Where Can I Sell My Art?
19/09/17 19:59 Filed in: Marketing
We belong to a number of forums and groups via Social Media. Often they will propose questions, and we answer many of the ones we have expertise in. This question seemed apropos for a blog post, and so I’m posting our answer with a little embellishment!
Q: Where can I sell my work?
A: Isn’t it interesting how difficult, really complex questions can be stated so simply? There are so many variables that effect the answer. Let's examine some of those underlying factors, then you can answer the question yourself!
1) When you visualize yourself selling your art, what do you see? Are you in a gallery… a coffee house… a farmers market… an online store…?
2) How much time do you have available to promote your work?
Every successful artist is a marketer. Don’t let that term scare you. There are a lot of ways to “market” your work. Do you like to write emails to friends? One of the most effective marketing techniques is a newsletter distributed via email. A newsletter is just an email that you send to a lot of friends at the same time! There are email services that you can use for free to get your newsletter rolling- Mailchimp (https://mailchimp.com/), and Constant Contact (https://www.constantcontact.com/index.jsp) are two of my favorites. You build your email list by encouraging everyone you come in contact with to opt in. put a form on your website, Facebook page, email that you send out, make a QR code that you can put on printed pieces, and any posts or online profile you share with others. (here’s ours in case you aren’t signed up http://jdapdx.com/SignUp/) If you get lost or discouraged, we can help you.
3) How well are you known already?
If you are selling everything you make currently for many thousands of dollars, you probably don’t need my advice about promoting your work, nor are you at a loss for places to display your work. However, most artists struggle with name recognition. Let’s face it, The Internet is a wonderful place to get found but unless people know your name, you will probably be invisible except by accident. I’ve written previously about how to help potential clients find you (see http://jdapdx.com/Blog/files/tag-marketing-art002c-keywords002c-social-media002c-video002c-youtube002c-blogs002c-long-tail-keywords.html) and I’m sure will again. This is the field called SEO- Search Engine Optimization.
4) How brave and direct are you? How committed are you to success?
Professional artists are in business, and, like every business, success is something you need to plan for and work (hard) for to achieve. Life is exciting, rewarding, joyful, and , well, fun! But it’s not for the faint hearted. There aren’t any do overs. There are no mulligans, Just one time around the shell. Make the most of it and don’t be timid about it! Always have something you can hand a potential client, gallery owner, or venue manager. At the very least a business card… something with a link to a webpage with your work displayed. It can be your website, an Etsy or Ebay store, a gallery’s website anyplace that can be reached online. Keep a copy of your portfolio in your car. We recently created a portfolio for one of clients that he takes with him whenever he travels. It was designed to leave behind with gallerists, and he’s had marvelous responses to it. He credits it with helping get accepted at several high end galleries in 4 different States! Again, give us a call, we can help you with all of this stuff.
My company deals with hundreds of artists, some very well known, some just getting started. When I'm asked questions like this one, my answer is always, "How involved in your success are you willing to be?"
It is relatively easy to find a place to hang your work. We have clients who have had successful shows and installations in coffee houses, cafés, insurance offices, dentist offices, pubs, and restaurants. They sell in galleries, farmers markets, holiday bazaars, furniture stores, as well as there own studios and, of course, online. The pattern here is there isn't one. Any place that attracts people is a potential venue for your work. My local Red Cross has an art display that changes monthly. Portland has several churches that feature artwork from the community and sponsor terrific openings.
OK, so people can see your work, but how do they buy it? Well, except for galleries, most of these venues aren't staffed by people who are qualified or interested in selling your art. The barista making that double half caff mocha latté with a sprinkle of imported Brazilian organic raw sugar, literally could not care less about selling your paintings. Often these venues don't even tell their employees how to ring up the sale. So should you skip them altogether? No, of course not! These venues attract hundreds sometimes thousands of people you would otherwise never touch. The key is to get them to a place where they can buy the work online right on their phone or tablet. How? well the easiest way is using a QR code that links with an appropriate page on the Internet. Now that can be an eCommerce page on your website, an Etsy or EBay product page, or one of the many art sales sites (like Saatchi). QR Codes are one of the earlier implementations of the new field of Augmented Reality. Watch for more to come in that space (look up "Live Portrait"). In fact, the new iPhone X is implementing some AR features.
