3 Tips For Using Social Media To Get The Clients You Want

I met up with Julia Amodt of Style and Cheek yesterday at Elm Coffee Roasters, and we had an important discussion that I think a larger audience (like you!) would value. As creatives, artists and entrepreneurs many of us go through times where we want to grow our business but not break the bank. Research has show that companies can expand even in down times if they are smart. It's true we aren't going through a recession, we are in a season of abundance. So how do you stand out? Here are three tips to kick start your growth:

1. Tap into national holidays and trends.
   • When you are mapping out your social media/web content, take advantage of upcoming holidays (Check out track maven and hub spot for extensive lists. The information can be overwhelming so just map out one month at a time, at the beginning of the month), events (restaurant openings, new boutiques, book/movie premiers, etc.), and product launches that align with your brand and include them in your posting schedule (even if you aren't attending the events).
   • Don't forget to tag those brands, and add the locations/places, because you want to be on their radar as well as the radar of their customers.
2. Join affiliate/partner programs.
   • Pinterest now allows you to have affiliate links, which means you can post your product on a board and link directly to your website. So get to work optimizing your boards to showcase your product in the best light.
   • If you are a blogger, check out two programs that my clients have had success with are RewardsStyle and Share A Sale.
   • Do any of your favorite brands have affiliate programs? You would be surprised, I have seen everyone from Danielle LaPorte to Amazon launch them.
3. Post the work that you want.
   • If you are trying to work with specific brands then give them shout outs, if you want to work with a certain type of client then research the brands who have already captured your audience target (what is their aesthetic, what kind of content are they posting, etc).
   • Perhaps you don't have the budget to create that dream photo shoot or hire the perfect graphic designer -- don't let that hold you back. Fake it till you make it! Take advantage of Unsplash, a free stock photography website, and Canva, a site that makes design simple for everyone.

5 Ways To Discover New Clients

Art & Commerce Series Have you heard of Aroma Poetry, Lab Grown Bones, Mixed Reality Making The Mundane Magical. These were each created by artists who are applying technology in new ways to areas they are fascinated by -- everything from biology to virtual reality. Artists are leading the way in taking down barriers and showing connections between art and technology. Living in Seattle where there has been much friction between art and technology, I see great opportunity if only the two sides will connect. 

“The next 10 years will require people to think and work across boundaries, into new zones that are totally different than their expertise. They will not only have to cross those boundaries, but they will also have to identify opportunities and make connections between them.” - Designer Clement Mok

The starving artist is a well-known metaphor, but this doesn’t have to be our lives. If we are willing to do the work of creating something unique instead of being comfortable with producing pale imitations. In the book “Rembrandt’s Enterprise: The Studio and the Market” author Svetlana Alpers shares about Rembrandt the artist being an entrepreneur and businessman. How his successes in the marketplace brought him honor in contrast to the artists who sought honor through the patronage of the wealthy or religious institutions.

Daniel H. Pink in his book “A Whole New Brain: Why Right Brainers Will Rule The Future” encourages individuals to ask themselves the following three questions about what they’re doing to earn a living:

1. Can someone overseas do it cheaper?
2. Can a computer do it faster?
3. Is what I’m offering in demand in an age of abundance?

We are at a pivotal time where artists have the unique ability to team up with businesses and organizations in a variety of industries to create as Pink’s book states “artistic and emotional beauty, to detect patterns and opportunities, to craft a satisfying narrative and to combine seemingly unrelated ideas into novel invention.”     

5 Ways To Begin Uncovering New Opportunities

1. Go online or visit your bookstore, find a magazine that is not what you would normally read. Look for an article that fascinates you and follow your curiosity. Keep your eyes open for opportunities.
2. Experiment with how you share your art, look for new technology or avenues you have not previously used. Think about how you can tweak your work to tell a better story or capture a new audience through the platform.
3. Have coffee with a friend in a different industry, and pick their brain as to what new industry trends, technologies, etc. are currently inspiring them. Look for ways to adapt the idea for your own art.
4. Create an inspiration board around a word, article, texture or image that you find compelling. You know those crime boards every TV show has, imagine yourself as a detective and begin to connect the pieces.
5. Make digital solitude a part of your life. This past weekend I unplugged from my phone and computer as part of a 25-Hour Experiment, this allowed me to have undistracted conversations and think deeply on ideas. I believe it is in depth that we are going to find our competitive differentiation.

