One of the most challenging aspects many art gallery’s face using social media as a marketing tool is finding the time to create enough diverse and compelling content. Once you get comfortable with creating certain types of content, social media companies change the rules. (Thanks Facebook) Having the right tools in your tool box makes your job far more efficient and your followers more engaged.
Below are four really cool tools that I can see a “not so techy” art gallery marketing person adopting.
There is an endless number of tools designed for social media content creation. Some are more user-friendly than others. I selected these to share with you for their simplicity and because they make using social media stories and videos easier. Both of these types of content are important for helping organic reach and encouraging follower engagement.
And most are free.
Stories Creator
Buffer offers a pretty cool free tool called Stories Creator. The beauty of a tool like this is that you can create your Facebook and Instagram Stories in batches. Creating Stories for social media on your phone is much harder than working on a desktop. Stories Creator is a desktop tool. Hooray!
Its simple design and features make it easy to use. This is helpful when you are focused on a specific project, such as an upcoming exhibit, pop-up, art fair, or seasonal promotions. You can create a batch of social media stories for each project in a short amount of time, download them to your computer and post them when you’re ready.
Since stories do not stick around long, you want to use the Stories social media feature with repeated messages. You might post 10-12 stories centered on a single project. This tool makes that more efficient.
The tool has limited templates, but you can customize headlines, captions, fonts, colors, etc. You can even insert your gallery logo. When you’re done, just download the images and post. Try it.
Lumen5
We all know social media algorithms favor video. This is a really cool tool for creating fast videos by repurposing your gallery’s blog or artist’s bio or statement. Lumen5 is a desktop browser-based app.
There is a free version, but it requires the last image in the video to be a Lumen5 credit. That’s not the end of the world, but to remove that you can subscribe for $19 per month. The paid version allows you to export higher-quality videos and gives you a few more customization tools.
Videos are created with images that you upload or media they offer, including video clips. You can also add music. The app animates it for your and saves it as video file.
Paste your article’s URL into Lumen5, and it lets you drag and drop text into a slideshow. You can create short, attention-grabbing, and engaging videos to use on social media or your gallery website in just a few minutes. This is a wonderful tool to diversify your content.
Templates include newsfeeds, stories, and ads for Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and more. If social media tech stresses you out, this might be the perfect tool for you.
Teleprompt.me
Speaking of videos, if you create videos where you are on camera and feel more comfortable using a script, try Teleprompt.me. It is another free tool that works with the Chrome browser. It’s your very own teleprompter to help you look more polished and professional on camera.
You just paste your script into the tool, choose the font size and text color that is easiest for you to read and turn on your computer’s microphone. As you read, the words gray out, so you always know where you are in the script. It’s design and functionality is very straightforward and easy to use.
IG:dm
If your gallery gets prospective art buyers direct messaging you on Instagram, this might be a helpful tool for you. IG:dm, is a free downloadable desktop application for Instagram direct messages. Once installed, log into your Instagram account and your off and running. It is only for messaging however, but it means you don’t have to be chained to your phone to respond to messages.
One hiccup to be aware of is that the software doesn’t always play nicely with Windows 10 or 8. They do have potential fixes, so don’t let that hold you back. If you do have Windows 10, you can always download the Windows Instagram app to your desktop.
It is rumored that Instagram is working on their capability to allow DM from desktops, but no word on when that will happen.
To the Point
Social media is here to stay and if use it properly it can be an immensely valuable marketing and sales tool. The platforms are constantly making changes to give their users a better experience. Those changes often mean you have to be nimble. I hope you will experiment with some of these tools to make your job a little easier and create posts that algorithms favor for organic reach.
What tools do you use and recommend? Let me know.
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