Social Media – Analog Artist Digital World

I always go to social media meet ups when I can to learn something new. Panelists discuss what they have learned, but they learn by trial and error. I learned that headlines should be catchy and informative. Complete sentences work better when the post goes on Twitter and Facebook. I’m thinking that the best headlines always involve cute kittens. Twitter is a beast I have only started to use. Panelists seem to have Thousands of followers and they accomplish that by looking through lists of followers followers and following them. I can’t imagine putting in so much effort to find people I don’t know.

Monetizing the blog is a realistic goal that I need to set for myself next year. At a party this weekend, we discussed the idea that a goal isn’t likely to be achieved unless you write it down and share it. Soon I will be teaching workshops to middle school and high school students, inspiring them to keep sketchbooks. I hope to start organizing monthly “Orlando Drink and Draw” (ODD) events to meet more local artists. The literary community seems to have a plethora of events every month yet artists seldom get together unless they are vendors at festivals. Frankie Messina had the awesome idea of having a softball game between authors and artists. It is fun ideas like this that can get arts groups to mingle and mix more.

Another goal for the new year is to set up sketch workshops for tourists. I’m sure there are some tourists who would like to escape the theme parks and sketch the real Orlando. In February I hope to collaborate with Kelly Medford who founded sketch tourism in Rome Italy. Together we will host a tourist sketch outing in Orlando. I’m excited to see this happen.

Kandra Ferguson, Sarah Porter and Menachem Kniespeck furthered the discussion on social media. I’m beginning to realize that I have only skimmed the surface in using social media to share my work with a wider audience. I only started using instagram two days ago but people have been using that interface as a way to share work for years. I’ve only just begun to use hashtags this week as well. After hearing so many people talk about how useful hashtags are, I’m finally taking the time to add them. Researching hashtags and using them to find people with similar interests is something I need to get better at.

I spoke with Caroline Moore and she wrote an article on Linked in that generated a huge spike in readers. Although I am signed up on linked in, I’ve never understood it’s potential. With social media, I feel like I’m always expected to juggle multiple balls while more balls keep getting thrown in. The second this all becomes work rather than play, then I’ll have to cut back. In the mean time I continue to listen and learn at a glacial speed.