Why Artists Should Have an Artist Facebook Page In Addition to Their Personal Facebook Account.

When talking to artists, I always ask, “do you have an Artist’s Facebook Page?”
Many will say they are on Facebook, but don’t realize that on Facebook, they can also have a professional (business) page in additional to their personal Facebook account (also known as a “profile”).  A Facebook personal account is where you share things with your family and friends.  A Facebook page is another free FB site that you can easily set up (through your personal FB account) to help you to market your artwork, and reach more potential clients like businesses or organizations do.  A Facebook page allows you to reach more people and have more people see you and your work, and unlike your Facebook personal account, they don’t have to send you a friend request for approval to see what you post.

Here is a good tutorial that I have sent to lots of Artists to help them with setting up their Facebook Artist page: “How to Create a Facebook Page”

Why should I have another FB site, a Facebook Page as an Artists?
There are several very good reasons:

1)  Anyone can see a Facebook page which is an open to the public – everyone.  FB pages are how businesses, organizations and more, use to connect with their customers, members and supporters.  As an Artist, this can help you connect to people who enjoy your Art, and potential clients interested in buying your Art.  With your regular FB personal account people must send you “friend requests” and be approved in order to see your posts.  Your personal FB account has privacy settings that could prevent people from seeing, liking, commenting, and sharing your FB posts.  As an example, here is my Facebook page: Art of Real Estate – Deborah Burns (It’s for my Real Estate business and to help promote artists, because I believe Art makes a Home!) hope you’ll “Like” my page, that is also where I will be sharing more of my tips for Artists and information on Real Estate too!

2)  Anyone can “Like”, leave a comment or “Share” a FB post from a FB page without having to be approved as a “friend” like must be done for personal FB accounts – this is the key reason to have an Artist Facebook page.

3)  Another FB page can like, comment and better yet, share your FB page post expanding your reach.  Another FB page, like a Gallery, another Artist FB page, or Business page is not able to “Like”, Comment or “Share” your post – all actions that help spread the reach of your posts.  I know Artists on Facebook whom I cannot share their FB posts (on my Art of Real Estate FB page) because while we are “friends” on Facebook, they don’t have a Facebook page that I can share their posts on my professional page.  I hope that by sharing this post with them, that they will understand how set up a Facebook page.  BTW, I am also the Admin for 2 DANIEL SMITH: Artists’ Materials pages (DS & DS Stores ) and I run into the same inability to share Artist’s personal fb account posts onto either of the DS fb pages.

4)  Posts on a FB page are searchable by search engines like Google, which can allow someone to find your FB page and art, your personal FB site has privacy settings that could prevent it from being searchable.

5)  Having an Artist FB page also means that you can keep your private life private on your FB personal account for your family and friends, and still have a professional Artist FB page to post about your Art!

6)  The world is becoming more and more electronically social, and Facebook is a huge way to connect to others, I hope you take advantage of it!

An example I give to Artists is:
Say you post a photo of a painting you recently finished on to your Artist Facebook page, your followers leave comments about your new painting, some “Like” the painting and a couple “Share” it on their FB profiles (or pages).  All this activity shows up on those people’s FB newsfeeds and their family, friends and more, are now seeing your painting too.  Some of those people (who you don’t know) may “Like”, leave a comment or “Share” your FB post of your painting too, so that even more people (who you don’t know) are now seeing your painting! Some may come to your FB Art page and “Like” your page (now you have new followers) and some of those may decide that they would like to buy one of your paintings someday, or maybe even the one you posted the photo of!

Facebook does from time to time change their policies about how information (posts) show in the FB newsfeeds, but I believe the benefits outweigh the cons. As long as you are posting interesting things on you FB Artist page, people will see your work.  The more interesting your posts, the more people who will see your posts, the more people who “Like”, comment or “Share” your posts, the more your FB posts will show up in other people’s newsfeeds, which is what you want – exposure.

When setting up your Artist Facebook page, be sure to chose a name for your page that includes your name, and words like Art, Artist, Painter, Watercolors, Printmaker etc.  Here are some good examples of some local Seattle area Artists:

• Art of Che
• Jennifer Phillips Art
• Lisa Snow Lady Fine Art
• Marianne Perkins: painter, occasional revolutionary & aging bon vivant
• Jodi Steele, Watercolor & Mixed-Media

You can see more Artist Facebook pages HERE.
I know Artists who don’t include their names, but since your name is an important part of your identity as an artist, I think it’s important.

Best Practices for getting started on your Facebook Artist Page:

• Ask your family, friends and clients to like your Artist FB page.
• Ask your family, friends and clients to “Like”, leave comments or “Share” your FB page posts, this will help you expand your FB page to reach other people who might be interested in your artwork.
• Make all your art related FB posts on your Artist FB page, then, as yourself, “Share” them on your personal FB timeline.
• Be sure to like other pages that you find interesting and “Like”, leave comments or “Share” their FB posts on occasion, this will help them to discover your page and perhaps “Like” your page.

I hope you do decide to set up an Artist Facebook page, there are such great benefits!

Please watch for more blog posts (I will posts links on my FB page) on how to use Facebook and other Social Media. I believe Social Media is a wonderful way to help Artists make a living with their Art.

If you do decide to set up an Artist Facebook page, please leave your name and your Facebook page link in the comments!

~Deborah

I am a Real Estate Agent/Broker in the Seattle/Bellevue areas, if you found this helpful and if you have (or someone you know has) questions about Real Estate in the local area or needs help, please contact me, I would love to help you with that too!

Find me on Facebook at The Art of Real Estate + ART

Deborah Burns
Real Estate Broker
Realty Executives BRIO
Deborah.Burns.Seattle@gmail.com