Lessons

Lesson Info

Post Your Work To Get Noticed

So, how do we start posting our work? We understand the importance of practicing. We know how we can make a little extra time in our day to practice and post what we're doing. We understand the importance of posting, but where are we posting? How often should we do it? Well, I have this nice, little, nifty social media platform guide, where you guys will only be choosing three social media platforms to be a part of. Now, these social media platforms are for your business. They are not pictures to show of your dog, or your babies, or your food, or your shoes at the airport. (Instructor laughs) Like, this is not the place for that. This is to promote your brand. Now, if your brand is you, you can still put your face in that beautiful profile pic, that's fine. But, just try to be a little more intentional about the content that you're posting. Because, no matter what you post, it needs to come back to your brand. So, I'm a lettering artist. I can totally post pictures of my vacation to Fl...

orida, or a picture of my dog, but I'm probably going to include lettering on top of it. So that way I'm always selling myself, but I'm being personable at the same time. So, I know you guys are probably on way more than three social media platforms, but let's go ahead and talk about the benefits, the pros and cons of each one of these. So, I want you guys to two visual platforms. Why? We're visual people, right? So, it makes the most sense to use platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, maybe over Twitter or Facebook, right? So, let's talk about each. So, Instagram, Pinterest, these are more business to consumer. So, if you guys are making products, right, or doing personalized commissions, then Instagram or Pinterest are the best places for you to go. But, if you're looking for more professional client work, like from art directors and agencies, then something like Dribble and Behance might be a little more up your alley. Not to say that you have to just do Dribble and Behance, Instagram and Pinterest, but just put the main focus on some of those platforms. So, if you wanted to do Instagram and Behance, or Dribble and Pinterest, awesome. Just be intentional about it. And now, also, Instagram and Pinterest are great for younger audiences. Right, so if you're making really cute t-shirts for maybe tweens, then Pinterest, those mom's on Pinterest, right? They're the ones buy the kid's clothes, makes sense. Or, if you're making that really edgy, like, leggings with just a bunch of like really cool designs on them, like skulls and stuff, then maybe you're like going for that 20 to 25 range. Instagram is starting to make a little bit more sense. And like I said, it's great for products and commissions, but Dribble and Behance, like we said, it's more business to business. It's for professionals, it's for client work. So, out of these four, which one do you guys think are the two best for you? Just going over those first four, which ones would you pick? Instagram and Pinterest. You would pick Instagram and Pinterest, why? Well, I think that I could attract the kind of customer based on what I'm attracted to. Okay. Those are my favorite platforms, so I'm there and I'm comfortable with how they work. So, I'd probably be more successful there. Okay, that makes perfect sense. I think it makes sense, especially when you're creating work that you, yourself, enjoy, so you are your own demographic. But sometimes, you get older, and sometimes you break your demographic. So it's either you're changing your mission statement and your plan according to your age, and what you're interested in that year, or, you're trying to plan for the future. So, even though it might work for you now, you have to think of, "What am I going to be doing in 20 years? Is this still going to make sense?" And also, I hope that Instagram and Pinterest are around for the next twenty years, I love those platforms, I hope that they're not like another LiveJournal. What about you, what would you pick, out of Instagram, or would you be more of a Dribble and Behance kind of person? I'm more of an Instagram and Pinterest person, just my style of illustration, my style of lettering is very simple and kind of more cartoony, and bright and colorful, so... Okay, that makes total sense. Now, we have these other aspects. So, DeviantArt, the forgotten platform. Okay, so, DeviantArt might not be for everybody, but it's still a very powerful platfam, I'll get to it. Now, we have this one that's business to consumer. So, right, we're still talking to, we're doing products. And, it's for younger audiences, but it's probably better if you're doing something like anime, fan art, right? Doing character design, if that's your bread and butter, then that's where you need to be. Regardless if you're doing business to consumer, or business to business, because, that's what that platform is really successful at. And then, before we take questions, I want to go ahead and talk about Youtube and Twitch. Now, I really like these platforms, because they're live. Now, there's other ones out there. There's Facebook live, there's the ones that are just from your app, and a lot of apps are just including live now, like Instagram. But, Youtube and Twitch were made for live. It is the main reason you go to that platform. Now, I am not a huge, big Youtuber, but I do love me some Twitch. (instructor laughs) Twitch has a great creative section where you guys can have people, invite them to your studio, it makes you feel a little less lonesome working from home, which is nice, I'll tell you right now. You stop leaving the house after a while. (instructor laughs) And I'm able to have friends and communicate, and get critiques on my work, and get donations. Which is something that you cannot get on Youtube. And there's notifications, so if someone