Attention Artists: How Facebook, Twitter, Google+ YouTube & Other Social Media Sites Help You

Posted on July 11, 2011 by itees

Facebook and YouTube have become great resources for artists! (illustrators, designers, fine artists, photographers, musicians and actors…) Not only do we have the ability to post galleries and videos of our work, but we can create event pages about upcoming productions or exhibitions and invite all our friends. Our friends can share the events with other friends and so on. Facebook even stores our response, “attending” or “maybe” and will remind us of the event.

Today, we still receive direct mail postcards and brochures about upcoming productions and exhibitions, but there’s nothing better than having that information stored in a place we visit everyday. It’s a great way to be reminded as the event draws near.

Facebook also lets us feature our lastest videos so business owners can feature a new brand or product, actors can show a clip from an upcoming show, and musicians can feature their latest song.

We have the ability to create custom pages (iFrame apps) and they can include audio, video, forms, basically anything you can put on an html page and then you can set any of those custom pages as the landing page for newcomers. You can grab the link to that custom page and post about it, sending people to check it out. You can even load a store custom page and sell products right in there as well.

So okay what’s the ROI (return on investment)?

Since Facebook is FREE, I’d say the ROI is pretty amazing, but here are a few stats just from my own experience.

In the past two years my Facebook friends have tripled. It’s amazing to me sometimes over these many years just how many people I’ve met and know from the last! I have been invited to many more exhibitions, webinars, teleclasses and events, and by knowing about them and attending them (some in person) I have been introduced to so many new people.

As a creative, the larger your reach, the more opportunities will come your way.

As for Twitter, it has been a different experience. The sharing of bits of information can be a wonderful resource for news and meeting and learning about new people has it’s benefits, but so far I don’t see the ROI as much as on Facebook and I think it’s because the dialog on Facebook is much more personal and engaging. The conversation can be among lots of people at once, rather than just a dialog between two.

On LinkedIn, I have been using this networking site for a few years and have built a great business posse. My connections have also probably quadrupled. It’s a great place to share information with like-minded individuals and groups to have engaged discussions. When looking for companies to pitch to, or people who might help you, you can’t beat it’s database of millions of professionals.

I have a channel on YouTube and I can subscribe to other people’s channels… then YouTube sends me notifications when those people have uploaded new videos, as others get mine. I can embed a video in a blog post or just share it with my friends and colleagues on social media.

Savor The Success is a growing community of women entrepreneurs across the planet (15,000+) and I have been a member since 2010. This has been a very valuable resource for me. My visibility and clients are expanding due to this exceptional online community.

In the past few weeks, I joined this new community, Social Buzz Club, and I can see now how being a charter member and soon blogger of this new social media community is going to explode it all for me and super charge my online visibility. The sharing of valuable content between colleagues, having brand advocates in your corner for your own business, and being able to share that information with friends, what could be better?

Today I joined Google+ and so far it’s pretty great! Once I joined it instantly pulled together all my information for me… my profile photo, links to website, blog and social media, even all my company details. Now I’m connecting with people I know and you share on the wall like in Facebook or Twitter. I’m wondering why it recognized my YouTube account but doesn’t seem to load any of the videos there? Also it’s not immediately recognizing people but these may be kinks in the new system they are still perfecting. Check it out!

How Will The Newest Students Entering the Design Industry Find Work in a Slow Economy

Posted on October 17, 2010 by itees

I try to stay current on the happenings around the industry, through exhibitions, lectures, online groups, printed magazines and certain organizations such as AIGA. Lately I’ve been thinking about the students currently enrolled and how they will compete once they graduate and enter this field. If they are educated at a good school, it’s my hope that the teachers are preparing them so that their portfolios will be outstanding, but in a slow economy, will they find work?

Having been in this industry for over 25 years, I’ve built a wide circle of colleagues and every one of them has special gifts and talents that has helped them be successful, but the industry is growing at an alarming rate and the competition for each assignment is getting more difficult. At the same time, companies are still acquiring others and the jobs as well as freelance assignments are getting thinner.