I'm a strong proponent of the Internet. Not because it will generate sales while you sit back and watch, but because, with the proper promotion it can expose your work to a tremendous number of people. Services like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest. even twitter and LinkedIn can be invaluable resources- especially if you are willing to invest a few bucks in promoting posts, and many hours building a following.
One more thing, consider having items that the average person can afford. Perhaps Giclée prints, Metal prints, or maybe something as mundane as a coffee mug or a t-shirt. All these can be sold for prices that the average person can and will afford online. It's relatively easy to sell a $40 small Giclée or a $20 coffee mug- it's much harder to sell a $500+ original. The same is true for smaller venues that aren't frequented specifically for the art on the walls. Talk with that coffee shop owner about a coffee mug featuring your art that is completely unique to his shop. We will be happy to help facilitate the design with you.
I guess the answer to the question is not so much Where to sell but How and What to to sell. Venues are literally all around you. The challenge is preparing to be successful. Building a following both in the physical world and the virtual one. In addition to Social Media, you need to develop that email list, perhaps even a "snail mail" list, to let your fans know what you are doing. A regular newsletter is terrific. What are you working on? Where are you showing? What has sold recently? What new products are available (e.g. a pair of coffee mugs and a pound of coffee as a Valentine's Day package). This is the kind of thing that successful galleries do.
So, ask your favorite places if they will display your work and start building up the infrastructure to take advantage of the increased viewers!
Tags: Venues, Where to sell, marketing art, Keywords, Social Media, Video, YouTube, Blogs, Long Tail Keywords
Q: Where can I sell my work?
A: Isn’t it interesting how difficult, really complex questions can be stated so simply? There are so many variables that effect the answer. Let's examine some of those underlying factors, then you can answer the question yourself!
1) When you visualize yourself selling your art, what do you see? Are you in a gallery… a coffee house… a farmers market… an online store…?
2) How much time do you have available to promote your work?
Every successful artist is a marketer. Don’t let that term scare you. There are a lot of ways to “market” your work. Do you like to write emails to friends? One of the most effective marketing techniques is a newsletter distributed via email. A newsletter is just an email that you send to a lot of friends at the same time! There are email services that you can use for free to get your newsletter rolling- Mailchimp (https://mailchimp.com/), and Constant Contact (https://www.constantcontact.com/index.jsp) are two of my favorites. You build your email list by encouraging everyone you come in contact with to opt in. put a form on your website, Facebook page, email that you send out, make a QR code that you can put on printed pieces, and any posts or online profile you share with others. (here’s ours in case you aren’t signed up http://jdapdx.com/SignUp/) If you get lost or discouraged, we can help you.
3) How well are you known already?
If you are selling everything you make currently for many thousands of dollars, you probably don’t need my advice about promoting your work, nor are you at a loss for places to display your work. However, most artists struggle with name recognition. Let’s face it, The Internet is a wonderful place to get found but unless people know your name, you will probably be invisible except by accident. I’ve written previously about how to help potential clients find you (see http://jdapdx.com/Blog/files/tag-marketing-art002c-keywords002c-social-media002c-video002c-youtube002c-blogs002c-long-tail-keywords.html) and I’m sure will again. This is the field called SEO- Search Engine Optimization.
4) How brave and direct are you? How committed are you to success?
