Why do artists struggle so much with social media marketing?

Artists run what I call the ‘Art Gatling Gun’—just constant posts of their art with no story or personality. ‘Here’s my art, look at my art, more of my art, here’s a reel of my art, here’s my art on the wall, here’s me creating my art’—all day long, just art, art, art. Think about it this way: if you attended a gallery opening and the artist just said ‘I’m an artist, look at the art over there, look at the art over here, talk to the gallery owner if you want to buy something, if you buy two I’ll give you 40% off’—you’d think that was bizarre behavior. Yet that’s exactly what everyone does on social media. Then they wonder why only other artists follow them, why they only get likes but no sales, and they blame the algorithm. Your art pieces are the commercials. No one sits down to watch commercial after commercial. You need to provide programming—your story, what makes you tick, what makes you interesting, your personality. People make purchasing decisions from people they know, like, and trust.

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Asked by general teaching point · Answered by Patrick · Art Business Webinar · 2026-08-19