"Hello world! I'm an Artist!"

You're on Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, etc. but what now? What sites should you put energy into and which ones aren't worth it? Here's your status update:

Twitter is great for gaining a completely different set of contacts compared to Facebook. My Twitter network mostly consist of people involved in my industry (the arts), friends, and random contacts. They may or may not be buyers, but they are always posting advice, new work, and are a great resource. Twitter is mostly for sharing what you're doing and posting links to direct traffic to your website, blog, or online shop.

Updating your status with short blurbs about what you're doing on a daily basis brings the online world into your 'real world.' If you do this consistently you'll notice a steady stream of new contacts and interest in whatever you're doing. There isn't any set rules, but my recommendation is save some time and link your twitter and facebook together, so when you update your status on twitter it automatically updates on facebook or vice-versa. Do it at least once a day, twice if you have time, and more if you can.

Facebook, OH MY where do I start? FB is a powerful tool - the most powerful on the web now. On FB you can do everything Twitter does, Blogger, and Flickr combined. Why use anything else?

Use FB to POST - Post photos, links, notes, anything. Your posts are visible to your friends, friends of friends, and networks. You will have the most exposure to all the right people, your friends, people who trust you. Information spreads so much faster through people in a trusted network.

If you're an artist -- CREATE A FAN PAGE. If you do this then you will have the opportunity to build a fan base, a group of people who are giving you the go to email them with updates about whatever you doing. Instead of maybe reaching people through your status updates and posts, you can send updates directly to them. This is just like a blog fan base, subscribers. They are subscribing to not only images of your art, but your life. People are interested in the bigger picture, who you are, what you're doing, everything along the way and in between.

Here's my To-Do list:

1. Start your artwork.
2. Take pictures along the way.
3. Take video if you can. (post it on YouTube)
4. Finish the work, take more photos.
5. Post photos on Facebook, write a blog post, post on your website.
6. Tweet about your new work including links to view it.
7. Post an ad on Craigslist about your work and use links to direct traffic to your blog/website.
8. Update your Facebook fans about the new work.

Make sure all your work is tagged with names that describe it, you don't want to miss out on the search engine traffic!

Here it is in simple terms:
You want to share your art. You have to have people to share it with. Connect with people online in many different arenas (don't limit yourself). Share by posting, blogging, create some excitement!