Building an online presence has become such an integral part of both our professional and personal lives that, despite some artists ideologies or beliefs systems, an artist’s career online, is a business. As such, establishing and properly executing the right digital marketing strategy for any business, whether web 2 or web 3, is the key for a profitably sustainable art career.
Is your artwork already visible online but you seem to be stuck on zero sales? Well, in this article I will share with you why I think digital marketing is important for an artists in web 3 and how it can help increase sales and visibility for artists in the digital era.
But what exactly is digital marketing? is it the same as social media marketing? if not, how do they differ? These are all important questions to understand, and this articles aim is to answer just that. By the end of this article, you will know the differences between both marketing tools, and what you should implement as an artist who is seeking to build an art career online. With this knowledge you can increase your arts visibility & business longevity while creating an effective digital marketing strategy. So, if you are interested, keep on reading.
What is Digital Marketing:
The tools digital marketing and social media marketing are often used interchangeably, however they differ quite substantially. In a marketing strategy, they are actually considered two different components.
What differentiates digital marketing from social media marketing is that social media marketing is only limited to online.
Digital marketing utilizes a variety of digital media channels (such as social media), to increase target audience reach, as well as offline marketing tools (such as the commercials you see on television). Social media marketing falls under digital marketing, therefore they are not the same, but rather, social media marketing is a fraction of digital marketing.
In other words, social media marketing is just one tool within the digital marketing toolbox.
Why do Artists need a Digital Marketing Strategy?
Every business, both online and offline, create marketing strategies for their products and/or services. An artist business (if you want to become full-time artist) should not be any different. An artist has a product (their artwork) to both build a fan base & sell their creations.
Objectives for a business varies and can be, but are not limited to, any of the following:
- To create awareness.
- To increase social media following.
- To increase customer engagement.
- To study follower analytics and better understand audience wants and needs.
- To increase sales and profits of a product or service.
- To promote specific products and/or services.
Why is Social Media Marketing Important For Artists?
As the online world has become increasingly accessible, social media marketing is an important tool for artists, especially in web 3. If you want to place your work in front of the right people then implementing a social media strategy is vital. As an NFT artist for example, building social presence and hype around collections and projects is what drives sales of popular NFTs.
To expand your reach globally, every artist must have a social media marketing strategy and mediums like this are driven heavily on content. Understanding what platforms your audience and collectors are on and implementing a content strategy that has unique and fresh content will increase your engagement and interaction with your audience.
However, as social media marketing is only one component of digital marketing, it is not a stand-alone. Social media marketing utilizes online social platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube etc. to reach your audience, but to better optimize the benefits of a digital marketing strategy, you should also include other forms of digital marketing tools. This is Important for artists who want to build a solid presence online.
Other types of Digital Marketing Tools:
To get the most out of your digital marketing strategy, utilize more than one tool, but of course, not all. Figure out what works best for you. Select one tool, learn how to use that tool effectively, and then move on to the next. Overtime you can have a solid framework implemented as your strategy.
Other types of digital marketing tools include, but are not limited to:
- Email Marketing
- Content Marketing
- Search Engine Marketing
- Affiliate Marketing
- Mobile Marketing
In closing, your digital marketing strategy may use a variety of tools online in conjunction with offline tools for a number of objectives. While it is important for artists to have a strategy for their online business, it is just as important to not neglect other forms of digital marketing to better optimize the visibility of your work, your business growth and your goals.
Social media marketing is just one part of this whole digital world. Artists are currently establishing themselves by building awareness of their work through social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Tik Tok and Youtube, however, in my opinion, to create an effective strategy for the longevity of your art business, start to utilize other tools within the digital marketing toolbox.
In this article I shared the differences between social media and digital marketing so that you could effectively create a marketing strategy for your online art career, promote your art and build make your art more visible. I hope you found this article useful. I would love to hear from you, let me know your thoughts!
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Until next time creatives
