Like many of you, we’ve spent considerable time building a social media following, posting artwork on various platforms, hoping to generate interest and ultimately, sales. But if you’re like us, you’ve probably felt the sting of disappointment as those efforts often seemed to go unnoticed. For years, it felt as though we were throwing time and creativity into the void, with little to show for it.

However, a couple of years ago, I made the decision to take a more strategic approach. I dedicated myself to learning the ins and outs of social media advertising. After all, social media platforms have become the primary way many people discover new art and products. So, I began researching how to make the most of paid advertising options. I didn’t start with a massive budget; instead, I started small, testing the waters, and with a modest initial investment, I began seeing results. I reinvested those early sales into further advertising, and the returns grew steadily.

Real Results from Paid Advertising

In the last couple of years, our gallery has spent over $73,000 on social media advertising. Those ads have generated over $275,000 in art sales. The return on investment has been significant, and the growth has been organic—we were able to reinvest sales into additional advertising, which created a cycle of growth.

The numbers might sound big, but we started with very minimal resources, and the beauty of social media advertising is that you can scale it at your own pace. Even if you’re only spending a small amount on ads, the key is to be consistent, reinvest, and refine your approach.

Why Artists and Galleries Should Consider Social Media Ads

Given our experience, I encourage other artists and galleries to consider exploring social media advertising as a way to drive sales and exposure. Social media ads allow you to get your work in front of a larger audience than organic posting alone ever will. But it’s not just about slapping together an ad; you need the right tools to create professional-looking content, even if you don’t have a massive production budget.

The Tools You Need to Create Professional Ads

I want to share some of the tools that have been instrumental in our success. These tools are readily available, many offering free versions, and they allow you to create polished ads with ease.

1. Smartphone: Yes, something as simple as your phone is an incredibly powerful tool. Most of the images and videos we use in our ads are captured on our phones. While it might not be as high-end as the professional equipment used by big advertisers, the quality is more than good enough for social media ads.
2. Narrative and Storytelling: A compelling story behind the artwork is essential. For this, we’ve built a tool specifically designed to help artists like you. It’s called Theobot.ai. This tool allows artists to upload images of their artwork, generate descriptions, and create social media posts. The freeform writing tool is particularly helpful for creating video ad scripts. You can input details about your ad, and it will generate a script that you can use as the narration for your video.
3. Elevenlabs.io: For the actual narration, we use a text-to-speech generator at Elevenlabs.io . It offers a free version, but we use the paid version for more options. You can select from a wide range of voices and easily generate the speech from your script. I recommend breaking the script into small chunks to ensure the cadence and pronunciation are natural.
4. Canva: For video editing, we turn to Canva. While it’s known for graphic design, Canva also has video editing features that are incredibly user-friendly. You can create layers, add images, and craft scenes intuitively. It’s perfect for the kind of simple yet polished ads that work well on social media.

Behind the Success of Spiritiles

Let me give you a real-world example of how this process works. One of our recent video ads promotes Spirittiles, which are kiln-fired glass tiles featuring unique, inspirational designs. This ad has been running for a few weeks and has already generated about ten sales for us. Priced at around $200 each, Spiritiles are an accessible entry point for many buyers, and the sales often add up as people purchase multiple tiles.

In this particular ad, we used all the tools mentioned above. We shot video footage using a smartphone, generated the narrative using Theobot.ai, and created the voiceover through elevenlabs.io. The video editing was done in Canva, resulting in an ad that was polished enough to capture attention but not so overproduced that it distracted from the artwork.

Video ad:

Learning Curves and Ongoing Improvement

Of course, each of these tools has its own learning curve. While they are intuitive, it may take some practice to get the hang of creating your own ads. If you’re interested in learning more about how to use any of these tools, I’m happy to create videos going more in-depth—just leave a comment below this post if you’d like me to do that.

Final Thoughts on Social Media Advertising for Artists

In our experience, the sweet spot for selling artwork through social media ads has been for pieces priced between $150 and $3,000. While we haven’t seen significant success selling higher-priced works directly through social media, we’ve had several buyers who made smaller initial purchases through ads and later returned to buy higher-priced pieces either online or in person at our gallery.

The real value of social media advertising goes beyond immediate sales. These ads help build a customer base and introduce your work to new people who may return for future purchases. You also have the opportunity to add customers to your email list, providing more avenues for ongoing engagement.

In conclusion, social media advertising offers artists and galleries a powerful tool to increase exposure and drive sales. By starting small, testing the waters, and using the right tools, you can see real results.