Should I run Facebook or Instagram ads to sell my art?

Stay away from ads until you have a very robust marketing system already in place. Ads generally don’t work for artists until you’re already posting on social media regularly, capturing emails, running email sequences, regularly running sales, and doing all of that consistently throughout the year. Art is not an impulse purchase—people typically discover an artist, follow them on social media, get on their email list, come back multiple times over 3, 6, or 9 months, and then purchase. Ads can’t replicate that relationship-building process. Focus on organic marketing first.

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Asked by an illustrator struggling to make sales · Answered by Patrick · Art Business Webinar · 2026-07-10