Marketing Topic of the Week:
“Email Newsletters For Artists Part 1”
Social media is often painted as the end all and be all of digital marketing. There’s no doubt that it’s a great resource for getting your art in front of new audiences and building a community around your work, but growing your following should not be viewed as the ultimate goal. Instead, the goal should be to move your audience off of social media and onto your email list.
Why are newsletters more powerful than social media?
The attention you garner on social media is merely rented, whereas an email list represents attention you truly own.
While you can make decisions like what to post, when to post, captions, hashtags, etc, in the grand scheme of things, you have very limited control over your presence on social media. Just look at what happened on TikTok a few months ago. Thousands of creators who relied on the platform for their income were scrambling to figure out how to maintain their revenue and audience if the TikTok ban were to go through. If they had an email list, this would not be a concern. Email lists allow you to communicate with your audience directly, independent of any platform’s changing policies or algorithms. No matter what happens to the platform, your email list is yours to keep and you won’t have to fear losing access to your audience.
Just because someone follows you on social media does not mean the algorithm will always show them your content whereas your email newsletter is guaranteed to reach the inbox of your subscribers.
Just because someone follows you on social media doesn't mean the algorithm will always show them your content. Social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok prioritize content based on algorithms that decide what users see in their feeds, which means even if someone follows you, they may not see everything you post. The algorithm takes into account factors like engagement (likes, comments, shares), the type of content you post, and how often users interact with your account. If your followers aren’t engaging with your content regularly, or if the platform decides to prioritize other content types, your posts might get buried or never appear in their feed at all. This means you can have a large following, but only a small amount of that following ever see your posts. However, when you send out a newsletter to your email list, it is guaranteed to reach the inbox of every one of those people (unless of course they’ve marked you as spam).
Email newsletters provide an outlet for more personal and targeted communication.
You’ve likely sent emails for work or personal communication using platforms like Gmail or Outlook, but today there are a variety of email delivery platforms designed specifically for people like artists who are looking to build an audience and promote their work. Platforms like MailChimp, Constant Contact, and Beehiiv are tailored for marketing purposes, offering a variety of features that are designed to help you communicate more effectively and strategically with your subscribers. For example, these email platforms often offer features like audience segmentation, polls, surveys, and analytics that help you develop stronger relationships with your audience and learn more about them. (We’ll discuss these features and tools in more depth in a later newsletter issue.)
When you have access to tools like the ones mentioned above, you’re able to create more personal and targeted email campaigns. The more personal the communication, the more likely subscribers will engage and want to communicate back with you. Social media lacks this element of personal touch that makes a world of difference when you’re trying to build relationships and truly get to know your audience.
To Recap:
While social media can be useful in getting your work in front of new audiences, it is too unstable to rely on as your only avenue for communication.
Growing an email list is the best way to develop an audience whose attention YOU own, not the social platforms.
Email opens the door to stronger relationships via more personalized communication through methods that are not available on social media.
Have any questions about starting an email newsletter? Feel free to shoot me an email at socalartopportunities@gmail.com with any questions.
Bonus Resource:
Want to send email newsletters but don’t know what to write about? Check out some prompt ideas below!
Show the life cycle of a particular art piece from idea to finished work. Include photos of each stage of its development and talk about your thoughts as you worked through the piece. Offer a backstory on why you wanted to create it and talk about how your vision changed from the start of the piece to the end.
Do a “where are they know” newsletter about pieces you’ve sold. Show images of them on display in homes of collectors (with their permission of course). Include testimonials from these buyers about why they bought the piece and how they’re enjoying it.
Provide a sneak piece of an unfinished piece. Build anticipation and get subscribers excited to buy the artwork when it’s finally available.
Share any upcoming events you’re participating in and offer free tickets or discounts to your subscribers to encourage them to attend.
Discuss your background, where you’re from, how you grew up, and how these factors influenced the art you make today.
Hold Q&As with your subscribers. Allow subscribers to submit questions about your process, your inspiration, etc.