ANR Digital Workshop Notes 28/8/12

DIGITAL MARKETING FOR ARTISTS
August 28: 10am-2pm
by Libby
Varcoe

Copyright (c) write-minded Pty Ltd. All rights reserved. libby@writeminded.com.au
DISCLAIMER: While this workshop is designed to provide accurate information in regard to the subject matter, the presenter, Libby Varcoe,
is not engaged in rendering technical or other legal or professional services. If expert assistance is required, participants are advised to seek the services
of appropriate professionals.

by Libby
Varcoe

Leo Cremonese, Abstract Painter

I started using social media to promote my creative work because I was
convinced to. I’m not a natural self-promoter.

I like it that I get to share images of my work and some of my thoughts.

I’ve noticed that people I don’t know are now seeing my work.

www.leonardocremonese.com

http://www.facebook.com/leo.cremonese

Copyright write-minded

Shona Wilson, Sculptor
I like it that I can update and control the pace of information and images
myself and that I can hopefully reach a wider audience.

Managing my Facebook pages keeps a diary of sorts for myself and
integrates a larger audience during the art-making process - so I don’t feel
quite so isolated.

I’m concerned about the amount of time it uses up in my day and if the 'payoff'
will be worthwhile? I worry that people will think I’m not 'chatty enough' and
think I am unfriendly.

http://www.kingstreetgallery.com.au/artists


Adam Jones, Handmade wallpaper illustrator
I started using social media to promote my creative work because if you reach
the right people they will promote it. Everyone is looking to 'like' something
new.

I like it that social media is generally a happy environment - for creative things
anyway. The people who like your work do so with enthusiasm. The people
who don't can easily ignore it and move on.

I’m concerned about finding the right voice and revealing or posting the right
stories. Some people are posting inane stories about their creative work and it
comes across a bit lame, when maybe it's that their voice is wrong - not the
work.

www.quercusandco.com

http://www.facebook.com/quercusandco

Kylie Rose McLean, Textiles Artist
I started using social media to promote my creative work because despite my
general dislike for engaging in social media it seemed it was the way to 'get
the word out there' - catch 22 situation.

I like it that I can write a blog entry & it can be linked to Facebook.

I've noticed that you have to choose how you set up your social media quite
carefully - research & plan which aspects will work for you. Better to do one
thing well, then have too much going on.

http://www.facebook.com/kylierosemclean

http://www.bidihomewares.com/

Ever feel like this?


SESSION 1
• What is a content strategy?
• What’s in your digital tool-kit?
• Light lunch (12.30pm-1pm)
SESSION 2:
• Threading social media together
• Create an action plan for your creative practice/business.
• Handy tools and links for creatives
• Wrap up 2pm

What’s on the agenda?

What you’re about to learn

1. How to create ground-swell that helps you stay on the radar

2. To see which tools you can use to work in the system – or around it!

3. To help you feel inspired/motivated to make it all happen


NB: This is not a technical session!


I’m here to show you….

 Not how to do it

 But why you might want to try it – or pump up
your current efforts.


= YOUR CONTENT STRATEGY


TURN TO THE PERSON NEXT TO YOU AND ASK THEM
WHAT TOOLS THEY ARE USING SO FAR…


Who just heard this?

 I really can’t be bothered with social media. It’s boring, and I don’t
see the point.

 It’s all a time waster.

 Facebook/Pinterest will own my content. So, no way Jose.

 I’m completely across all of those things and I’m seeing the
benefits. 


What’s a strategy?
 A strategy is a plan to move you in the direction of your long-term
goal, for example:

• To become fully-employed as a creator
• To drum up a crowd for my next show
• To reach new markets
• To get crowd-funding etc

 A strategic thinker is likely to initiate rather than just react to others’
demands.

 Why be strategic? Because it saves time and saves you from
becoming frustrated.

 Puts you on the front-foot.


What’s a content strategy?

 A content strategy captures how you or your business can use
online content to achieve your own objectives and meet your
user/customers/clients’ needs.

 Your strategy should be composed of different elements
(website, social media, blog etc) that match up to where your
audiences are, and how they best like to communicate with
you.


So, what are creative people up to?
• The total population of practising professional artists in 2009 was just
over 44,000.

• There are nearly 40% more artists in Australia than there were 20
years ago.

