As an artist, I don’t have the luxury of a dedicated marketing team… so, enter social media. It’s the perfect and simple way to get my art out there and seen. Today we are experiencing the world in a completely different way than anything before. It’s all at our finger tips, literally… and, you know what? I want to be a part of it.
Thanks to social media, not only do I have the ability to show my work to thousands of people (I actually have more followers on Instagram than the entire population of my hometown) but I get to create something that makes people happy, sad, angry, or whatever… just sparking an emotion, even if it’s for a split second. I paint things that altered my way of thinking and tug at my sensibilities. And sharing this with people and having them respond with a “like” is a new age conversation. And in the time of fractured attention spans I enjoy altering someones thinking as my image flies by their screen. And when someone takes the time to leave me a comment, well… I know I’ve evoked a response, and that’s pretty amazing. Something I created has had an impact on someone else.
What social media do I use? Well, Instagram is my go to. Then facebook and pintrest. Of course my blog, www.longbluestraw.com where I do, on occasion, bloviate about my art. But, I do have to admit… I’m on instagram all the time! I constantly “check-in” with the artists I follow. I love to see what they are creating, what they are up to, what others are saying about their art. And I love to discover new artists and become part of their community. It’s like having a conversation without actually speaking.
If it wasn’t for social media, I wouldn’t have discovered a lot of new art, seen places I’ve never been, entered contests I would have never knew existed, been contacted by people who have hired me. And most importantly, I’m able to justified myself as an artist. You can just pull up my instagram portfolio and, boom!… Look at all that… Artist!
But the best part about social media for me is that I now have lots of new friendships with other artists from all over the world. Connections that I would have never made before, and that’s pretty cool.
instagram: @tracyhetzel
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tracy.hetzel.art
pintrest
www.longbluestraw.com
