The main thing about successful networking as an Artist is to always remember this: “It’s not what can you do for me – but always “What can I do to help you?”

Do not expect people to help you, but be very grateful if they do.

Sue Martin said, she posted some information about an up-coming art project that she was doing in San Francisco. Some days later I even got a mail from an investor who is a partner of one of the largest independent galleries in the Bay Area, asking if we wanted to have the exhibition there. Amazing!





I think Mari-Lyn is right on the spot when saying “If you like friends – then what do friends do? They help each other.”

There are some rules to follow:

• 
 Be positive – if you have a bad day, don´t let others be bothered with that. You do not HAVE to update your status every day.
• 
 Be friendly – encourage others when they do something positive.
• Remember to greet them when they share something positive and say “Happy Birthday” when you can.
• Clean your site – remove “tags” on photos you do not like, remove negative comments if you do not want them, and so on
• Never – ever – overdo it.
• Be careful about how often you invite someone to (the same) exhibition. It is much better that your connections ASKS for updates, than being overflowed by it.

Eric Olson said, I love people! I love making new friends! And I love art! 

I am very fascinated by the new social media. I use Facebook a lot, I am at LinkedIn, I do Twitter (not so much, though), I am a Couch Surfer I am a truly devoted fan of social media networking.

For me social media networking just makes it even easier to connect, and stay connected, with people. It makes me feel that I belong to a larger society of artists. It makes our planet smaller in a way. I really like that.

Mary Lawler says it’s true that outgoing people pick up social media pretty quickly. In the beginning I thought it would be laborious and time consuming, and it was for the first two weeks or so until I got the hang of what worked, who was a waste of time and where the smart people hung out. Now I spend two hours a day or less keeping up with and making new contacts, leaving comments, but remember, I am doing it for a company, not just for myself.

Blogging is one of the best ways I know to get information out to a broad audience. Buying original art online or otherwise isn’t the hip, hot thing to do but I guarantee you, if Oprah talked about it, encouraged it, or wrote about it in her magazine, the whole world would start buying art.

As Artists we can’t afford to be elitist about anything anymore. Do we want people to buy art or don’t we? WE have to be the educators, the communicators, the marketers and the advocates. In order to reach people we have to go where they are, and that is on the internet.