Premature Social Networking

Have you ever watched Restaurant Impossible on the Food Network?
This TV show with a muscled drill sergeant as its star teaches some of the best business lessons on TV while trying to revitalize failing restaurants. It’s no wonder the restaurants are in trouble when they haven’t figured out food costs, don’t know what their projected earnings are, and lack leadership.

Can you imagine opening and running a restaurant – or any business – without having these basic pieces in place?
That’s exactly what you’re doing when you jump on the social networking bandwagon without building your business foundation.
Since announcing today’s start of my No-Excuse Art Biz Bootcamp, I have received several pleas: “I wish social media was a part of the Bootcamp. I really need that.”

Why Social Media Isn’t Included in My Art Marketing Bootcamp

I created the Bootcamp to help you lay the foundation for your marketing. (This is why I say it’s not for people who already have this in place.)
Too many artists view social media as a cheap and quick solution for all of their marketing. When this happens, everything else is often abandoned. “Facebook is great! Why do I need a blog or a newsletter?” This is premature social networking.
Here’s what I know:

• People are unlikely to follow you until you give them reason.
• People are unlikely to join your Facebook page until they see you are building a lively career.
• People are unlikely to share your art until you have a strong website that shows off the work.
• People are unlikely to continue following you, liking your fan page, and sharing your art if you aren’t nurturing your relationships.

There’s no getting around it: You must have your foundation in place in order for social networking to be useful to your art business.
The Bootcamp was created to help you build that strong foundation for your marketing, so that social networking, when implemented, will be more effective.
The groundwork you must lay for your marketing includes your using your mailing list, creating or improving your website/blog, becoming an articulate advocate for your art, networking, and much more.
You probably already know this, but are you doing it? Knowing and doing are two different things.
If these are missing pieces in your art business, I invite you to take a look at the No-Excuse Art Biz Bootcamp that begins soon.
If you have built your solid business foundation, congratulations! Be grateful that you’ll never appear on a future episode of Art Biz Impossible.