Week 11 Part A: Marketing with Twitter, LinkedIn, and more

     Marketing through social media can be a very powerful tool and it's important to remember platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, Google, and the importance of social media influencers. Of course, just because these platforms are available does not mean a business needs to use all of them. For small businesses its best to stick to social media platforms that they are able to update, maintain, and interact with their users regularly instead of using every platform but not having the resources/ people to keep them all updated. For a larger business, it would be much more possible to fund and allocate the resources necessary to keep all of these platforms updated and to retain their brand integrity by creating official accounts so no one can pose as them and tarnish their reputation. In this class, my business is small as it is being run by myself so I would have to choose which platforms I would be able to keep up with as well as what matched best with my business.

    Twitter can be a great place for an artist/brand to keep up on trends, post updates, and interact with their audience in a more familiar manner. The artists that I follow tend to post completed art work with a couple of hashtags and some occasionally pepper in some of their own personal posts but usually the much larger ones keep from doing this. I use my own twitter account to post some completed work or join in on trending hash tags for popular media and the success of a post varies from having a couple of likes to blowing up and having hundreds of likes; with this platform, consistency is not always rewarded with clicks but it should still be practiced to remind followers about a business/brand's presence and keep from having a dead account. My highest performing posts were those that another popular account or influencer retweeted and shared my post with their audience. However, it is a double-edged sword that can bring controversy to an artist (or brand's) platform and it is something that I've witnessed while on the platform; some individuals will have "call-out" posts made about them because their themes, subject matter, interactions, or thoughts shared would be considered controversial to their audience so it is best to still be thoughtful about any ideas expressed and interactions kept somewhat professional and not overly familiar.

    LinkedIn is a valuable resource when it comes to networking and finding ideas, tips, and tricks from other's in your field or field's adjacent to your own business industry. Most independent artists and art shops tend not to use this platform but many digital and fine artists are on this platform that could provide more insight into things like concept art, animation, illustrating, printmaking, and many more related topics that could help an artist grow their own skill set and business. LinkedIn is also a great platform for a business to reach out to employees or for individuals to reach out to businesses that they would like to be hired at. For my own business, I probably would not join since I am not actively recruiting for employees and much of the topics that are discussed are pretty far removed from my businesses goals; I do have an account for my day to day job so I would still be able to join groups in related art fields to gain more insight and get more helpful tips from groups of accountants and other small business owners to better run my own business.

    Google for businesses is another helpful tool that can add credibility to a small business and gain insights for their SEO and SERP for their online presence whether it's for their social media accounts or for the business' website. My own business is very small and operates online so claiming it on Google may be difficult and unnecessary at the moment unless operations change into something more large scale or into a physical location. Many artists and art shops don't tend to use Google for business as well and simply use their online presence and SEO to draw their customer's to the correct pages by clearly linking their related socials and official websites. I do think that Google would be a very valuable tool to improve SEO and SERP for my business so I would like to look into it more as my business expands so I can better market my business and improve clicks to generate more interest and for more purchases of products.

    Influencers can really help grow an artist or their business by showcasing their art or merch through their own posts or by re-blogging/tweeting. Some influencers will do this without incentive and simply do it because they think it looks cool or because it was a fan-made "gift". My tactic for this is to appeal to not only fans of the subject matter that I create in my artwork but also to try to reach influencers with smaller followings (that I follow and enjoy their own content!) that are more likely to see the content that I'm making. Recently on Instagram, I posted a quick fanart of the musician Mothica and she shared it on her stories to her audience and that helped reach another 87 accounts and generated 34 likes, 6 saves, and 6 new followers from this. On my personal twitter, Ben Diskin, the English voice actor for Haida of Aggretsuko, retweeted my fanart of his character and this helped reach about 28,257 accounts and generated 536 likes, 61 additional retweets, and I believe at the time I gained about 15 new followers as well. I think that this can be a good way to reach more people by making art of the things that I enjoy and creating something that makes another person happy. I think that it may not be the most effective if I am not consistent with posting art or add too much of a personal touch to my accounts (i.e. retweeting too many non-art related things, memes, etc.) which may drive away potential and new followers but it is a good way to create awareness of my presence as an artist if I keep consistent and promote my business.

   Choosing a platform for a business to join is very important whether its because of the size of the business or the nature of the industry. Some platforms will and some just won't work for a business and its up to the business to decide if putting in the time and energy is worth it in the end. I think that I will stick to using twitter and getting help from influencers occasionally to grow my brand and business. I will look into Google if I continue to grow and want to make a more effective business online to reach more audiences than my own. I don't think that I will use LinkedIn for my business unless I decide to expand to a much larger scale or need to get help on the behind the scenes of running a business.