By McKenzie Morgan
Many of us, artists and PR reps alike, understand the importance social media has on our careers. However, some of us (like myself) dread it. Sometimes posting an engaging comment or even a simple emoji feels inauthentic and awkward. Or maybe you don’t have the time to make social media your top priority. This is all to say, I totally get it.
Having a strong social media presence is crucial to our careers, and making it work for you and on your own time is key. So how do you manage social media if it’s just not your thing?
Here are a few tips that you can use to engage with your audience in ways that feel natural and still prioritize your time:
1. Content 
Having good content is the key to having a successful social media account. If you’re an artist, make sure your work is presented in the best way possible. Take a look at @daniel.sackhiem and see how polished and consistent his grid looks—it’s super effective and communicates a sense of ease. Or @prudenceflint who balances the expected posts of her work with other posts ranging from exhibitions to sketches to the personal, but curated in a paced manner.
Even if you don’t have a lot of finished work, you can still find ways to have something to post on a regular basis.
Some ideas:
- A time-lapse of you sketching the beginning stages of your latest piece
- A #tbt of some old work to show your progress.
- An interview or article that’s relevant that you are featured in.
- A behind-the-scenes look (in your studio, or a photo shoot, for instance).
The key to finding the motivation to run your account is to post content that you actually care about.
2. Make it Personal
Social media does something that your website can’t: it’s more personal. Be genuine and tell your story. Your followers are interested in YOU, not only your aesthetic. Don’t be afraid to be vulnerable. If it’s on Twitter, open up about your ideas. If it’s on Instagram, share a photo of some memorabilia.
Storytelling is powerful and a way to build a dedicated following. Don’t limit your storytelling to your art, put it in your social media as well. Show who you really are and what inspires you, and how that fits in with the art you are sharing.
3. Manage Your Time
At this point in the game, you probably know the audience you’re trying to reach and the kinds of posts that you want to share. But you may be anxious about not being able to put in the time to actually manage your account(s) and posts.
One thing that social media guru’s talk about is peak times to post. These are the best times for influencers to post on social media in order to gain the most attention. According to Hootesuite, the best times to be posting on social media are generally in the early afternoon. For Instagram, the peak times are 12pm-1pm EST Monday through Friday. Twitter operates with similar peak times at 11am-1pm EST on either Mondays or Thursdays.
The main thing is being consistent so your followers know what to expect.
Scheduling your posts is a great way to take some stress off of your shoulders. You can use apps like Later and Hootsuite to help schedule your posts so you don’t have to keep a constant eye on it. With these apps, you can preview your posts and schedule days and times for them to be sent out.
Make it fit your schedule not the other way around.
4. Who to Follow
If you’re managing your own account, don’t forget that it’s still your account. You can keep your feed filled with things that actually interest you. This makes engaging with other people a lot easier and more natural.
If you’re worried about your following-to-follower ratio, don’t worry. You can follow hashtags instead of accounts to keep your ratio balanced but still fill your feed with things that you want to see.
Also consider which platforms to use. Narrowing down the platforms to engage on will help you stay focused. You’ll need to figure out which platforms appeal more to your audiences and focus on them.
5. Hire Someone
If all else fails (and you’re able) you can always hire a social media manager to do the work for you. Social media managers are experts in the field and love doing it. They will know exactly how to engage with your audiences and help curate the perfect posts. Hiring a social media manager can take the burden of social media away and so you can focus on the bigger things.
Social media is a full-time job, so much goes into one post. Don’t let social media rule your career, but rather let it push it forward. Think of social media as another art form—the skill takes time to develop and master and find what really works for you. But if you don’t have the time or if social media just isn’t your thing, these few tips can help build your following, too.