Marketing Without the Bird App

My life on Twitter came to a sudden halt when I was suddenly and unexpectedly expelled from the site on December 1,  2022. I still maintain my innocence. I've requested clarification/appealed the decision and aside from the automated response on my emails never heard anything back. So my account was and is suspended and I have moved on. But the BIG question was how would I fill the void. The bird app played a big part in how I marketed my POD, Print on Demand Wares.

I was left with Instagram and Facebook. Both were problematic in that department. IG doesn't like live links although you can have them in your bio profile . Facebook did not like you being too sales oriented. So yes I can post my  GreetingCardUniverse card links, but  posting the weekend sales promo code got me a warning notice. sigh.  I did sign up for a Facebook Artist Page. In January, I signed up for Post.News. Links and images look gorgeous on that site But I feel like I'm shouting into the void over there. Needless to say, I don't post as many links as I did on the bird app cause it's just not the thing to do on any of those social media platforms. Now what? 

I did get creative in December, and did a countdown to Christmas and posted 25 winter/Christmas illustrations on IG, the majority of which were GCU cards. And yes that did help with my December/Christmas card sales.  I also did a shorter run up to the Lunar New Year, Year of the Rabbit or Cat with illustrations/cards of, you guessed it, cats and rabbits- which helped with the January sales. And now we're at the end of February and my sales are way down compared to last year. Sure I could do a run up to Spring? But do I want to? Must I? Sigh.

Have I learned anything? 

• Posting daily helps as far as engagement and getting new followers. No big insight here.

• My followers on all my sites seem to respond best to my Art Process Posts for illustrations or greeting card designs. They seem to find the  process as interesting if not more interesting than the actual finished art. Thankfully, I enjoy documenting and sharing my art process.

• I realized I stopped blogging because I was micro-blogging on Twitter. No bird app and the blog revives. Hmmmm Maybe I'll do an occasional upcoming holiday blog post.

I would love to hear what social media sites you use to help promote/market yourself or your creations. 

You can find me at:

Website: dianadelosh.com

Illustration Blog: dtdelosh.blospot.com

Instagram: @dtdelosh

Post: @dtdelosh

Check out my illustrations on products at:

Greeting Cards: greetingcarduniverse.com/dianascards

Gifts: zazzle.com/deloshdesigns*

Art Prints: wingedrabbit.imagekind.com

HBF Library Show Postcard

Self-Promo Postcard for the general public

© Diana Ting Delosh

Just received the Postcards I created for the HBF Exhibit (see previous post) that I ordered from Vistaprint about 12 days ago. I should have used the 7 day delivery option but I had to be a wise guy. Previously I had used the slow deliver, cheapest option and always received my order within a week. Why pay extra for 7 days if I don't have to - right? Ta-dah... because.. when you most need it in 7 days - they change their delivery methods. Anyhow it's here now. Not too bad. It could've been March 21st which is the original slow delivery date. While it would have been nice to have all my handouts out at once - it's not crucial. I do have an art list flyer with all my website, GCU and IK URLs out and I have also designed a few bookmarks.

Did consider having a "Guest sign in/comment" book until I looked at the featured artist's "book" in the main gallery - I was surprised to see negative comments!?! sprinkled throughout and very few - e-mails - which is the purpose of a guest book. The negative, snarky comments were a bit of a shocker after all who needs that! Incidentally I liked her images. So no guest book for me.

So far my out-of-pocket expenses for this promotion experiment has been the cost of 3 pre-cut mats, 11 frames/hanging wire and 250 Postcards. Luckily I had some hanging wire and enough white mat boards to cut out 9 mats. Thankfully the library is taking care of the art list and bookmarks.

Now I'm off to drop-off my postcards - about 30 should be fine to start with and I'll check back weekly to see if they need to be replenished.