So, you’ve set yourself up on a couple of social networks, now what?

Promoting your artwork where fans of your work congregate online is one of the best ways to help increase your art print sales. Whether its MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr or any of the other myriad social network choices, you have to first let people know your work is available in order to spark their interest.

If no one knows your artwork is for sale, how can you expect people to buy it?

I know most artists don’t like to promote their artwork for sale. Whether it’s because they’re timid, shy, unsure about their talent or just don’t want to be pushy, most artists don’t like this idea at all. However, I hope to explain three of the simplest, most passive ways to market your work online; no bullish sales pitches needed.

Here are three ‘passive’ tips to help you promote your artwork for sale on social networks. I say passive because, in most cases, it simply requires you to do something once. For the sake of brevity, I will explain how to do this on MySpace as not only is it one of the largest networks; the other choices require fairly similar processes.

Tip #1: Include a button or banner pointing people back to your art prints for sale on Imagekind

Even if you are not very technical and know absolutely no HTML, I can show you how to do this easily.

1. Login to your Imagekind account
2. Go to “my account” and click on “Marketing Tools” in your admin
3. Choose either “Link to my Profile” or “Text Link” (note: because most online network sites don’t allow flash, I am sticking with the simpler, static options available through Imagekind. However, you can still opt to use the flash buttons and banners if you choose.)
4. Follow the steps and copy the code in the yellow box
5. Login to your network profile and select “edit profile” and paste the code in the box under your desired section, either “about me” “general” “music” etc.
6. Hit save changes and it should now show up on your profile.

- or -

Skip steps 1-4 and simply copy and paste the following code on your profile, making sure to change SCREENNAME to your Imagekind screen name:

<a href=http://SCREENNAME.imagekind.com><img src=http://www.imagekind.com/images/buttons/buy_my_art.gif alt=”Buy my art at Imagekind.com.” border=”0”></a><br/>

Tip #2: Post relevant Imagekind sales and promotions so those who love your art can save some money

I have setup a few different buttons and banners that will change automatically on your site when we launch a new promotion. You can choose either a small button sized promotion or a larger banner promotion. To put these on your profile or personal site with a link back to your profile, copy and paste the following code. Again, make sure to change SCNREENAME to your Imagekind screen name.

1. Small size: <a href=http://SCREENNAME.imagekind.com><img src=http://blog.imagekind.com/wp-content/themes/default/images/homepage_image_small.jpg alt=”Save money on my art at Imagekind.” border=”0″></a><br/>
2. Large size: <a href=http://SCREENNAME.imagekind.com><img src=http://blog.imagekind.com/wp-content/themes/default/images/homepage_image.jpg alt=”Save money on my art at Imagekind.” border=”0″></a><br/>

Tip #3: Post bulletins and announcements about current Imagekind promotions, newly uploaded artwork, or other news about your art.

Just as I am sure you want to know when your favorite band releases a new album, why do you not think those who love your artwork want to know when there is an update with your work? Posting bulletins and announcements about your artwork is a great way to keep people informed about your art. I saw this one just the other day, posted by one of our own members and thought it was a great example of this very point.

Posting announcements about your art is relatively easy and can take several forms. Whether it’s a blog post, bulletin, or other communication, letting those who want to know about your artwork, know about your artwork, can help you sell your artwork.

There you go. Generally easy, fairly passive, and all around three harmless ways to help promote your artwork. You’re welcome.

Nate