• On average, creative projects earn you around 45% of your total
income.

• 60% of all artists believe new technologies are likely, or very likely, to
improve their income.

• 30% of artists use the Internet to promote their work

• Most common opportunities cited?

• Reach a wider audience
• Promote their work
• Networking, collaboration and communication with other artists
Source: Australia Council for the Arts Artists Survey. 2009/2010

So, what are online audiences up to?

 59 per cent of adult internet users have made an online purchase
(good or service) in the six months to April 2011.

 Those on $150,000 or more per more likely to have shopped online
(86%)

 About 25% of mobile users are shopping online with their mobile
(2011) - Mobiles predicted to be main web tool by end of 2013

 62% of Australian Internet users use social media (Facebook = 97%!)

 1 in 5 use social media for commercial purposes too: research,
purchase follow favourite brands, get access to special offers.

 27% of small businesses have a social media presence. (79% big
business) - up from 14% last year, most on Facebook.


YOUR CONTENT STRATEGY

= YOUR CREATIVE PRACTICE’S
STORY DELIVERED THROUGH
DIFFERENT CHANNELS

Be creative!


Be authentic


Be quirky!


Tell your story
in the most
compelling way
you can

Let’s talk about your website


What’s your website’s role in 2012?

 To promote your products or services

 To sell – either directly or indirectly

 To give you credibility

 To display your work

 To engage with people and give them an opportunity to
develop the relationship by promoting your social media
presence.

 To be accessible – what’s it look like on a mobile/tablet?

 To be easily found (the hard one)


So, how do we behave online?


Good website experience = satisfied user


User pet peeves

84
82
Out of date
80
content
78 Confusing
Navigation
76
No contact info
74
72
70


Actions based on pet peeves

78% refuse to come back

71% refuse to make a purchase

45% won’t visit real-life store


Scanners not readers

79% scan page first

25% longer to read from
a computer screen


Most users will read
20% of the text on an
average page

•Comprehension level down 48%
compared to a desktop for complex info.

•Why? Users see less at a time and rely
more on memory. ‘Reading through a
peephole’

•Fat finger syndrome – most sites still
don’t have a mobile version.

•Less is more – and then some!


• Tablets generally websites perform okay: except complicated tasks or
high interaction.

• Unintended touches still cause problems.

• Users avoid typing. Registration processes, surveys etc hard to do.

We’re impatient Easily frustrated
and time-poor

It’s harder to read
from a PC screen. We don’t read,
Even harder from we SCAN!
a mobile!


S0 how do you
tell your story
through a
website?

Know your target audience


Imagine the reader as one person
•How does she like to be spoken to?

•What will interest her most?

•What are her needs in relation to the info?

•What kind of user is she?


Create beautiful images
• Work with a good camera/photographer

• Create the right file size. Stick to a same height or width if
you’re using a template.

• Use low res versus high res shots. 50kb-100kb (big files
slow your site down)

• Explore using HTML5 instead of Flash

• Don’t forget to include specs & dimensions of your image.


Create beautiful images


Create short & powerful words
• Capture your own voice.

• Break it up: white space, short headlines, bullet points, clear font on an
easy to read background.

• Hyperlink to relevant info (on your own site)

• Avoid Click here for more. Instead, Peruse my latest collection

• Be clear about what your writing is going to do. Eg.

• I am writing to sell.
• I am writing to intrigue
• I am writing to inform/invite interest
• I am establishing my online identity


Structure the page to meet the user’s need

Must have info
Helpful but
not crucial
Nice if they
had it

Who is Luke?

What’s this
page about?

What else
should I know?

Good intuitive copy naturally captures key-words

• We search the way we speak. Handmade quilts versus ‘hand-
stitched patchworks’

• Region and locality can be important to include (if your market is
local)

• Some repetition is good – done in a natural way.

• Try to put keywords in headings

• TIP: Use the Google Keyword Checker


“GOOGLE ADWORDS KEYWORD CHECKER”


SOCIAL MEDIA OPTIMISATION

When you do a search now on Google, Google checks your history
and your friends’ histories and gives your results based on what
you’ve looked at before and what your friends have shared on Twitter,
Facebook, LinkedIn, Tumblr, WordPress, and so on.

Tip: Optimise your page layout to reinforce social media widgets.


