Social media sucks for creatives, and platforms are not your friends
Sometimes, I get looked at kind of funny when I talk about how posting on social media isn’t a necessary tool for getting your stuff out there.
Unfortunately, a lot of jewelry makers on Instagram, those who set up a Shopify shop and didn’t bother with a website or an email list, are learning that lesson the hard way right now. It’s a real shame.
Why social media is not the only, or the best, tool for promotion
If you’re on Instagram, you might have noticed that it’s recently started to suck a lot. Pretty much the only thing that your followers will see, currently, is a Reel.
Stories, and especially photo posts, are now de-prioritized to the point where often less than 10% of the people who choose to follow you will actually see anything you’re sharing.
So, that means if you’re dependent on Instagram to show off your latest jewelry creation, you now have to do edited short videos. That’s a lot more time and effort than taking a picture. And, even if you do that, your work still isn’t being shown to the people who have chosen to see it! It’s being shown to random other people instead, as Instagram tries to compete with TikTok.
Platforms are not your friends, artists! Platforms simply work in their own best interests, just as you should work in yours. In this case, Meta/Facebook/Instagram’s interests no longer align with the interests of artists, creators, and small business owners. It’ll be interesting to see where that choice takes them, as artists, photographers, and creatives helped build their platform.
So, all that time (and potentially $) you spent growing your Instagram following? Much more useless than it was a month ago. Poof.
Hate to say it, but that’s what happens when you build your house on quicksand. Social platforms come and go: remember MySpace? Vine? If your creative efforts are 100% dependent on any one social media platform, you’re just asking for all of your hard work to go up in smoke when that platform changes the rules on you.
Alternatives to social media for creatives
I’m not saying don’t use social media. Use it as much or as little as you want. I’ve got an Instagram myself. But, also don’t equate your number of social followers with number of customers, dollar signs, or any actual real popularity in the world.
Consider diversifying the ways that your fans can see what you’re up to. I like to use email for that over social media, for the following reasons:
Email is private. Nobody else has to know who you’re following, and I’m not tracking your activity all around the internet up in here to serve you ads. An email list is true one-to-one communication, without algorithms. If you want to talk to me, just hit reply and I’ll get it.
Email is opt-in. Hopefully, you’re on a list because you want to be, and because you find what’s being talked about interesting. If not, you can leave anytime you choose by hitting unsubscribe.
Email is personal and real. It’s really me on the other end of my email list, talking about stuff I’m honestly super passionate about, directly with you.
Email is both short and long form simultaneously. You can send out longer stuff, or shorter stuff, or both.
Email is where a lot of your most important stuff lives in your life. It’s kind of a big deal when someone chooses to share their private email address with you.
It takes just a little effort to be on an email list, and that effort means your email audience cares just a little bit more. Hitting a like button, or following a rando on social, takes almost no effort.
Email is sticky, while platforms come and go. People don’t change their email address very often. People jump to the next hot button social network constantly.
Email converts. You don’t have to sell stuff via email; I do both free information, and the occasional offer on my list. But, if you do choose to sell things, they will sell at higher rates than a social post. Don’t believe me? Here’s an article on how an Instagrammer with 2 million followers couldn’t sell 36 T-shirts.
Still don’t believe that email converts better than social? What do most websites that have things they want you to purchase do? They’re asking for your email address, often with an annoying pop-up. They’re not using that pop-up to ask you to follow them on Instagram.
Email is generally considered a more professional way of communication. You can use an email as a legally binding document. When you sign that label deal, your label will not be sending you important contract documents through your Instagram DMs.
Email can be automated. For artists, this is especially important, because this lets you come up with ideas only when you feel inspired to. Social media forces you to come up with stuff on the fly constantly, and that’s both exhausting and an unhealthy grind for creatives.
