How To Master Social Media as an Artist: What I’ve Learned

To be honest: it’s taken me a long time to feel confident with posting on social media.  I felt exposed, awkward and convinced I’d embarrass myself to begin with. 

I’ve invested a lot of money and time in trying to figure it out: courses that cost thousands of pounds, free workshops, webinars, the lot. Some were genuinely transformative. Others taught me things I promptly forgot because it can all be quite overwhelming. What I’ve come to understand after all of it, and after years of showing up, getting it wrong, and slowly finding my footing, is this: it doesn’t have to be complicated or feel fake. And that social media can have its own creative expression.

Here is How To Master Social Media

Let me share with you here what I’ve learned.

Consistency over perfection

The biggest shift for me was letting go of the idea that every post needed to be perfect. I would spend hours photographing or filming the right image, writing the perfect caption (with the most relevant hashtags, obvs!) and the time that took meant days away from where I really wanted to be: in my studio.

If you want to build an audience as an artist, imperfect consistency is what creates trust. People need to see you regularly to remember you exist. That doesn’t mean posting every single day, it means finding a rhythm you can actually maintain. Two or three times a week, done steadily, will always outperform a flurry of brilliant posts followed by nothing. For anyone who has been following me for a while on Instagram, you’ll know that I love a series (my weekly “Story Behind this Painting” reels, my monthly “Where You Can See My Artwork” posts etc) and this has helped me regulate and plan my social media time. 

Share the process, not just the outcome

Sometimes the posts I expect to perform well (polished images of finished paintings or fast-forwarded reels going from blank canvases to framed completed artworks) get less engagement than the scrappy ones. A photo of paint-covered hands, or an inadvertently paint-splattered tshirt can elicit dozens of replies, hearts and comments.

That’s the thing about how to promote art online that nobody really tells you: people aren’t "just" buying paintings. They’re connecting with a story, a style, a person. Letting them into your world, even a little, is what builds that connection and trust. Behind-the-scenes content isn’t a compromise. It’s often the most engaging thing you can share. 

It’s also an essential component for that elusive and untrusting algorhythm: in a world of fake bots, even a faceless algorhythm needs reassurance that you’re a real person and not an AI generated basement dweller. 

Connection over followers

I’ve spent more sleepless nights than I’d like to admit fretting about numbers. Follower counts, SEO statistics, engagement. I felt deflated if something didn’t perform, even if the painting itself was one I loved.

But the number that really stopped me in my tracks was this: at one point, 99% of my followers were other artists. Not collectors. Not people who might buy work or come to an exhibition, fellow artists. Which is lovely in its own way, but it meant I’d built a community that wasn’t quite the right one for sustaining my practice as a business. It was a wake-up call about who I was actually talking to, and whether my content was reaching beyond my own peer group.

So I learned how to alter my own algorhythm on Instagram, and I also tweaked the tone of my posts to be directed towards potential clients, as well as other artists and friends.

What I’ve come to value is the quality of the conversation and the right kind of reach. A small, engaged audience (people who genuinely care about your work, who reply, who share) is worth infinitely more than a large passive one. Social media for artists isn’t really a broadcast medium; it’s a conversation. And the moments that have meant the most to me have been someone telling me that a painting of mine hangs in their bedroom, or that a post I shared resonated with their own creative practice.

Build for that. The numbers tend to follow anyway.

Find your own style online

There’s always a trend to chase on social media. Reels formatted a certain way, captions that follow a formula, aesthetics that look like everyone else’s, even “trending” music. Someone suggested using the hashtag SixSeven to go viral (I think only those of us with teenagers will understand that reference, and how irrelevant it is to the art world!). I’ve tried some of them, and a small number were genuinely useful; staying on top of what’s working on each platform is actually worth the effort. Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn: they each have their own formats/audiences, and showing up across all of them has helped me reach people I’d never have found through one platform alone. 

That said, Instagram is my favourite platform, and I tend to cross-post across the other socials.  It goes back to my wanting to spend the majority of my time in my studio, not on my phone or laptop.

Contorting yourself to fit into becoming a social media dynamo could become a full time job.  And while I would argue that having a social media presence and a website is essential to any small businesses these days, it’s important to remember the bigger picture and who’s actually in charge (it’s you, not the algorhythm).

As an artist whose work is rooted in specific places and a particular way of seeing, I know I have something to say on canvas and on social media that no-one else can say in quite the same way. That’s true for you too. Your voice, your story, your perspective on your own practice: that’s the thing that will make someone stop scrolling. Trends come and go, personality remains wonderfully unique.

Selling without feeling salesy

This is one I still find uncomfortable, and I think that’s probably true for most artists. Talking about available work gives me the ick and can feel like shouting “BUY MY PAINTINGS”, which isn’t how anyone want to show up.

What’s helped me is thinking about it as an invitation rather than a pitch. Sharing a painting and saying a little about where the inspiration for it came from, what materials I used to create it, and mentioning that it’s available either via my website or through a particular gallery, that feels ok. It gives people something to connect with before they ever think about a price. Selling art online doesn’t have to feel purely transactional. It can feel like sharing something you love and trusting the right people to find it.

What’s actually worked, and what hasn’t

Explaining why and how I made a painting? Yes, it’s also the kind of content I enjoy seeing from other artists.

Scheduling content? Definitely.  It allows me to plan ahead and not be a last-minute panic about posting. 

Posting at “optimal times”: a barely noticeable difference in my experience. 

Reels: better reach than static content, worth it. I use Canva and Splice to help with editing. I choose music I like to set the scene. It’s got easier the more I’ve done it.  

Two things that don’t get talked about enough in the social media conversation: newsletters and websites. Social media platforms can change their algorithms overnight, and they do. An email list of subscribers is yours. The people who sign up to hear from you have actively chosen to do so, and that relationship is more direct and more durable than any follower count. I’d encourage any artist to start building a mailing list early, even if you only send something occasionally.

Your website matters for the same reason. It’s your home online, the place where someone who finds you on Pinterest or LinkedIn can go to understand your work properly, see what’s available, and get in touch. Social media brings people to the door; your website is what’s inside. Plenty of art fairs and art galleries won’t give a second look to anyone who doesn’t have their own website.  Build your own, try using Squarespace or Wix, I promise it’s not as difficult as you might think.

Balancing social media and your creativity

I want to end here because I think it’s the most important thing. Social media is a tool for how to promote art online, it shouldn’t eat the art alive.

Looking at other artists’ accounts can be wonderfully inspiring, but can also suck out your own creativity if you fall into the dangerous “comparison” trap.

I’ve definitely been guilty in the past of spending too long on content creation and not enough actual painting. The work has to come first. The posts are there to share what you’re making, not to replace the making. 

Set whatever boundaries you can help you protect your creative time. Batch your content, limit your scrolling, take breaks when you need them. Social media will wait. The ideas that come when you step away from the screen are usually worth more than any post you could have written.

Susie Collingbourne is a Scottish artist based in Edinburgh, working in abstract and landscape-inspired painting. You can follow her work and creative process on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and LinkedIn, or explore her latest paintings at susiecollingbourne.com.

FAQ

Do you need a large following to sell art online?

No, I promise you you don’t. A smaller, engaged audience of people who are genuinely interested in your work is far more valuable than a large, passive following. Many artists sell consistently to an audience of a few hundred people who really care.

What should artists post on social media?

A mix works best: finished work, process content, studio moments, and the occasional personal insight into your practice. The variety keeps things interesting and gives different people different ways in.

How often should artists post?

Consistency matters more than frequency. It’s better to post twice a week every week than daily for a fortnight and then disappear. Find a pace you can sustain, and stick to it.