Professional artists are in business, and, like every business, success is something you need to plan for and work (hard) for to achieve. Life is exciting, rewarding, joyful, and , well, fun! But it’s not for the faint hearted. There aren’t any do overs. There are no mulligans, Just one time around the shell. Make the most of it and don’t be timid about it! Always have something you can hand a potential client, gallery owner, or venue manager. At the very least a business card… something with a link to a webpage with your work displayed. It can be your website, an Etsy or Ebay store, a gallery’s website anyplace that can be reached online. Keep a copy of your portfolio in your car. We recently created a portfolio for one of clients that he takes with him whenever he travels. It was designed to leave behind with gallerists, and he’s had marvelous responses to it. He credits it with helping get accepted at several high end galleries in 4 different States! Again, give us a call, we can help you with all of this stuff.
My company deals with hundreds of artists, some very well known, some just getting started. When I'm asked questions like this one, my answer is always, "How involved in your success are you willing to be?"
It is relatively easy to find a place to hang your work. We have clients who have had successful shows and installations in coffee houses, cafés, insurance offices, dentist offices, pubs, and restaurants. They sell in galleries, farmers markets, holiday bazaars, furniture stores, as well as there own studios and, of course, online. The pattern here is there isn't one. Any place that attracts people is a potential venue for your work. My local Red Cross has an art display that changes monthly. Portland has several churches that feature artwork from the community and sponsor terrific openings.
OK, so people can see your work, but how do they buy it? Well, except for galleries, most of these venues aren't staffed by people who are qualified or interested in selling your art. The barista making that double half caff mocha latté with a sprinkle of imported Brazilian organic raw sugar, literally could not care less about selling your paintings. Often these venues don't even tell their employees how to ring up the sale. So should you skip them altogether? No, of course not! These venues attract hundreds sometimes thousands of people you would otherwise never touch. The key is to get them to a place where they can buy the work online right on their phone or tablet. How? well the easiest way is using a QR code that links with an appropriate page on the Internet. Now that can be an eCommerce page on your website, an Etsy or EBay product page, or one of the many art sales sites (like Saatchi). QR Codes are one of the earlier implementations of the new field of Augmented Reality. Watch for more to come in that space (look up "Live Portrait"). In fact, the new iPhone X is implementing some AR features.
I'm a strong proponent of the Internet. Not because it will generate sales while you sit back and watch, but because, with the proper promotion it can expose your work to a tremendous number of people. Services like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest. even twitter and LinkedIn can be invaluable resources- especially if you are willing to invest a few bucks in promoting posts, and many hours building a following.
One more thing, consider having items that the average person can afford. Perhaps Giclée prints, Metal prints, or maybe something as mundane as a coffee mug or a t-shirt. All these can be sold for prices that the average person can and will afford online. It's relatively easy to sell a $40 small Giclée or a $20 coffee mug- it's much harder to sell a $500+ original. The same is true for smaller venues that aren't frequented specifically for the art on the walls. Talk with that coffee shop owner about a coffee mug featuring your art that is completely unique to his shop. We will be happy to help facilitate the design with you.
I guess the answer to the question is not so much Where to sell but How and What to to sell. Venues are literally all around you. The challenge is preparing to be successful. Building a following both in the physical world and the virtual one. In addition to Social Media, you need to develop that email list, perhaps even a "snail mail" list, to let your fans know what you are doing. A regular newsletter is terrific. What are you working on? Where are you showing? What has sold recently? What new products are available (e.g. a pair of coffee mugs and a pound of coffee as a Valentine's Day package). This is the kind of thing that successful galleries do.
So, ask your favorite places if they will display your work and start building up the infrastructure to take advantage of the increased viewers!
Tags: Venues, Where to sell, marketing art, Keywords, Social Media, Video, YouTube, Blogs, Long Tail Keywords
Good Deeds and Attaboys
12/11/13 22:07 Filed in: Helping out
As consumers we play an important role in the American economic ecosystem. We determine what is the best value for us and reward the winner with our dollars. But if we really like a company we can go beyond and positively impact their success.
The other day I stopped into my favorite Burger King for lunch. It's the one on Stark St in Gresham, by the Home Depot. Why is it my favorite? Don't all Burger Kings have the same menu, the same basic decor, etc? Well, yes, but this place is different. Oh, they have the same menu, but the service is amazing! We were greeted with a "Welcome to Burger King!" when we entered, but more than that, the people who waited on us smiled and were friendly! Our meals were hot and fresh from the grill. It was a wonderful meal.
