How to Use Social Media... when you hate it?

[akitsukino]

I have been thinking more recently about taking my art career/passion seriously. One of the ways people suggest doing that is posting more to social media and interacting with the right communities. But how do you do this when a lot of communities make you sick? It’s normal to be afraid of social media drama these days, but even being scared of the leviathan that is that there’s also the issue of what, when, and how you would post things. I’ve always been introverted and the internet doesn’t change that. It almost feels scarier to interact with people on the internet because the boundaries and expectations of real life aren’t there anymore. Tapas Forums are the only real social media I interact with because they’ve proven to be very chill over the years.

It’s not just fear of drama, which is avoidable if you try hard enough, it’s just the level of investment it’s seems to take. I can’t imagine myself posting anything else but wips, process videos, and maybe update announcements. Fans and followers aren’t the most important thing, but more eyes on you work does open up opportunities. It just feels unfortunate that there’s a bit of game you have to play for that that feels so easy to lose.

Does anyone have any tips for this? Is it really as easy as, “post what you want, ignore everything else?” Is there a good way to curate your experience and still interact, or is it always a “play it by ear” situation? Any thoughts or experiences/anecdotes on this?

[Aleksei]

I don't know if it helps, but you are not alone in that road!

[migxmeg]

Struggling with this too!

I tried to force myself to use Twitter for a while and just kinda failed because I'm not a words person and never much loved Twitter. Instagram is nice because scrolling through art and beautiful pictures makes me happy (and there's way less drama visible to me at least), so I enjoy using it. Pressing the like button is easy and leaving comments when I feel moved to is pleasant. Liking to use it makes it a lot easier to engage by posting my own work there.

I would guess if you hate the social media platform you're planning to use, you probably have to set a schedule and be disciplined about it just like any other chore you hate.

[caelinalexis]

It's totally okay to not like social media! But hey posting WIPs and process videos would do pretty well on TikTok. And if other viewers happened to see your art, then you could always link your tapas account (i think?) in your bio (or just put your username ;-; ). Update announcements could be on all platforms (maybe not tiktok tho). I'm pretty new at the whole creator thing ngl, so I'm afraid this is all the advice I can give you. If you want to know more abt the Tiktok part tho, dont be afraid to ask! We're all here to help <3

[arxianfall]

Make/pay someone else to do it for you.

[Mizukiji]

You're not alone, being an introvert irl, I find it hard to use social media now, but all I do to make my self feel relieved is to hide behind My avatar and pen name, in that case, nobody knows me and I feel confortable lol

[nathanKmcwilliams]

I just gave up messing with posting anything at all. I dropped off of instagram at the beginning of the year. Best choice I ever made. Social media brings nothing but suffering XD I'll figure out other ways to get eyes on my work.

[Caro]

When I’m on top of it I just schedule my posts for the week and walk away.

I get a lot of sales and work out of social media so I can’t completely abandon it but scheduling really helps me stay away from it and disengage. I try to make sure people know they’re scheduled and that anything important should go to my email instead of in my comments or replies or DMs.

[DasIstWunderblyat]

For now on Instagram I just drop my art, read and reply to comments and messages, then left.
On Twitter I do the same minus the second step before I never got any.

Disengaging and not giving a shit is really important for me. It saves me from being absorbed in the feeling of inadequacy or wasting my time with pointless scrolling. I only feel a little guilty for not "supporting" my mutuals, but they have more followers than me and it is not like my support matters.

[icedtea3]

As someone who prefers to observe social media than actually engage in it, I feel you whole-heartedly. While I do use Facebook and Instagram for business matters, I dislike posting on my personal social media accounts.

Firstly, I'd suggest taking a look at the social media platforms you'd like to use. I'd say Instagram, Twitter, and DeviantArt are used the most. Reddit and TikTok are other good places to post your art.

Then, I'd recommend checking out free social media scheduling softwares, like Buffer (10 total posts/month), or Later (30 posts/profile). Later's free plan alone would allow you to post almost daily - giving you time to focus on creating more art, and/or focusing on other social media platforms.

[HazeAmaze]

I'm with you on there too. I really don't like social media even though it's the best way to get your work out to people, I usually treat twitter or instagram like a dumping ground of posting my stuff then leaving. I log in and don't even look at my wall most of the time, I dunno why but the general vibe of twitter I don't like trying to talk to most people there.