“The challenge in this era of globalization - for countries and individuals - is to find a healthy balance between preserving a sense of identity, home and community and doing what it takes to survive within the globalization system.” - Thomas Friedman

Image By: Lindsey Bolling Photography

3 Tips For Making Your Social Media Shine

I'm thrilled to introduce Andrea Alder, another brilliant lady that I met via Instagram (I tell you - definitely be on the lookout for your tribe on Instagram). Andrea is a rock star stylist and Seattle is damn lucky to have her. Today, she shares her favorite social media tips. I love her perspective.

Social Media Tip #3: Interact, Aesthetic, Shine!

Interact with your feed: We live in a world of social media, but that doesn't mean we don't interact with each other besides liking a picture here and there. If someone came up to me on the street and commented on my outfit I would thank them- the same goes for my social media. I think it's very important to participate in your comment thread, respond personally to my followers and engage in conversation. This creates a more genuine interaction and a larger social network.

Create an aesthetic: Branding yourself is like creating a virtual personality. Most successful Instagram accounts have a very distinctive aesthetic to their feed, whether is the same type of image being posted ( e.g. nature images, outfit posts, beauty tips) or the same filter used on all images to create a correlation between one image to the other. If you have a favorite filter, use it!! This will help your followers know when an image might belong to you.

Make it shine: You don't need to spend money on a fancy camera anymore to have beautiful images on your feed. While I keep a little Leica on hand for BTS shots of my work, I mostly use my iPhone for sharing my day to day life and inspiration. They key is good light, by this I mean natural light. Have a new necklace you want to show off? Find a white surface and go by your window. I find morning light to be the prettiest and softest so I like to take most of my flatlays in the morning, I also like to hold a foam core board on the opposite side of my object so the light from the window bounces off from the foam core and into the "dark" side of my object and this way I can create a nicely lit balanced image. If all this sounds like too much, try my favorite editing app "Snapseed" I love using the exposure brush to brighten areas of my image that might be too dark.

A N D R E A  A L D E R

D e s i g n e r | C r e a t i v e | S t y l i s t 

Consistency Is King In Social Media

Today, I'm excited to introduce Lauren Caron of Union Adorn to give her top social media tip. Lauren and I met via Instagram (the power of social media). Lauren recently moved to Seattle from New York, when we finally got to meet in person, it felt like we definitely were kindred creative spirits. Lauren's background is in Visual Presentation Design, Interior Design and Business Management. She has worked with some pretty amazing clients including: Bergdorf Goodman, Hasbrouck House Hotel, Homepolish Inc and Tiffany & Co. She is absolutely amazing and I am looking forward to collaborating with her more soon.

Social Media Tip #2: BE CONSISTENT

The best way to ensure you’re going to have a strong Instagram feed is to be Consistent. Think about when you scan other accounts, especially the ones that you consider to be good, there is a consistent formula and system that they’re using which makes their feed be consistently good and on brand. You can look at their feed and know immediately if you want to follow a person/brand or not. Most of the time I don’t even go past the initial feed to individual photos make the decision about if I am going to follow that person or not. 

Creating that consistency is the first step and it’s not going to happen overnight. You need to experiment with different filters, or types of images or perhaps kinds of compositions (that are all reflective of your brand), or even a consistent tone of voice, and see how your followers respond to them. After a while trends will start to reveal themselves and you’ll gain an understanding of what your audience wants to see and hear from you. That’s when you start to edit your content to post more within that formula. Sometimes I purposely break the formula and yes, I gain less likes but also, it is a personal account and I want to be authentic so I say “what the heck, I want to post this so I will.” Usually I receive less likes and sometimes I even lose followers. 

For example, in my personal feed (@laurenlcaron) my audience is most drawn to 4 major images: 1. pictures of my own interiors or interiors that I have created. 2. and 3. are a close and nearly a tie, but my audience loves to see images of building facades in the neighborhoods I’m living, or interiors of restaurants and shops that I’m shopping in. And 4. My dogs tend to get a lot of likes, as long as they’re sprinkled into the feed, not over used. Once in a while I’ll add an image with inspirational text that is relative to me, my followers and the spirit of being a creative entrepreneur. Some of those images have received the most likes of all while others don’t get much. So I only truly post them when the words have a significant meaning to me. For my feed though, I tend to post them in the same font on the same white background.

