Can you believe that we're already in June! I feel like this year has been flying by!
2024 year has been a challenging one for me so far. I've been working on figuring out how to diversify my artist income so that I'm not so dependent on client work which comes and goes. That's meant brainstorming product ideas and marketing plans. It's also led to a much needed reality check about the relationship between me, my art, my business, and social media
insert cranky, old-lady voice
You see, back in my day, we didn't have to worry about algorithms on Instagram/Facebook/Twitter. The people who followed you saw your posts in chronological order. Shocking, I know. Now, that isn't the case. The Almighty Algorithm chooses when to bless you with views and likes and unfortunately I haven't been one of the chosen few who receives them regularly.
To make things worse, META, Instagram and Facebook's parent company, has decided to use its user-generated content to train its AI. This is especially concerning for freelance illustrators like myself because AI art is a direct threat to our incomes.
So all of these things mean that it's time for me to re-evaluate my use of social media as a marketing tool. I'll still post on IG and FB using a tool called Glaze which helps to block it from AI scrapers. But I'm going to be starting a YouTube channel and even more importantly an email list so that I can reach out to followers directly.
I'll be documenting all my experimentation with in the hopes that it will help other artists escape the fickle algorithmic deities that rule our lives online.
I'm excited to see where this journey takes me!
xoxo
Patricia
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