Social network

This week will be double header to make up for the site being down most of last week. Both are focused on the internet and how you can use it as a tool to improve or at least stabilize your sales

Monday December 1, 2008

Know what you want

This is starting to sound like a broken record but it can’t be over emphasized…start spending some time designing you road map for 2009 by getting to know yourself and what you want your businesses to do. I am bringing this up because today’s Marketing Monday is about the “internets” those tubes that Alaska Senator Ted Stevens described to the Senate last year. Before you take a leap into the “tubes” go back and read Friday’s article and know that the Internet is only a tool and as such it is only going to work if you know how you are going to use it and its’ many facets to help you.

Get familiar with the internet
Having a working knowledge of the internet and how it can be used to your benefit is one of the most important things you can do to help you succeed. Regardless of your political preferences one of the key elements of Barrack Obama’s successful campaign was well focused use of the internet to spread the word.

• Set up a blog

Blogs are ideal for artists and other creative professionals for several reasons not the least of which is that they are extremely easy to set up and to update regularly. They also are the best way for to get found by search engines. Static web sites have fallen by the wayside in favor of the dynamic nature of blogs and the opportunity they present to let your buyers connect with you on a more intimate level…and no you don’t have to be an expert, nor do you have to write everyday pouring your heart out. Start with the free program Become a Blogger it is an excellent program and at a good price (free!!!).

• Learn to use Social media

As I have written often Facebook is not just for kids, in fact recent demographics show that 35-55 age group grew 179% over the past 10 months of 2008. Facebook has become THE networking for small business owners to find and communicate with their followers. There are many other tools emerging every day that can help you stay in touch with your buyers learning to effectively use these tools can go a long way to increasing your sales. Besides Facebook, Twitter is probably the easiest to set up, both will help you if used consistantly as part of an overall strategy.

• Start collecting e-mail addresses

You should already be collecting name and address information from your buyers now you need to also collect e-mail addresses. A buyer’s e-mail address is going to be one of your primary touch points with your buyers. You will use e-mail to keep them informed about your work, to send them a newsletter and to let them know your show schedule. You also need to develop and prominently display your privacy policy. Your sign up sheets, receipts, and locations in your booth. As we show you how to develop a strategy we will introduce you to time saving ways to automate your stay in-touch program.

Today December 8, 2008

Why proposing to a blind date is like asking for an e-mail address.

Imagine this scenario…
You have been set up with a friend of a friend on a blind date. Arrangements were made to meet over dinner at a local eatery. You arrive early get a table for two and watch the door. You’re curious and wondering what this new person might be like…soon you notice someone walking around the tables as if looking for something. You pop out of your seat and wave the person over and ask…”are you_____?” and the answer is yes.

And so the evening begins…

after the initial awkwardness you both discover some shared interests, and start to feel the beginnings of a connection. As the empty plates are removed and you find even more common grounds, you think to yourself I might like to know this person better.

After you have gotten your coats you stand together outside the restaurant to say goodnight when you start to feel a tension in the air. You look into each others eyes as you feel the magnetic energy  of the excitement of your shared interests and values pull the two of you together in a strong embrace. Suddenly the warmth of excitement is interrupted as this new person whispers..”we have so much in common I feel like I have known you forever… did you feel the something?”, you reply ” ya I felt it too”, Then before you could finish your sentence the other person says” since we have so much in common…. how about moving in together? I have room you can move in with me this weekend.”

Shocked you step back saying,” I, I, I, don’t know, we don’t even know each other that is an awfully big step! Let me think about it” and you turn and get into your car and speed off glad the person doesn’t have your number.

Imagine it differently….
Imagine this scenerio if your date had not asked you to move in after knowing you for little more than an hour! It might have turned out differently and may or may not have ended up with the two of you living together or eventually marrying.

Engage and build trust

The first scenario is exactly what happens when you ask a buyer to give you their e-mail address before you have helped them understand the value you will bring into their life.

