Tag Archives: Sharon Cummings

Promotion Fatigue Syndrome

Ok…I have been learning a lot in the last 2 weeks on FAA and Etsy and everywhere else….based on what I am seeing…I believe we will all encounter “promotion fatigue” soon if we do not do certain things to prevent it.
What is “promotion fatigue”? It is when we promote the same people and/or images over and over to the same people on social media. It includes over-pinning and over-tweeting.
Once it sets in….your hits will start going down and that means less sales potential.

Solutions:

  1. You MUST be actively gaining more followers…I am getting about 25 a day on Pinterest now and about 20 on Twitter…you need “fresh people” daily….you will lose followers if they get tired of seeing the same stuff all the time….and if you aren’t actively acquiring more….no hits.
  2. Promoting 6 images at a time is too much and will lead to “promotion fatigue” very soon.
  3. Throw in pins/tweets NOT about art throughout the day…quotes on Twitter….room designs on Pinterest. People have a short attention span…a zillion images of art and photography and guess what…they unfollow you…they are bored. So we need to only re-pin and re-tweet non art/photography stuff MOST of the time…throw in some of ours now and again.
  4. Space your pinning and tweeting out…do some at say 8 am…then some more at 10 am….12 am…2 pm….never more than 4 – 5 pins/tweets at a time. (I am screwing up here too and changing my strategy)….so if the threads stay as is…promote 6..I will do 2 at 8 am…2 at 10 am…2 at 2 pm…you get the picture. I may change the times up as needed…but the will be SPACED out!
  5. Take a day off every week from promoting ….for me it will be Sunday….

Shorten Links

Get frustrated because you run out of space to say what you want on Twitter? tinyurl to the rescue! Say more…dont look like you are obviously selling!

http://tinyurl.com/create.php & https://bitly.com/

These websites offer services to shorten your links

Shared by Sharon Cummings

 

Gaining Relevant & Qualified Twitter Followers

On Twitter…I find a big hitter artist…like Matt LeBlanc for instance…who has thousands of followers…I then hand pick people from his list that look like average folks and not other artists or big businesses…I look for people who are FOLLOWING more than they have followers…numbers under 1000….regular looking folks…not artists or businesses…and I follow them…then every 48 hours, I go to http://www.justunfollow.com and I get rid of anyone who didn’t follow me back. So on a Thursday night I will go and follow 100 people and then Saturday night I go to http://www.justunfollow.com and remove dead weight. I don’t do any following in the interim. After I unfollow on that Saturday night, I go and follow 100 more people from a big hitter…then Monday night I unfollow again…You can unfollow 25 for free…but that wasn’t enough for me…so I am paying the 10 a month for unlimited……you can have 2 accounts for that 10.00 a months…so it’s super cheap for me at 5.00 a month.- Sharon Cummings

Pinterest Tips

  1. BIG TIP: When you go to the main Pinterest board..upper left sign that looks like a 3 lined equal sign…there is a drop down menu….select “art”, “design” or “home decor” and repin and like people’s stuff where YOUR art would look good…or art that is anything similar to yours in color…style..subject matter because guess what? People are actively looking for stuff for their homes there…it’s a site for the engaged, newly married and new home owners…if they like a room that your art would look good in…repin that! If someone likes a painting with similar colors as some as yours…repin it!! They WILL look at your stuff too and they just might like YOURS better! AND…Designers are in those sections too trolling for art for their projects…You will start THINKING this way…it will come second nature soon!
  2. REMEMBER: Spend at least 5 minutes a day repinning other people’s stuff…this brings new traffic to us all…this is KEY!
    Just go to a section like ART or DESIGN and “like” and “repin” things you like..it’s fun!
  3. DONT FORGET TO PROMOTE YOURSELF TOO!! I increased my sales by promoting myself to Pinterest, Stumble and Twitter….just space it out….I do like 5 in the a.m…..5 pieces mid day sometime and 5 pieces at night along with Pinning non-FAA and re-tweeting non FAA people each time…this is what has worked! Will all of us promoting each other on top of ourselves the results should be even greater!
  4. TIP: Make sure your Pinterest portfolio is something that people will WANT to follow...if all you have in there is one board with this groups artwork…no one is going to want to follow you except maybe your Aunt and your Grandma…
    What do people like on Pinterest…cute animals, beautiful art, flowers, fashion, home decor….food/recipes….make boards specifically for what people like and get pinning filling those board with BEAUTIFUL images….so when people check you out…they actually want to follow you.
  5. Also when you are in the Art, Design and Home Decor categories liking and repinning ….go to some people’s boards and follow a few of their boards…you dont have to follow all…just some like their art boards or home decor boards…this is how you increase FOLLOWERS…

By Sharon Cummings

HASHTAG MISUSE…is a major problem

HASHTAG MISUSE…is a major problem…I am seeing it every day and I cringe…one or two on Twitter is more than enough…three tops! Keep in mind that hashtags are NOT keywords…they are for identifying other people who like to have conversations/chat about a specific topic…so if you paint a duck and use #duck as a hashtag, it isnt going to get you any attention unless a TON of people use the same hashtag to hook up with other people who like to talk about “duck”….you wont even get the “ducks” people. So think about how people talk…

I might say…Enjoy my latest painting…it’s Spring and baby #ducks are everywhere…no #hunting please.

See what I just did…I got the duck lovers and hunters in on the conversation……they might click on my work. – Sharon Cummings