Your story components
• Know your audience

• Use beautiful images

• Capture your own voice

• Make it easy to read/scan

• Structure information in the right order

• Be as Search Engine-friendly as you can.


A final word on websites…

• Do you need a mobile version of my website? Maybe not! But it depends.

• Simpler, clean sites without extra gimmicks do well on most mobile
devices.

• Is your current site Flash heavy? You have a problem.

• Does your site have forms, complicated tasks, shopping cart?

• Investigate ‘Responsive Design’ templates. Automatically adapt to the
browser/device. Google: ‘WordPress Templates’ or ‘PrestaShop
templates’.


EXERCISE 1: VOICE CHECK.WHAT’S YOUR ONLINE PERSONALITY?

1. Think of your website as a person.

2. Describe its qualities (good and bad), ie proficient, authoritative,
talkative, withdrawn, aloof, friendly, outgoing?

3. What’s working well?

4. How could the voice be further improved?


EXERCISE 2: WHO ARE YOUR MAIN TARGET AUDIENCES?

1. How do they like to be spoken to?

2. How don’t they like to be spoken to?

3. In relation to your website, what are their main needs?

4. What do they have in common?


So who is doing what, where?


Which sites are most popular?


How often do we use?

Average user spends 6 hours per week on FB. 18 mins per visit.


What time of day?


How do businesses promote their social media?


How do businesses measure success?


The next 12 months?


The power of Facebook

• Nearly 2/3 of Australians have a Facebook profile

• 75% of users visit every day

• People interact with their favourite brands on Facebook far more
than on any other social network

• Average user ‘Likes’ 9 brands

• Why? Already a customer or because they want to receive
discounts and promotions.

• 77% of fans are passive and interact mainly by reading posts and
updates but over half will recommend the brand to a friend.

• 63% of users have “unliked” a brand due to excessive postings.

• 38% have “unliked” a brand because they thought the content
became repetitive or boring


What about ?
• What is Pinterest? A social media tool that lets you share and
comment images with friends and others who share your aesthetic.

• “A virtual mindscape, like digital brainstorming”

• Unique Australian Visitors March 2012 – 160,000 per month

• Total Visits – 970,000 per month

• Average time on site – 14 minutes 20 seconds

• Audience – 57% female, 43% male


Why would you bother with Pinterest?
Great for SEO and driving hits to your website.

Very viral. People repin A LOT!

If you’re a visual thinker, it’s doesn’t feel like a chore.

Visual posts easily shared across FaceBook, Twitter, your blog.

Showcase your tastes, inspiration = establish emotional connection.

Big viral reach. Your work can be commented on, shared with others.

It has a marketplace too.

Add dimension to your online persona (creative, authentic, quirky etc)


What about Twitter?
• Around 1 million Australian users

• Great way to get access to latest industry news/opportunities

• A favourite platform among early adopters and influencers.
• (access to the ‘klout’ crowd (see Klout.com))

• Good for here and now reactions, feedback, questions, etc.

• Very mobile phone friendly – great for events, launches etc.

• 25% of all Tweets include a link - terrific way to generate SEO

• Majority of Twitter users don’t follow brands on Twitter (different to FB)


Linked In?
• 2 million Australian users

• 49% of LinkedIn users have a household income over $100k

• 39% are managers, directors, owners, chief officers, managing
directors

• NOT just for those looking for jobs!

• Seen as a very professional way to social network.

• Great way to network – locally, nationally & internationally

• Lots of interesting groups to connect with = opportunities.

• Weekly newsletter sends out all your network’s updates


The elephant in the room

WILL FACEBOOK/PINTEREST OWN MY CONTENT?

Facebook – Yes! (If you are lucky enough?)

Pinterest – No. (But copyright issues are very rubbery.)


Here’s how Facebook states the ownership of your content in its terms and conditions:

You own all of the content and information you post on Facebook, and you can control how it is
shared through your privacy and application settings.

So, by posting content or information, you grant Facebook the license to use your content in
accordance with your privacy and application settings. That means unless you’ve set the setting for a
piece of content for “Custom” > Only Me”, someone can see it.

