I was listening to friends podcast and he was talking about posting on social media and the importance of taking the time to write thoughtful, meaningful statements and questions to the people you are reading about and to the folks that respond to your posts. The purpose of this is to build relationships, network and find your tribe.
It got me thinking about my own tribe; Artists. When I first started this journey I believed that my followers were art enthusiasts and friends. These were the people who would actually purchase my art. But I am realizing that most of my fans are actually other artists; my tribe mates.
I listened to another podcast where the person stated that artists love buying from other artists. The main reason why is inspiration.
We inspire one another and want to support one another.
I joined this facebook group for a two weeks online art summit called Lifebooks Creativity and Well-being Summit. I posted my first painting on it and got 115 likes and 18 comments in a matter of a couple of hours. This is a way better response than I have received on my instagram or facebook pages where I have 600 and 365 followers. The most likes I have gotten on any of my pieces or posts runs into the 50’s and the comments less than 10.
So on this summit, I diligently commented on every post, with encouragement, thank yours and support. I can’t tell if it made a difference to anyone I responded to, but it sure made me feel good. I was actually feeling really depressed yesterday and just telling others to keep going, keep trying, and giving validation made me feel better.
I am not sure how this will affect my overall mission, but I do know that it helps me feel that I matter and that I am needed in the world. I just have to figure out what to do with it. But what I do know that if I use other artists as my target market I will feel like I am helping them and they are sure helping me.