When people talk about marketing and promoting artwork, the common platforms that come to mind are Instagram or Pinterest.
So let’s ask a question…
Are you truly maximizing your online exposure as an artist? Or perhaps you’re missing out on a platform that can change how you do your marketing and even attract new audiences to your works.
Say what you will about Snapchat, but you can’t deny that it’s one of the biggest social media revolutions of this day and age, used widely by huge social media influencers and people younger than 27 years old.
- As of early 2019, there are over 190 million active users and counting (Engadget).
- There are over 2 million snaps sent with each minute (Statista).
- 64% of marketers have a Snapchat account (Adweek).
- On average, users spend 34.5 minutes a day on Snapchat (CNBC).
- As of May 2018, unskippable ads were brought to the platform (Engadget).
On top of that, the human attention span has also gotten shorter and shorter as the years go on. In fact, over 12 years ago, the regular attention span has dropped from 12 minutes of targeted attention to just five minutes.
And Snapchat provided an ephemeral solution for the quick-paced mind. It’s all thanks to the ten-second video length restriction. Furthermore, Snapchat’s spontaneity won’t require visual content to undergo extensive editing processes to hook an audience.
In Snapchat, artists have one of the best platforms to produce backstage content (raw and real) for your followers. You can also rest assured that your Snaps will be visible to your followers. It’s just a matter of whether they’ll click to watch your content or not.
How to Increase Online Exposure on Snapchat
Now that we’ve established that Snapchat is yet another powerful tool for your business, it’s time to consider how you can properly utilize this visual social media platform to keep your followers on other platforms engaged and to draw in new audiences as well.
Enable Public Viewing for Your Snaps
Snaps are automatically private. And since your goal is exposure, you want everyone to see your Snaps, but not to the degree where you have to follow back everyone just for the sake of being seen. It’s easy to make your Snaps viewable in public through changing your privacy settings.
Navigate to the Snapchat ghost at the top of your phone screen, and click on the Settings icon located at the top right.
Scroll down until you find “Who can.” Tap on the “View My Story” option and choose “Everyone.”
Now, when you add a new Story, your Public audience will be able to see your ten-second videos instead of just your friends.
You can always turn the public viewing on and off to keep things private or broadcast something that you would want your followers to know.
Your account’s quick response (QR) code, is the barcode that will let people connect easily with you via a product page, a physical product, or a digital location. In recent years, this QR code has become a large part of consumer advertising. So there’s no reason your art career can’t take part in that kind of promotion as well.
You can take screenshots of your Snapchat QR code and promote it across your other social media accounts. That way, your followers on Instagram or Twitter or Facebook can be notified of your new developments and reach you on a different platform. And if you have a website, you can promote them there too.
Focus on Your Content
Content is the meat of any social media campaign nowadays — and especially for artists looking to promote their work. People are interested in products and services, but they love hearing about artists’ stories and the processes too. So how do you leverage your content to serve exactly what your target audiences want?
Put up teasers and Snapchat exclusive content
A Snapchat account lets your build awareness while encouraging a good amount of hype around the completion of the project you’ve been working on for months and months now. You can provide teasers on your other social media accounts as well, but each network’s unique platform also gives you the chance to present your teasers in a way that’s similar and yet not.
The great thing about putting up teasers on Snapchat is that you have a 10-second timeframe. You can include Snap photos as well, showing brief pictures of behind-the-scenes of your biggest events.
Tell your followers about Promo Codes and Artwork Sales
No one blames you for selling your work of art (your mini-projects, your sketches, or little pieces of artistry). You worked hard on them and deserve the acclaim and the fruit of your labors. And this is where promotional contests and codes for your Snaps come in.
Snapping an exclusive code to unlock a valuable resource guide or getting a discount on art merchandise is a lovely way to promote brand recognition as well as cultivate a healthy relationship with your customers.
Promoting Events & Holding Q & As
Everyone around the world knows that one of the best ways to talk about upcoming events is through social media. And as an artist looking to make a living, making use of a platform like Snapchat lets you broadcast events you have participation in, and simultaneously document it for those who live closer to your area to come and join.
Utilize your Snapchat Stories for posting videos detailing the importance of such an event. And don’t forget to mention times, dates, and specific locations. And in connection, do follow-ups on the progress of the event as it happens.
This way, you can show your non-present viewers what’s happening, and the ones that are in the event can make special appearances in your Snapchat story.
For better engagement with fans, a lot of influencers resort to Q&As. It’s actually a good idea as Q & A sessions give you and your followers a sort of modified one-on-one time. You don’t have to do it every day, but it’s important to set aside a time and date when you can be available to answer questions from your dedicated followers.
Your fans can send you snaps with questions, or you can promote this social event on your other platforms and pull questions from there to answer on Snapchat.
Highlight behind-the-scenes action
Followers and your customers will always love seeing the personality that lies behind your personal brand. And one good way of showing that is through images and videos of your regular day, raw and unedited.
This establishes emotional connections between your followers and your art career, leading to better loyalty and an easier time identifying with you as the individual behind the masterpieces.
Plus, your audience certainly wouldn’t mind uncovering fun stuff you present. Every post on social media doesn’t have to be a sales pitch all the time.
Encourage Your Followers to Sign Up to Your Email List
Social media platforms, like Snapchat, provide entertainment and are conducive for drumming up the excitement while offering unique rewards to loyal followers. That’s all well and good, but in addition to social media, you also need a sustainable way of keeping in close contact with them and regularly feed them valuable content.
Here’s where your email marketing can come into play. You can encourage your followers to sign up to your email list by mentioning your current campaigns in Snapchat stories. Include visual representations, so your followers will know what to expect and what’s in it for them.
Explore Snapchat Some More
Snapchat is a great platform to share fun, creative and personalized stuff. It’s a platform that requires constantly keeping up with due to the ephemeral type of content it lets users put out. It’s a great place to interact with your current patrons and even attract new ones.
In closing, keep a few of these Snapchat tips in mind to maintain your audience and actively promote your content:
- Build your audience by exporting your Snapchat stories and repurposing them to fit in your other social media channels.
- Experiment with your content and how frequently you reach out to your followers to see what will work for you.
- Have a mix of photos and videos to keep each of your Stories interesting.
- Jump on positive trends that are relevant to your niche.
- Keep it short and sweet.
Building your Snapchat following base will take time, so don’t immediately feel discouraged when you don’t see much engagement or increasing followers on the first few days. Ever post starts low in regard to view count and every other success performance indicator.
Just remember to always be original, and never stop putting out valuable artwork that you know your patrons would love.