When we left, I made a point to compliment the servers, asking them to pass on those compliments to the managers. In turn they asked me to fill out their survey on the back of the receipt. I knew that was a way I could really recognize their efforts. So, I plan to do just that.
How do you recognize the efforts of the people and companies you deal with and like especially well? Perhaps you've never given that much thought. In this digital world, feedback can really assist your favorite companies to flourish.
When you spread the good word about a place onLine, the search engines notice. They all rank websites by "Authority" and that comes from mentions, #hashtags, back links, reviews, and myriad other sources that are considered when deciding on which page the website shows up in a web search. When they land on the front page, others can discover them, too. And more customers means a stronger more stable organization. That’s good for the company, but also for the client because our favorite place will be more likely to be around when we need them.
Let's take a look at a few ways you can contribute to that stream of data:
Reviews:
Yelp , Google Places, and Angie's List are just 3 of the dozens of great places to put in a good word. Tell people what you like and dislike about the place and give it a rating. The more ratings a place gets the more attention it garners!
twitter:
Even if you only have a few followers on twitter, you can reach a lot of people by using the # sign to create a "Hashtag". By using the # symbol along with a word or phrase that others might search for, your tweet can be seen by many folks you don't know. For example the above experience might carry a hashtag of #great_burger or #Burger_King.
Facebook:
Like their company pages. Share their posts with your Facebook friends.
Blogs:
If you write a blog, mention the company's website and provide a link. These are called inbound links and are incredibly helpful to a site's ranking.
Website:
If you have your own website, consider "trading links" with your favorite suppliers. If you mention them, they often will return the favor, thus helping to build your presence and authority as well.
Newsletters/email "blasts":
If you have a newsletter or send out some other regular eMail, tell your subscribers about your favorite suppliers!
Word Of Mouth:
Tell your friends! The oldest and best way to help your friends in business!
The other day I stopped into my favorite Burger King for lunch. It's the one on Stark St in Gresham, by the Home Depot. Why is it my favorite? Don't all Burger Kings have the same menu, the same basic decor, etc? Well, yes, but this place is different. Oh, they have the same menu, but the service is amazing! We were greeted with a "Welcome to Burger King!" when we entered, but more than that, the people who waited on us smiled and were friendly! Our meals were hot and fresh from the grill. It was a wonderful meal.
When we left, I made a point to compliment the servers, asking them to pass on those compliments to the managers. In turn they asked me to fill out their survey on the back of the receipt. I knew that was a way I could really recognize their efforts. So, I plan to do just that.
How do you recognize the efforts of the people and companies you deal with and like especially well? Perhaps you've never given that much thought. In this digital world, feedback can really assist your favorite companies to flourish.
When you spread the good word about a place onLine, the search engines notice. They all rank websites by "Authority" and that comes from mentions, #hashtags, back links, reviews, and myriad other sources that are considered when deciding on which page the website shows up in a web search. When they land on the front page, others can discover them, too. And more customers means a stronger more stable organization. That’s good for the company, but also for the client because our favorite place will be more likely to be around when we need them.
Let's take a look at a few ways you can contribute to that stream of data:
Reviews:
Yelp , Google Places, and Angie's List are just 3 of the dozens of great places to put in a good word. Tell people what you like and dislike about the place and give it a rating. The more ratings a place gets the more attention it garners!
twitter:
Even if you only have a few followers on twitter, you can reach a lot of people by using the # sign to create a "Hashtag". By using the # symbol along with a word or phrase that others might search for, your tweet can be seen by many folks you don't know. For example the above experience might carry a hashtag of #great_burger or #Burger_King.
Facebook:
Like their company pages. Share their posts with your Facebook friends.
Blogs:
If you write a blog, mention the company's website and provide a link. These are called inbound links and are incredibly helpful to a site's ranking.