Once you have engaged your buyer, talked to them about what brings them into your booth and why they are drawn to your work you have increased their comfort and trust level. Only then do you have a better than 50% chance to get their contact information. It may take a courtship over a season or a couple of purchases and that period can be shortened by increasing your transparency and letting your buyers get to know you, the number one way to do that is a blog. The number two way is to have your contact information on everything that touches your potential and actual buyers, doing so shows your willingness to invite them in and in turn allowing them to get to know you better.

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Welcome to part 3! This rather short segment takes the separate needs of Creator,Makers and Producers and matches up with the  Social Media channels that will best help them accomplish their goals. In the next and final installment of this series we will take a look at how these tools can best be put to work to supplement and bolster your marketing strategy. Once again please note that for simplicity sake the overlap between each segment of the creative spectrum is not being considered here instead it is assumed that overlaps will occur in varying degrees and intensities.

Creators

Brainstorming & Collaboration

• Microblogs / Presence apps Twitter, Pownce
• Photo sharing Flickr
• Video sharing YouTube,
• Interactive Networks shapshifters, deviant art, Behance network. Likemind, Ning
• Wikipedia wiki’s, forums and membership sites

Critique & Feedback

• Blogs & micro blogs Twitter, Pownce
• Wikis PB wiki
• Photo & video sharing Flickr,YouTube
• Social/Interactive networks shapshifters, deviant art, Behance network. Likemind, Ning
• Wikipedia wiki’s, forums and membership sites
• Opinion sites epinion,ask

Moral & Professional Support

• Social/ interactive networks Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn, deviant art, Behance network Likemind, Ning forum
• Event Networks Meetup

Makers

Visibility

• Blogs & micro blogs Twitter, Pownce and Jaiku, blog catalogue, good blogs
• Photo & video sharing - Flickr,Youtube
• Social/ interactive networks Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn,  deviant art, Behance network, Ning
• Event Networks Meetup
• E-commerce Etsy, e-bay

Relationship Development

• Blogs & micro blogs Twitter, Pownce and Jaiku
• Social/ interactive networks Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn, Ning site
• Event Networks Meetup

Market Research

• Blogs
• E-commerce Etsy, e-bay
• Social/ interactive networks Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn, shapshifters, deviant art, Behance network Likemind, Ning
• Wikipedia wiki’s, forums and membership sites

Customer/Client Communication

• Blogs & micro blogs Twitter, Pownce and Jaiku,
• Photo & video sharing Flickr,Youtube
• Social/ interactive networks Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn, Ning site
• Event Networks Meetup
• E-commerce Etsy, e-bay

Market Connection

• E-commerce Etsy, e-bay
• Blogs & micro blogs Twitter, Pownce and Jaiku
• Social/ interactive networks Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn, Ning site

Relationship Development

• Blogs & micro blogs Twitter, Pownce and Jaiku
• Social/ interactive networks Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn, Ning site
• Event Networks Meetup

Producers

Visibility

• Blogs & micro blogs Twitter, Pownce and Jaiku, blog catalogue, good blogs
• Photo & video sharing Flickr,Youtube
• Social/ interactive networks Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn,  deviant art, Behance network, Ning
• Event Networks Meetup
• E-commerce Etsy, e-bay

Relationship development

• Blogs & micro blogs Twitter, Pownce and Jaiku
• Social/ interactive networks Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn, Ning site

Market research

• Blogs
• E-commerce Etsy, e-bay
• Social/ interactive networks Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn, shapshifters, deviant art, Behance network Likemind, Ning
• Wikipedia wiki’s, forums and membership sites

Market Connection

• E-commerce: Etsy, e-bay
• Blogs & micro blogs Twitter, Pownce and Jaiku
• Social/ interactive networks Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn, Ning site

Customer/Client Communication

• Blogs & micro blogs Twitter, Pownce and Jaiku,
• Photo & video sharing Flickr,Youtube
• Social/ interactive networks Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn, Ning site
• Event Networks Meetup
• E-commerce Etsy, e-bay

Coming up next…

A look at each of the segments to the best mix for each and to begin more detail examination of exactly how those mixes can work.

