Less Work, Better Results: How to Stretch Your Content as an Artist
When I first started my business, I felt as though I was running myself ragged attempting to keep up with everything everyone was telling me I should do when it came to marketing myself.
Post every day, create videos, be present on stories and essentially just be on social media 24/7. No thank you!
As a creative, this was draining on my mind and my body. My soul craves deep and engaging stimulation, and the connection that social media attempted to provide was not working for me or my business. It made me feel as though my thoughts and feelings were being forced into a box. And on the other end, I was burning out by continually making all this content that was doing nothing more than getting likes and a few positive comments that certainly were not moving the needle for my business.
I felt very confused. After all, this is what I was told to do!
So I decided to step away from the social media rat race. And instead, I set out to find out how I would be able to conserve my time and energy while also staying true to my audience, honoring my work, AND paying the bills.
Guess what I found? There is absolutely a way to get it done.
But First...Let’s Chat IG
It’s no secret that Instagram is not my favorite way to market my work. But before we dive into what is, I think it’s important to really explore the why. Instagram can be a beautiful, but albeit noisy, place. It can trigger feelings of insecurity, jealousy, insufficiency, and competition needlessly. The content you so work to create is subject to the ever-present algorithm god and quickly becomes buried in a sea of posts and ads vying for your audience’s attention. Is it really ok if we don’t put all our marketing eggs in one basket?
To which I eagerly give a resounding: YES.
As an artist, you don't NEED to create an audience on Instagram because it does not necessarily translate to sales.
Instagram is a great way to get your work out there, but having 5k followers with 0 buyers doesn’t do anything for your business! It pains me to say that your time there can be incredibly “wasteful.” I’ll share this instead: the first step to lessening your marketing workload, raising your conversion rates, and stretching your content further is being open to the idea that there are other ways to sell your work that do not consist solely of screaming into the black void that is Instagram.
Am I saying that it’s impossible to sell your art there? Of course not. A couple of my clients built a solid following of ENGAGED collectors and have found success selling exclusively on there. But they’re the exception, not the norm. I still think you should keep your presence there active; by all means, post, grow your audience, and share your work! But please know that it’s not the only way. Instagram is everything for some business owners, but it doesn’t have to be that way for you.
Now, let’s talk about how you can go beyond Instagram and stretch your content as an artist so that it works for you rather than the other way around!
Stretch Your Content With: Blogging
Blog writing is my hands-down, “take my money because I want it now” way for artists to create content that can be stretched across platforms as well as simultaneously sell their work! Mainly because it opens the doors for you to do so many other things! Let’s start from the beginning:
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Having a blog on your website that’s embedded with SEO-rich keywords, is a great way to boost the traffic coming to your site. By picking strategic headlines, using the font hierarchy, and deploying keywords, you can make sure that you’re getting eyes on the things you need/want your audience to see.
You’re also giving yourself a chance to get listed in top search results (which means you’re open to a wider audience) AND you’re also getting the chance to get this new audience acquainted with your website in general! This brings me to…
Link-Building
Unlike Instagram or Facebook, when you post something on your blog, you have free range to include as many clickable links as you may want. If you have multiple pieces to sell, then have fun with it and get creative!
Create some beautiful thumbnails, throw in some hyperlinks, make the layout of the blog aesthetically pleasing and your chances of converting that reader into a buyer have just shot up tenfold!
Likewise, if you have nothing to sell at the moment, you can always use your blog as a way to get potential collectors more acquainted with what you do. Make sure to include links to other pages on your website (maybe an about me or collaboration page) so that when they finally click away from your site, they’re leaving with a beautiful imprint of you on their mind and are more likely to come back (or sign up for your newsletter) to see what you’re up to!
No Limits
One thing we artists hate about Instagram is the restriction it can put on our words as well as how fleeting our words may feel. But with blogs, it’s an entirely new ball game. If you’re an artist who loves to write, blogging is a great outlet for you to say all that your heart has to say while also utilizing effective techniques to draw people to your site so you can highlight your latest collection or invite people to shop your prints.
