I paid for a shoutout from a 50k art account and it did basically nothing
Okay so I finally caved and paid $60 for a feature from one of those big art accounts that posts "emerging artists" to their 50k followers. Figured it'd be my big break you know, get some eyes on my stuff that aren't just my mom and the same 12 people who like everything I post.
The post did get decent likes. My follower count went up maybe 40 people, and I got three follows from accounts that look suspiciously like the same kind of account. And zero actual inquiries about my work. ZERO. Not even a "do you do commissions" message. I spent $60 to get an audience of people who apparently scroll past art the way I scroll past ads.
Meanwhile last week I posted a video of me just cutting paper for a frame and that got more actual comments and DMs than anything in months. Like literally cutting paper. Me being mildly annoyed at a crooked mat knife.
I'm not saying shoutouts never work for anyone, clearly they do for some people, but I think I finally get that followers aren't the same as people who buy things. The folks who buy my stuff are the ones who've been hanging around my tiny account watching me paint the same window for three months. They feel like they know me. A stranger seeing my work in a feed of 30 other artists is not that.
Anyway I'm $60 lighter and slightly humbled. Anyone else had a paid promo flop or is it just me 😭
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ngl I've watched so many people make this mistake and I almost made it myself back when I first started posting. The thing is those accounts aren't selling you exposure, they're selling you a number on a screen. Their audience follows for the feed, not for the artists in it, so you get scrolled past exactly like the grandma said.
$60 hurts but honestly think of it as tuition. The real growth I ever got was from like... one person sharing my work in a niche discord, and a local gallery reposting me to their tiny account that actually converted into a show. Small audiences that actually care will always beat a big audience that's just thumbing through. Put that $60 into a local show table or a better photo setup and you'll get more back.
You're right about the niche thing. I've been doing this thirty years and not once did a big page do anything for me. It's always been one person who actually knew somebody, or someone walking past my booth at a show. Small circles that know what they're looking at beat a crowd that's scrolling with their thumb already moving.
That $60's not tuition though, it's just gone. Tuition means you learned something. What you learned is what every one of us learns the first time. Costs us all the same way, just different amounts.
The gallery repost thing is the one worth chasing. Gallerists talk to each other. One small show leads to the next. That's the whole ladder, and it's slow and it's boring and nobody posts about it because it doesn't make a good story.
Your grandmother sounds like she knew exactly what she was talking about. "they scroll for a second and they scroll on" is literally what happened, I watched my notifications and it was just like... a blip. A bunch of blips. Nobody stopped. Nobody even lingered.
The booth thing you said is sticking with me though. I keep telling myself I'll do a market or a fair this summer and then I chicken out because setting up a table feels so much scarier than posting a picture does. But you're right that the people who actually stop and look are the ones who matter. A thumb doesn't buy a painting, a person does. Maybe I just need to accept that it's going to be slow and real instead of fast and fake. Was your grandmother a quilter professionally or was it always just her thing?
The niche discord thing honestly changed my whole approach. Like I'd been out here chasing big numbers and the only person who ever actually commissioned me from my art was someone who found me through a tiny little server about botanical illustration. It's so backwards but I think you're right, it's about people who are actually LOOKING not just scrolling.
Did you ever get anything from those big accounts or did you dodge the bullet entirely? Kinda curious what your first real "this is worth it" moment was because I'm still figuring out where the actual growth comes from.