Hello, the other day we heard from Gerard of White Search about how he uses social media for business. Today it’s the turn of local artist Angela. Here’s what she had to say about social media!
The interview
Hi Angela, can you tell us a bit about your business and what you do?
Hello! I’m an artist and illustrator based in Gloucestershire. I paint brightly coloured, happy and sunny seascapes, landscapes and other commercial art (think; box canvases and lots of thick acrylic brush strokes!) I’m only a newbie start-up business and still learning lots everyday. I like to network and meet other artists and creative peeps. It’s great to share ideas and creative chatter!
So what got you interested in social media and how do you use it?
I knew that I had to embrace social media in order to make myself known -my customers are people who would use social media so it made sense for me to use it as a marketing device. If you aren’t using social media as a creative in this day and age you are invisible. It’s that simple.
Have you seen any appreciable benefits using social media? If so, what are they?
As a sole trader, using social media helps you to network with other creatives. I’ve made so many friends and contacts through it – someone is always there to lend a hand or give advice or recommendations. Freelancers tend to help each other out, giving you a special circle of support, which is really important when you work for yourself because the days can get a wee bit lonely sometimes! I’ve also received a lot of customers through Twitter, I’ve found TWITPIC gets a lot of interest (I should use it more) because people love looking at other people’s photos – I know I do – and when I’ve posted artwork via Twitpic I’ve usually sold that piece there and then.
I was lucky enough to have Fearne Cotton tweet a link about my website over Christmas which saw over 2000 hits to my website in under 1hr. This really proved to me how unique and powerful Twitter is.
If you could offer a single piece of advice about social media, what would it be?
Make sure you don’t spend all day on Twitter! Don’t become a twit-addict! Twitter can be a wonderful way to waste time in the day, so try to limit your usage. I now only ‘tweet’ in the morning for 30 minutes and after dinner for 30 minutes. That way I still get work done! Of course social media is getting bigger and bigger by the day and there are always new things to learn.
Is there an aspect of social media you’d like to learn more about?
I’d like to learn more about marketing online in general, which I’m still getting to grips with, but as they say ‘ Rome wasn’t built in a day’ so I am just embracing Twitter and FlickR for the time being and that seems to be enough!
Anything else?
Facebook didn’t work for me. I don’t think it works for every business. I found that my customer base weren’t Facebook types and only my immediate friends and family were joining my facebook page, so I shut it down. Facebook can work for you if you’re, say, a hair or beauty salon though (as you can offer rewards and special offers) but for freelance artists and creatives, I wouldn’t recommend it.
And how should people follow you or find out more about your business online?
If you want to find out what I’m eating for dinner and what flavour of ice cream I’ve just dribbled down my pyjamas! Just click to follow me. It’s that easy! I’m @art_by_angela
I also have a website that I’m updating soon and I have a blog which I need to start making entries in again after a long ‘blog holiday’ www.angelabrowningart.com
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