Sunday Stats and Weekly Update
Every Sunday morning, I like to take a quick look at the previous week's stats for the Mark Rushton Gallery and all the social media things related to it.
I gather my numbers from the web site, Mailchimp, IG, YT, FB, Twitch, BitChute, Odysee, Rumble, TikTok... how many emails did I send and what was the name of the campaign? What is the campaign open rate? How many social posts? Reels? Reels count. Live videos... and Sales. It only takes a few minutes to discover it. I put everything in an Excel sheet that is linked to my Microsoft OneNote.
My feeling is that if you're not spending 5 minutes a week to chart your progress then it's difficult to see the growth. Likewise, if you don't do anything and nothing happens then that should also be staring you in the face.
Too many artists, particularly the "emerging" ones, put too much of an emphasis on "sales". I say that as both a visual artist and a recording artist. I've witnessed that attitude for years... decades, really. If an artist is getting publicly upset about "sales", then they're not long for this gig. As I like to say, "the arts" is a lifestyle, not a race to be won.
I'm definitely what I'd call an "emerging" professional artist, at least on the visual side. I have quite the catalog, but it's been hidden away in portfolios and not formally presented for sale. And, after 2020, I seriously thought about quitting the visual arts side. But early in 2022 I discovered Art Storefronts, realized that their marketing language was very similar to what I'd been learning on my own in the past several years as an increasingly "relatively successful" recording artist, and so I've spent 2022 "starting over" on the sales and marketing side for my visual art, basically from scratch.
So, Rushton, did you move the needle this week?
I was busy adding over 30 new paintings added to the Paper or Synthetic Paper section of the Mark Rushton Gallery.
Each small painting needed to be matted and placed inside a frame for pictures. Then I had to create an entry in my Airtable database for catalog purposes. Then I had to upload and configure everything on the Gallery web site. I've gotten the process somewhat streamlined, but it all takes time.
The email list keeps shrinking. That's inevitable as my mailing list is old and I've increased the frequency of emails to weekly. I'm not worried about that.
Other numbers are more or less steady, or have slight increases.
I got my second subscriber on Rumble! I always say to not ignore "alternative" sites, especially if your content is automatically pushed. I learned a while back that video sites such as BitChute, Odysee, and Rumble can automatically receive content from YouTube, so I signed up and configured those. If I publish a video on YouTube, those aforementioned sites act as "translator channels" and rebroadcast my content. It's similar to seeing my Instagram posts go to my Facebook page. That's the way the internet should work, but for the past decade or so a lot of companies have been creating walled gardens, which is stupid.
Another thing I say is that video has "legs", so you should make lots of different types of videos. So many people get hooked on Reels, and they are desperate to crack the supposed cheat codes in order to have a "viral" Reel. For the most part, Reels are dead in the water after the first day. But I have "sped-up painting" videos on BitChute that are still increasing in view count after being out there a few years. I doubt anybody will be looking through 4 year old Reels in the future. I suppose it's possible. Also, I get the feeling that Zuckerborg is manipulating his audience with Reels and is currently trying to "throttle" creators to encourage them to "boost" their numbers via "pay to play" - it's the same game that ruined Facebook posts a decade ago. Oh, didn't you already know that most of your followers don't see your posts on Facebook? If you don't know that, get your head out of the sand. And quit asking everybody for the cheat codes because there are no cheat codes.
I also participated in the fall Gallery Walk in my area on Friday. I called some friends while I was there and they showed up and we hung out, and it was fun! Next year, it might be a good idea to attempt a "pop up" thing in the area.
Recently, my wife and I went to a small town Ben Franklin store, which was about the only kind of place you could get art supplies when I was young. I bought the watercolor pens you see in the lower center of the photo. And some 2 oz acrylic paint bottles, pictured below.
OK, well, this sure went on a bit. Back to work!
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