follows, it goes "Oh yeah!", and I can go ahead and I can introduce them to my Twitch channel, and go "Hello, and welcome, to the League of Letters." And you can be more playful, you can do voices, you can dress up. People do cosplay, and then do a painting. It's amazing. But, this is definitely a business to consumer platform. Now, when I have a class, or a new t-shirt design, people on Twitch buy it, because they get to watch me make it. It makes sense, because you feel like you're a part of the product when you get to see the behind the scenes. And also, it's great for education. What's better than telling someone how to do something, than to actually show them, right? And, it's great for products and commissions, so no matter what you make, whether it's educational, or if it's just for funsies , people will be attracted to it. And, what was your question? [Woman In Black Shirt] You kind of answered it. Oh, I did? [Woman In Black Shirt] Because I was going to ask about Periscope, and whether you felt Twitch was a better platform? I mean, I know it's subjective, but I was just wondering. Yeah, I mean no matter what social media platform you use, there is an audience for it, you just have to make sure it's the right audience for you. Now, I like periscope because it's easy. You point, you shoot, you do it. But, you can't have multiple cameras, the chat is really fast, so if you do have a lot of people coming, you can't really read it. The reason I like Twitch, because I did do my research on the different live platforms before I chose Twitch, I can actually show my face, and have like a Logitech external web camera, and then show what I'm drawing, too. And, the whole alert system totally changed the game because on Youtube, yes, there can be chat, but, I can't get notifications if people are buying things, if they're giving me money, because if you get a notification that someone just donated to you, that creates hype, and then more people want to donate, and it becomes what we like to call a raid of donations. What was your question? [Woman In Blue Shirt] I am an Pinterest, no, I'm an Instagram and Youtube person, and I could spend all day getting lost in social media, specifically making videos, and I'm a story teller, so, how do you not get lost in spending all your time in social media? Well, if it's something that's working really well for you, maybe you should get lost in it. Maybe it should be your main focus. Now, I think it's important for people to have different seasons of passion, because as a freelancer, we upmost have to do a lot, right? We have to make the things, we have to ship the things, we have to talk about ourselves, we have to promote ourselves, and social media is one of the ways to promote yourself. Now, if you're flooded with client inquiries and projects, maybe right now isn't the time to focus on social media. It's okay to use products like Buffer, which I highly recommend so you can plan for the future, so you don't have to always, oh I found something cool and funny let me put it on Twitter, you can go ahead and just take a Monday out of your day and schedule all of your posts for the week, to have better time management. That platform is only like, I think $10 a month, and it's definitely worth it and now it has integration with Instagram, which is really nice. But, I would say, if you're only sticking to two platforms, you're already on the right track, right? But, you have to be reasonable with your time, you have other things that need your attention, maybe you need a rebrand, or there's a big project order that came through, then it's perfectly fine to kind of drop off a little bit on social media, and focus on those other things. But, you just don't want to go radio silent. Because, what's the worst thing? A client goes to your presence, and you haven't posted in a month, or a year? That makes you seem kind of skeezy, right? A little spammy? And the internet is already iffy as it is, so we don't want to give another person a reason not to hire us. Does that answer it? [Man In Black Shirt] If you have a personal account already, you have a bunch of followers on that, do you start a business account, and then just post there, or do you transition your personal account into a business account? What's your advice for people that maybe already have a following, or are just starting out between those two things, a personal account and a business account? I think it depends on what your personal account looks like. If your personal account, you're already kind of using it as a business account, but you're also just posting personal stuff, then I would say, just go ahead and change that user name to something that is professional, so that's something that you can use across everything. Like me, I was lucky enough to get lettershoppe, with two P's and an E, so anything, Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, lettershoppe, lettershoppe, lettershoppe, really easy. So, if you already have the presence, just go ahead and change the username, and just be a little bit more intentional about what you're posting. But, if it's more personal, then I would recommend, just start over, and that way you have your own little section of like, "Hey I want to be able to keep pictures "of drinks with my friends, "and my memories of my life." then have a separate one for my business. Because especially Instagram makes that a little bit easier now-a-days. If there's somebody just starting out fresh, is there a platform that's more advantageous and... Well, my personally favorite out of all of these is Instagram, just because it is the visual platform. And that square-aspect ratio is just so pretty. (instructor giggles) and, it's a lot, where a lot the designers and newer artists are coming from, so not only is it a great place to get noticed by potential clients, but, also a really great place to connect with