New Heights
Social Media as a Marketing Tool
July 27th, 2016
Panelists: Jennifer Korsen @humansmakeart; Vera Makianich @lafreewaves; Kristina Wong
@mskristinawong
Moderator: Jennifer Shadle
Jennifer Korsen (Instagram)
 Uses Instagram as a way to document her work as well as gauge reactions
 Tries to post something every day and curate it to her audience
 Keeps separate accounts for personal/work demographics so as not to inundate her art
audience with information about her personal life that they are not interested in and
preserve her space as a branding tool and gallery
 Documenting work on IG is useful in the event that artwork is copied because it records
the dates of posts and provides evidence of where the work originated
 Jennifer maintains organic growth of her followers so that it is a more accurate tool to
measure her audience and builds networks reflective of her work
 Using follow for follow, follower apps, or bots as a strategy to increase the number of
followers it leads to a disproportionate follower to like ratio and authentic followers will
notice and question the authenticity of the user/artist
 Use hashtags as a way to pull in non-followers who have related interests.
 Hashtags can take away from the overall aesthetic of a post but they are a valuable tool
and can be deleted after the initial rush of likes
 Utilize contests on IG as a way to engage the audience and build platforms for sharing.
Contests range from hashtag related themes to first to find and post art displays
scavenger hunts
 Instagram has moved away from a strictly timeline
Vera Makianich (Facebook)
 Content shared on Facebook is viewed as news
 Priority in what a viewer sees on Facebook is given to their friends and family rather than
branded content due to the way Facebook’s algorithm is configured.
 People will share or like branded content or art as a way of creating their online identity
 It is a great way to get involved in community events organically
 Think of your online identity as a brand for your work
 Post content that is shareable
 Facebook Live allows people to create an event outside the event and engages an
audience that might not be able to attend a live event but is interested in the content
 Call to action button
 There are 3 main ways to use Facebook: the main Facebook page, an event page, and
groups
 Engage with your network and build a report
Kristina Wong (Twitter)
 Twitter can be used as a tool for writers to hone their skills and to practice
editing/formatting jokes
 It gives a space for material to be shared before it becomes irrelevant
 Because of its nature it is often used more frequently throughout the day than the one or
two daily posts done in Instagram
 Great for live commentary and sharing information
 If an account with a large number of followers posts something, either in response to your
work or as their own initial thread, think about responding to that as a way of marketing
yourself to a broader audience. If the account is smaller then it is less advantageous to
take the time in a “Twitter feud”
 Twitter moves fast, posts are still shown in a timeline format with equal weight to all
posts in the feed
Common Threads
 Organic growth for artist social media accounts was the preferred strategy
 Be clear on your purpose for using each platform and use the one(s) that best serve you
 Engage with your audience, reply to comments, be authentic in reciprocating likes
 Even if you aren’t ready to utilize a specific platform, you can get a username/handle and
sit on it so that others don’t take it before you