Comic Promotion and Social Media: My Experiences (Part 2)

[mitchrandom]

Hi everyone!

This is a very long post, but it's full of things that I hope you will find useful.

This is a followup to a topic I made in November of last year detailing my experiences with publishing my animal comic, WebCanids, to various platforms. I want to share what I've seen and some strategies I've learned so that others can benefit and have a better idea of what they could expect.

As a bit of background, I've casually run a number of social media pages since 2013 and know a few people who are marketing professionals, so most of what I've learned comes from them and my own observations. I'm still new at making comics, however, so I am by no means an expert.

I started my comic back in September of 2019, and since then, here are my overall experiences with each platform, ranked by which are the most successful at the time of this post (1 being most successful).

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• 1 Facebook: I have the largest following here, approaching 1000 people (I can't determine an exact number because of the difference between likes and follows).

  • I always post each comic separated with each panel being its own image. This serves two purposes: It is easier to protect the image from people who crop out author names, and it causes people to spend more time looking at the post to read the comic. It is theorized that the longer people spend looking at a post, the better the engagement will be, and timeline algorithms will push it more.

  • Every once in a while if I think it's relevant and non-spammy enough, I'll share a comic to a group that seems appropriate. For example if I make a comic about a shiba inu, I may share it to a shiba inu dog lover's group.

  • I promote posts occasionally, but only to a custom-targeted audience and at $1 a day for 3 days. This is satisfactory for now and allows me to experiment without breaking the bank. It usually doubles my engagement. I only promote a comic if I think it has potential to spread (in other words the comics I'm most proud of).

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• 2 Tumblr: Growing the fastest by far. I am approaching 500 followers now and I get a few new people to follow per day at this point.

  • In order to work with the blog template I use, I have to upload comics as one long scrolling image (like on Tapas or Webtoon). Otherwise it often fails to load the images on the blog website.

  • Tumblr's image upload function is frustrating sometimes with frequent upload failures. Ways around this that I frequently use involve compressing the image using compressor.io and/or only uploading images under 1mb if possible. Be sure to check for artifacts and other issues!

  • I always make sure to customize the url of each post, write the necessary caption, and add up to 20 tags. One thing I see a lot of on Tumblr is people writing messages in tags, but I try to use them to reach more people instead.

  • The new Tumblr group chat thing is a bit odd, but I wouldn't overlook it. I once hopped in a relevant one just to say hi and check it out and got 8 new followers in under an hour. Chats seem to die out kind of fast though, at least the ones I've seen.

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• 3 Webtoon: I have the best comments and conversations from readers on this site. While I only have around 150 followers, I would actually say this is my favorite platform because it's fun and I can easily follow other comics while managing my own. However...

  • From a creator standpoint, Webtoon is, um, bad... No scheduling, no post rearranging, no comment notifications, tiny image resolutions, and so on. It can be a real pain. Thus, I only ever upload comics a week in advance in case something changes.

  • I always add a buffer image with my comic's title to the top of every comic. This is for mobile viewers who have devices with a notch or hole-punch camera. Otherwise, the top of every comic would be hard to see. I do the same thing on Tapas. You can even have some fun with it if you want (I added a fox peeking over the comic to mine). I also add one at the bottom with references to my other social media and the names of Patreon supporters. My buffer images are mostly amoled black to save readers' cell phone batteries and eyes.

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• 4 Instagram: It's alright, but it could be better. I seem to have gotten stuck at around 200 followers for months now.

  • Instagram is notoriously hard to leverage nowadays. The usual tips include keeping your post schedule consistent (use Facebook Creator Studio to schedule posts), interacting with others (but don't spam), using hashtags between 10k and 1M posts, avoiding shadow bans, and responding to every comment. However, these things alone don't ever seem to be enough. I remember years ago when growing was a lot easier... I miss those days.

  • I always upload each panel as a separate image for the same reasons I do on Facebook. I also add an end panel with references to my other platforms, and I change it up between three alternatives.

  • I immediately share every post to my Instagram story, and then highlight the story to make categories. If your comic can be separated into categories, this tactic is great to keep your page organized.

  • Once posted, try not to edit posts. It can ruin engagement and even get you shadowbanned if done too often.

  • I promote posts occasionally on Instagram in the same way I do on Facebook. It usually leads to some higher engagement and maybe a handful of new followers, but it's usually, well, meh. I'd still recommend it over nothing, though, but only if you have at least a few existing posts for newcomers to see when they check out your page.