your peers, right? So, we talked about our two visual platforms. Now let's get into the conversations. We don't want to just show people our work, we want to have a conversation with them. I want to get to know you. Now, these are conversational. so these should be the platforms that you want to be approached with questions, you want to make connections with people, right? So, let's talk about Twitter. Twitter, this is definitely for younger audiences, right? My mom doesn't even know what Twitter is, she just got on Facebook, which means it's no longer cool, just throwing that out there. But, something to keep in mind is that Twitter has a very low engagement rate. Now, what's an engagement rate? It's pretty much like, if you have 100 followers, and you have a 3% engagement rate, only three people saw it, let alone did anything when they saw it. Clicked on your profile image, followed you, commented, replied, retweeted. But, that can be an advantage, because if not a lot of people are seeing your posts, you can repeat yourself, and you're not annoying people. Now, I definitely don't think that you should just copy and paste a post, but you can always sell something in a different way. Like, "hey here's a sketch of a project, "for my new t-shirt design." Next post, "Oh, which concept "do you guys like better? Concept A or concept B? "Please comment below." "Hey, I can't decide which color t-shirt "I should get, let's vote in a poll." "Hey guys, the t-shirts are ready, "who's ready to order?" Right? It's the same content, but I'm presenting it to you in a different way. And Twitter is definitely one of those places where you can repeat yourself a little bit more and no one's really going to know the difference. Now Facebook, this is for older audiences, so if you're looking for more older art directors, maybe a little bit more established design agencies, then maybe Facebook should be the platform that you should be a part of. But, if your target demographic, and where the majority of your competition is coming from, if they're younger, then maybe Twitter is the best way. Now, there is also other platforms, like LinkedIn and Reddit. You guys are probably thinking, "Reddit? That's not a conversational platform." But, I'll tell you what, it'll get you insane traffic, okay. I'll tell you, I used it when I first started launching my blog, and I posted a resource article called "50+ Resources to Learn Hand Lettering" just posted a link on Reddit, didn't really know how to use the platform yet. I got (instructor laughs) 6,000 people on my website in a day. I didn't have any followers on Reddit, it wasn't like I had built a community, I just posted something, but it was valuable content. And valuable content will always go viral. But, Reddit had that established audience for me to tap into so I could get those kind of numbers, and guess what, when you get a lot of traffic, that affects your SCO. So, for the next year, if you typed hand lettering into Google, I was the first result, on the first page. My client inquiries skyrocketed to the point where I was having to say no more often than I could say yes. And that's what I want, that's the kind of problem that you guys want to have, right? (instructor laughs) Now, for LinkedIn, everyone's got a LinkedIn, right? But, it's much more than just a place to keep your resume updated, okay. There's a posting platform, and it's for professionals. People are there to network, to get jobs, so why wouldn't you? Now, just because you're making products, doesn't mean you can't utilize LinkedIn. Or, if you're trying to get client work, you can go ahead and find those art directors, and learn a little bit more about them. Like, how big is the size of the company that they run, how long they've been in business, you can get all that contact information to their portfolio, so you can actually get to know the people you're trying to sell to in a little bit more of a professional way. And that's the kind of content you just can't get on Twitter, or Facebook. Because LinkedIn is professionally made. Now, which one of these conversational platforms do you think you would want to pick? Go ahead and just say them out loud, with the microphone. Where is it at? Is it over there? LinkedIn. LinkedIn, okay. Because I'm of a certain age, (laughter) You mean, the beautiful one? Of a certain age. The beautiful age. And since I believe that my group would be the people that I have worked with, shook hands with, that connection, I love looking at articles on LinkedIn, so, that's a place I think I would tap into, and people there are reading. Yeah, they do actually read the content that's on there, and not only can you post, but you can create original content, in the form of blog posts on LinkedIn, and that's stuff people really like though, they're like, "yummy, yummy, yummy, yummy." (instructor laughs) "I want more content." Anybody else? Which one of these would you pick for conversational? I would probably go with Facebook. Okay. Probably because it's a platform that I already use personally a lot, so I'm very familiar with it. I feel like I could do more with it, because of that. And I already do use it, just for just like a Facebook page, and it also allows me to create a Facebook group. Which would let me interact with people more actively. Which, I prefer, because then, I can not only share things visually but then I can also answer questions, or run things like giveaways, just things that help me interact with them more. I can do that on Instagram and other ones as well, I just feel like the familiarity with Facebook would help me. Facebook is really good again for products and commissions because you're advertising to normal people. Right, you're not trying to get other designers to look at your work, because almost everybody has a Facebook, or had a Facebook at one point, if they haven't deleted it already.