Delicious. They are primarily meant to be groups of related links, and have their own page at Delicious. Stacks can be followed by others, who will be notified when any addition is made.
   
   
10. Stumbleupon
    With Stumbleupon, users can browse websites according to interest. So, if you post a link involving abstract art, for example, and tag it accordingly, others may find you when they are surfing for abstract art websites. Tags are very important here, so it is recommended that you include several related ones.

 

If you do not belong to many of these bookmarking services or social networks already, this may seem overwhelming. My advice is to sign up for each one when you have the time. Be sure to fill in your profile for each, along with providing a link to your main website.

 

If anyone requires any specific assistance with any of these, or anything else, please let me know. I will be very happy to help!