What should I actually post on social media if I want people to engage with my work and eventually buy from me?

Stop being one-dimensional. If 90-95% of your content is just your finished work, your process, unveiling your work, or your work on walls, you’re only reaching the same narrow audience in the same lane over and over. Those post types are great, but they’re not enough to get the engagement you need. You need to post about who you are as a person. Share what makes you tick, whether you’re a dog or cat person, pain or challenges in your life, your weirdness—be you, everyone else is already taken. Every human being has scars, baggage, and skeletons in the closet. When you share your story—the suffering, unfair treatment, ups and downs, trials and tribulations—people connect deeply. They’ll say ‘it’s like that for me too’ and that bond is far more powerful than your work alone. Think of content variety like lanes on a freeway: each type of post gets you into a different lane reaching different audiences. You want to spread your bets across many lanes, not put all your eggs in one basket.

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Asked by an artist struggling with social media engagement · Answered by Patrick Shanahan · art-marketing-podcast · 2026-02-09