Art galleries are always looking to for new strategies to attract collectors and showcase their artists. LinkedIn is a compelling social platform for getting your gallery’s name out there, meeting buyers and collaborators, and conducting competitive research.
In this article, we’ll explore how art galleries can use LinkedIn to spotlight their artists and attract new collectors. We’ll also discuss some top tips for using LinkedIn features and best practices to ensure your gallery stands out. I think you will find that LinkedIn offers a powerful platform for achieving various marketing and networking goals.
Leveraging LinkedIn Features
LinkedIn provides an array of tools and features that can be incredibly beneficial for art galleries wanting to expand their reach and engage with potential collectors. To develop your strategy for this platform, establish clear objectives for your LinkedIn activities. This platform is different from other social networks, and your objectives may likewise differ from those for Instagram or Facebook. Setting specific goals will help create a focused strategy that aligns with your gallery’s overall mission and business aspirations.
LinkedIn offers a variety of features that can help art galleries connect with potential collectors and increase their visibility on the platform. Here are a few key features to consider:
LinkedIn Groups
LinkedIn groups let people with the same interests meet and share information. Joining groups like “Contemporary Art Collectors” or “Art Investment” can connect you with possible collectors interested in your artists. I would also encourage you to start networking in groups outside the art industry but attract your ideal client persona to find new art buyers and collaborators.
You might consider starting a group about a topic close to your gallery’s focus to show you’re a thought leader in that area and bring in new followers. Plus, you get to drive the conversation. You can also control membership with your own gallery group by inviting your contacts or advertising the group to a specific demographic of LinkedIn users.
(If you’re not a member of Gallery Fuel’s group, check it out. It is intended to be a place to ask your peers questions. I try to screen it carefully to keep membership just art dealers and gallerists.)
LinkedIn Pages
Creating a LinkedIn page for your art gallery is key. While LinkedIn is best for one-to-one connections through your personal page, you still want your gallery business to have its own page on the platform. It’s a space to highlight your artists and exhibitions, share event news, and connect with followers. You can now even follow other pages and comment or like as the gallery.
Be intentional when filling out a business page and consistently post new content. Pick a profile picture that shows off your gallery’s focus and sets you apart from others. Take care crafting your About section to convey your gallery brand’s personality and values, along with the basics. Consider using the product page creatively to feature art pieces in an exhibition.
Pages are also easy places to feature a post, such as for an exhibition, and to sponsor posts to help increase awareness and grow your following.
LinkedIn Publishing
You are the expert in your gallery’s niche and artists. You should also create and share your own original content on LinkedIn, such as your gallery’s blogs. You can post it as long-form articles through the LinkedIn Publisher feature.
LinkedIn Publishing is a great feature to add to your strategy to attract collectors. It allows users to create and publish their own content on the platform. Art galleries can take advantage of this feature by sharing insightful articles about the art industry, behind-the-scenes information about their artists and exhibitions, and interviews with your artists and partners. This can help establish your gallery as an authority and attract new prospective clients.
LinkedIn Newsletters
Just like your gallery’s email newsletter, a LinkedIn newsletter regularly shares relevant news but differs from Publishing as it doesn’t contain full articles and often covers several topics. It can also direct readers to your website, exposing your gallery news to a wider audience not on your mailing list. Thanks to LinkedIn’s algorithm, your newsletter gains a broader reach, making it excellent for brand awareness.
LinkedIn Ads
Setting up LinkedIn Ads is a straightforward process with these five steps using LinkedIn Campaign Manager:
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- Establish a Campaign Goal: Determine whether your primary aim is to increase brand awareness, drive engagement among potential art buyers, or generate sales.
- Define Your Audience: Specify the demographics, interests, and behaviors of the audience you want your ad to reach.
- Choose an Ad Format: Select the type of ad that best suits your campaign objectives, such as sponsored content, message ads, dynamic ads, or text-based ads.
- Allocate Your Ad Spend: Establish a budget plan for your campaign by deciding on the total amount you are willing to invest in your ads.
- Track Results: Monitor how your ads are performing against your goals and adjust to optimize.
