Reels are gaining popularity on Instagram and they can help me connect to my audience. Instagram itself is encouraging us to do so. YouTube has been around for years, where artists can connect by making films about processes and their art making and is free to use for maker and viewer. Viewers can pay extra to see the films without adverts. On Bloomberg.com (www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2021-09-05/youtube-is-free-but-50-million-people-pay-for-it-anyways) Lucas Shaw writes that of the 2 billion users of YouTube, 50 million pay a subscription to watch a premium service without adverts. YouTube have an advertising revenue of 6billion.
The benefits of YouTube are similar to other social media in that connections can be made by commenting and replies. Artists can promote their artwork, their online courses, exhibitions for example by having regular short films. Followers can subscribe to a channel.
To start engaging more genuinely with your audience, Katherine Bradford suggests that artists leave thoughtful comments on each others’ posts—beyond rote phrases like, “congrats” or “beautiful. Artists can promote other artists on their feeds, too. “Focus on the real people who are jazzed about what you’re doing—interact with them in DMs, comments, follow and like back—be as interested in their real lives as you want them to be in yours,” (https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-4-artists-share-tips-instagram-grow-art-practice)