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In previous articles I discussed some of the broader issues and benefits related to Social Media/Networking and how this new tool could benefit artists. The first article “What’s up with Social media” I introduced the concept of “ambient intimacy” and how the growth of social networking via the Internet has increased our ability to build relationships with our buyers. In “How to use Social Media” I talked about how social media gives us the ability to engage our buyers, build relationships with them and eventually develop a tribe organized around our art and our values.

This series takes the Social Media examination a little deeper by examining who can benefit the most from social media and what tools are most applicable. And more specifically how each segment of the generalized label of creativity can benefit most from Social Media.

A recent post by Mark McGuinness  on the Lateral Action blog describing the best 10 social networking sites for creatives also carried an underlying theme…collaboration, interaction and feedback are important to the creative process. The underlying premise is similar to one I have argued about here…the elimination of geography, time and other barriers by the internet and most recently by the evolution of Social Media has  made collaborative tools available we could barely imagine even 10 years ago. That said, reading Mark’s post brought up some questions and issues I have been chewing on for a while.

The two questions came to mind:

• Why are artists either resistant or slow to use new methods of reaching their markets?
• Who is using the methods?

As I skimmed  Mark’s interviews I noticed two things:

• The primary users especially of the hard core social network sites (focused on providing collaborative environment) were really true creatives and not necessarily defining themselves through the traditional definition of art.
• The second thing was that I noticed I had been dumping anything and everything however remote that involved creating art into the CREATIVE hopper.

My ah ah moment was seeing that not all art is creative and not all creatives are artists!! Well, you might say DUH!! …but I think quite a lot of people make the same mistake. Dumping everything into the same pot without differentiation creates a lot of confusion and a sense of cultural disorientation. We have no criteria to organize, no boxes to slip things into all the while scratching our collective heads over the obvious  differences we do see within the creative community.

So I noticed that I felt a common bond, a like mindedness with those frequenting the more hard core networks. I could feel the excitement of creative juices. A frame of reference started to emerge …instead of a hopper of creativity maybe we need to look at it as a spectrum with different shades or levels each fading into the other. For simplicity sake I defined the spectrum as consisting of: Creators, Makers and Producers. This seemed to explain for me why I for example thrive on creative interaction and often feel lost without it while others tend to keep themselves isolated. So let’s take a closer look at these parts of the creative spectrum. The graphic below is sort of an abstract representation of how I see the spectrum, there is no significance to the size or color of each section…just in case you were wondering.

Creators

Creators are the original thinkers, the mashers who see possibilities in everything.

• They were born with a vision of their world or they have discovered their unique world view as they matured.
• They also seem to be naturally drawn to one or more mediums for communicating that vision and most importantly they generally seem thrive in interactive environments where they can explore the edges of their visions.
• They are the inventors, the early adapters the experimenters… fear of the unknown is not something they are familiar with.
• They tend to operate in a conceptual/theoretical world.

While admittedly there is a great deal of overlap possible here, those in the creator hue of the spectrum are not necessarily good at translating their concepts into reality.

Makers

That role of translator is given over to…The Makers. The overlap area between the pure creators and the  pure makers is the home of those who can straddle both worlds, they are the ones who understand the concepts clear enough to shape them into reality, they give the concepts form and process.

The pure makers are the ones who can take the recipe and adapt it within the context of their creative medium.

• They develop new ways to throw a particular  type of porcelain clay, or use a particular type of painting surface, or write a variation of a given code.
• They tend to be medium specific, developing a point of view or voice that shapes the techniques they develop and once set their style generally does not vary.
• These are the fine crafts people, who are not so much focused on production of a commodity as they are on giving form to their voice.
• They frequently refine  concepts developed by creators, into an array of techniques for working in their medium.

