Building Audience and Audience Connect

[jennybhatt]

There are a number of great articles here on building audience, which are great for newbies.However, I have a different sort of problem...
Just wondering how I can build a following. I have just started my first webcomic and put it on several platforms. I get about 40 to 70 Likes on Instagram but only 1 Like on Tapastic for the exact same comic!!! I don't understand why this happens. Is it because this is not the right platform for my comic or are the readers different from those on my Instagram?
I tried 9Gag for a bit but that community is rude and nasty...the only platform where I had this kind of an experience. The other things is that on some platforms like Facebook, followers drop no matter what you do to keep them. While on my Wordpress blog, there are few followers but the number never decreases.
Can somebody help out with all this? Thanks much!

[JessJackdaw]

Umm, for one thing Tapastic has a lot less web traffic compared to instagram. Not sure of the exact number, but even the larger comics on here don't average more than 100 ish likes. The top comics might bench 1k or more likes, but that is a rare thing to happen starting out here.

It's a cozy small community here with small numbers but kind people. If you'd like a larger comic platform to potentially see greater numbers instantly, there's always Line Webtoon.

...And I'm going to be a broken record if it kills me. Please don't fret over numbers. You'll save yourself a lot of stress this way.

[punkarsenic]

i guess you could reach out to your insta fans, asking them to support you on tapastic? promote the site to them; if they like comics, theyll probably like it, and theyll follow you here

[eslameldeeb]

None of what you mentioned has anything to do with audience building/connect, you're just talking about how numbers differ on different platforms
I say this everywhere i go because i see a lot of artists beating themselves over numbers.. NUMBERS ARE NOT ALIVE! THEY ARE SIMPLY DEAD LIFELESS DIGITS ON YOUR DISPLAY
The only thing number are good at is that the more the clicks the more your comic's name/logo/icon is going to be carved in the viewers' memory (and that's important)
But that's it, that's the best numbers would get you, numbers don't translate farther than the promotional value at this point
To me, when it comes to the Internet, audience is another word for "potential readers", and subscribers who let your comic's update notifications pile up in their inbox without caring about checking it are not "audience"
How to build audience? First of all, be a natural inhabitant of the art medium itself, make it a natural part of your identity and building audience is going to automatically be a natural thing (building is caring)
Because the first thing that defines a comic reader (our target as comic artists) is that they "love comics" to begin with, so you as a comic artist.. your home must be in the very art medium of comics, and trying to approach different types of audiences is going to break your neck over almost nothing (9Gag or Facebook.. etc.)

[jennybhatt]

Thanks Punkarsenic, great idea!

[jennybhatt]

You're right I want readers, not numbers! I will make it a point to stop stressing about numbers and take it as it comes.

[jennybhatt]

Unfortunately, its been the same for me on Line Webtoon.