This completely makes sense as to why my audience prefers these kinds of images, because I am an interior designer and my feed is my personal brand. What audiences want to see, ties directly back to the foundation of the brand - me and my work. 

From a visual standpoint, when canvassing my feed, I consistently utilize the same 2 filters from VSCO. I prefer a tone that is clean, clear and crisp, with true blacks, true whites and deep greens. You’ll notice my images are never too warm or toned to pink, hazy, too moody or too overexposed. Also, I tend to shoot directly onto my buildings and rooms, creating straight up and down lines, without any strong perspective lines or angles. 

Apps that I utilize to keep my feed consistent are: 

• VSCO - because I always prefer those filters over the IG ones
• Snug - to preview how a new image will fit within my feed. 
• ColorStory - Once in a while I’ll use this to edit the photos, but I haven’t found a favorite set of filters on this app yet, although they do the same thing that VSCO does. 
• Phonto - to create my text images.

Consistency doesn’t mean that you have to have the same exact images or necessary that every image has to look the same but they should fit into some sort of broad formula that we stick to. Also, this is just relative to IG, for my other platforms I create based on the needs of that space, as well as what my audience wants to see within that platform. In the end, I just try to ask of whatever I put out there, “is this consistent with my brand?”

Lauren Caron

Union Adorn | United in Beauty

www.unionadorn.com

TOP 5 RESOURCES FOR GROWING YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE

You can be hustling away, but if you are not sharing what you are creating then it’s virtually impossible to grow your audience. As freelancer, entrepreneur, an individual in the gig/project based economy, I know that I have to put work out there in order to get more work. So I wanted to share with you a couple of the sites/tools which I have found helpful for doing this. CALENDAR

Social media can be a bit overwhelming, but if you make a plan then it is much easier to stay consistent, which is a major KEY to growing your online presence.

Content Calendar:  It's important that your content be relevant and shareable. Reviewing a content calendar before mapping out your social media strategy helps you make sure your content will be in the right place, at the right time which will increase the odds of exposure.

Passion Planner: I have found having a physical calendar really allows me to map out my content. Also, if you are someone who works with affiliates, they have a buy three get one program.

IMAGES

A big challenge that artists and small businesses face is getting fresh content for use in their social media, website and marketing materials. Here are two sources for FREE content, start taking advantage of them today to grow your online presence.

The New York Public Library – Public Domain Images: Did you know that more than 180,000 of the items in the New York Public Library Digital Collections are in the public domain? These images are free for you to share and reuse.

Unsplash: Free Stock Photos: A great source for free stock photos. You can either explore the site, or choose to sign up to have 10 hi-res photos delivered to your inbox every 10 days.

IMAGE EDITING AND LAYOUT

Once you have images, now what do you do?

WordSwag: If you are not a designer but like sharing tips, quotes, etc. This is an app you should download asap. It’s a great solution until you can afford to work with a designer. Once again just remember your brand aesthetic and try to be consistent with the styles you choose.

Photoshop Express: Allows you to make easy touch ups to photos you have taken.

Layout: It’s important to spice up the number of photos you are posting. The layout app allows you to lay out multiple photos in a simple way.

CONTENT CURATION

One way to stand apart from your competitors is to position yourself as a thought leader, this can be done by writing blogs and articles. In addition to writing, you can also be a source that others turn to for trends and fresh content.

Scoop.it: Create and grow your online presence in minutes by publishing curated content.

ENGAGEMENT AND MEASUREMENT TOOLS

If we have ever set down to discuss your social media, you will know there are a couple of items that I continually FOCUS on: aesthetic, consistency, experimentation and measurement. The following tools allow you to schedule your posts and experiment, then provides you with the data to see what did and didn’t work.

Hootsuite: This tool allows you to save time and be strategic with your social media. The free plan lets you: monitor and engage in every conversation, schedule messages and measure social media growth.

Crowdfire: Helps you to keep track of how your social media updates affect your follower/unfollower stats.

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Note: If you are reading this post about social media, then I want to make sure you have also heard about the Instagram's recent feature update, Instagram Stories. This is Instagram's response to Snapchat and could turn out to be a very competitive move.