Helping Artists Succeed in a Connected World

Use Blog Comments to build to your brand

Now that we have established that as an artist you should build your brand and we've discussed the basics of how a consistent and well planned social media profile is an important first step, it's now time to start reaching out to the world to make people aware of you and your work. Participating in blogs is one of the best ways to do this while building brand awareness at the same time.

The Web is currently all about two-way communication. A great way to communicate is by commenting on blogs. When you do so you demonstrate that you are present and ready to engage in thoughtful communication with others in that community.

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In a recent issue of The Art Newspaper Michael Plummer and Jeff Rabin wrote an interesting opinion column titled "Could the art market be undergoing a fundamental restructuring?" The piece provides their analysis and opinion on how the condition of the global art market has tracked the overall global economic downturn and what the prospects may be for 2010. 

The article includes some semi-technical economic topics such as art market liquidity, global deleveraging and how financial market conditions have impacted the art market. Still, it's not a difficult read. And, even though the article's focus is on the high-end art market many of the points about collectors and pricing apply at all market levels.

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A friend recently asked, "I'm a visual artist, why should I write a blog and if I did what would I write about?". Those are good questions. The first one is pretty easy for me to answer, the second takes a little more thought.

It's about building an audience

As visual artists we like to think that our work "speaks" for itself. That indeed may be true but if no one sees that work it's message may not reach the audience it deserves. If you are in the business of art, meaning you want to sell your work, or even if you just want people to see it, then a blog is an effective way to share your motivation, experiences, travels, expertise and, not least of all, your art work with a larger audience. Simply put, it's an opportunity to connect with a wider audience and build a community of those that are interested in you, your work and your art career.

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Ben Parr writes a weekly column about social media trends on Mashable, a great site for those interested in social media. This week's column is titled: What the Web of Tomorrow Will Look Like: 4 Big Trends to Watch and it's well worth reading.

I have been talking about how the future of the web will be changing in the very near future with just about anyone who would listen to me for some time. The article by Ben Parr sums it up about as well as I have seen in easy to understand, non-technical terms.

So, how does all this web future "stuff" apply to visual artists?

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I was attending a workshop for songwriters this past weekend and the subject of creative blocks came up. Everyone in the arts that I have ever known, famous or not so much, have experienced or worry about creative block. Writer's call it "writers block" but we all know what it means... The muse has forsaken us for another.

One of the instructors in the workshop mentioned the work of Julia Cameron, a writer of thirty books and former spouse of Martin Scorsese. One of her books is called "The Artist's Way Morning Pages Journal" which I haven't read yet and will report on later after I do. From what I understand it's all about creative rediscovery and includes tools and exercises to help you get those creative ideas and juices flowing again.

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