From my experience the only people benefiting from social media are the social media companies and the online marketers selling courses on “how to make money online” via social media. I’m yet to see any worthwhile traction from social media efforts.

All these social media platforms have just become places to be sold and marketed to. They are very annoying. Join instagram and you’ll immediately get followed by tons of awful artists following you just so you follow them. Try it. There’s millions of people with the word “_art” after their name. (e.g: joe_schmoe_art) It’s hysterical and they immediately un-follow you if you don’t follow them back within a day or worse a few hours. All of the automated software has only exacerbated the problem. These people are never going to buy your work, not at any worthwhile prices.

I would love to hear a success story that begins with a webinar, facebook campaign, or live video and ends with 5+ $5000 painting sales. But you don’t. Everybody gaining something from social media falls into 2 categories:

1.Hobbyists at best – selling low-priced crafts to friends, family, and a few fans – obviously not a real source of income – they have a fruitful spouse or are in retirement – they are probably making < $10/hour but "love what I do!!!"

2. Internet marketers – selling a course, membership etc. (which is analogous to selling dreams and profits) They don’t sell things at all… only good feelings, support groups, promises and marketing skills that generally don’t translate into selling art.

I would love to be proven wrong. Does anyone here sell $75k+ / year directly to clients and social media is a big part of that? I love to hear your story more than anything! And this excludes courses, coaching, etc… I’m talking about physical artwork… remember that stuff we love making and the reason we read Alyson’s terrific blog to begin with?

Thanks so much for your reply, Sharon! I’m going to try Instagram. You’ve given me hope. What’s the best way to learn how to use it?

Hi Linda! For what it’s worth, I, too, became frustrated with Facebook and just overwhelmed by the sheer amount of daily posts. This was compounded by some glitch in FB that no longer delivered content to my inbox, so I was having to go online and dig through to try and find relevant posts. Well, I baled two months ago and now I only occasionally log onto FB. But – I am kinda loving Instagram! It’s so visually driven (and much less political than FB these days) and the good news is, you can link up you Instagram account with Facebook so you post to both account simultaneously. That really helped me minimize my time on social media.

In these terribly uncertain times, making art and being an artist is a political act, an act of resistance.

Well done and thank you for your loving nudges!