Take for example these online competitive sites like Elance, Guru, Logo Tournament, 99 Designs and more… Some of these sites do not put forth the right message about our industry. By giving clients hundreds of ideas, and all for FREE, this sends the wrong message about why a business needs a designer. A client posts an assignment, pays a set fee, and then tons of designers are wasting their time entering and the clients picks one winner. Only one person gets paid folks, so perhaps 50-100 or more have just worked for free. In other cases like Elance and Guru, designers are bidding against 50+ others and the sites don’t give clients enough information to help them choose between them around the world. In some cases clients ask for FREE mock-ups so they can decide without doing their homework. How about looking at each person’s body of work? How about seeing how many years experience one has, or reading testimonials from their clients? In our fast paced world, the clients would rather we just make it easy for them. Let 100 people design for free and they’ll just pick a winner. Just awful.

In 2010, every student has the ability to express themselves via a portfolio, print marketing and an online presence. Today they are expected to know every software program, both print and web design and be an expert at it all. It’s just not realistic.

I have been considering hiring an assistant and I’m wondering about these things. Should I find someone whose design esthetic matches my own? Should they know print or web or both? What types of projects have they worked on and which types of clients, what industries? What are their goals? I’m going to weight all of these issues as I look through resumes and portfolios and set up interviews.

What I do recommend is to design in different industries, try assorted projects but eventually try to pick a niche that fits where you’d like to be in 5-10 years. In order to compete, you have to do great work and if you want to be recognized, be consistent. A career isn’t created overnight through Facebook or Twitter. It takes dedication, expertise at your craft, and an openness to new and exciting advancements in technology. Always be willing to expand, learn and continually move forward. If you focus on the details and slow down you will achieve great things.

Clients also stay with someone who they trust and respect. A successful career is one built on the clients who stay and continually need you to help them. Care for your clients and they will take care of you.

Branding YOU Better! Making My Clients Look Great!

Posted on May 15, 2010 by itees

In my last post I wrote about attending the all day event of Rock The World, given by Savor The Success. Listening to the speakers and meeting other women entrepreneurs, I have learned so much.

Michael Gerber of Origination asked us to write this down: “What do I want?”

For about a week I walked around saying different things to myself and it finally came to me.

I want to make whatever I come across better, whether it’s by creation, design or spreading environmental awareness.

I started thinking about how that is reflected in my company, SNDI.

Before when visitors came to my site there was a splash page and I had you select a link to go inside, but unless you dug deeper, visited my profile page or company page, you didn’t see me, the site was all about design and the portfolio.

I realized that what separates me from other design firms is ME! It’s my visions and conceptuality. What I come up with to brand a client or their product, is what makes me unique. It’s also what helps me retain clients year after year, they trust me, respect my expertise and know that whatever I create is solely for them, to help them shine.

New Branding YOU Better! Logo

So, I have started revising my site by branding the new phrase geared toward clients, “Branding YOU Better!” I removed the splash page and put my photo and a quick animation of a few client projects showing the branding I created for them. This is more direct and immediately separates me from other design studios. Next, my plan is get new headshots, create more graphics that show the continuity and style from print to web for many of my clients, and to add photos and video of my clients with their testimonials and perhaps new shots of them surrounded by the materials I created for them.

I also registered the new domain for Branding YOU Better! and will build a new site there, that is simple and direct. It will have just enough branding samples to make the point, and will use the latest javascript animation or programing techniques so I’m showing by example that I can create whatever a client wants or needs.

I also learned that when you have a design and logo that you’re using, you must make sure that you’re using it throughout your social media as well. I had been using my logos of course but forgot about the backgrounds. So I took that splash page and dropped it into Twitter (@sndinc), and did the same for our Frog Blog, you’ll see that the background on Twitter (@greeninnature) is now the same as Frogs Are Green. All banner ads I create are also using the same appropriate graphics.

This all helps to support my brand and creates trust for clients who know me and for new clients who have just discovered me.