Reject Convenience Forum

I'm an artist, I make mostly abstract fineliner drawings and mandala's and I give mandala workshops every now and then. I'd love to grow and professionalize more and I feel like I need to grow my audience to do so. I've been on Instagram for a while now and slowly but steadily posting and growing.

Lately I've been taking my privacy more seriously and I feel uneasy sticking to a platform like Instagram. So I'd love to hear your thoughts on (some of) the following points!

- Is moving away from Instagram feasible for smaller artists?
- I'm thinking of hosting a portfolio website, with a blog/exhibition section and a mailing list for friends/family/interested people. Thoughts? Do these things actually get traffic?
- I'm also thinking of ways to keep things more IRL, like talking to my local community center and library for example, if they would be willing to hang something there or put my stuff in a folder.

I'd love to hear what you think, extra points if you're experienced with this yourself! ❤

I don't have direct experience with promoting art, but I do have ideas for what you can do for marketing.

First, there are other social media platforms that you can be on. For the mainstream platforms, I figure Pinterest and Reddit could be good options to explore if you're not already. Then there are the "new" decentralized platforms of Bluesky and Mastodon. Bluesky in particular has millions of users already and because it's built on an open protocol there are even apps in development that will replicate the experience of other platforms, like Spark for the IG experience. Mastodon has Pixelfed as well. The social web is growing!

Regarding the blog and mailing list, those are also valuable. From what I understand, newsletters have become popular ways of staying connected to people or organizations you like. By having a nice website/blog you give yourself a polished space to show off your work that gives you much more creative freedom to sell folks on your art than what you can do through a social media profile.

In both cases you are taking more ownership of the relationship between you and your audience. In the base of Bluesky and Mastodon, no one can take those platforms from you because they're open. No one can take away the following you have worked hard to build. In the case of your own website, no one can take that away from you. It's an online page you own where you can share whatever you want. Not only are taking back privacy for yourself with these options - you are also giving your audience an opportunity to preserve theirs and taking back our shared open spaces.

That said, I wouldn't say that you should delete your IG in favor of these options only. You want to start building these up and see how the business grows. If they hopefully prove their value over time then you are spreading your risk so that you aren't entirely dependent on Instagram. If that platform goes away, people have other ways to reach, you have direct ways to reach them, and you might all just move to one of the healthier platforms.

Lastly, I don't know how effect in-person stuff would be, but I think it could be good from a marketing perspective, and it's a based thing to do.

Good luck!