In our ongoing series of interviews with artists’ representatives, we have posed a range of questions about the current business climate. No one knows better how things have changed than Lilla Rogers, and no one has done a better job of utilizing the latest trends in social media. Having been in the business of artists’ representation since 1984, she’s seen the full arc of change in how artists promote their work, and how social media plays a central role. Lilla tells us, “Social media will only continue to grow! Social media platforms will continue to integrate and offer more services.” This is a great interview for anyone who wants to learn about how to channel social media and where it is likely going in the future. Also, check out the interviews with Lilla’s staff to learn more about their business strategy.
Q.: You and your artists have been very successful attracting followers through social media. How did you achieve that?
A: Thanks! We have a marketing director, Reine Sloan, who manages all the social media channels across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and email campaigns. Out of all of them, Instagram is by far the hottest and best tool today for artists to use. It’s free, simple, and easy to use. Art directors are constantly scouring IG for the latest work. We’ve built up our audience and following by posting with consistency and having fun with the posts. We’ve done an “artist ambush” for several years; that is when our artists takeover my Instagram account for the day and show us a sneak peek into their day-to-day lives. We also run fun contests that invlove getting people to tag a friend’s account and running campaigns that have dedicated hashtags like #MyMATSPrep for the Lilla Rogers School, and Make Art That Sells, and we keep the content fresh, varied, and fun.
Q: Do companies who license your artists work rely on your Instagram feed to attract buyers? Do they pay you for access to that? Do they use if as a way to test market products?
A: We love to show off our artists’ latest projects and awesome jobs they get. We’re so proud of their work, and we love working with some of the best clients in the industry. No one pays us for posting their work, we’re just really happy to share our artsits’ latest and greatest work and love to cross promote with our clients.
Q: What changes in the trends of marketing and social media do you foresee in the next few years?
A: Social media will only continue to grow. For artists: While social media platforms will continue to integrate and offer more services, their websites will become leaner and function more as place holders, like a CV for the artists’ clients and personal info about them. Products like #Slack, an instant team messaging app, are quickly replacing email services. Emails will function more like an old fashioned handwritten letters. As a result, marketing campaigns from artists for email blasts will really slow down and need to be carefully crafted with lots of visuals, little text, and delivered thoughtfully in small, bite-sized bits, as we’re all consuming content so quickly and are always wanting more.
Instagram is by the far the biggest change I’ve seen in marketing in the last 10 years. There are currently more than 600 million Instagrammers and more than 95 million photos and videos are posted every single day! This platform will only continue to grow and will begin offering features that enable marketers and users alike to manage all of this growing data and valuable information. For example, I see IG adding features so it is much easier to organize your followers in categories and your posts. They will expand their ability to sell products directly to the consumer, perhaps even with a section of starred reviews of products.
Videos of artists doing their actual work (i.e., a time-lapse of painting) will become increasingly relevant and important. This is the first time via phones and media platforms we have been invited to see the artistic process occur. And people LOVE it! The entertainment content around the arts industry will continue to expand across Facebook TV, Amazon, Instagram Live, and Netflix. I think there will be a dedicated Art Channel just as there is for the Food Network. It’s a really exciting time to be an artist!