For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos (IP content), you
specifically give us the following permission, subject to your privacy and application settings: you
grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP
content that you post on or in connection with Facebook (IP License). This IP License ends when you
delete your IP content or your account unless your content has been shared with others, and they
have not deleted it. However, the terms also give Facebook a “non-exclusive, transferable, sub-
licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any (intellectual property) content you post.

http://www.facebook.com/legal/terms

Pinterest allows you to pin and post content on the Service, including photos, comments, and other
materials. Anything that you pin, post, display, or otherwise make available on our Service, including
all Intellectual Property Rights (defined below) in such content, is referred to as “User Content.” You
retain all of your rights in all of the User Content you post to our Service.

http://pinterest.com/about/copyright/


Food for thought… The Digital Revolution

NOT talking about plagiarism/idea theft… BUT….

“Print changed who we were, and now our world is being reshaped again -
whether we like it or not.”

“We must begin to discuss how we might build new forms that take
advantage of the digital world, that tap into the ways in which people work
and think now, and how they might do so tomorrow, rather than focusing on
what is past.”

John Weldon, Lecturer, Victoria University


Tips for writing for social media
•Foster connection. Keep the voice friendly and open.

•Don’t just cut and paste the same thing. Say it in a different more personal
way. Think of different angles.

•Front load posts with hotwords and keywords

•Post open ended comments. Continue the discussion

•Indicate that you’re listening/present.

•Consider the 80% info, 20% promo rule.

•Keep it moving: update fairly regularly but don’t bombard. Once a week is
fine.


. What about blogs?
Blogs can do different things.

Be clear about your Blog’s purpose.

• Raising awareness about your practice?
• Adding depth/raising your profile?
• Promoting/selling?
• A combination?

Try to write about:

1. Something of interest
2. Something of use
3. Something that will target your audience (don’t worry about the rest)


What about writing for blogs?

•Think visual, creative scrap book (words, imagery, video etc)

•Appear human, conversational, strip the ‘formal’ edge.

•Keep it short! (300 words).

•Include a punchy headline. 3 things that caught my eye today

•Wrap things up in a way that encourages discussion. Ask open-ended
questions.

•Don’t be too disheartened if you don’t get posts. People more likely to
look.


Blog examples

http://www.printspace.blogspot.com.au/

http://www.mrjasongrant.com/blog/

http://leonardocremonese.wordpress.com/


Save time! Cross pollinate!

Linked In & Twitter

Facebook (Page) and Your Blog (and Instagram)

Pinterest & Facebook & Twitter


Write down:

1. Who are my key social media audiences?

EG: People who regularly come to my shows/visit my stalls; people
visiting the area; city-based collectors, overseas?

2. What is the best way to connect with them?

Set up a Facebook Page?
Create a blog?
Linked In?
Pinterest


Write down:

Write down 3 things I could share about my creative
practice/product to get them to engage with me online?

1. X
2. X
3. X

How can I be creative in my messaging?

Take photos of Y. Video Y, document X?


USEFUL ARTISTS WEBSITES
Crowd/Fund Sourcing

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/190731. See
http://trunkbook.com/trunk/, http://www.facebook.com/TrunkBooks#

Opportunities

http://www.artshub.com.au/au/

http://www.creativefoyer.com.au

http://artistaday.com

http://artsnorthernrivers.com.au/hive


Thanks for coming!

www.writeminded.com.au

Twitter: libbyvarcoe

libby@writeminded.com.au

http://au.linkedin.com/in/libbyvarcoe


Sources/ Reference Links
Web, arts and social media resources and references

http://www.budde.com.au/Research/Australia-Digital-Economy-E-Commerce-Trends-and-Statistics.html

http://www.internetretailing.com.au/statistics-online-shopping-in-australia.html

http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/lookup/4102.0Chapter10002008

Australia Council for the Arts Artists Survey. 2009/2010
http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/resources/reports_and_publications/subjects/artists/artist_careers

Yellow Pages Social Media Report 2012 (AIMIA)

Viva la digital revolution! http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/viva-la-digital-revolution-
20120627-212rc.html

15 Benefits of a Facebook Page for Business; http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=213915438670302

Measuring social media with free tools. http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/measure-social-media-with-free-
tools/

How to sell on Pinterest: https://support.pinterest.com/entries/21051413-how-do-i-add-a-gift-pin

How artists can harness Pinterest: http://www.artbizblog.com/2012/02/hayden-pinterest.html

Free blogs: wordpress.com; tumblr.com; blogspot.com


ANR Digital Workshop Notes 28/8/12

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