Guidance for using Social Media
Introduction and Jargon Busters
This ArtMakers introduction provides you with a broad overview of the social media options open to an artist when seeking to promote themselves or their work PLUS a Jargon Buster for easy reference.
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Social Media Platforms
There are many platforms and these platforms are changing regularly. However, here is a quick guide to the better-known platforms and who engages in them. The Jargon Busters follows, after the main information.
The social and community building platform
Audience: individuals aged 25 to 34 years made up the largest group of Facebook users by ages in the United Kingdom (UK), as of February 2021 the second highest group of users were the 35-44-year-olds. Ability to have a personal page as well as a business page, and groups.
Pros
- Good for sharing images and text,
- Videos linked from Youtube/Vimeo as well as embedded,
- You can sell and advertise your work,
- Ability to share Facebook stories.
Cons
- Lots of adverts,
- Changing format and usage options regularly,
- Limited views of posts on a business page unless you pay for boosting/sponsorship of posts.
Image is king and more important than text.
Audience: Individuals aged 25 to 35 years made up the largest group of Instagram users by age in the United Kingdom (UK), as of January 2021 the second highest group of users were the 18-24-year-olds.
Pros
- Very visual, good for art via images and videos,
- Normal posts allow up to 60-second films,
- Instgram YV (IGTV) allows up to 10 films for normal accounts.
- Reels and stories – see Jargon Busters.
- Hashtags can create a further content platform within the app.
- Many apps work with Instagram for extra features.
Cons
- IGTV allows for longer film upload only shows in portrait, not landscape.
- Adverts and no clickable links to web pages in posts.
Visual dominates
Audience: mostly female, between 18-24-year-olds with a close 2nd to the 35-44-year-olds.
Pros
- Visual display with captions,
- Pins and boards – see Jargon Busters below
- Can link back to own website for sales,
- Attracts artists and visual creators,
- Find Inspirational content.
Cons
- Lots of visual content – all on one screen which means you need to stand out,
- Limit on length of captions
- Upper limit on how many boards and pins you may use.
Short messages and videos.
Audience: mainly men 70% women 30%. Largest group 35 – 49-year-olds, second largest group: 25-34-year-olds.
Pros
- Good for Business to Business (B2B),
- Good for text, and character limit can be helpful to word texts in a better way,
- Good for keeping up with news,
- Connecting with people including famous people.
- Microblogging.
Cons
- 280 Character limit,
- Limit on videos to 2min 20 seconds.
Vero
Photo sharing and lining to music etc.
Audience: between the ages of 21 and 40 most popular with millennials
Pros
- No adverts,
- No algorithms,
- Limited data collection, does not share with third parties or advertisers
- Displays posts chronologically,
- Can share music, books, links to content as well as own photos and videos.
Cons
- Less well known – founded in 2015.
Business community links Audience: 46-55-year-olds use LinkedIn the most with the 2nd highest users being between 36-45 years old. Men use this platform more than women.
Pros
- Good for Business to Business (B2B),
- Being found for work,
- Professional credibility,
- Expected on CVs,
- Can help verify your credentials.
Cons
- Used more for finding work/people than promoting creative products.
TikTok
Short video space
Audience: 10-19-year-olds make up the biggest audience group, with the second biggest being the 20-29-year-olds.
Pros
- Short and snappy content,
- Engages with young people,
- The lockdown platform – launched in 2018, took off in 2020.
- Wide range of tips and advice from people.
Cons
- Videos limited in length.
- Amateur fell to many videos
Snapchat
Message system, designed to disappear messages after 24 Hours
Audience: 15-25-year0olds with quite a lead on any other age group.
Pros
- Can share text, video, photos and drawing,
- Instant communication with your audience – other users of Snapchat,
- Content disappears, after a set time.
Cons
- Limit on length of videos – 10 seconds
- Content disappears after a set time, but may be captured via third party apps.
- App changes regularly
Statistics from: https://www.statista.com and https://wallaroomedia.com/
For more information on all of the above please register with us.
Jargon Busters
Platforms are regularly using common words and redefining them for their particular use from friends to stories here is a quick guide.
Who are the Audience?
The term used to describe the demographic makeup of platform users – see lists of the various audiences for different platforms above.
What is a Branding Persona?
This is a profile of the type of person you think your work will appeal to, and is used in making marketing decisions e.g. which social media platform to use. See Guidance for using Social Media – Part Two.
What are Boards?
This is where you store your Pins (see below) on Pinterest. You are able to organise your images, videos, etc. into a collection on a board.
What are filters?
These are elements which can be added to photos and videos to give them a distinct appearance. These range from the well-known, cat’s face feature to small animated characters.
Who are Friends?
These are people you connect with individually on a platform. Some platforms have limits on the number of friends you can have e.g. Snapchat.
What are Groups?
These are spaces on Facebook, created by a Facebook user who wishes to establish a group on Facebook around a particular subject. These can be closed groups with only certain people are invited to join, and are able to share the content of the group. An open group is one in which anyone on Facebook is able to join and share.
What is a Hashtag?
Hashtags or tags are used on platforms so that people searching for specific words can find your posts. The more hashtags you use the more likely you/your post are to be found. The maximum is advised as 30.
What are likes?
A symbolic gesture made to indicate you ‘like’ a post, a pin, etc. on a social media platform.
What is a Page?
A page is a place on Facebook where an organisation e.g. charity, business or artist can promote their own activities, and launch news stories etc. Information published here is automatically copied into any followers newsfeed.
What are Pins?
Pins is the name given to content you upload onto Pinterest. It functions in the same way a post functions on Facebook.
What is a Post?
The is the name given to each individual piece of content you upload to Facebook. It is what you can share with others, have others comment on, and like.
What is a Reel?
A Reel is a short, edited, video on Instagram. It can be 15 or 30seconds long. It provides you with the ability to smoothly transition between shots and add various filters.
What are Stories?
Stories are short videos you can edit and place on several different social media platforms. On Facebook they can be up to 20 seconds; on Snapchat up to 60 seconds. Instagram has a range of options fro 7 seconds to 60 seconds.
NOTE: Other lengths and formats of video are often available under different parts of social media platforms options e.g. IGTV
For More Information on Artist use of Social Media please register with Us
Downloads
Guidance for using Facebook Detail PDF