Navigating multiple social media platforms and maintaining a consistent look is one of artists’ biggest challenges. Having spent over a decade navigating various social media platforms to varying degrees of success, I’m going to discuss strategies for visual branding I’ve found to work and talk about the importance of maintaining a consistent approach to social media.
Whether we like it or not, being an artist in this day and age can be as much of a marketing venture as an artistic one.
A critical factor in building a successful social media presence is creating an instantly recognizable ‘brand.’ Now, the term ‘brand’ may be off-putting for some of you, however, as it was for me early on in my career. However, you must remember that your work is being judged in seconds, meaning a strong, consistent approach can often yield successful results.
Curation & Creation
With the advent of social media, curation has become as important as creation. How and what you decide to share is as important as the actual photo or piece of art itself.
For better or worse, as an artist, you are going to have to pay as much attention to curating your work as you do making it. The 12 photos a user sees when they land on your Instagram page are pretty much all they will judge you on. While we’d like to think our followers look through weeks of photos, the truth is they spend seconds scanning your page before making a snap decision.
For this reason, it’s important to reinforce your ‘brand’ with almost every post you send to social media.
Importance of Keeping Your Work Consistent
One of the hardest and most important tasks when it comes to personal branding is keeping your work online consistent. I always like to think of my social media platforms as a version of my work rather than a representation of everything I create.
As I said above, your work will be judged on your recent work and from viewers skimming over your profile. Suppose you primarily shoot landscapes and aim to become a professional landscape photographer. In that case, you won’t do yourself any favors by frequently posting portrait images.
Now, a word or warning, social media platforms can lead to artists boxing themselves into a certain style of art. This is a trap you should always look to avoid, which is why I recommend having separate accounts for different styles of art. For instance, If you enjoy street photography and portraits but want to become a professional portrait photographer. It makes sense to have two separate accounts rather than combining both styles of photography on the same account.
You have to remember, the act of sharing work on social media is more of a marketing activity than an artistic one. Continually posting the same style and type of photo is rewarded. Viewers and potential clients will know exactly what type of artist you are from a brief glimpse at your social media pages.
How to Remain Consistent in Your Visual Branding
An artist can achieve consistency through several means, the easiest of which is colour and subject. The continual use of certain colors and tones has been a tool used by artists for hundreds of years. A striking example in photography would be Saul Leiter’s use of bold colors.
When it comes to subject, one artist which springs to mind is Yayoi Kusama, who continually features colourful polka-dotted pumpkins in her work.
As for visual style and technique, a good example would be Alex Webb, whose work is instantly recognizable from his masterful compositions and use of light.
You have to remember, while you look at your own work for hours on end, the vast majority of viewers will allocate seconds to make a judgement on you as an artist, so every photo or piece of art you share should go someway to re-enforcing your visual branding.
Your constant approach should also cross platforms too, if you share landscape photos on Instagram, it makes no sense to share a completely different style of photography on YouTube.
Ideally, you want your visual branding an artist to remain the same, regardless of the platform people find you on. This way, if viewers enjoy your work on TikTok, they are far more likely to follow you on Instagram, too.
A Social Media to Fit Your Visual Branding
Another important point is to choose the right social media platform to suit your needs. Not everyone wants to participate in the Facebook/Instagram rat race – nor will every social media fit every artist’s needs.
With that said, if you are looking to grow a large platform online, I’d recommend joining several social media platforms to avoid having all of your eggs in one basket. You may find your style gains a larger following on TikTok then it does on YouTube, or that you prefer sharing your photos on VSCO over Instagram.
There is no right-or-wrong way to go about it. I advise testing out the platforms, focusing your energy on the ones you enjoy using but maintaining a presence on as many of the large ones (YouTube, Facebook, Instagram & TikTok) as you can.
Moving Forward in Your Visual Branding
While visual branding and maintaining a consistent approach definitely is important, I really would like to stress the importance of not letting social media define your art.
The modern photographer and artist is constantly balancing the pursuit of creating work which will build their social media brand and platform, while also creating art they enjoy making. Some of my favourite photos I’ve ever taken have fallen flat on social media, this is something you will have to make peace with. But I can’t stress enough that social media should not dictate what you create.
As stated above, the best way to view social media is that your profile is a version of your art which is a carefully curated gallery which reinforces your personal brand.