[rajillustration]

I use Tweetdeck to manage my Twitter accounts because it shrinks my timeline down. That way I'm not tempted to read too much (and inevitably get very angry, because that's half of tweets nowadays--just real bad hot takes.) It also allows me to schedule updates and manage multiple accounts. Tweetdeck is great.

And secondly, curate your follower list carefully. Do not ever be afraid of blocking, muting, or stepping back. Truth is, most people won't see your tweets unless you get over 1 K followers, so I wouldn't be afraid of getting mean comments. Chances are so slim for a smaller starting out artist. But, if you ever do--do not take the bait and fight them. Just block their ass. If you see people being rude to big creators in a nasty way--block their ass so they never get a chance to harass you in the future.

But overall, my biggest issue with social media is just feeling very small and unimportant, mostly because the time I put into it gave very little results. So, my advice is to not put so much energy into it in the beginning, especially when you don't know what works yet. Maybe do a few posts a week, and then put the app away. After experimenting with different things, you'll be more comfortable to pick up the pace, or will decide that maybe this isn't the right app for you. (because you do not need to be on every app)

Besides, most people do not want someone spamming their timeline--so it's not really a more is more game on Social media, but a careful balance of doing it often enough--but not to often. (and this depends on algorithms, which are different for every site, and change on a monthly basis.) Don't get shadowbanned by tweeting incessantly.

[Kaydreamer]

There are friendly communities on almost all the social sites which makes using them far more enjoyable. The trick is in finding those communities, then using keyword blacklists liberally to block out everything you don't want to see.

I try to avoid politics and other contentious, energy-sucking topics as much as possible. I don't have the time to be drawn in, and I certainly don't want to end up on the pointy end of a Twitter mob because I did some wrongspeak or something.

Just follow other artists, comment and support art you love, chime into discussions which are healthy on topics you enjoy, and curate your experience so visiting your social sites leaves you feeling inspired. It takes some practice, but it's certainly possible. Even on Twitter.

[Puck]

I don´t like facebook, instagram, twitter etc.
Here are 3 options.
-You can pay someone to do it for you, depends on your money situation and how professional
you want it to be.
-You can do it like me, only log in when you upload something, then log off again without looking
at likes or comments. That works for me. Big advantage, I don´t waste my time for nothing (looking
at likes), I don´t answer messages because it´s also a waste of time.
-There is a way to upload on your homepage, twitter, facebook, instagram together. I don´t know
how to phrase that in english but you can connect the platforms

[MeltingCORE]

Oof! I feel you guys. I miss the early 00s where I could just chill on forums. But back-in-my-days aside, I have found a happy medium as a creator myself. I made the mistake of joining Twitter, Facebook, etc. That was an utter disaster for my mental health. Websites that thrive on clicks and addiction usually lure people who want "fame" or people who are just bad (ie literal criminals and bigots cough Twitter cough). I have friends who are jumping ship on those sites left and right lol. My suggestion is to pick just a couple of sites, devote maybe 15-20 mins tops before you go to bed OR after you get up to promotion, and then... live your life. Create, have fun - social media absolutely can help gain you a community. (I can vouch for Tapas, insta, and Tumblr for doing this without issues.) But just be careful within the torrent of doom-scrolling. You'll have to feel out which sites are personally best for you.

[DiegoPalacios]

I am not a big fan of social media's self centered style.....so i came up with an alternate and more personally enjoyable approach, which my followers seem to enjoy too.

For my comic's instagram, i did an account for the main character of my comic, so instead of making it about myself, turned it into a meta-joke about an inanimate rock's instagram account.

Got a rock that looks like my MC Rocky the Rock and periodically, share pictures of him on different situations. Some are parodies of classic instagram posts like the "just woke up like that" and others are just wacky situations and teased the comic.

So the advice is basically this: use social media on your own terms. Figure a way to make it enjoyable for you so you are willing to make the effort and achieve genuine engagement.

[DanielRKM]

This is one of my favorite threads on the forum so far. It's nice to know I'm not alone (and that there are some real positive steps that I can take if I want to keep trying those platforms).

Over the winter break some of my work got a little exposure but it never translated into followers (my work ended up getting likes over a quoted retweet, but it never came back my way). it was weird just sitting back and thinking- :okay, so people CAN like my work, but I just can't harness it yet because I don't know how yet."