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• 5 Reddit: I only post here occasionally, and only to very specific subreddits. When I do, it usually goes pretty well, with at least a few hundred upvotes.

  • I only post a comic once and to a targeted and relevant subreddit. For example, if I have a comic about a fox, I'll share it to r/foxes, and nowhere else (to avoid spamming). Always check the rules, and be sure to get involved in the subreddit by interacting with other posts. I don't just use the subreddits for posting, I enjoy browsing them too.

  • Subreddits like r/comics and r/webcomics are basically link graveyards, and frankly I think posting there is a waste of time.

  • To avoid spamming and save time, I have a pinned post on my own profile with links to my comic's main site. That way if someone likes my comics enough and wonders if I've made more, they would click on my username and see that post (I know this is working because there are upvotes on the post).

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• 6 Twitter: It's going ok, I suppose. I only have around 40-50 followers, but I never really focused on promoting the page, so I am happy with that. Twitter is honestly the platform I have the least experience with.

  • Sometimes a comic has more than 4 panels so I have to splice two panels into one image. If you come across a similar situation, it might work for you, too.

  • I've noticed some comic creators post comics to their personal page (which can get cluttered), while others have a dedicated comic profile. I went the dedicated route, but sometimes that makes the page feel dead because I don't post anything else to it for days. I'd say which strategy is best could go either way.

  • If you manually tweet your comics, be sure to check for useful trending hashtags! It's rare, but sometimes there's something relevant there. I don't personally do this because I use Tweetdeck to schedule comics in advance.

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• 7 ComicFury: My "official" comic website is here! The analytics say I get an ok (10 - 40) amount of visitors a day on average. I have five ComicFury subscribers too, apparently, which I just checked because I forgot they were a thing.

  • I took time to get my site just how I wanted before posting and backdating comics. I use it as a hub of everything relevant to my comic, and have social links displayed on the homepage.

  • When building the site, I asked various people what they look for in a webcomic site, and I made sure to implement the most popular things such as mousover text, arrow key and image click navigation, and mobile optimization. ComicFury makes a lot of this easy to implement already!

  • I use Disqus comments instead of the ComicFury ones because they look a bit cleaner and more people can comment without having to make a new account. I still have yet to get any though... lol.

  • Building a custom site can be daunting, but take your time, use the ComicFury forums for help, and don't overwork yourself and you'll get there! The end result is worth it. You can learn the bulk of html and css in a weekend, and those are the bulk of what you need to build a good-looking site.

  • I'd recommend a small terms of service / privacy page and a cookie notification, just in case (especially with GDPR).

  • Make sure to keep SEO in mind! Meta-name tags and headings are important!

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• 8 Tapas: The slowest-growing platform by far. It doesn't bother me too much anymore as my comic is a little different for this site. The followers I do have are great though, and many came from conversations I had here in the forums!

  • My main use for Tapas is actually scheduling. Out of all of the platforms I post on, the Tapas scheduling feature is by far the easiest to use. Often, I'll schedule Tapas first and use it as a reference to schedule everything else. I do wish I could adjust the time zone, though. It seems a little odd that you can't do that.

  • I also visit (and usually lurk) in the forums at least once a day. There's plenty of useful information here.

  • As with Webtoon, I add buffer images to the top and bottom of every comic.

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• ? Patreon: I'm not really ranking this one. I have a few supporters here. Slow growth, but I mean, it's Patreon. I don't expect to make a living off of it. I'm just happy that some people support my work as is.

  • I don't overextend myself with offers, because I'd rather add and make supporters happier than subtract and make supporters less happy. I share comics a few days early, and have some exclusive alternate comic versions and behind the scenes workflow posts.

  • I only have one tier because it's easier for me to keep up with, and it doesn't pressure any potential supporters into overspending.

  • Of course, always make sure to thank your patrons!

  • I use post tags as categories to organize the page. They don't increase reach or anything.

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• Other tips I always use:

  • I always respond or at least like/react to comments on every platform. Tumblr is the hardest to do this on because its reply feature is weird to me, lol.

  • I always add a bunch of tiny "created by mitchrandom" watermarks throughout each panel of my comic. Not so large that they distract, but enough to point to in cases of potential copyright infringement. I've been into graphic design for years so it's important to me, and plus the third comic I ever shared was cropped and stolen before going viral so I learned that lesson too many times to overlook it again.

