I sent 12 cold DMs to people whose taste I actually like and 6 of them wrote back
ok so this is going to sound so small and obvious but I've been doing the whole "post consistently and engage in comments" thing for months and it's fine but it's also like... waiting for people to find you? and I got sick of it??
So last week I picked 12 accounts, not big influencers, just people with really good eyes who share art they love, some are collectors, some are just normal people with nice feeds. And I sent each of them a genuine message, like "hey I saw you reposted [artist]'s work the other day and I think you'd like what I do too, here's my latest piece" with a photo attached. No templates, no pitchy stuff.
Six of them wrote back. SIX. One bought a small study on the spot, two said they'd keep me in mind, and the other three just had really nice conversations that made my whole week. One of them runs a tiny gallery I didn't even know about and invited me to submit for a group show.
I think I got scared of DMs because it feels like bothering people? But if you're genuine and you actually looked at their feed and you're not just copy-pasting, it's... not bothering them?? It's just a person saying hi?? Anyway I'm doing it again this week with a different batch. Thought I'd share in case anyone else is staring at the algorithm like it owes them something lol
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ah this is gas because it's so simple and yet it takes most of us about three years to try it. fair play to you.
there's something about the cold dm that feels worse than it actually is, isn't there? like you're imposing. but what you've described there, picking people whose taste you actually rate, not just anyone with a pulse, that's the whole trick. you're not selling, you're showing them something they might genuinely like. and six out of twelve is mighty, that's half. I'd say a good few of them'll remember you now too.
I did something similar years back before any of this was online, just wrote to a fella whose prints I loved and asked could I come see his studio. he said yes, we're still friends, and he taught me half of what I know about carving. so I'm a believer in it.
fair play to you for just going for it. the worst that happens is they don't reply and you're no worse off than you were.
right?? it feels so much ruder than it actually is, like you're knocking on someone's window instead of their door. but I think that's why the taste-picking part matters so much, when you actually mean it you're not being weird, you're just... sharing. and yeah six felt huge honestly I was braced for maybe two 😭
ooh wait what did you do before all this was online?? I'm curious now