How to Promote a Nonprofit Art Gallery Online – What Social Media Marketing Taught Us
The global pandemic forced many small businesses to shift their platforms completely online (see previous blog). As a result, digital marketing efforts have been relied on heavily not only to maintain an active brand, but also to keep audiences informed and engaged. This has allowed for a wider reach of audience and stronger overall presence online.
Screenshot of Think Round’s Facebook Business Suite Homepage
Social media plays a significant role when promoting brands, both large and small. After all, more than half of the global population uses some form of social media today (Oberlo). As a nonprofit fine arts gallery, our marketing team has decided to discuss some of–what we consider to be–the most important elements of social media when marketing towards our brand, Think Round Fine Arts. Our primary use of social media platforms during the last year included Facebook and Instagram, so I will largely be discussing them. However, Think Round also has platforms on YouTube, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
Connect with local artists and related brands
From our experience, we have seen that reaching out to other local artists and related organizations from the San Francisco Bay Area are key to creating wholesome and lasting relationships. Hunter’s Point Shipyard, an SF based arts community, has been a home to many artists we have connected with and have kept in contact with through the help of social media. During quarantine, our marketing specialist Richa Sharma kept in touch with all of the artists featured in exhibits via Instagram Live. There, she hosted interviews and later posted them permanently back to Instagram as well as Facebook.
When referring to crucial social media tactics, Richa believes:
“Making a connection with the audience is the key for more organic growth and building a long-lasting relationship. Through our regular analysis, we have learned that our audience connects to the emotional value of the post. If the post conveys some sort of story which members can relate to, it leaves a lasting impression on them and leads to page revisits.”
We have contacted multiple members of the SF arts community via Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn, and fortunately formed positive, genuine relationships in the process. These members may repost what we have originally posted to their pages, and we would intrinsically do the same. In this way, both parties receive more audience reach and engagement.
Facebook and Instagram Insights
In recent years, Facebook and Instagram have implemented a system for tracking analytical metrics, allowing users to view their online performance. Some of these metrics include overall accounts reached, where impressions, profile visits and even website taps are recorded. Additionally, top posts and stories are saved here, and our team can see which ones are doing the best. Content interactions such as likes and saves are also monitored, as well as demographic information like age, gender, and where the audience resides.
Mobile Instagram Insights Layout, Think Round Fine Arts
Insights are a great way to compare digital performance from different periods of time, whether weeks or months apart. We have made and analyzed Insights reports to base our future marketing actions. For example, one post or advertisement in the past spikes up audience metrics as we can see through the Insights feature. We focus on this and make adjustments to attract similar spikes moving forward.
Seamless interconnectedness with a social media platform and products or services
Think Round’s website homepage screenshot, with all social buttons highlighted in blue and hyperlinked
To keep our social media at the top of its game to promote Think Round Fine Arts, we know from experience that connecting direct links to our products, website, and virtual exhibits, and vice versa, is imperative.
Think Round’s Instagram page, equipped with “View Shop” button and link to the website in the caption
This gives our audience the opportunity to navigate to all our sites much more smoothly and without difficulty, and as a result, we gain more exposure and acquisitions.
By and large, social media angled towards business-related and personal connections is flourishing.
“As of now, social media is the biggest source to communicate with the world. So, it is immensely important to convey the message straight without beating around the bush,” says Richa.
Regardless of the organization, social media is necessary to enhance and maintain audience relationships. Reaching out to local artists and related brands, analyzing Insights, and connecting social media platforms with the products or services offered are only some of the essential tenets we adhere to. New trends and practices appear periodically, so being on top of research and new systems is very important. It is up to us as digital marketers to dive deeper into finding the most essential and effective ways to amplify our brands, put them into practice, and promote their growth.
Brenna Parker is Digital Analytics and Marketer at Think Round Fine Arts Online.