Do most artist fine or sellnthier work they some sort of social media, and Do you fine selling in just the U.S or world wine is better, for me on do not find the social medias working?
My experience was that work did not sell directly via social media, but social media did sometimes point people to my website or to DPW from where it did sell. The downside of social media for me was that it is immensely time-consuming to maintain a profile and also it became expensive: Facebook basically forces you to pay for promotion or no-one sees your page. My website was the most effective selling “tool” but maintaining a ranking in Google search results was also very difficult.
As regards where to sell, I chose world wide because i live in the U.K. and thought bigger populations might give me a better chance of finding someone who likes what i do. Almost all my sales - before I stopped selling - were in the US. The US is a lovely big market with lots and lots and lots of people - someone will love your work!
Selling worldwide is fine but you have to be able to achieve prices that justify the shipping and insurance cost. Some countries are much more expensive than others to ship to.
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Hi karen, thank you for the information, very much appreciated, and yes i have found that so true with facebook and social media too, it is just a waste of time, also I have only sold so far in Canada and the U.S, so I think I will go in a bit of another direction and ag in thank you artist friend don
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I don’t bother with social media myself, but the sites I use for sales do that periodically, which directs traffic to my site. I have tried ads with Pinterest and will get thousands of views maybe a few hundred pins, a few clicks,but no sales. I just signed on with Etsy and set a $1 a day budget for them to expose my chosen works and can daily track all activity. In the first week I sold an original oil painting, so I am hopeful this will lead to more sales.
Hello, thank you for the information, greatly appreciated, I myself have had no luck with Etsy but might look at it again, social media just seems to be a bust it gets you views, like most people say looking for new alternative and agin thank you artist friend don
Hey Donald, thanks for opening this question. I’ve been wondering how other artists are selling their work. I am an interior designer and a customer offered last year to open her home for a show & sale. She and I both sent out invitations and that was very successful. It also put my website in front of many potential customers.
I have not sold a single painting off of DPW although I seem to get a lot of traffic. I like their website so much though, I’ll probably continue with them and seek other ways of selling. I didn’t know Etsy would promote your work for $30/month. I have been dragging my feet about getting an Etsy shop opened but am feeling newly motivated ~ so thanks to Stanton for that! I have just recently opened a Facebook page and have been posting to instagram approximately once/week. Good comments from friends but no sales yet. According to “them”, you would think you couldn’t survive without social media ~ so it’s helpful to hear your comments.
I am considering doing some painting videos. There are a number of artists that I follow who do videos online and I get the sense that that is their main source of income, rather than actually selling their paintings (they do both).
Hi Victoria, thank you for you insight and information, greatly appreciated, just out of the few comments so far I feel social media does not work to help sell art, yes it might bring traffic but that does not sell paintings, I’m trying a few sites to sell prints and other items with my art work and have sold a few things that way,and trying to connect more with other artist, I think that’s also important to learn from each other so thank you again my artist friend don
I think it is a mixed bag. I have sold several paintings that I posted on my Facebook pages and a gallery manager also contacted me from seeing something on FB which led to being in a couple of galleries. I got aggravated with FB, they keep messing with the feeds and they I could not edit my own posts, etc, so have left FB after several years.
I have tried Pinterest - too much stuff, tons of dead links, impossible to find stuff and I don’t know if P users are really art buyers or just looking at pretty and interesting things.
I am using Instagram and it is great for seeing art. It has driven some traffic to my website and Etsy shop. I love seeing other artist work from around the world. It is easier to post there that FB and it has replaced that for me. It also takes the place of a blog. I have had a couple of local galleries like my art from Instagram, but that is on hold now.
I just set up a website using Daily Paintworks. I like the fact they market and have their own email list. It makes it easy for people to see your work, unlike having a floating website out there in the ether. I have already had more traffic/looks in 3 weeks than I did in 6 months on Saatchi online/Etsy/ or stand-alone websites I have had in the last 2 years.
I have an Etsy shop which I have opened and closed a couple of times. Sold 1 painting in the 6 months it has been open. So much stuff on Etsy, it is hard to find what you are looking for. The search is not the greatest - based on keywords that anyone can tack onto anything. Will probably close it again when the listings expire.
I am just selling in the USA at this time. I will keep trying obviously. I suspect brick and mortar (galleries, consignment, home decor shops, art club shows) is nearly dead at this point and won’t increase in the future. Online is the present and future of selling just about everything.
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Donald… I am also new to selling my work and exploring the different social media outlets that other artist use…it seems with varying results…and it seems can be very time consuming to maintain.
I’m not sure what media you use but there is some very useful info. ( I think ) on the Oil Painters of America website where they interviewed three gallery owners about how they select new artists.
Some very good tips there to consider I think…also concerning social media outlets.
Eric