Website:
If you have your own website, consider "trading links" with your favorite suppliers. If you mention them, they often will return the favor, thus helping to build your presence and authority as well.
Newsletters/email "blasts":
If you have a newsletter or send out some other regular eMail, tell your subscribers about your favorite suppliers!
Word Of Mouth:
Tell your friends! The oldest and best way to help your friends in business!
Art vs Decor?|The Perceived Value Dilemma
03/11/13 20:11 Filed in: Marketing
“It isn’t art if it matches your couch!”
“It’s much better in Europe. They have a tradition of buying art!”
“I kicked someone out of my studio once because they brought a fabric swatch in to match to!”
We’ve been having a discussion around the office with our clients, and these were just a few of the similar statements made. In fact one was on a t-shirt!
It centered around…
“Why is it so hard to sell artwork?”
I took an informal poll… nothing scientific about it, I just asked friends.
The question was, “What are you more likely to spend $500 on, a piece of art or something to decorate your home?”
First, we guys didn’t fair well. For the most part we just stared in disbelief, deferred to our “better half , or professed a preference for a 60” TV.
Amazingly, very few people viewed art as decoration. Somehow art has become a different class of possession … one that is considered a super luxury. While that may allow us to command higher prices for our work, it also suppresses demand to the point that few talented artists actually make a living selling their art.
Just as you can charge anything you like for something you don’t have (lack of supply), you can also charge what you like for something that no one is buying (lack of demand). The general public’s perception seems to be that art is superfluous for all but the wealthy… even though those same people will spend thousands of dollars on “Home Decor.”
The Home Decor market is orders of magnitude larger than the fine art market, yet the potential customer is the same and the amount of money charged is similar! Price is not the issue, perception of value is.
“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves…”
As long as we relish the difference between fine art and decor, we will be separated from that market and more importantly, the general public will continue to value the money in their pocket more than the artworks we produce. In essence, this is why “starving artist” is a cliché. It’s all about perceived value. At present, the average Joe would much rather spend $500 on the new TV, his wife might opt for a piece of furniture or a framed print from IKEA (or maybe it’s the other way around) but it is highly likely that both would vote to keep their money in their bank account instead of buying that wonderful piece of art.
This isn’t something we can solve as a group, changing perceived value is something we must work on as individuals and constantly. Perhaps we should start by finding out what color our potential client’s couch is.
Photograph Your Art|“It’s just for the Internet!”
18/03/13 12:39 Filed in: Photography| Art prints Fine Art
“It’s just for the Internet!”
I hear that all the time.
No one says,
“Oh, it’s just a postcard. It doesn’t need to look great.”
or,
“It’s just a magazine ad. I’ll just take the picture myself with my little point-and-shoot.”
Yet, for some reason, we think that a medium whose views could easily dwarf these other venues, isn’t worthy of the attention to quality and detail of the printed page.
I hear that all the time.
No one says,
“Oh, it’s just a postcard. It doesn’t need to look great.”
or,
“It’s just a magazine ad. I’ll just take the picture myself with my little point-and-shoot.”
Yet, for some reason, we think that a medium whose views could easily dwarf these other venues, isn’t worthy of the attention to quality and detail of the printed page.
Graphs depict the cost per view of a thousand postcards, a full page ad in a large national art magazine,
and a 1,000,000 impression Facebook campaign.
