As we all know, social networking is the current place to be if you want to interact and communicate with the rest of the world. Knowing how to get exposure for your creative work using social networks will help you to get noticed so you can start making money or just enjoy the satisfaction that comes from others admiring your skills. Gaining credibility and respect as a creative artist all starts with recognition, once you have a name for yourself the rest will come naturally (as long as you keep showcasing your talents).
Finding Your Target Market
Regardless of your craft – writing, web design, programming, media – there is guaranteed to be others searching for the skills you possess. The question is, how do you find them? This is where social media comes into play. Keep in mind that media comes in many forms; audio, video, and even writing/visual. You want to create a space where like-minded individuals will come searching for you and you can do this in many ways. Identify your audience- find the keywords that people use to search for your expertise and expose yourself to them as much as possible.
Creating a Home
The first step is to create a home for your work. Buy a domain name (name your site) and start a blog or a website to display your best work. This is an important step because you need a place to send your visitors. It will also be the starting point for your online portfolio. Having your own place on the web to showcase your work shows that you are a professional and intend for your work to be taken seriously, simply uploading it to free social-based sites won’t get you much credibility or respect, those sites are simply for driving traffic and exposure.
Different Types of Networks
There are tons of social media networks that you can use to get noticed. The most popular ones such as Facebook and Twitter are easy to set up and use. Facebook allows you to create a Fan Page or create a group of your own that you will send to your “Home.” Twitter allows you to customize your page, using your work or advertising your skill. You can also send out tweets to your followers to check out your site or a specific project of yours.
Forums are a great starting point. Theforumfinder.org and findyourforum.com are just two of many forum search engines available. Once you find forums in your niche join and start interacting. The great thing about forums is many of them let you post a link of your choice in your signature- this is where you add a link to your posts that leads to a page of your choice.
Using Video
If you’ve ever searched for a video, you know that there are literally millions of videos online. YouTube, MediaOne, Vimeo are some of the top video sharing sites, but you are not just limited to those; you can upload videos from your cell phone or computer to share on your web pages, add to your Facebook page, or even send to your email list.
Video sharing is one of the most interactive ways of getting exposure because you can show off your personality. Some video sharing sites even allow you to create your own personal Channel.
Photo Sharing
Sharing pictures goes way beyond sending relatives snapshots or your new car or that beautiful garden that you’ve grown this year. Photo sharing is another form of social networking. Sites such as Flickr, Shutterfly, and PhotoBucket can all be lucrative for business or even just as a hobby.
If you’re a true artist, artician.com, digitalthread.com, and shownd.com are virtual communities that allow artists, web designers, photographers, or anyone with a creative hand to show off their skills.
So you see, social media is not just tweeting or saying “What’s on your mind,” it expands far beyond the 140 character quotes. Whether you want to use your cell phone to send out messages to a group, upload videos on your personal Channel, or direct visitors to your home page through forums and blog posting, now you know how to get your creative work noticed using social networks.
Image: basketman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