As makers move closer to focusing on production they slowly become..Producers.

Producers

Producers work from recipes and templates to produce a specific line of product in the creative spectrum they are the factory focused on numbers and replication. Producers are the artisans of the spectrum and also the distributors they bring the efforts of the creators and the makers to the ordinary consumer. In a sense their work is utilitarian it takes the maker’s pot off the mantel or bookshelf and places it on the table for everyday use.

Questions

• So where do you fall on  the cretive spectrum?
• Do these generalized categories work?
• How does each category interact best with social media?

Part 2 of this series will look at just how each part of the Creative Spectrum can use social media and what parts of social media work best with each of the three creative spectrum categories.

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Many of my posts so far have hinted at a phenomenon that has  increased pace of change in the world leading many to wonder often doubtfully about it’s role in day to day life. Much of the doubt comes from those who are mystified by technology and can’t imagine how technology can help them.  Since the phenomenon I am talking about is technology based  but it is and will effect the way we live our lives far more than we can imagine now. Technology and specifically the web has been seen in the not to distant past as an isolating influence on our culture, causing us to lose touch with the world around us as our intimate circle of friends shrinks. There have been fears of a growing social alienation especially in the iGeneration as we have tried to understand the meaning of Facebook, MySpace etc. Not even a year ago I really didn’t see the point of Facebook but that has changed.

Starting to converse

Of course the phenomenon I am talking about is Social Media. A recent article in the NY Times by Clive Thompson  discloses the true nature and value of Social Media both to our relationships and to our businesses. It also hints at the role it can play in creating community…something we collectively seem to be longing for. Joseph Jaffe in his book Join the Conversation talks about the changes in the marketing world that are occuring as the result of Social Media/networking especially as it has hastened the demise of advertising as we used to know it an event which has long been over due.

Isolation moves to connection

Before I go into how all this should concern us as artists let me continue with the thread brought up by Thompson’s article and Jaffe’s book by brining in another player t he guy who pretty much star ted it all, Mark Zuckerberg the college student behind Facebook. You see a couple of years after he launched it he realized it’s major problem was the time it required for users to stay up to date with their friends…so he set out to fix it. Overnight, he set up what has come to be called the news feed that works very much like RSS subscriptions permitting friends to basically “subscribe” to each other’s updates. The next morning saw a  major revolt when users began logging on to their Facebook pages. They flooded Zuckerberg with e-mails wanting the old system back. But Zuckerberg knew his audience well within a couple of days everyone was happy. The primary point of contention was much the same as today when non- social media users as”why would I want to know every time Joe eats a sandwich and what kind he is eating?”  or “why should I care if he broke up with his latest girlfriend?” Well it turns out  that they ultimately did want to know those tidbits and they found that knowing them created a different level of knowing their friends…kind of like having them in the same room.

Ambient Intimacy

What they were experiencing was something social scientists have called ” ambient intimacy” it is in essence similar to the feeling of closeness we have when we sit across the room from someone and watch their quirky mumblings, or gestures. Individually such actions have little meaning but lumped together over time they start adding up to a description of the person’s mood, their inner workings. If you are an unabashed people watcher you know what I mean! Friends found themselves much closer when they met because the time distance had shrunk, they were able to converse as if they had just seen each other…in short they knew more about what was occurring in each other lives and how it effected them.

Facebook,Twitter and the tools for conversation

Facebook is no longer the only game in town, last year Twitter broke the surface followed closely by Friend feed. Both of these services offered one thing, a way to stay in touch a way to be closer to each other yet remain far away. Both services are what has become know as “micro-blogs” limited by the amount of text that can be written they have become a way for people in a particular circle to stay in touch and more importantly to widen that circle or have different circles for different levels of acquaintance.