Cost of postcard is $500 including design and postage, cost per view… $.50
Magazine Ad cost of $5000 based on published rates and includes design services cost per view… $.10
Facebook costs of $130 based on sample CPM rate of $.13/1000 impressions. Cost per view … $.00013
With the growing importance of the Internet for marketing and sales, it's crucial that any representation of your work be as accurate and positive as possible. 5 or 6 years ago, one could rightly say, "It's just for the Internet" and not worry at all about the quality. After all screens varied widely in quality, age and condition. There even were a few monochrome screens around! Today however, the Web is viewed on far better screens, on tablets and phones with amazing clarity, fidelity, and resolution, and on laptops with screens that rival the best desktop monitors. The Internet is potentially, your biggest marketing asset. The small file size is not an excuse to provide a poor quality reproduction, in fact they require and deserve far closer attention . If you do it right, the Internet can and will provide thousands of potential customers their only chance to view your work. It’s not hard to get great photography for Web use. In fact it’s more a factor of planning and choosing the right photographer. You should be getting every piece of artwork photographed in the first place. Even if you don’t plan on doing prints immediately (or ever!), you’ll need accurate , high quality scans for submissions to galleries, promotional pieces ( postcards, brochures, gallery guides and ads) and for use on Facebook, twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and of course your blog and website. A good photographer will provide you with properly optimized versions of your scans to fill these needs. They should be willing and able to work with you if you have a special need, too. If you wait until your painting is sold, you miss out on much of the potential value of a properly captured image, namely it’s ability to help you sell the work faster by expanding fan base. So don’t skimp on your photography. Your best chance for a sale might be spoiled by uneven lighting or a bad exposure!
Twitter Housecleaning | Knowing when to fold ‘em
13/02/13 22:29 Filed in: twitter tips
twitter can be a lot of fun and very useful for marketing if done correctly. One of the things the budding tweetmeister learns quickly is that twitter limits the number of people you can follow based on how many people follow you.
twitter is much like a radio station where the user gets to determine who listens. Most folks who are planning on using it to promote their work start off in a sprint, following people as fast as they can, welcoming those who follow back and desperately hoping that those who aren’t returning the favor will see the error of their ways and shortly come aboard. 1000…1500…2000…only to hit a wall at 2001! Suddenly you get a message from twitter saying that you can’t follow anymore people! Thoughts race thru your mind, “What did I do wrong? Have I offended someone? Am I in trouble?” Don’t worry, none of those things are true. twitter built in follow limits to keep marketers from monopolizing the system and to guarantee that human beings would have to be involved.
OK, so you’ve hit a total follower limit, what do you do? Well, just like at home, there comes a time when you have to take out the trash!
Don’t misunderstand, I’m not saying there is anything wrong with the folks who don’t follow you back. There are many following philosophies, and they are as varied as people are.
For example they might…
- only follow close friends. Often people use twitter as a mini email between friends. “let’s have lunch on Friday.”, “My vacation was killer!”, “@Bob check out this pizza!” To these users, communication with friends is the key reason to tweet. If they aren’t following you, don’t follow them- they will never see your tweets.
- not be very active on twitter. Give a prospective follower a couple weeks to follow back and if they don’t, cut them loose. There are at least 50 Million active twitter users- there are plenty of fish in the sea.
- be a celebrity. I don’t follow celebrities, period… well, unless they reach out to me, of course.
- be an expert, guru, an authority who thinks there place is to dispense advice and wisdom not to listen to it. They tend to be people you’ve never heard of that are overly taken with themselves. That may be grossly unfair in some circumstances.
- be a tricky marketer who follows you, waits ‘till you follow back, then unfollows you. I’m not fond of this practice and unfollow them as soon as I find out about it. What you do is your concern, but these are often the buzzards of the twitter flock and it doesn’t do to encourage them!
So… you’ve raced forward , followed 2000 people, gotten 250 followers in return. you’ve waited two weeks to give everyone a chance to follow you back. Time to cull the following flock and start anew. It is possible to go thru your “Following” list, individually, and start removing those who have yet to discover your genius, but it is an incredibly time consuming process. Instead, consider a 3rd party twitter management software. I use JustUnFollow because it allows me to easily find those who don’t follow or have recently unfollowed me. It also allows me to look at those Who follow me but for some reason I don’t follow back, just in case I’ve neglected someone!
Oh, and it is free for most users!
Step 1- Sign in using twitter. They need to have your particulars so they can process the data.
Step 2- JustUnfollow will present you with a list from oldest to newest of those who you follow but don’t return the favor.
