Psychology of Facebook Art Sales
How a podcast and YouTube channel are changing my mental well-being
April already and I am behind. Seems like aging is catching up with me, still I’ve found time to add two new social media platforms, a podcast and a YouTube channels for artists (here) —while continuing to paint new pastels for national and international competitions this year.
The podcast is in the works but the YouTube is up and going. The podcast is called 2Guys Talk Art with co-host Jeffery Baumgartner, an oil painter traveling the country painting in cities and towns he stops in. We did a soft launch —an introduction of who we are to get that out of the way —but have been putting a few in the can so we can have a consistent schedule when life and travel get in the way— check out the link to the intro, but it doesn’t resemble the actual episodes.
The subjects will vary but they address what we’ve both seen in the art industry on topics such as pricing, the different personalities for selling one’s own art, what is the responsibility of the artist for using archival materials and much more.
We have also lined up other national art personalities for guest spots and we have found that Jeffery’s road trips themselves have important lessons anyone can use who wants to try and hit the road and paint their way to someplace. If you ever wondered it that was even possible, his adventures will maybe give you the confidence to try it. More than once he has heard what he calls “the tap” …..the end of an officer’s flashlight on his van door in the wee hours of the morning.
The Psychological Paradigm Shift
Both of these projects, for me, seem to be different in some important ways than other social media. I have been on Facebook and selling art on social media for years but have found that it is a constant challenge to keep up with how the algorithms change and it is up to the user to figure out how to reach as many people today as they once did when FB allowed everyone equal access. I found myself constantly having to tweak what I did to get people to know that I even painted a new pastel and that it was for sale. Facebook want’s their money, and they are NOT working just as hard as I am to get people to notice I’m even there — but they work to restrict sales on a non-commercial account unless they can capture money for it. As an artist with a business page, the algorithms have rendered it useless to reach people. Artists selling on FB must do it on personal pages.
It is exhausting trying to get around the restrictions of a personal page. Anyone that has tried to sell on a personal account knows the many tactics like saying, “75 dead George Washingtons and you can have this …..” were used to get around the FB blocking methods. Way less effective now too….Truly exhausting!
These two projects are different in the fact that I don’t care if one person or a million watch my videos or listen to the podcast, they are just fun to make. Like art, I find I am doing them because I want to, not because I have to in order to create sales. That’s a huge difference psychologically. I actually laughed when I accidentally noticed that one episode suddenly shot up in popularity by 2,500 percent — I knew immediately that it was YouTube doing what social media companies do, fiddling with it’s exposure to reward a new channel or maker— after all, there was nothing different in that video than any that came before or after it. But instead of chasing “What made this one go wild, how can I duplicate that,” I laughed and just created the next video as I did the one before it. I am having fun. Like painting, I am enjoying myself. I suppose that at some point, the podcast might just become a grind, if so, I’ll cross that bridge when it happens.
I think the video will endure and only my age will limit my energy to continue — because I am making the videos to share with others how-to make art, how to improve what they make and how art can bring calm and peace to them like it has me. The videos are my way of sharing. I know artists that won’t share a thing, but most do. I learned what I do because other artists shared what they know. It was up to me to figure out what worked for me and what didn’t.
It’s the act of sharing and giving to others that make the YouTube so much fun for me. I suspect that shift in mindset will continue to make the Youtube channel more enduring than other social media that my business forces upon me.