  • I always make sure to add "for more comics like this, visit (my comic's website)" to Facebook and Twitter posts. This gives people a place to look for more comic content and find my other platforms, as well as a link to some of my other stuff.

  • Wherever possible, I make a pinned post with my comic's summary and links to all other platforms. I do this on Reddit, Facebook, and Twitter.

  • I never bother with uploading part of a comic and then asking people to click a link to see the rest. People don't really click links often on social media (myself included). The only exceptions are when a comic's format is incompatible with some sites while working on others.

  • Despite the theme this post may give off, you shouldn't spend all your time focusing on numbers (but also don't ignore them). Focus on enjoying your artistic process and making something you can be proud of! If it makes you happy, then everything else is just a bonus!

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While I hope at least some of this information may be useful to you, please remember everyone's comic is different and not everyone's experiences will be the same!

Have you had similar experiences? Do you disagree with anything? What is your favorite type of fruit or vegetable?

Thanks for reading,
- Mitch (I like strawberries!)

[purrsome]

Thanks for posting this.

As a new starting comic artist, this is really helpful. And I haven't thought seriously enough about promoting my comics as I thought I could get the audience's attention automatically. How naive am I!

I will try to do what you have done. Thanks!

[mitchrandom]

Good luck to you! I hope it helps!

[flowershop]

Thank you so much for this post. This is so informative, and I really appreciate you taking the time to make this! I haven't even tried most of these social media platforms, and I'm now going to start.

I wish you the best of luck on your comic journey !

[mitchrandom]

Thank you! Same to you!

[toonben]

Hey, I just posted my webcomic. I mainly use instagram since I get decent activity there. I tried tumblr in the past but I hardly get notices. I'm thinking about going back to my main blog and I'm also hosting my webcomic there. I posted my webcomic on Tapas and Webtoons. It's doing better on Tapas than Webtoons. I have my own website (toonben.com) which has decent activity. I got bored with Facebook and Twitter and I don't feel like using it.

Looking for tips on using social media and promoting my webcomics?

The fact is that I'm not great with social media.

[mitchrandom]

@toonben

Well, along with the tips in the OP,

Firstly, I'd suggest trying a layout where all the panels/rectangles of your comic are sequential (on top of each other) rather than next to each other. It makes it easier to read, especially for mobile readers on smaller screens. A big turnoff for potential readers is opening a new comic and seeing lots of panels, detail, and text in a relatively compact space. It can be a bit overwhelming. You're doing something similar on Instagram already, so why not try it on Tapas too?

On Webtoon and Tapas, something to try could be breaking your comics into smaller pieces and posting them as separate updates. This would help make it less overwhelming visually and would also allow you to upload more often and get to the top of the new uploads section in your genres, which is where most Canvas/indie comics get new views.

Lastly, I'd think about update titles. A repeated title with page numbers is good for organization, but it doesn't really compel someone to click and can get confusing once you have a lot of episodes and there are numbers everywhere. I personally think it's better to try and summarize what happens in a 1-4 word title. Maybe something like:

Ep. 1: The Surprise
Ep. 2: The Escape

...and so on. You could still put "Rodent's New Home" at the top of the episode pages, but I don't think it needs to be in the update title every time.

Otherwise, I can't really offer help with Tapas because like I mentioned I've struggled there too.

Really what it comes down to is making it easier for readers to see what's going on, with minimal "figure it out" time.

I once read that it usually takes at least a year for a comic to really get off the ground (unless you're in a popular niche like romance or whatever). Just be patient and consistent and you will definitely be in a much better spot!

Good luck!

[Iseitouch]

Hm... maybe I should give it a try. I've made all these accounts but I haven't been using them to their full capability. I always though Instagram was the only way to go because of it's platform and constant feeds and trends. I don't even kow if anyone on Instagram even read my comic. My tumblr has been in and out of my life because I'm always seeing it as a baither since nothing really happens there, but reading this, definitely helped. I'll dust off Tumblr and give it a go. I'll give it til the end of next month to tell you what I got!

[mitchrandom]

Best of luck to you!

[Iseitouch]

thank you very much

[sproon]

SIMPLEMINDED | Tapas

help my newborn comics please :’(