Step 3- Go thru the list and unfollow as desired. I usually seek out those who have a large discrepancy between the number of their followers and the those they are following. It is highly unlikely that they will ever follow me, so I hit the unfollow button. Next I look for those who have only a couple tweets but hundreds+ of followers. Third, I look for accounts that repeat the same message or a similar one over and over again. Tweeting “Buy my book” 50 times a day, is not only annoying, but shows that a human is not manning the ship here so there’s little chance that my message will get a hearing! Finally, I go to the very oldest and remove until I reach the quota. The free version of JustUnFollow limits you to 100 unfollows a day. You can opt for a very reasonable paid version that is unrestricted.
That’s it. Do a little every day and within a week you can be following more users- and gaining more followers- to your heart’s content!
twitter is much like a radio station where the user gets to determine who listens. Most folks who are planning on using it to promote their work start off in a sprint, following people as fast as they can, welcoming those who follow back and desperately hoping that those who aren’t returning the favor will see the error of their ways and shortly come aboard. 1000…1500…2000…only to hit a wall at 2001! Suddenly you get a message from twitter saying that you can’t follow anymore people! Thoughts race thru your mind, “What did I do wrong? Have I offended someone? Am I in trouble?” Don’t worry, none of those things are true. twitter built in follow limits to keep marketers from monopolizing the system and to guarantee that human beings would have to be involved.
OK, so you’ve hit a total follower limit, what do you do? Well, just like at home, there comes a time when you have to take out the trash!
Don’t misunderstand, I’m not saying there is anything wrong with the folks who don’t follow you back. There are many following philosophies, and they are as varied as people are.
For example they might…
- only follow close friends. Often people use twitter as a mini email between friends. “let’s have lunch on Friday.”, “My vacation was killer!”, “@Bob check out this pizza!” To these users, communication with friends is the key reason to tweet. If they aren’t following you, don’t follow them- they will never see your tweets.
- not be very active on twitter. Give a prospective follower a couple weeks to follow back and if they don’t, cut them loose. There are at least 50 Million active twitter users- there are plenty of fish in the sea.
- be a celebrity. I don’t follow celebrities, period… well, unless they reach out to me, of course.
- be an expert, guru, an authority who thinks there place is to dispense advice and wisdom not to listen to it. They tend to be people you’ve never heard of that are overly taken with themselves. That may be grossly unfair in some circumstances.
- be a tricky marketer who follows you, waits ‘till you follow back, then unfollows you. I’m not fond of this practice and unfollow them as soon as I find out about it. What you do is your concern, but these are often the buzzards of the twitter flock and it doesn’t do to encourage them!
So… you’ve raced forward , followed 2000 people, gotten 250 followers in return. you’ve waited two weeks to give everyone a chance to follow you back. Time to cull the following flock and start anew. It is possible to go thru your “Following” list, individually, and start removing those who have yet to discover your genius, but it is an incredibly time consuming process. Instead, consider a 3rd party twitter management software. I use JustUnFollow because it allows me to easily find those who don’t follow or have recently unfollowed me. It also allows me to look at those Who follow me but for some reason I don’t follow back, just in case I’ve neglected someone!
Oh, and it is free for most users!
Step 1- Sign in using twitter. They need to have your particulars so they can process the data.
Step 2- JustUnfollow will present you with a list from oldest to newest of those who you follow but don’t return the favor.
Step 3- Go thru the list and unfollow as desired. I usually seek out those who have a large discrepancy between the number of their followers and the those they are following. It is highly unlikely that they will ever follow me, so I hit the unfollow button. Next I look for those who have only a couple tweets but hundreds+ of followers. Third, I look for accounts that repeat the same message or a similar one over and over again. Tweeting “Buy my book” 50 times a day, is not only annoying, but shows that a human is not manning the ship here so there’s little chance that my message will get a hearing! Finally, I go to the very oldest and remove until I reach the quota. The free version of JustUnFollow limits you to 100 unfollows a day. You can opt for a very reasonable paid version that is unrestricted.
That’s it. Do a little every day and within a week you can be following more users- and gaining more followers- to your heart’s content!