Whether you return to your parental units or not, the holiday season is chuck full of times to mix and re-connect with others, some of whom you may not have seen since day care. Those holiday re-unions are also times when we get to brag about ourselves, to let our old friends know we are not still living in lava lamp filled apartments decorated with neo-Spanish inquisition furnishings.
I ran across this on the 5000bc forum and had to share it. While it is about something altogether different than art the concepts you need to know to make your art business blossom are here. It is 12 minutes long and may be slow but keep coming back to it, each time you do you’ll learn something more. Pay attention to how he blazes his own trail trusting in his customers.
Found on Chris Brogan’s feed this morning…an excellent example of how social media and Twitter specifically can be used by businesses in the LA Times. Watch the video and read the article it is social proof that the opt-in/permission based techniques now being implemented work far better than the old ways. Conversations work, engagement works, connection works and the beauty of it is anybody can do it and any business that wants to succeed from here on out will need to know how to use these and other tools not yet invented.
Also cool as Chris said is that the LA Times set up the video so it could be embedded in anybody’s blog or site just like YouTub not only does it spread the word about a very real example it also gets people to it’s site.
I want to point out that what I am describing here is a process, a way of looking at how we create whether it involves groups of people or individuals and what we need in the way of tools and environments to support us along the way. The concepts and processes are not linear or pretty and admittedly leave lots of room for further exploration and development.
Let’s get going..
Now that we have the creative spectrum somewhat sketched out let’s see how it can work with the social media. The primary element of social media, in fact its’ keystone is connectivity at levels that far exceed what we could have imagined even a year ago. And… this connectivity has different levels of applicability depending on the users intent and goals. Before we look in detail at specific social media let’s try to find what Creators, Makers and Producers need to succeed, what tools are most useful to them. The brief list below summarizes common tools and methods, some have been available but limited in their usefulness.
Just as you regularly go to your Doc for wellness checks you should also be doing the same thing with your brand. The pulse of your brand’s heart and subsequent ability to circulate your message through out you tribe is extremely important to your success. You should make it a habit to check its’ health several times a year. The best way to do this is to ask your tribe through a survey.
In addition to a survey of your tribe it is important to regularly review the health of your brand by looking at the following areas:
Everywhere I look lately I see another Guru offering up another version of “how to succeed in tough time”, usually in form of simple check lists. Today I received a couple of them in my e-mail and I was struck by their similarity and realized that what is going on is everyone is saying that their lipstick works best for changing the look of the pig of our current cultural shift. In doing so for the most part they ask us to have “faith” in their lipstick without addressing the nature of the pig, they want us to assume that all pigs are alike and we all see pigs in the same way. Thus making their particular solution to the problem the only one or the best, or the most magical.
In his book The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference Malcom Gladwell notes that one of the key factors important in moving something (in our language that =art) is the Power of the The Few. Over and over products, people, actions, and movements move from obscurity to popularity, from low parrticipation to celebrity status as a result of the actions of a few key players. He calls these people…CONNECTORS. Through their network of friends, aquaintances and inate love of collecting people the connectors bring the right people together. They are the ones who say ” I know Bob who knows Sarah, let me give Bob a call”. In most cases these connectors main goal is not to be seen as “the go-to” person but rather they delight in collecting people.
As we have talked earlier, we are in the early stages of the birth of a new way of doing things and for artists that means being able to build and rely on your network or tribe of supporters and followers. The first thing that should be on list in building your network is identifying the connectors because they are the ones who cary the most water for you and do so gladly. They are the ones who easily say “I know someone who would really like your work” and proceed to send not one but several people to you at your next show.
Do you know who your connectors are? What do they look like? Where do they hang out?
What is the value of the business you are delivering to clients?
* Knowing the value of your work to your buyers is a key element in being able to successfully communicate that value. If you don’t see a value in what you do or you don’t know that value how can your buyers see it? In the art world your art is intimately linked to you so the perceived value of your work is also linked to your identity as an artist. So in order for your identity to shine you need to value yourself and your work.
If you have been into Starbucks in the last few months yo may have noticed a sudden change in focus by the barristas..suddenly they want to be your friend. I noticed back in April I think, suddenly a new guy serving up my coffee wanted to know about my day, […]
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