So last year when I found out about Twitter I joined but really didn’t get it until the last few months. Coupled with my Facebook toolbar for Firefox I now get regular little blurbs that pop up on the bottom of my screen whenever one of the people I am connected with has something to say. That very action has allowed me to get to know what used to be pretty close to complete strangers. As a result, I have several potential partners for workshops or seminars each having a strong skill I am lacking in. I hinted above about communities, again this is one of the things social scientists have found occuring more and more as a result of staying connected with each other. And these communities are no longer limited by geography. Families like mine that are spread across the globe can stay connected and in each others lives much better than an hour phone call every couple of months.

Artists Twitter?

So…how does this help us as artists? Well, in a nutshell it provides us with tools we didn’t have available even as recent as a year ago. Furthermore, it has along with Tivo has played a major role in the demise of traditional advertising. It has essentially changed the way we can help our clients and patrons by giving us the means to develop and maintain conversations that are based on a many-to-many model instead of a one -to-many model. It has empowered our clients and patrons to converse with us and us with them around what we offer and how we deliver it, it allows us to focus more on them and them  on us. As a result, artists can develop networks of clients/patrons everywhere they go and they can stay in each others minds so when an artist travels to an art fair their local follows know to show up and also know what treasures await them.

For the fearful these tools are a threat because they nag at their self esteem, bringing judgmental demons, but they also remind us that our success ultimately depends on us and our ability to adapt and grow. An example of the strength of these networks happened to me last week someone on my Twitter feed saw one of my posts and commented on it…the world is indeed changing as it shrinks the revolution is here and we are it!

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Part 1: The iGeneration revolution

There is change in the air, change that is shaking up the way we see and live in our world, everywhere I go the early adaptors are seeing and feeling it. They feel it in the market place they feel it in the political arena and they feel it in their hearts. While some have been quick to adapt others are proceeding slowly and many others are letting fear blind them.

Old networks new life

The fundamental basis for this change is the continual openings for interaction and conversation brought by the internet. As recent as two years ago or in many cases a year ago interactive choices were still limited, and available choices to expand our networks, to find the products that fit our needs, were just beginning to be available. Facebook, and MySpace were not seen as anything else than a place for kids, the concept of a “Social Network” was just beginning to take shape.

As I write this everything is changing almost by the day. Facebook in particular has become THE place to network, blogs are replacing or at the least complimenting static web sites. Mini-blogs like Twitter linked together through RSS feeds provide real time ways to stay connected with our own network. Old school one way advertising and marketing is almost dead replaced by interactive realtime conversations.

Ageless iGeneration re-combining and creating

These changes have all been spurred by what has been called the iGeneration, initially thought to be limited to the twenty and 30 somethings who cut their teeth on computers and the internet. Their digital literacy opened the doors of curiosity and while we were saying that the web would result in greater isolation they were busy discovering new and faster ways to become connected. They taught us faster ways to find and get information…reliable information. As result consumers now use the web to do comparative product research to make their buying decisions. The mass market approach to commerce is all but dead replaced by an ever increasing ability to find the perfect buyer and to retain that buyer by building a relationship with her through two way conversation and community building. Consequently, the iGeneration can be defined as anyone of any age who recognizes and uses the new interactivity to create and maintain connections, to start and continue conversations

So what does all of this have to do with Art? It has everything because failure to adapt to these changes by hanging on to outmoded beliefs will lead to a disappearance of art as we know it. Art as a cultural lens, as a source of renewal and inspiration, as a source of passion and sharing could change forever. On the other hand, recognition and embrace of this evolution could raise the role of art in our culture to new heights by uncovering new ways for artists to thrive and share their art.

In short the changes brought about the iGeneration are:

• Personal connection is highly valued
• Many to many conversation is valued over one or two way communication
• Community is valued as a way of enhancing mouth to mouth product research
• Locally made and sold goods will hold a higher position than non-local goods
• Environmentally friendly goods and production methods will be a deciding criteria
• Businesses will need to demonstrate social consciousness
• There must be multiple ways of doing business
• While price point will be important the buying decision will be based more on connection and value than on price.

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