Not really complaining. It's all just so weird. Social media can be such a grind and I'm not sure it's overly healthy for me just yet. I can't wait until I can feel safe enough to get back into comic book stores/conventions again and consume and share alike.

I appreciate you all here, though.

[Lady_T_Musings]

I feel you, but my problem tends to be I go too hard when I'm excited about something and overextend when it comes to social media to the point where I just start getting exhausted thinking about days I have to update anything that isn't a picture haha. It would be easier to just use one site to promote and share my art and text stuff, but everything split up into like 10 big social media sites to get onto and juggle that all target demographics differently. It's mad crazy exhausting and at the end of the day, I just wanna make comics/art and fangasm about other artist works & comics and talk shop sometimes with folks. Then there is every time I've set up shop and building an audience the site's policies get drastically changed or it gets shut down and then it's back to square one and I'm just ;V.

The only advice I have is to limit your scope to one or two platforms that you know you can consistently keep up with and causes the least amount of mental fatigue for you. That way you will be able to keep up with posting which keeps your account relevant and has a better chance at attracting folks. If you are comfortable with doing more go for it. The main one I use is Instagram since it's image-based and even though you can go ham with text, it's not the first thing you (or anyone else) will see. It's the images so that's nice. Sound like you got good stuff to post so just go for it.

Some places I've used and impressions, this forum is lovely, but honestly more of something I just enjoy participating in over trying to reach the largest audience since a lot of us here are in the same lake, buuutttt I've also got a ton of fantastic engagement and connections so I suppose it does count lol. Twitter gives me whiplash. Deviant Art is my dusty archive. Tumblr crashed and burned on me hard, but I still keep it going out of the memory of the glory days I guess. I'm not hip enough for Tiktok lol. Pillowfort is in limbo but I'm still holding out hope. WordPress is cute but pretty much a bot paradise. Pintrest is what it is, but not for engagement. Facebook is super exhausting. Youtube is something I'd like to try to process videos and talking bout art, but so much work for video editing. Artfol is new and looks promising.

I'd also recommend maybe blocking out a consistent time for you to knock out any posting you want to get out there so you don't have to stress over how often or not you have or haven't posted and get it done and out of the way so you can focus on other things that you would rather be doing.

[gabriellabalagna]

Fellow introvert, and hater of social media here! I'm terrible at social media, but I'm great at making content, so that's what I now focus on. Here's my solution so far:

1. Schedule social media posts using later.com. Then you can post regularly, but without having to remember or stress about it.

2. Create and post valuable content. I'm terrible at coming up with random cool things to say. Instead, I now make comics and an art tips blog. Now I always have something to share about.

3. Like and comment on people's stuff. If I saw something I liked I used to just screenshot or save it. Now I actually tell people how great their stuff is. It doesn't take too much time, and it brightens both our days.

[Rhonder]

This past year I've tried to approach this issue in 2 different ways (as someone who also doesn't particularly like using Social Media).

The first is that I've started experimenting with other types of media/less conventional social media platforms. My problem with the usual suspects (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) is that I just... don't have any passion for making the types of posts that do well on those platforms, and especially not at the frequency that they expect to gain traction. It's bad enough just formatting images into social media friendly posts and captioning them and picking out tags and all that, but then platforms like Twitter take it a step further where on top of that they want you to like... just talk about stuff frequently too lol. I know a lot of people have a lot to say but I just... don't xD

Instead, starting last summer I started experimenting with live streaming and video content. I've had way more fun pushing my art in these formats than I ever did just making social media posts, so it's like... regardless of how they "perform", it doesn't feel like time wasted because the process was fun (for me). Where as if I spend time on a twitter post and it gets 0 likes it's a double lose lol. There are other alternative forms of media out there too, I bet. These are just what's been working for me. But yeh, finding a way to make the process fun is helpful!

That said, I haven't (and likely never will honestly) fully abandoned the aforementioned sites, so my strategy to make those more bearable has been to just change the way I interact with them. Instead of working on making posts moment to moment, I've started taking advantage of scheduling and instead just schedule blocks of content every few months. It means that my accounts alternate between periods of consistent activity and consistent down time, which is probably not great for algorithms, but it's better than nothing I guess lol. Learning that you can schedule to instagram via a linked facebook page earlier this year (or late last year? I can't remember) was a game changer. Instagram was my least favorite platform to use despite having the most followers there because of the mobile-only posting nonsense lol