Eight Great Reasons For Using Facebook
Most artists I know have one priority when it comes to their art. Doing it! Marketing is usually far, far away from their minds. At some point, if you want to be a “selling” artist, you’ll have to stop and look marketing in the face.
Also the Internet is a bit challenging, filled with unknowns and “I don’t know how to do that” situations. But in today’s world, the Internet needs to be part of the marketing package.
Even if you have not started building an art web presence, here are some solid reasons why you, as an artist, should consider using Facebook as a marketing tool.
1. You don’t have to be a computer geek! You don’t have to know html or any special Internet language. Anyone can learn how to use Facebook.
2. A major marketing principle is to go where the people gather. Facebook has over 250 million members. There are over 120 million users active on Facebook everyday. And that number keeps growing. Plus, Facebook users spend an average of 3 hours per month on the site. That’s the highest 
average time per person among the top social media sites on the Internet. This is a gathering place you cannot ignore.
3. It’s not a “kid’s hangout.” Yes, Facebook got its birth with college students, but the professionals and business class has moved in. The average age is 35 and the fastest growing group right now is women over 55. There is a more mature atmosphere and you have control over the activities you allow on your pages. Your peers are using Facebook.
4. The concept of Facebook and the way it has been constructed makes it easy to start dialogs with people. The “ice has been broken” and connecting with people is simple. You can meet people on Facebook where it would not be possible otherwise.
5. You, your talents and your products can become visible to many people in a short period of time because of the expansive nature of Facebook. For instance, if you have thirty friends and each of them has 100 friends, the activities and engagements between you and your friends can be seen by their friends, which is 3000 in this simple example. You can build a Profile friends list to 5000, and the Fan list on a business page is unlimited. The numbers can get mind boggling with the amount of exposure you will receive via these pages.
6. It is a known fact that people prefer doing business with people they know; and people love knowing the artists who did the artwork that hangs in their homes. Facebook is a great place to let people get to know you, and it’s quite possible there are owners of your art work already on Facebook. Let them find you, or you find them. Build and nurture relationships.
7. Ok, let’s get just a bit “techie” now. One of the things that contribute to the value of a website is its search engine optimization. Facebook is highly optimized. So if you have a page on Facebook, it is highly optimized; meaning you and your artwork can easily be found on the Internet.
The second item of value for a website is its traffic. There are only three websites on the entire Internet that receive more traffic than Facebook and it is now the top social search engine in existence.
8. Facebook is free. With all this access to this many people you can’t beat the price tag. You can create paid ads if you like, but everything else on Facebook is free for your use.
So, see you there! Be sure to send me an invite to add me to your friend’s list. http://facebook.com/deeoverly
