It’s the hottest time of the year to promote your artwork. And, whether you prefer to promote your art online or in person, don’t be left out in the cold when it comes to encouraging followers and sales for the 2022 holiday season.

Promoting Your Art Online

The personal shopping experience, particularly when selecting art, is always welcome, but It is critical to ensure that you have optimization on all of your digital platforms, especially on mobile devices. Your online art business needs to be as streamlined and user-friendly as possible. To that end, it is imperative that your website is updated, loads quickly is easy to navigate, and does not have any broken links. 

Holiday shoppers tend to be impatient shoppers. Your home page should immediately display your most unique and photogenic items. Create clear, detailed descriptions of each piece, how to buy it, and easy ways to contact you.  Then go through the purchasing process yourself to ensure that buying art from you is informative, simple, and fun. 

Social Media Basics

Taking full advantage of your existing social media platforms is absolutely essential during this very concentrated gift-giving season. Posting regular promotions with direct links to purchasing options can be highly effective. 

  • According to Marketing Expert McKinsey, 58% of consumers agree that social media influences their holiday season buying decisions.
  • Instagram has recently launched the ability for users to buy products through Instagram DMs.  This is great news for artists!
  • Encourage your friends and fans to post positive reviews and share their holiday gift-buying experience with all of their “friends and followers.”

Create A Countdown Calendar 

While the holiday season for traditional retail products and services tends to jump into high gear the day after Halloween and remain constant and aggressive through the end of December, the art-buying audience typically prefers a more relaxed and personal approach to holiday gift buying.  

For these potential customers, it would be wise to follow the advice of the marketing experts who contend that Black Friday is the most important day on the holiday calendar.  Not only is it the date that super sales and deep discounts dominate, but it is also the kick-off to annual art shows, fairs, and expos that take place every weekend until December 25th.  These selling and buying venues focus on a more personal approach to holiday gift sales and allow artists and specialty vendors to meet and greet their fans and followers in person.  

It is therefore, imperative that all of your social media messaging – starting right this minute – bring attention and a call to action to specific dates on the calendar that highlight your special gift-buying opportunities.  Use your social media platforms to promote your own Holiday Countdown Calendar.  Here are a few ideas to promote and post as often as you can:

  • Update your holiday hours on all of your social media.
  • Announce all of the times and locations where you and your art will be “popping up” or participating.
  • Create themed Instagram promotions with Countdown to Christmas and 8 Days of Hanukkah specials. 
  • Invite people to your gallery, art studio, or pop-up for cozy wine and cheese, cookies, and cocoa holiday shopping hours.
  • Spread the goodwill with a donation to charity for art purchases made during designated dates.  
  • Create a holiday buyer’s guide by grouping gift ideas by price, themes, age, stocking stuffers, etc.. 
  • Design holiday gift bundles by grouping smaller pieces to make more affordable and customizable options.
  • Offer attractive incentives for each purchase, like small ornaments, greeting cards, or free gift wrapping.
  • Promote gift cards/certificates for your artwork (According to a survey from IT Service Management Company, Fiserv:  Four out of five consumers surveyed plan to purchase gift cards and gift certificates in 2022.)

Share Your Story

While there are countless recommendations, opinions, statistics, and tried and true methods for driving holiday traffic and encouraging sales, YOU will always be the most connected and intuitive about your very specific art-buying public.  Your art directly reflects your individual creativity and captures how you relate to the world around you. 

Take the opportunity during the holiday season to shine a spotlight on what makes your artwork unique and compelling.  Reach out to the audience you know and love and share your creation story on Facebook, in a blog – anywhere in your community that supports the art world, and where you can share a post.  Art lovers seek out personal connections with artists and prefer to give gifts of art that have a story attached. What’s your story?

Happy Holidays from Arts Spark! 

Arts Spark is a division of Interactive Media Consulting, LLC, a full-service website and digital marketing firm located in Saratoga Springs, NY. Services include website design and programming (including eCommerce database and custom software integrations), branding, content creation, print collateral materials, and hosting. IMC websites are fast, accessible, supported, and secure. We are experts in how people use the web.   IMC offers free consultations to access your web and marketing needs. Contact us today. https://imediaconsult.com/contact-us/