What is the recommended way for artists to start with Facebook and Instagram ads?

Start with warm traffic, not cold. Create non-salesy content—a story, time-lapse, news update, or showcase of new work—with no sales language. Email it to your list and post it organically on social media. Then turn that post into an ad targeting people who already know you: email subscribers, website visitors, social media followers, and anyone who’s engaged with your content before. Set a small daily budget ($5–10/day), run it consistently all year, and focus on capturing attention through email signups and website traffic. When it’s time for a sale, you hammer this warm audience with sales-focused ads. This approach teaches you the ad system, forces consistent content creation, and builds momentum without wasting money on cold audiences.

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Asked by an artist ready to start advertising · Answered by Patrick Shanahan · art-marketing-podcast · 2020-01-29