Sharon Exhibit Thyself

Task 1A - Promote Thyself Online

Different ways to promote art and design work:

You can use social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Creating a 'Like' page or a separate profile for your business will  make people see your work and get your name known. 

Depending on what business you're promoting, there are certain websites you can use. For example, if you're promoting your photography there are websites specifically for photography. These are; Flickr, Shutterstock, iStock, We heart it and many more. 

There are also websites such as Gumtree where you can advertise your photography on there, you can advertise yourself wanting models for shoots or just advertise saying you will do shoots for people if wanted. After being involved with people in shoots etc. you can hand them a business card/leaflet giving your details incase they would like you again. They might also pass your name on to friends or family, and they might do the same. This way you're getting yourself known and making a business from your photography.


How to promote yourself online:

Facebook:

You can create a 'Like' page on Facebook, it gives you the option to categorise your business. This means people searching for a specific thing, will come across your page. 

Using Facebook to promote yourself you can invite your friends to like your page where they will see your updates on their news feed.

You can also add relevant tags for your page e.g. #photography so make them appeal to a larger audience and this will make it easier for people to find you!

On this specific menu there is also an option to run an advert for your page so it will come up at the right hand side. It gives you an option to pick a budget and that budget will put up your advert a certain amount of times and it gives you an idea of how many likes you would gain from doing this. For example: above it says 'Daily Budget £6 - estimated 12-49 likes per day'

Twitter: 

On twitter you can create your own profile, name it as your business and tweet about it and post pictures. So, for example if I wanted to search for a photographer search 'Photographer' or 'Photography' and it will bring up a list of people with this key word. This way you can contact the person about photo-shoots etc.

There's also a Discover button, so you can type in what you're looking for. This won't bring up people, this will bring up general tweets with the hash-tag you've searched for.

The top tweet that came up when I searched #photography is a good example of promoting yourself. It shows you can find people selling photography.

Gumtree

Gumtree.com is a great way of advertising yourself, you can sell things and advertise businesses on here. There are so many different categories where you can list yourself or your item. You can also choose an area in which you would like to find what you're looking for too. 

I have used Gumtree before to advertise that I wanted models and makeup artists for a photoshoot. 

There are options to make your ad more seen. You can change to urgent, featured or spotlight. This gives you a price (spotlight being the most expensive but more people will see your ad). I chose to do the free option but still got over 10 replies!

You choose a category, location and title for your advert and add pictures and a description.

Also, you can choose which way you would like to be contacted (email or phone). 

YouTube

I would say YouTube is a very fun way to get yourself known, you create your own channel and tag videos that you upload so they appear on the search screen when people are looking for specific videos e.g. funny/music. 

If I was to use YouTube to promote my photography, there are different ways I could go about it making it fun and interesting for viewers. I think it would be a good idea to have someone film you during photoshoots in the studio and out on location, these would be like behind the scene type videos. Not only people that like your photography would watch, but it would appeal to other photographers too to get tips on different styles of lighting and get ideas from what you're doing. 

Uploading a video:

Choosing a video that you've previously taken, you can rename it, add a description and tag it! This helps people to find your videos easier. You can also choose to share it to other social networking sites that you use e.g. facebook/twitter so you're friends and followers can also see what you've uploaded.

Searching for videos:

When you search for something you want to watch, by clicking the 'Filters' drop down menu you can also pick whether you'd like to watch videos that have been uploaded in the past hour, old to new, HD, 3D etc. (listed below) 

The advantage of this is that it makes it easier for people to find you when you upload new videos.

Subscriptions: 

If you find a certain YouTuber that you really enjoy watching, you can subscribe to their channel and this will show their videos on your feed when you load YouTube. So if people subscribe to you, they will see when you update your channel and add new videos. 

A great thing about these websites is that they are free to join and use! It only costs when you're wanting to update to the premium features. 

How to promote yourself offline: 

Posters

Creating posters and asking local shops to put them in the windows is a great way to get clients! Hundreds or even thousands of people will see your poster and maybe consider taking your details and getting in touch! Making your poster eye-catching with bright colours and big bold lettering will interest people and draw them in. 

Examples of posters: 

Business Cards

Promoting yourself through a business card is really easy, all you need is your contact details, a website link and a photo or something that represents what you do. Each time you get a client you can give them a business card in case they would like you again! Friends and family could also see the business card you gave to your original client and like the look of your work and contact you themselves.

Examples of business cards:

Leaflet

Creating leaflets and leaving them in as many places as possible that store leaflets like public events, shops, swimming baths etc is a good way to get clients because many people stop to look at leaflets and take a few that look interesting and obviously there are going to be some people that want what you're offering so leaflets is always a good idea. 

Word of mouth

When you've started to have the same client more than once it's always a good sign that you're good at what you're doing, them being happy with your work is going to lead them to telling friends, family and neighbours. This could potentially lead to new customers via good recommendations. 

Car signage 

Having big bold lettering on the side of your car/van is a good way to get peoples attention, especially if you have your contact details on there too! You might be stopped at traffic lights then people could see your car and business. This could interest people and cause them to ring you/email you asking you more questions or wanting what you offer. 

Promotional items

A good idea is to give items to clients when they ask for you e.g a mug , key ring or a bookmark so they remember you and can get back in contact with you easily because a key ring and a mug are things that are hard for somebody to misplace, so if they lose the business card, they can always go look at the mug for your contact details. Also wearing t-shirts of your company will make people see your company name which might make them search for you online and contact you that way. 

Making the items personalized is also great customer service, printing their favourite photo on a mug, bookmark and key ring are good ways for people to remember you. 

Making my own promotional items

Posters

Leaflets

Business cards