How do you make social media work for you?

[punkarsenic]

I've been thinking about social media a lot lately. The arts org I work with is trying to revamp their socials, and one of my goals for the summer is to get my online presence up to scratch. Because of my age, people always expect me to know perfectly how social media works and how to work it to my advantage - but I'm autistic, and all things 'social' come to me like flying comes to fish. Even when I do know what to do, it's all exhausting and overwhelming. But I wanna get better. sooo...

as artists, what are your tips and techniques for making social media work for you, and fit into your busy schedule?

For people who aren't naturally keyed towards social media, who are very private or quiet, how do you motivate yourself to post?

[LordVincent]

I have recently begun using instagram because it's very image centric, so when I don't feel like saying much but want to give a "hey im still alive" reassurance I can jusst post a WIP and not comment much. On the other hand it's also more personally oriented than comic publishing sites so if I have a lot to say I can type it in and just attach a random selfie to fill the image requirement.

As for post types, it doesn't rly matter? Then again that depends on the image you want to portray of yourself. I'm not aiming for "adult, cold and professional". I'm more going for funny, approachable, openminded and spiritual. Basically just me. So most of my posts tend to be very straightforward "this is what im drawing rn", or my cat, or a random pic with a jokey comment.

[punkarsenic]

I can jusst post a WIP

so you post wips of comic pages?

what always held me back from posting on instagram was all i had was comic pages, and nothingy little doodles, and both felt inappropriate for instagram.

[punkarsenic]

Oh Damn ive just discovered post scheduling

my friend showed me hootsuite and later.com and while scheduling up posts is still, like, effort, theyre gonna be so helpful. i think i prefer the later.com interface + the fact you can upload a buncha images to it to browse through whenever.

instagrams the big thing now, right?

[NanettesClouds]

Wanna second instagram - it’s great for posting doodles and sketches. I don’t think I’ve ever posted a finished piece there actually? + there’s a small comics scene there now that there are the multi-page posts. Downside is you can’t post from desktop

[lil-sea-salt]

I have a social that's kind of my main place I post (Tapas), then I post different kinds of content on other sites like I did a podcast, a fanfiction piece, poetry, as well as smaller art pieces.

Challenges help me keep my art organized so I have a kind of set schedule of what's going on. I have a 30 days of writing that I'm on day 12. Day 1,2 are full length lite novels now, up from the little pieces they were when they started.

I'm always making progress. I'm always editing and I'm always trying things like little short pieces to see what ideas people like.

That's what works for me. Feel free to PM me if you have more questions.

[beta1042]

you can post on desktop... atleast I can on windows. There's a desktop windows app for IG.

[LordSeriphus]

I don't really use social media. I have an old fb from middle school, so I use messenger to get a hold of people that don't have phone numbers. Then I have an instagram that just has a bunch of artist accounts. When I don't wanna wake up, I'll look at other people's work, shit on myself for being unproductive, then get out of bed.

That's about it. I mostly post on tapas. But I feel like you need to use social media to promote yourself as an author these days. Which sucks, because I don't really want to. But I also can't afford to have someone else promote my work, and it'll be hard to get published and have publisher do it. (Which is my favorite option.) So I guess I should just post about my novels once I get the ball rolling?
Idk. I don't like social media. xD

[punkarsenic]

have you heard of later.com? you can upload like a tonne of media up to it from desktop or phone, and schedule posts to post whenever. i dont think it sets up multiple image posts... but ive only been working with it like a day.

[NanettesClouds]

I hadn't heard of that but I've heard of hootsuite, is it similar? I know that there are a couple different options for social media manager programs. I should probably look into them closer

[Shanny8]

I really havent been using FB like I've wanted to for the past couple of yrs- I mainly promote my art stuff on there, but it's more like an "autopilot" thing. For the last 3 yrs I've really been active on Twitter, pushing & promoting my works, my comics, and other silly/quirky stuff. I just started posting stuff on my IG page after letting lie dormant for half a year- my main reason being that I'm not really that person to snap a pic every minute of my life and I def dont do self vids. Since I did learn how to upload pics from my computer to IG, that has helped me to promote myself better on that platform.

[punkarsenic]

yeah, its similar to hootsuite. i think i prefer it tho