As an artist who has dyslexia, I find social media to be an uphill battle. It is exhausting to participate in and the fear of being pulled up on spelling, language etc is a constant cause of anxiety. Spell checks are inconsistent and voice transcribers do not seem to recognise my Essex accent. For my Professional Practice 2 module I will be considering promoting my art practice, alongside resurrecting my dormant business.
Statistics based to February 2023, taken from the top 10 UK social media sites available at: https://themarketingheaven.com/uk-social-media-statistics-and-facts show that in the United Kingdom, 53 million people utilise social media, accounting for 77.9% of the population. Facebook is used by 43 million of the UK’s 45 million social media users.
- On their mobile devices, 98 percent of UK consumers utilise social media.
- The average user in the United Kingdom spends 110 minutes each day on social media.
- The UK has a 66 percent social media penetration rate and a 94.9 percent internet penetration rate.
- In 2020, 80 percent of UK internet users were active on social media at least once a month.
- Facebook is used by 43 million of the UK’s 45 million social media users.
Based on this research, which shows their popularity, I will consider Facebook and Instagram as potentially effective platforms to ideally promote my art practice. I will also look at the benefits of having an artist’s website.
There are many ways of promoting work and it takes time to research all the variables. Social media is great if you can maintain a regular following by posting work.
There are many dyslexic artists/designers whose websites are helpful when considering the possibility of my own website setup. https://rokos.com/blogs/exhibitions/dyslexic-design
https://tamsinspencersmith.com/2022/10/22/the-dyslexic-dictionary/
For me, social media is a matter of “suck it and see”, what works for one does not work for all, it’s about maintaining a presence. My presence may be a slower, slightly poorly spelled presence but a presence nonetheless.
My art practice is still unfurling and will be something that I continue to promote through Instagram and local exhibitions.
My glasswork and potentially my artwork will be promoted via a selling platform. It is inevitable that I will have to ask for assistance from friends to set up a website as I cannot cope with the anxiety of poor communication on a webpage.
I am a huge believer in word of mouth as a way of advertising and I am fortunate that my work is generally on full display on clients’ front doors or windows.
Although I am not confident using Instagram, I can see how it works for artists, increasing profile followers and gathering audiences. I follow Simon Hitchens on Instagram https://www.simonhitchens.com/ . I thought I would conduct a simple comparison and find out what is a good ratio of followers to following on Instagram. According to: https://www.ampfluence.com/instagram-follower-to-following-ratio 1-2 is normal. A user usually reciprocates a follow. So, 10,000 followers who follow 6,000 accounts.
Just to compare, the ratio for Simon Hitchens follower/following ratio is slightly array, similarly as is my own.
Whereas uos_fineart has 1036 followers and only follows 295, but posts 770 posts.
Simon Hitchens posted 627 posts
I posted only 44 posts. I am security conscious and not accept every request to follow me on Instagram. If I cannot see your profile, I wont let you in.
https://blog.hootsuite.com/instagram-like
Hootsuite states that ‘likes’ are still an important engagement signal for the Instagram algorithm. ‘Likes’ get your posts seen. Hootsuite is just one of the many sites where you can analyse data to find out when is best to post on Instagram.
How to sell on a seller’s platform: My own experience.
I have sold my work through a selling platform, with my own virtual shop and I have recently re-applied to do this again now that my degree is nearing the end. There is an application criterion, where your work is scrutinised, and each selling platform has differing application preferences. For me, it takes the pressure off having your own website and my accountant liked it too.
Examples: https://www.etsy.com/uk/sell , https://folksy.com/selling
There are many sites, including Etsy, The British Craft House, Folksy, and Made by Me amongst others but it is important that you research. Read sellers’ reviews and buyers’ reviews. Call the selling site and send an email to see how fast they respond and how helpful they are. Are they as nice and helpful as they purport to be on the website?
There are many other aspects to check:
- How do they promote their clients’ businesses, which platforms do they use, and what regularity of posts? Is promotion included in the cost?
- Check the chargeable fees, and invoicing for tax purposes.
- Check out your competition, some sites favour certain areas of art.
It is also important when setting up your online shop to consider registering as a sole trader to enable you to be self-employed for tax purposes. Insurances for art/craft business, be it selling online or having a craft stall/ shop. https://craftinsurance.co.uk/
Also, as a seller, you must be aware of Consumer Right Act 2015, Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013
Consideration of a website.
There are great things about being dyslexic, the non-reliance on social media, and the realisation that it has its place. Attending artist-led talks, allows you to find artists you may not have found stumbling around Instagram. I attended a talk conducted by Kaitlin Ferguson at Firstsite Colchester. Her website has all the information, projects, and details Kaitlin’s work clearly. I wanted to ask about an artists residency and contacted her via email on her website. Three weeks later I received a response and an offer of a video call. Websites are a great way to communicate your interest in artists’ work and if you have specific questions most artists are happy to respond. https://www.kaitlinferguson.com/
The downside of being Dyslexic, my search of websites has now made me the prime target of the Yellow Pages, having clicked on something I obviously didn’t mean to!
There is a process:
All offer domains, URLs, varying levels of performance support, and scalable performance management, and one offers a free SSL certificate (Secure Sockets Layer) which enables an encrypted connection.
WIX, Fasthost, and Squarespace are the UK’s top three web builders. Fees range from hundreds to over a thousand pounds.
Self promotion via Facebook , back it up with an easy to find Website.
Facebook allows for an enormous amount of text and a wide variety of images. It is against Facebook’s Terms of Service to have a personal profile for a business. Business profiles have the benefit of ads, which you need to promote your business. Your personal Facebook profile is still required and acts as Admin on your Business page. However, it may be best to create an “administrative” Facebook personal account, so you can always access the account.
Artists use a selection of social media platforms, but ultimately most have websites. I attended Claire Sargent’s Exhibition at Artspace in Woodbridge. I searched for a website and could not find it, which was frustrating. I eventually found it through Artspace which also provided her Instagram account.
Websites allow the viewer to give their full attention to the artists work. Social media platforms are busy and competitive. I feel that an artist must constantly keep up with the ever-changing algorithms to get seen and this is time consuming.