Target users who have previously interacted with your gallery’s content. By doing so, you can re-engage those who’ve shown interest through likes, comments, or follows, pushing them further along their buyer’s journey.
Construct an engaging and innovative call to action (CTA) that grabs the audience’s attention during their scrolling journey. Sponsored content on LinkedIn is crafted to mimic the look and feel of organic posts, however, it features a distinctive CTA button and is marked with a “promoted” label to denote its sponsored status.
Customize your ads to resonate with different audience segments. Speak to seasoned collectors in one tone and to newer, younger audiences in another. Experiment with various lead generation forms for event RSVPs, calls setup, or exhibition catalog downloads. Use diverse ad formats like carousel ads, sponsored InMail, and dynamic ads to grab attention.
When budgeting for your gallery’s LinkedIn ads, consider starting with manual bidding instead of automated. This approach offers more control over your spending and targeting, helping you pinpoint what works best for your gallery and advertising objectives.
LinkedIn Analytics
How do you know if you’re making progress with your LinkedIn strategy? Utilize LinkedIn’s built-in analytics tools. Look for the analytics tab on your page to access your gallery page’s insights to view follower demographics, engagement patterns, and post-performance.
Use what you learn to adjust your strategy to better achieve your goals. Let the data guide you to success.
Best Practices for Posting on LinkedIn
Once you’ve established your gallery’s presence on LinkedIn, it’s important to post regularly and consistently. Here are some best practices to keep in mind:
Define Your Art Gallery Program and Mission
Ensure all your posts align with your gallery’s brand and mission. This will help establish your gallery’s unique voice and build a loyal following. Just like other social media platforms, you use them to be discovered. LinkedIn is more professional than other platforms, and users don’t want to be guessing what you and your gallery are all about.
Following other art galleries can be enormously eye-opening to see how they promote their program and brand. You will gain insight into what they offer, their value messaging to buyers, how they promote their artists and understand what they prioritize in the art business.
You may better understand how your gallery can do things better and stand out to qualified buyers.
Work as a Team on LinkedIn
Encourage your gallery team to have well-crafted personal profiles with professional headshots, descriptive headlines, and detailed job experiences. Encourage them to actively participate on LinkedIn to promote gallery content within their network on the platform. They can contribute thoughtfully to industry-related groups or post content on their feeds.
Use hashtags for Your Gallery and Art World
Using hashtags is essentially a way to group conversations or content around a certain topic together. This makes it easy for people to find content that interests them. LinkedIn users don’t use as many hashtags in their posts as we see on other platforms like Instagram, but they are still relevant.
Search for and follow hashtags used regularly by other players in the art world on LinkedIn. You’ll be surprised at the content you will see that you may have missed otherwise. Your feed will be filled with topics most relevant to your gallery and the art industry. You will have a better and broader idea of what is on the platform that could have an impact on your gallery.
Optimize Your Art Gallery’s LinkedIn Company Page
We talked about this above, but it’s worth emphasizing as a best practice. LinkedIn will work best for your gallery businesses if you set up both a personal profile and a company page. These help gain the trust of potential art buyers when they search for you on LinkedIn or Google.
Make sure your company page has all the details we discussed above and is consistently active. Your personal page should still be professional, but you can let people know who you are and what makes you tick there. It’s also the best place to nurture those important connections you make on the platform.
To the point
LinkedIn is a great tool for art galleries to attract art collectors. To do well on this platform, be consistent with your gallery’s LinkedIn plan. Try spending about 15 minutes each day making new contacts, sharing posts, and talking with people in your network by commenting and sharing. Advertising is an important part of the strategy, but prioritize building relationships rather than just collecting leads.
By leveraging key features like LinkedIn Groups, Pages, and Publishing and following best practices for posting on the platform, galleries can establish themselves as thought leaders in the art world and attract new audiences.
LinkedIn is a compelling social platform for getting your gallery’s name out there, especially if other social media platforms are not providing the results you want.
Check these other related articles out too.
Creating an Art Gallery Social Media Strategy
Social Media Advertising for an Art Gallery
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