Can Visual Artists Succeed Without Using Twitter and Facebook?

For nearly four years I have been honored to be a guest blogger on Absolute Arts, which remains one of the most highly respected and trafficked online art sites. My most recent post for it went up today. It is titled: Success and the Unconnected Artist. The post tackles a question am frequently asked, which is can I make it as a visual artist without having a Twitter and Facebook account? Not to mention Linkedin, MySpace, FriendFeed, Flickr and on and on.

The short answer there, and I encourage you to go there for the longer one as well, is yes. An artist can devise ways to sell art and enjoy a viable long term career without the benefits of Facebook and Twitter, etc. While I am a strong proponent with my own regular involvement, I think most visual artists who do participate in social marketing would be hard pressed to accurately assess their return on investment from their involvement. This incongruity does not diminish the activity.

David Ogilvy, arguably the most influential advertising person ever, is reported to have said, "Half the advertising I do works, I just wish I knew which half." So if a Madison Avenue superstar can't pinpoint return on investment, it means you shouldn't fret over it either. Despite believing it's possible to make a career outside of the Internet's widely bandied Web 2.0 tools, I remain a stalwart believer that artists can positively affect their careers by using them.

In order of importance, I would start with a good Web site that can professionally promote and properly present you and your work. Follow that with a blog and then let those things be the platform to launch into Twitter and Facebook, which can effectively be used to drive traffic to your site and blog. There's obviously more to it than that, but this is a good overview of how to get started using Web 2.0 to promote your art career.