Instagram Challenge, Survey Results & What’s Next

For the last two weeks, we’ve been running a challenge over on Instagram to see how many followers and sales you can get. It was a smashing success with over 1400 artists signed up for the challenge.

Lots of people probably want to know what’s next for TAA.

Last Friday morning, I had finished going through the results of a survey that we did. You may have participated. Over 500 artists told us about their biggest challenges. I decided to share the results in a Facebook Live video and talk about what that means for you. You can watch the video below, or at this link.

Here’s the highlights from the video.

Doing Nothing. The most common response from artists who are struggling with sales is that they are doing nothing to fix it.. Because you participated in the Instagram Challenge, this is not you. But it was surprising to me.

On Thursday, I spoke with an African artist who started with nothing a year ago finished her year with $50,000. In the Fall of 2015, she signed up for our How to Sell Your Art Online course, with just a few hundred dollars left in the bank. She took massive action and grew her art business to $50,000 in a year. More to come on that later.

There were 5 Major Obstacles that survey respondents outlined. After the Christmas break, TAA will be releasing some new content addressing each of these areas. Stay tuned for that.

• Fear of showing your work
• Time: too busy with your day job
• Productivity: what is the most optimal, cost effective way of building a body of work?
• Where do I get started? What do I do next?
• How do I market and share my work and get collectors instead of fans?

Instagram challenge results. Obviously we are still collecting stories since it just ended Friday, but a few quick facts.

As of Friday morning, there were over 2700 Instagram posts under the #taaigchallenge hashtag. That’s a lot of action. Well done! Also, that number doesn’t count the Instagram Stories and Live videos that disappear after posting.

Here’s some highlights from the challenge.

Sara O’Connor sold over $700 worth of original art in the first week of the challenge.

Update: SOLD to a buyer in New York! For those of you wanting to order a commission, she is 2×3 feet and is $770, plus tax and shipping. I can make works in different sizes and colors in this style. Cheers! My next piece for The Abundant Artist Instagram challenge exhibits a new pointillism technique I created last month that I absolutely love. What do you think? This recently finished piece is available for sale. I also do commissions, and it is not too late to order a holiday gift! Reach out at saraoconnorfineart.com. #taaigchallenge #pointillism #iguana #art

A photo posted by Sara O’Connor Fine Art (SOFA) (@saraoconnorfineart) on Dec 6, 2016 at 8:03pm PST

Anne Kindl sold several pieces in her new series during the challenge.

 

The Pastel Pop Up will be open on my website until 9 pm tonight ? ? Petite Landscapes, $30 ? Framing also available and includes gift box, card + FREE shipping, $20 #artistsofinstagram #tinyartwork #shoplocalky #annekindlstudio #pastellandscapes #shopsmall #giftgivingseason #TAAIGChallenge A photo posted by Anne Kindl (@annekindlstudio) on Dec 7, 2016 at 4:20am PST

Layne Johnson received an inquir to be an artist in residence for a local conservation organization.

A new day, new beginnings, new life… Another WIP on the new landscape. . . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Texas Hill Country series WIP 30″ x 30″ Oil on panel by laynejohnsonstudio ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A photo posted by Layne M. Johnson | FINE ART (@laynejohnsonstudio) on Dec 8, 2016 at 7:44pm PST

Spend some time reflecting, enjoy the holidays. After Christmas, we are going to be sharing some tips on how to overcome those 5 major obstacles, and we will also be opening enrollment for How to Sell Your Art Online, the new, revised and revamped version, which will be focused on taking action.