Hashtags essentially group together conversations or content around a certain topic, making it easy for people to find content that interests them.
Hashtags can be used on just about any social media platform, but they’re most popular on Twitter and Instagram. There are many helpful guides on line regarding there effective use such as theartsdevelopmentcompany.org.uk
I have discovered there are online generator tools where you can describe your art work and hashtags are produced for you to copy and paste!
As well as being an excellent marketing tool, hashtags can in themselves be an artistic tool to convey meaning but could also highlight irony and humour, as well as political messages.
(https://www.vice.com/en/article/xg8d97/on-instagram-artists-are-creating-a-shareable-language-of-protest)
Social media can prompt emerging artists such as myself to apply for art prizes, and I did this for the first time recently. I follow the The John Moores Painting Prize (jmpaintingprize on Instagram) so I saw the posts which have been put up in the last few months. They posted about entries for this year’s prize 16th November 2022, 6th February, 23rd March 2023, and the 14th April. Using eye catching photographs, bold graphics and colours designed to attract attention, I was prompted to apply with a painting I recently showed at our art degree interim exhibition. John Moores openly advertised who were the jurors for the prize. Does this make artists adapt their entries to fit in with what they think those jurors are looking for?
Matthew Burrows MBE established the Artists Support Pledge using Instagram in 2020, in response to the Covid pandemic. Artists were very concerned that their income stream would dry up, so he developed ASP allowing makers to post images using the hashtag #artistsupportpledge, giving details of their works and price (no more than £200 or equivelent). If people are interested in buying, they directly message the artist. Artists don’t need permission to join. Every time an artist reaches £1,000 of sales, they pledge to buy £200 of work from another artist.
ASP has 100k followers on Instagram and have posted 1,109 times.
However, ASP has recently posted against the platform and questioning its tactics, advising artists how to try to influence Instagram in their favour, considering algorithms which are now in place.
I met Emily Gilbanks at University of Suffolk and follow her career on Instagram. Gilbanks posts regularly .. has 2,422 followers and posted 107 times. I feel her presence is more, as she posts stories consistently so I see her pop up a lot on my feed. Emily re-posts when she has been mentioned elsewhere which brings more attention to her exhibitions and achievements.
Presently, Emily has a solo exhibition at the J D Malat gallery in London. The Gallery posted a short film of an interview with Emily at her studio, which gave viewers insight into her process and thinking behind her work. By re-posting both Gillbanks and the gallery benefit.
Gillbanks recently posts a photo of herself at the Barbican’s Alice Neel exhibition. Both artists are portrait painters, so followers of Alice Neel, the Barbican or portraits in general will see the link to Gillbanks too. Gallerists, curators and collectors use social media to understand what upcoming artists are exhibiting and who is popular, as well as promoting their own galleries and represented artists.
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)
