Week 2 Part B - Business Research

 Jane Davenport

1. https://janedavenport.com

2. Jane Davenport is an artist, who teaches online classes and sells her own line of art supplies. She is the author of several instructional books.

3. Jane Davenport has links on her website (at the bottom) to Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. Jane Davenport uses her social media on a pretty regular basis. On Instagram she posts several days out of the week, and the same with Facebook. On Facebook she also has a group for those who like her art supplies and style of drawing, and she will post in there as well. On YouTube she is not as active, posting about every 2 months or so. The date of her last post on Instagram is 02/06/23, Facebook- 02/04/23 and YouTube- 02/04/23. On Instagram she has 71.2K followers, Facebook- 40K followers and on YouTube 48.2K subscribers

4. Jane Davenport is pretty active on her social media. I think she uses Instagram the most, and she definitely takes advantage of going live and posting short videos. She has a great style of communicating and interacting with her fan base. She will sometimes feature their drawings or if you tag her she may like one of your drawings.

Anna Wilson

1. https://www.annawilsonart.ca

2. Anna Wilson is an Artist who specializes in drawing architecture and furniture. She primarily does her drawings in ink. She sells her artwork on her website, and on Instagram she will sometimes advertise her availability for doing commissioned artwork.

3. Anna Wilson has one social media link on her website and it is for her Instagram page. She is active on it, and tries to post at least once every day. The date of her last post on Instagram is 02/04/23. She has 105K followers on Instagram.

4. Anna Wilson communicates well on Instagram, she takes advantage of making short videos. Anna Wilson takes great angled photos of her working  on her art, and also of just the artwork itself. It appears that she prefers Instagram over other platforms.

Holly Nichols

1. https://www.hnicholsillustration.com

2. Holly Nichols is an illustrator who specializes in creating fashionable illustrations. She sells her work through her website, and has even had corporate clients such as Urban Decay, Walt Disney, Nordstroms, and many others.

3. Holly Nichols has links on her website to various platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. Holly Nichols is very active on social media, she posts on Instagram and Facebook nearly every day and monthly on YouTube. She doesn't seem to be as active on Pinterest. Her last posts on Instagram and Facebook were 02/06/23 and on YouTube about a month ago. Holly Nichols has 1.6M followers on Instagram, 2.5M on Facebook, 969K subscribers on YouTube and 16.5K followers on Pinterest.

4. Holly Nichols has great communication, she posts photos and short videos, and she interacts in the comments with her fan base. It appears that Instagram and Facebook are her preferred platforms.

Vanessa Lemen

1. http://www.vanessalemenart.com

2. Vanessa Lemen is an artist whose painting process is focused on blending realism and abstract. She teaches classes and workshops, her work has been featured in books and galleries. She has won awards and has been featured in magazines.

3. Vanessa Lemen uses Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter and has links to these platforms on her website. Vanessa Lemen seems to use Instagram the most. Though she is fairly active on Facebook as well. Vanessa Lemen's last post on Instagram was 02/05/23 and on Facebook- 01/23/23. Vanessa Lemen seems to not use Twitter that much anymore. Her last post on Twitter was 09/04/22. On Twitter she has 8,719 followers, Facebook- 4.7K friends and Instagram 64.7K followers.

4. Vanessa Lemen (like the other artists) communicates well making use of short videos of her in her studio painting. She appears to use Instagram the most, followed by Facebook. Vanessa Lemen tries to respond to her friends and fans comments on Instagram.

Dimitra Milan

1. https://www.dimitramilan.com

2. Dimitra Milan is an artist who has been painting professionally since she was 14. She sells artwork, prints and tapestry on her website. She is available for commissions and she has an art book and BNB available to book for a weekend.

3. Dimitra Milan does not have links to her social media on her website. I had to do a search on a couple of different platforms for her. She is on Instagram and Facebook. She appears to use them regularly, posting on Instagram more frequently. Dimitra tries to post on Instagram every couple of days. Her last post on Instagram was 02/06/23 and on Facebook 02/02/23. She has 199K Followers on Facebook and I can't find the amount on her Instagram page but she does have the blue checkmark next to her name.

4. Dimitra also takes advantage of posting short videos of her in her studio and photos of her work. She seems to communicate well and tries to respond to comments. Instagram seems to be her preferred platform

Overall from this research I discovered that its important to find the right social media platform for your particular business, some seem to thrive on certain platforms and not so much on others. Twitter doesn't appear to be a fruitful platform for artists. The clear winner here is Instagram. Instagram seems to be the artists go to for social media. I can clearly see why. You can post reels (short videos) and photos, which is a benefit for artists, because it gives viewers a glimpse into your studio, and painting/drawing process and showcases your work. 

    I also learned the importance of posting regularly. I think it helps you stay relevant and it helps you build a following and relationships with your fan base. Part of my problem is that I don't know what to post, but through this research I am getting new ideas and inspiration. I also learned the importance of communicating with your followers. I think it shows that you care and are grateful for them. It's essential for building relationships.

    Another important thing I learned is the value of well placed social media links on your website. I think this is important so people don't have to launch a search for you. If your links are visible and easy to find, it encourages people to click on them in order to follow you.