Building an online presence is a really good plan for any illustrator these days. When I graduated college (back in ye olden days of 2008) I was told not to worry about “online popularity” because it didn’t actually mean anything in the professional world. Well, boy has that changed!
While you shouldn’t base your success as an artist on how many followers you have online, it really is worth it to try and build up a decent online following if you’re trying to get your art out there and find work. Social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram have created a whole new realm of self-marketing opportunities. It’s essentially “free” advertising (I put “free” in quotation marks because it still requires time, and time is money, but to a certain degree it is time worth spending). Social media can lead to jobs. In fact most of my freelance work has come from people simply discovering my work online.
The idea is simple: The more places you put your art online, the higher the chance the right person will stumble across it. The specific sites you should post on will depend on your intended audience, field, type of art, and personal preferences, but as a general rule I highly recommend Twitter and Tumblr because of how easy it is for people to share your work while still including links back to your profile (re-tweeting and re-blogging). Both these sites have great potential for art going viral and audiences for a wide variety of subject matter and style.
I regularly post my art to the following sites: Tumblr (this blog), Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, DeviantArt, and Pintrest (pinned from this blog). I try to post my best pieces on Behance, ArtStation, and my SCBWI portfolio. I also post stuff on Nabaroo but it’s still pretty new so I’m still getting a feel for how useful it is. Some other sites that may be useful depending on your goals are CarbonMade, Coroflot, and CargoCollective, although I haven’t been using these as much lately.
Some people use cross-posting tools like Hootsuite or IFTTT, or have one site auto-post to another (such as Twitter to Facebook) to save time, but in most cases, I don’t personally recommend this, as it limits the control you have over how your posts appear on each site. Generally you want to try to tailor your content to each site (I use hashtags on Instagram, shorter posts on Twitter, longer posts on Tumblr, etc). There are a few exceptions. I do like to use Hootsuite to post to Instagram because it allows me to type up Instagram posts on my computer instead of having to do it on my phone, and I will occasionally have Tumblr auto-post to Twitter or Facebook (but usually I edit the summary first). Ultimately, you should do whatever works best for you.
I do recommend scheduling posts. Most social media sites have built-in scheduling features that make it easy to type up a post whenever you want and then pick a time for it to actually post. It can be tempting to post a piece of art the second you finish it, but timing can have a significant impact on the response you get to that piece. If you post something at 2am when few of your followers are online, then it’s far less likely to be seen and shared. Time zones are obviously a factor here as well. The ideal time to post something will differ greatly depending on whether the majority of your audience lives in the United States vs. the United Kingdom. If you’re not already doing it, I recommend using Google Analytics to get an idea of where the bulk of your audience is from (as well as a whole bunch of other useful info). Twitter and Facebook also have their own analytics tools (if you have a Facebook Page, rather than just a personal profile, it’s under the Insights tab).
The best time to post may also vary depending on the site. Here are some articles to get you started but ultimately you may have to experiment to figure out ideal posting times for your own audience:
When’s the Best Day and Time to Post on Social Media?
The best time to tweet: Our 4.8 million-tweet research study
Perfect Time to Post Your Social Media Updates
Best Time And Days To Post On Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn Or Google+
I don’t schedule all of my posts. If I’m posting a quick doodle or a work-in-progress shot, I may just post it in real-time, but I do try to schedule the majority of my finished art posts.
An important thing to keep in mind is that social media can be a bit unpredictable. I will sometimes post a piece I’ve put a ton of effort into, thinking it’ll really take off, only to find it just doesn’t get much attention at all, while a silly sketch I did in 20 minutes becomes unexpectedly popular. My most popular post on my blog, Dealing with Artistic Burnout, was just something I typed up almost as a venting exercise, to combat all those “You must work until your hands bleed and you die of exhaustion” type posts I see about how to succeed as an artist, but I guess (not surprisingly, in retrospect) it struck a cord with a lot of people who were also fed up with that message and it really took off. And sometimes you just accidentally post something at a bad time and not many people see it. So don’t be discouraged if a piece doesn’t resonate with the public the way you were hoping.
It can be easy to start to let favorites, comments, notes, and reblogs dictate your emotions but that’s a dangerous road to go down. Remember, first and foremost you’re doing art because you love it. Online followers are just an added bonus and a useful piece of gaining traction in the industry. They should never become the sole reason for posting. It’s okay to feel good about people responding well to your work though. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be recognized for what you do.
The most important thing to remember in trying to build an online presence is that it takes time. You’re not going to build a dedicated group of followers overnight. It will probably seem incredibly slow at first. The best thing to do is just keep putting stuff out there and reevaluating your posting strategies until something sticks. You just need one piece to take off and then it tends to have a sort of snowball effect.
One last thing I want to talk about is content. This is obviously a matter of personal opinion and you should do what feels right to you, but it’s really important to keep in mind that these social media posts are the public face you are presenting to potential clients. You have no idea who might be reading them or what their personal views are. I personally try to avoid discussing politics or religion, posting potentially inflammatory opinions, or being extremely negative on my social media sites. A lot of people have causes they like to champion and that’s understandable, but you do need to weigh the pros and cons of discussing certain topics publicly.
I also don’t recommend posting incredibly personal information (such as ranting about friend/significant other drama) or complaining about work/employers (past or current). Basically, conduct yourself under the assumption that potential employers are watching your every move, because they just may well be. Someone who is polite, mature, helpful, and friendly on their social media is more likely to attract work than someone who is extremely negative or constantly ranting about politics or personal drama. Also, try to avoid being self-disparaging. I see this a lot on young artists’ social media. Even if you do feel insecure about your skills as an artist (I think most of us do to some degree), don’t constantly emphasize this on social media. Potential clients/employers are going to wonder why they should be confident in your abilities if you aren’t confident in them yourself. Overall, I try to keep my social media light, positive, and focused mostly on my art with a few other things thrown in now and then.
I hope this helps! If you (or anyone else) have any additional questions feel free to ask!