Don’t use paid ads, part 2

I’m following up on my last post on the shell game of social media advertising, with some clarifications on my own opinions on how social media and business interact.

Now, this is just what I do, and it works for me: I try to sell as little as possible on social media, and I run minimal ads.

For everyone like me, you can probably find several others who make a decent living doing just the opposite. Tattoo artists, graphic designers, photographers, ceramic artists, and jewelry makers have all historically done very well selling products directly on Instagram, for example. Instagram is a visual platform, these are all visual artists, makes sense.

The risks behind using social media to sell

Here’s why I personally find this to be a rather risky endeavor, though:

On social media, if you post something like “buy now!”, “bookings open”, or “10% off sale this week only!”, it’s a net loss for everyone on the platform, including yourself.

Why? This kind of thing comes off as disingenuous, lazy, and not really what people are on social media to see coming from you.

Nobody is on social media to be sold to. We’re on these platforms looking for genuine connections with other people. Selling in this context comes off as spammy, and nobody likes that. Kind of like that uncle who won’t stop trying to sell you on his crypto investments when the family is hanging out at Thanksgiving dinner. I don’t think you want to be that person-I certainly don’t.

Don’t spam your people, please. Instead, just show them the things that you’re genuinely interested in. There’s lots of stuff you’re doing that’s way more interesting than your 10% off sale, or your bookings being “open for one day only, snap it up”.

The importance of only selling to qualified, interested leads

As much as possible, I try to only sell my things behind closed doors, to people who have already voluntarily expressed some form of interest in what I’m doing. A follow button smash, or a like, or even a stream of your music (unfortunately) does not count as sufficient interest.

That’s because it’s way too easy to do. When there’s no real stakes for the person doing the clicking, you have no idea how interested they actually are. They might just be mindlessly scrolling through a feed, as we all tend to do.

The analog equivalent to selling on social media: being that guy on the street corner spinning a sign, getting ignored by just about everybody. That’s not a fun place to be.

Using email as a more genuine marketing and sales presence

In contrast, consider an email list: if you’ve joined an email list, you’ve voluntarily chosen to give out one of your most private possessions, and that’s something I take very seriously. The analog equivalent to an email list: someone taking the time to walk into your widget shop to browse around a little bit, and see what’s up.

Maybe they end up buying something after looking around, maybe not. But either way, there’s a clear statement of at least some amount of interest going on here, because you're the one who chose to walk in the door.

And, if you’re actually not that interested after you look around a bit, or if you stop being interested at any point, the unsubscribe button is always available to you down there at the bottom of every single email I send. You can always choose to walk out of my shop.

Come back later, if you feel like it. I’ve got lots of free stuff around to enjoy, that you don’t ever have to pay me a dime for.

Kajabi has a quick primer on building an email list, and there’s some good simple tips here that are applicable to many artists, especially those just getting started:

The basics of building an email list.

Moving past the icky hard sell

It’s ok to have people moving through different layers of interest around you and your creative business. Not everyone needs to be your customer right now, or ever. The vast majority of people will never be your customer (my opinion: at least 80% of them).

But, when you give people a chance to check out some of the free stuff you’re doing, and show them what you’re up to regularly, they might just choose to turn into one later, on their own terms, when they’re ready. It’s the opposite of the icky hard sell, and it’s what I recommend most artists try when experimenting with selling their work.