1. THE BUSINESS OF BEING AN ARTIST Social Media and the Visual Artist

2. Why Should You Participate in Social Media? Reality Check:  The Internet has changed the world—and that includes your world, whether you like it or not.  Social media is not a flash-in-the-pan fad. It has changed the way we communicate with each other, and it has changed the way we market what we do. This is a good thing.  Social media is where everyone else is—including art galleries, journalists, potential buyers, etc.

3. MEDIA: A FORMAL WAY TO RECEIVE INFORMATION + SOCIAL: INTERACTIVE, CONVERSATIONAL, INFORMAL Social Media= Social + Media

4. Types of Social Media There are 6 primary types of social media:  Social Bookmarking: Del.icio.us, Blicklist, Pinterest Interact by tagging websites and searching through websites bookmarked by other people.  Social News: Digg, Propeller, Reddit Interact by voting for articles and commenting on them.  Social Networking Facebook, Twitter, MySpace Interact by adding friends, commenting on profiles, joining groups, and having discussions.

5. Types of Social Media  Social Photo and Video Sharing YouTube, Flickr Interact by sharing photos or videos, and commenting on user submissions.  Wikis Wikia, Wikipedia Interact by adding articles and editing existing articles.  Blogs Create your own content, comment on other blogs’ contents, contact subscribers with information on your work. Good source—Top 20 (or so) Art Blogs: http://lucian.uchicago.edu/blogs/vrc/2008/02/06/top-20-or-so-art-blogs/

6. The “Starbuck’s Principle” The “Starbuck’s Principle” for social media: You on every corner.  Why? Search engines. You cannot be “found” if you are not “out there”. Put you and your work on every available social media network, YouTube, and Flickr.  Registration is free and you can build a profile that will direct people back to your website.  Watch them. Respond to comments you receive. Post new status updates every few days.

7. The “Starbuck’s Principle” Create a free blog on Wordpress or Blogspot, etc. and post your news, media coverage, and thoughts on your blog. Create links within each post back to your site.  Note: Create a link to your blog from your website. All of this builds Google ranking and makes you easier to find. Create a Google alert on you so that you will know when people mention you on blogs, e-zines, etc. And when they do, thank them.

8. Bonus: How to Leverage News Releases on the Internet Thanks to the Internet, you are no longer at the mercy of traditional media gatekeepers for getting the word out about you and your work. Learn to write a good news release and post them on such sites as:  www.PRlog.com (allows images) www.PRlog.com  www.WidePR.com (allows images) www.WidePR.com  www.I-Newswire.com www.I-Newswire.com  Carolina Business Connection  www.dbusinessnews.com www.dbusinessnews.com  Etc. To learn to write your news release, visit www.ehow.com/how_4579632_write-artist-press-release.html www.ehow.com/how_4579632_write-artist-press-release.html

9. This presentation is from Visual Art Exchange’s “Business of Being an Artist” educational series. For more information, visit www.visualartexchange.org.www.visualartexchange.org