Social Media is the New Actors’ Business Card

Most people really only use social media to observe other people’s lives; however, what if we learned to be intentional, not only with our scrolling habits but also with what we share on social media, and use it to help grow our artistic career?

Gone are the days of a perfect photo and some cheesy caption, the people have spoken and vulnerable authenticity is what works on social media. In this post, I’m going to be referencing Instagram because that is my preferred social media platform; however, these tips can be used across all social media platforms.

So Idina, how can you intentionally show up in your social media content? I’m excited for this one.

Branding

The first step to being intentional about what you’re posting on social media is to define your artistic brand. The easiest way to do this is to get really clear on who you are as an artist and then work to have your page reflect that.

I used to think that being authentic online and being specific about my colors and brand presence contradicted each other. However, instead of thinking of branding as “fake,” think of it more as authenticity but with a theme.

What colors represent you? Is there a style you want to create for your grid? When people come to your page, are they immediately able to get a clear understanding of who you are and what you’re about? That’s branding.

Planning

Within the process of branding, you’ll likely find that you have a solid understanding of who you are and what you’re about, but figuring out what to post is a whole other beast.

Well, lucky for you that’s where planning comes into play. I personally use a spreadsheet to plan out my social media posts and I rotate between post, reel/IGTV, quote and I try to keep it in a consistent pattern using similar colors and fonts.

But how do we figure out what the heck to talk about online?! Pillars. That’s how.

I want you to sit down and think of 5–7 pillars for your artistic brand. These pillars are what you will become known for. For example, my pillars are:

• Career Coaching for Artists
• Being a Female Entrepreneur
• Mental Health & Faith
• Songwriting (my own art)
• Life (dog mom, wife, etc…)

Within each of these pillars, there’s obviously room to play around; however, if I know that I am posting in a pattern, then I never really run out of things to talk about. In fact, I have a running list of ideas that I can pull from at any time for each of these categories.

As an artist, your pillars don’t have to be anything too wild. For example, if I was just pursuing music and not growing my own coaching business, my pillars might look something like this:

• Singing (covers & originals)
• Behind the scenes of writing a song and/or prepping for a show
• Faith & mental health as an artist
• Life (personal things like dog mom, marriage, friends, etc…)
• Musical Theatre (covers, auditions, etc…)

Consistency

One of the most annoying and best things about social media is that the algorithm rewards you for showing up. The more you post, the more the algorithm is going to push your content out into the world. I am not a fan of posting multiple times a day or even multiple times a week. That’s exhausting.

However, if you pick 1–2 days each week to actively show up on social media (make a post, hop on stories, go live, etc…) then you will see your reach and your engagement start to go up.

Social media is one of the first places that anyone looks at in order to get to know you and what you’re about.

As an artist, it is so important that you show up authentically and consistently. However, let me be very clear about one thing: in order to have a social media presence as an artist, you do not have to be an influencer. You don’t even have to try to act or look like one. That said, you are an artpreneur, which means that you are your own brand and your social media page should reflect that.

Determining your brand, establishing your pillars, and showing up consistently will help you to use social media to grow your career. And, what you’ll find is that when you’re showing up authentically and consistently on social media, the desire to scroll mindlessly will begin to fade because you have converted social media into a wonderful tool. It will no longer be a distraction, but it will help you to own your artpreneur career.

(This post is part 2 in a series about being intentional with your social media use, check out part 1 here. )