How do you manage socials?

[Naima]

Hello, I just recentlydecided that I wanted to put step into the social world, I usualy only had an artstation and deviant art site, with minimal viewers and watchers, how can I do to increase that audience?
Also should I use instagram or other channels?
If so how do you increase viewers and followers and spread publicity etc?
can you gain anything increasing followers?
Also since I do not only make maps, but also other 3d and 2d stuff should I make two separate channels to be less confusing and focus one only on maps or mix blend all stuff together?
Thanks for any advice

[Eowyn Cwper]

I have a hard time committing to any social medium, but I got most of my commisions from the Guild and people finding my art on DeviantArt and my website. I'm not entirely sure how the number of followers is correlated to the amount of work you get; surely there's a connection if only because of visibility, but followers are statistically enjoyers moreso than buyers.

Personally I have all my art in one place on my website, it usually makes a good impression on people so long as it's well organised and accessible. That's also how I was hired for mapmaking commissions by applying for conlanging jobs lol.

To conclude, committing to social media is nice if it doesn't cause pressure on your side (for me it does because I just don't make enough maps to commit). But setting up a fixed, visible portfolio may be just as important depending on what you do.

[Naima]

I see some people do have a consistant number of followers on instagram , some others have a patreon too .

[Naima]

Any sugestions?

[musa575]

For increasing your audience, definitely consider Instagram – it's great for visual artists. Expanding your social presence often requires a mix of strategies. Post regularly, engage with your followers, and use relevant hashtags to get noticed. Also, leveraging paid advertising, when targeted effectively, and additional SMM tools can give your content a boost.

[IllustratedPageBookDesign]

With social media, a big question is -- what's your goal? Who are you trying to reach?

My goal with social media is to get hired for commissions, and my audience is primarily authors. I've found the most success Facebook and posting in author groups. I think TikTok would probably also be a good way to reach authors, but I frankly can't stand TikTok.

Basically, figure out what you want, who you have to reach, and where that audience hangs out.

[Scelus Sceleris]

With Facebook, it's not just about being there but about being visible. Running ad campaigns tailored to your audience can make a world of difference.


I've seen artists launch campaigns targeting specific author groups or genres. Say you're brilliant at illustrating fantasy landscapes; target authors who are into fantasy writing. Your ad can showcase a snippet of your work, appealing directly to them.


You can use adspy to see what ad campaigns others in your field are running. It might give you insights into what's working for them and tweak your strategies accordingly.

[JulieJubz]

I’ve actually been wanting to pull away from social media more, now that machine learning is a big problem and almost everyone out there wants to partner up with Midjourney :/

But I have been using glaze and nightshade to try and fight back, so the main places I’m looking at now to try and post are the new sites that most people are flocking to like Bluesky. There’s something kind of nice about starting fresh on new sites that don’t have algorithms messing stuff up yet.

I know a lot of artists are flat out leaving most social media or trying to lock in a single one they like and just sticking to it. So if you have a site you specifically like, try to stick with it and do your best there? Instead of spreading too much?

[wminish]

Instagram has been my social media focus for a while now but recently engagement has just been terrible. Recently Patreon has been focusing much more on free users so I've been putting in some more effort there, as their business model doesn't rely on selling ads you don't run into the problems on Instagram where most of your audience is gated off from you by the platform. Discoverability is a problem though, you really need to be directing new members in from somewhere else.

It's hard to beat Cartographers Guild really.

[JulieJubz]

I get that for sure!

I used to love instagram at first, but the moment Facebook bought it, I just gave up fighting the algorithm there. I do like having a Patreon since having your own little corner is always nice. But Patreon doesn’t make visibility simple so it’s always you doing all the work unlike other social media. But yeah so far I do think Patreon and other sites like it are the strongest of the bunch right now since you don’t have to worry so much about bots.

I am excited about this site though because it’s been forever since I’ve been part of a forum and those can be so nice