What Not to Do for Social Media Growth

All over the internet are articles telling people what they should to in order to optimize their social media growth. They tell you to post consistently, find the best times, use the right tags. However, these pieces of advice may not work for everyone.

Different platforms work in different ways, and some people may not be able to create fast enough to meet the requirements set by algorithms. However, there are a few things you should not do on any platform no matter what you are trying to achieve. As if you do them, you will find your efforts ineffective at worst.

Don’t Take Social Media Advice Too Seriously

Many listicles will include advice on what to do for social media growth, but there is one issue. Not everything will work for everyone or for every platform! Artists shouldn’t be making new posts every day, many people with jobs won’t be able to post at optimized times, and trends go quicker than they come.

Taking advice as gospel (including the advice here) will only lead to stress, the feeling of doing it “wrong,” and nothing to show for it. Sometimes, the best thing you can do is to stop worrying what you “should” do and start considering what you “can” do.

If new art takes you a month to finish, maybe share progress, show old pieces, or other types of content such as memes or cat pictures as a way to pass the time. If picking one niche or topic makes it feel too much like work, then don’t!

At the end of the day, the best strategy is the strategy that works best for you. And if it means ditching any advice you read? Then so be it!

Don’t Neglect Self-Promotion

A common blight among artists is the fact that we neglect to promote ourselves! We fall into a trap of wanting to give people something of value, and forget that we need to ask for money every now and again. So, if you haven’t pushed whatever it is you’re selling this week, this is your sign to do it!

There are many ways you can promote yourself. For instance, this blog is meant to be a form of self-promotion that brings the Dextive name to more people while simultaneously giving advice and opinions that are hopefully valuable to others. The homepage includes a variety of links leading to my other socials, my shop, and even my Artistree page. But a blog is only one out of many ways to promote yourself.

Don’t Put Too Much Emphasis on the “Media” in Social Media

A mistake that many people make is just posting onto their account and dipping. Social media has the word “social” in it for a reason, and you won’t grow if you ignore that side of it. By engaging with the community and talking to other people, you are not only helping other posts grow, but you’re getting your name to more eyes at the same time.

Your personality is very important on social media, especially if it is yourself you’re selling as it often is. Your illustrations may capture a piece of your soul, but they are not your personality. There are so much more people want to know about you. Do you have a cat? What is your favorite show? Do you laugh at dry humor?

Don’t be afraid to showcase yourself like you’re a piece of art. Show other artists love and support for them and their work. Participate in challenges. Most importantly of all, have fun with it!

Don’t Compare Yourself to Others

Another common mistake artists make is comparing themselves to others. Other artists draw for different audiences and goals in mind, and their skills may not say anything about your own. However, it is not just the quality of images artists fall under the trap in comparing. It is numbers as well.

Engagement points and follower counts can be important for artists and their reach, that much is true, but if you hang yourself up by worrying about what other people’s growth journeys look like, you might get discouraged before you see where your journey will take you! Your skill might be “superior” to bigger accounts, and some people might grow way faster, but that is their journeys. Their stories. You don’t know what goes behind those people’s growth. It might just be luck, but there could also be a lot of work and money behind the scenes.

Don’t Be On Too Many Platforms

Putting your focus on more than one platform can stretch you thin and burn you out. While it is a good idea to put your name and pieces in many places, it’s okay to put most of your focus on one and work with one the most. Don’t neglect the other platforms and make sure to say “hi” on them from time to time! Everybody loves it when someone they like come and visit, after all!

Don’t Forget to be Patient

Finally, social media is a marathon, not a sprint. While fast growth may seem like the ideal, the fans you get from it are also fleeting. They might not stick around for long nor keep caring about your work for the long-term. A slow yet steady growth is a healthy sign for your career and its longevity.

Being patient is hard. Everybody wishes they can live off their passions now. But for most, it will take years before the things they love to do can pay for food or even rent. This fact does not make you a failure nor “not good enough.” Maybe you do need improvement, but your art does have value. It is worth being seen, and it is worth a living.

Conclusion

There are so many dos and don’ts for social media, it would be impossible to list them all. The full list would be contradictory, confusing, and messy, but that is because different things will work for different people. While what’s listed here are good to keep in mind for many people, they won’t apply to everyone.

Twitter will shadowban you if you try to engage with other people, perhaps you wish to be a hobbyist and have nothing to promote. Either way, everything listed on here will be worth considering for somebody. Maybe that somebody is you.