Viral art isn't always an accident, with a little thought you can greatly improve your chances for success.
4. Have your portfolio in order
So you’ve created an incredible project and are ready to share it with the world, what now? Before you start, make sure you have the basic foundation covered. This not only means a well-designed website to showcase your work, but also finding niche platforms for your portfolio.
Once you have a personal website setup, you’ll also want to go out and find your audience by placing your portfolio on a larger site. Whether it’s Behance, 500px, Flickr, Vimeo, or DeviantArt, each platform offers a fantastic opportunity to share your work and the community aspect means that sharing across the web can draw attention to your creations. Content curators often look to these websites to discover new talent, so putting yourself out there can help your work spread more quickly.
5. Be social
In tandem, these days it’s paramount to create a strong social media presence. It’s not enough to just set up Facebook and Instagram—you need to use them.
Just as social media is increasingly becoming a way for artists to sell their work, a strong following is also a good indicator to media that they’ll want to start sharing your work. Photographer Jason M. Peterson’s 1 million followers certainly help him push his work out into the world in a big way. But you don’t need that many followers to make an impact, as long as you have the right ones.
Everyone starts from zero and knowing how to grow your Instagram or Facebook followers is key. You’ll quickly start to see what grabs people’s attention and engages them, while also taking control over how you tell your own creative story, whether that be with behind-the-scenes images or live chats.
“As you build your audience, you're continuously adding fans that will want to share your artwork naturally with their friends and family,” Kim explains. “Before you know it, a blog, website, or magazine will learn about you and share your project with their audience. Once they cover it, that's when it goes viral because more publishers and news aggregator sites, like Reddit, will cover it and you will reach a very large audience.”
6. Follow the rules
If you are submitting work, don’t forget to see if the publication has specific guidelines. You don’t want to flood an inbox with high resolution images or PDF attachments if the site specifically says not to.
And while most sites know they won’t be the only ones to receive your submission—though if they are, do tell them, as exclusivity can be attractive—make sure you check your email thoroughly. One pet peeve of Noorata’s? “You don't want to send a submission to Publisher X that starts with ‘Dear Publisher Y.' It isn't a complete deal breaker, since all publications know that content is being submitted to multiple places at once, but it's always a good idea to double-check your work and make sure you're calling a person or publisher by the right name.”
7. Don’t give up
Just because you are not picked up the first time around, don’t give up. There are many reasons why one project may not resonant, but that doesn’t mean the next piece you submit won’t hit the mark. Carefully think about what’s getting more engagement and use this to make critical improvements to better your work for the next time.
Kim’s parting advice? “Don’t be afraid to submit your artwork to established blogs and websites. If they don't respond, try to figure out why and constantly work on improving. Persistence is key to achieving anything in life!”
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