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!

If one more person builds a website without caring that it looks like crap, I don’t know what I’m going to do!

Recently, an artist friend contacted me because he wanted to start a new business. I was hopeful, because what I’m best at is a new business start-up, logo design and giving them, their identity… that all around consistent look. I also love working with the arts community. I spoke with him and we discussed various things, but… today I got an invite, and realized he had just pushed ahead with the site, without me. Now aside from losing a potential client, I went to look at the site to see what had been developed. To say I was disappointed and horrified is an understatement.

There are (links) pages that don’t even apply to his company. So does this mean he copied or worse, another site’s pages and is planning to just update the content when he has time?

What could he be thinking?

Why do people feel so urgent? Pushing their information out there, without any control to how it looks, or if it will attract an audience. This has really sent me into a depression, and the realization that on the web, content will always win over style. I suppose only on the web this may be true. When I’m looking for something or shopping, functionality and directness will always win over pleasing design and pictures. But don’t we want to push our content out there in a pleasing way?

There has to be a balance between the content being current and wanting it to look nice. We’ve got to make any client, whether an artist, musician, author, small business owner or fortune 500 company understand that these things go hand in hand. And an artist should know better!

While waiting, I was smelling all the wonderful soaps by a local Jersey City merchant, La Moon. I had purchased some wonderful chocolate mint soaps last holiday season at Hoboken City Hall.

First stop on the 5th floor, is the studio of both Camille Cesari (original jewelry creations, Loveprint Jewelry) and Sissi Siska, fabulous silk painter. Their large studio, divided into two spaces, is just as you come off the elevator. If you’re looking for original designs and that one-of-a-kind type of artwork, these two women have it going on!

Next we walked down to the studio of photographer, Craig Dale, who was taking photographs of visitors if they happened to be wearing a logo. He’s been doing a photography series on this and his work can be seen at, Craig Dale’s The Logo Project. You know I was wearing one of my Frogs Are Green t-shirts and I’ll be awaiting one of the photos.

As we made our way through, studio after studio, floor by floor, here are some of the artists who welcomed us in. Laura Alexander is one of my favorite painters. She has a way of choosing subjects, that just make me stop and stare. They are caught in a moment, and we get to share that moment with her.

Laura Alexander in front of two of her paintings at the Hoboken Artists Studio Tour 2009

McKevin Shaughnessy shows us so many different types of work, from designing the poster for this event (and others), his illustrative and photography work, to designing lighting fixtures. Some of the others are: Robert Policastro, painter;  Virginia Rolston Parrott, photographer; Painter and sculptor, Nina Akai; gallery owner, Harry Saylor from Orbit Gallery Space, who had on display a variety of artists, from satire and cartoon styles to 70s poster design; photographers, Jene Youtt and Mary Durante Wehrhahn; and lastly, Hartshorn portrait photography.

Once we had finished at the Monroe Center we parted and went in different directions. I headed downtown to Eureka Gallery on 1st Street, to see the Hob’Art group show. It wasn’t very crowded when I arrived, but seeing much of the food and wine gone, I knew they had had a great gathering earlier. Around the room I saw different types of work, collage, paintings, and photography. Among the works were, Laurel Brooks, Linda Rosendahl, Virginia Parrott, Roslyn Rose, Ibou Ndoye, Willie Baez, Joe Gilmore and Mary Castillo. All of these artists and more can be seen on the Hob’Art co-operative gallery website.

The rain was very slight all day long and it was just a perfect day to be inside experiencing great art and meeting some new artists I’d not met before. I look forward to the studio tour each year and was happy to see some studios open, that had not been open in past years.

To see my photo gallery from yesterday, click here.