There’s no limit on your words and best of all, (with good organic SEO) it will always be there for your readers to readily find. On the other hand, IG posts fly by, disappearing into the ether after a few hours. After a couple more posts, it’s lost in the void and no one will see it. Not cool.
Repurpose
My last reason for blogging is that it’s by far one of the easiest types of content to repurpose (or stretch) across your marketing channels. This means you can work way less on marketing and focus more on your artwork.
It will always be easier to take a blog post (or email - more on that soon) and repurpose it into social media content rather than expanding an IG post into a blog post. You can also then use your blog as a jumping-off point for podcast topics, Lives, Reels...you name it!
Stretch Your Content With: Email Marketing
If you loved the idea of starting up a blog, my next piece of advice would be to always turn your blogs into email newsletters! It’s a wonderful way to show up consistently for your audience without them feeling as though you’ve ghosted them AND without you feeling as though you have to come up with new content every month.
More Engaged
Regardless of whether you publish blog content, email marketing is still a wonderful way to stretch your content. Although your list may not be as big as your Instagram following, I’m willing to bet that it’s still a more engaged audience. People chose to be on your email list because they’re genuinely interested in what you have to say. That means they’re more likely to connect with your content on a deeper, more meaningful level and also buy your work.
It’s Yours
One of the great things about your email list (and your blog for that matter) is that you own it. If Instagram were to disappear tomorrow, would you have any way to get a hold of your audience? That’s why an email list is great. No matter which email platform you use to communicate with your audience, the list is yours to take with you.
Repurpose
Creating newsletters also provides you with the ability to stretch your content because as I mentioned before, it’s much easier to turn around and repurpose your newsletters into a blog and/or social media captions to save yourself time.
You can even use your emails to determine what topics warrant a blog post or more content. Go back and look at the emails that got the most opens, clicks, and replies. What were you talking about? Now, try to recreate that magic by repurposing that content into another piece of content.
More Sharable
Emails can also be more sharable than other types of content. All a subscriber has to do to share your email with someone who might like it is click the forward button. Yes, you can share on Instagram, but while everyone doesn’t have an Instagram account (or like to use it), just about everyone has an email address that they check semi-regularly.
Stretch Your Content With: Pinterest
While Instagram is not necessarily my favorite primary marketing channel for artists, I would love to throw the proverbial hat into the ring when it comes down to Pinterest. While Pinterest used to be synonymous with planning for DIY projects and wedding planning, it has now become its own search engine. (Which is good news for you!)
Evergreen
Pinterest is a bit different from other social media platforms because it’s evergreen. Content on Pinterest can be shared and show up in feeds forever! What business owner doesn’t love that?
Whether you posted something an hour ago or a year ago, Pinterests’ algorithm will still push out content to users as though you just posted it that minute! All you need to get the job done well is keywords, strategic graphics, and eye-catching headlines. The Pinterest algorithm is not focused on the “here and now” but rather the interests of the platform user.
Relevancy
Since Pinterest works a lot like a search engine, its goal is to deliver relevant and useful search results to its users. For that reason, Pinterest is able to help you capture the attention of hyper-relevant users. So you know that the people who are seeing your content are actually interested in what you have to offer.
Repurpose
When it comes to Pinterest, repurposing is two-fold. You can repurpose your blog and social content on Pinterest. But you can also repurpose your Pinterest content into more Pinterest content.
Let me explain. You might post something to Pinterest and the image or the title just wasn’t doing it for people. But when you post the same piece of content with a new image, title, or description, you’re giving that piece of content a whole new life!
Creating content that works for you should not be something that burns you out, and it should not be the main thing you have to focus on in your business. Instead, work smarter (not harder) by utilizing these suggestions to conserve your energy, increase your sales, and stretch your content so that you have the headspace to focus on the work that matters most to you and your business: your art!
Don’t forget to check out the Prolific & Profitable Artist Quiz: assess your marketing prowess, learn your superpowers, and get a personalized plan to overcome overwhelm and get your art seen and sold.
