Week 8: Does visual media work for the type of business you have started?

 Does visual media work for the type of business you have started?

 

Instagram as a platform is one of the best places you can exist as an artist online trying to market their work. In the following paragraph, we will explore some artists who are successfully marketing their body of work through Instagram.

La Tinta Art

Instagram is an effective way of marketing their work because they are able to portray the aesthetics of their brand and sell their work online because of it. The hashtags they are using include:

#artprints #abstractart #tinta_art #botanicalart #color #painting #homedecor #artforsale #holidaygifts #oaklandart #bayareaevents #westcoastcraft #sfevents #outdoormarket #craftfair

With 5,700 followers, they are a smaller brand, but have a high engagement level with their customers. They are selling work that they make on the regular, and are also pulling commissions from other local businesses. They post about every other day. The content that gets the most engagement are works of art that have been staged in the home on a white wall, in a clean setting, often staged with nice looking furniture and plants. Their last post was from two days ago. They get about 200 likes per photo and have 5.7k followers, so about 4% of their followers actually interact with their posts through likes. They do receive quite a few comments on almost all of their posts. I think the biggest thing I have been learning from this artist is the use of aesthetic through the creation of my account. My Instagram looks like it is more of a personal account sometimes and I have a hard time refraining from posting what I am up to on the daily, versus what I am trying to market to my consumers.

Carmen Mcnall

Instagram is an effective way of marketing their work because they are able to portray the aesthetics of their brand and sell their work online because of it. The hashtags they are using include:

#painting #process #wip #artinstallation #installation #mural #commission #largescaleart #sitespecificart #sitespecific #studio #artstudio #livework #oakland #oaklandartist #wip #printmaking #interiordesignart #interiors #design #carmenmcnall

With 2,946 followers, they are also a smaller brand, but, like La Tinta Art, have a high engagement level with their customers, at least 8-10 comments per photograph. They show their work in galleries, often, they are selling work that they make on the regular, and are also pulling mural commissions from other local businesses. They also post about every other day. The content that gets the most engagement are works of art that also feature the artist in them, actively working on their art. To me this reads that this artist's followers come not just for her work, but also to support her as well. Their last post was from one day ago. They get about 300 likes per photo and have 2.9k followers, so about 9.6% of their followers actually interact with their posts through likes. They do receive quite a few comments on almost all of their posts. I think the biggest thing I have been learning from this artist is to work off of a market of people I know. Just because I have a small following, doesn't mean I cannot let them support me. She gets a lot of work. Her account also looks like the product in the photos have been professionally staged, with a lot of natural lighting... I need to invest some time and money into creating a setup that looks like it can be magazine material. Like I have stated previously, I feel like my Instagram could look a lot more professional, but I need the space and time to update my photo space. another idea, is to take my work out into the forest and shoot it there. I have done this previously, and while it takes a lot of work it does turn out very beautiful and it is cost effective.

 

Christo Oropeza

Instagram is an effective way of marketing their work because they are able to portray the aesthetics of their brand and sell their work online because of it. This artist has not been using hashtags to portray their work, but I don't feel like it has been a terrible problem, since they have such a high engagement level. But perhaps, if they did start using hashtags, more people would find them and they would become a world renown artist.

This is another small brand, with 2,304 followers. They they have shown their work at SF MoMA, they show their work in galleries, run their own gallery, they are selling work that they make on the regular, and are also pulling mural commissions from other local businesses. They post about 3 times a month. The content that gets the most engagement are works of art that feature people or instances from the artist's life and photos that also feature the artist in them, actively working on their art. This artist's followers not onlysee him as an artist, but as a friend. I used to intern under Christo in San Francisco, and I can for sure tell you just how much the art community adores him. His last post was from about 10 days ago. They get about 300 likes per photo and have 2.3k followers, so about 7% of their followers actually interact with their posts through likes. They do receive a ton of comments on almost all of their posts. I think the biggest thing I have been learning from this artist is to actively listen and engage my followers to the best of my ability. I have always had a hard time interacting with people, especially since I have autism, but I feel like it is going to be so important to selling my work and marketing myself as an artist.