Marketing Mondays: Who’s Watching You Online?

I was chatting recently with a dealer who said, flat out, “I follow artists on Facebook.” No, he’s not really a stalker. He’s quietly on the lookout for art and artists who might be right for his gallery. He looks at the images they post, reading what they and other have to say about those images. “They don’t know I’m looking, but I’m watching a few artists this way right now.”
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Of course dealers look—at postcards, at art fairs, at exhibitions in galleries other than their own—and they surf the web looking in broad categories, like New York artists or color and abstraction or encaustic (these categories are from my own experience), but this was the first time I’d heard such a statement out loud. No wonder all those artists are friending and following so many galleries (and, apparently, vice versa).
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And wouldn’t you know that when I mentioned the activities of the first anonymous dealer to another dealer I know, the second dealer confessed, “I post under another name just so I can look and comment without anyone knowing it’s me.”

So, artists, if you’re going to post images of your work, whether on FB, your blog or a conventional website, make sure they’re both well chosen and of the best quality you can take. Someone besides your casual Facebook friends may be watching.

Over to you: Has anyone been contacted by a dealer or curator as a result of images posted online? Has anyone specifically received a response from a Facebook posting?
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