As an artist one of the most useful things we can do for our art career is be visible on social media. Unfortunately, the phrase “social media” can have some scary connotations, especially for those of who aren’t tech savvy. But social media does not have to be scary, and once you take the fear out of it, you can see how helpful social media can really be.There are dozens of social media networks out there that can be useful for artists, but we are only going to talk about three of them.

The first is one you’ve undoubtably heard about: Twitter.

Launched in 2006, Twitter did not start gaining significant amounts of traction until a couple years ago. Now seemingly everybody is on it. Twitter is a free service that allows people to communicate in under 140 characters.

There is a misconception that Twitter is only useful to let people know what you’re doing, but there’s so much more to it. Using Twitter you can send announcements, engage followers, and even tell jokes.

If you’re over-worked and under-rested like I am, then you might find services like HootSuite useful. HootSuite is a website that allows you to manage and schedule Tweets in advance. It’s a great way to make sure you don’t forget to tweet about your upcoming exhibit!

But Twitter is useless if you don’t know what to tweet.  If you’re using Twitter for marketing, it’s a good idea to use the 80/20 ratio: 80% social, 20% promotion. Here are some ideas for things you can tweet about besides yourself:

• upcoming museum exhibits
• a piece by another artist
• quotes from famous artists
• something that inspires you to create art
• music you listen to when making art
• art events in your locale
• an awesome deal on supplies

Next up on our list of social networks is Facebook.

You can set up a fan page for your art, which is basically a personal profile, but you can have unlimited fans (you can only have 5,000 friends), insights into your visitors such as languages and locations, and even better: you can set up your page so certain promotions are only available to those who like your page.

Setting up a fan page is free, and you can doso by scrolling to the bottom of the page and clicking “advertising.”Using HootSuite you can schedule updates to your fan page the same time you’re scheduling them to your Twitter account. Thanks to the power of HootSuite you can get more art marketing done in less time! What’s not to love?Your fan page is different than Twitter. On your fan page it is almost expected that everything will be about you, so let loose, but don’t go too crazy. It’s nice to stir things up once in a while with other posts like:

• spotlighting another artist
• starting a discussion about a controversial museum piece
• sharing a news article
• posting a tutorial video

Third on our list of social networks that are useful to artists is one that you may not have heard of: Pinterest.

Pinterest is new to the social network scene only having launched in 2010, but it’s totally cool, and perfect for those of us who are visual.

When you sign up for a free account you get virtual bulletin boards and you can virtually pin things to them that you’re interested in. A little button that you can install in your browser allows you to pin something to a board with just a click of the mouse instead of logging into the website.

Boards can be about whatever you want. My boards include “Marketing Wisdom” “Products I Love” “Travel” “Cityscapes” “Art” and “Awesome People.” People can repin something onto one of their boards which in turn helps spread your pin.

You can make a board of your own artwork and your followers will see your newest piece as soon as you pin it there. You don’t have to send out an email blast or ask them to go look at your website. One pin and it’s done.

It should be noted, social media is not like the famous rotisserie oven from late night infomercials: you can’t just set it and forget it. Social media requires regular maintenance to be effective, but if you’re consistent about putting yourself out there, it can do wonders for your career.