Multi-Image Facebook Posts

multi image post example
Here is a recent multi-image post that I made on my Facebook fan page

I find that being an artist is about more than just making art, it’s also about getting people to see your art. To that end, I’ve found my Facebook fan page to be one of my most useful resources for publicizing my images. Occasionally, I use the basic image post to show off my latest works, which is nice in that the image appears forever after in my fan pages’s photo album. More often however, I use link shares, which are superior at bringing visitors to my gallery site.

Sometimes, however, I want to do something that draws my fan’s eyes a bit more. After all, Facebook users see image and link posts flooding their streams all the time. For that, I’ve found that a third method of posting images exists: the multi-image post.

Multi-Image Facebook Posts Defined

The multi image Facebook post is simply a post containing more than one image. Facebook is smart enough to size the images based on the number of them in the post to make them fit. If you post two, they appear one over the other. If you post three or four, you get one image on top larger than the others. If you post more than four images, only the first four will appear, but the fourth will be darkened and have “+#” appearing over it indicating how many more images are in the set.

The post can include a text section that appears above the pictures. Also, all of the images will appear in your fan page’s photo album after you’ve posted the status update.

How to Do a Multi-Image Facebook Post

multipost2
There are several ways to do a multi-image post:

  • If you’ve already started a basic image upload, you can just click on the square with a plus sign in it to add more photos. If you want to control the order in which your images appear in the post, I suggest this method.
  • You can select the photo/video tab from the status update section, click “Upload Photos/Video”, then ctrl+click on more than one image from your hard drive.
  • If you’ve already started typing a status update, you can click on the camera icon underneath, then ctrl+click on more than one image from your hard drive.

You also can include text with links as part of the post. Once you’ve actually posted the set, you have one more step to take: you need to click on each image and give it a description (and preferably a link back to that image’s page on your FineArtAmerica gallery or other website).

Effectiveness of the Multi-Image Facebook Post

So now the big question: how is the multi-image post useful? Well…I’ve found that it does seem get a bit more attention than the other forms of image posts.

To start with, it simply shows up bigger in peoples stream’s. Also, a cluster of images also seems to draw attention more than a single one.

However, though I get more comments and “likes” on these kinds of posts, I get virtually no one clicking through to my print gallery. As a result, I only occasionally use multi-image posts to spice things up. That’s not to say you may get different results. Either way, it’s a good tool to know about.

Regards,
Daniel

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Your Art and The Power of Social Proof

Running With Buffalo
This work has hundreds of likes and comments on FineArtAmerica. It sells WAY better than very similar works of mine will few comments and likes. It seems that people just take it more seriously when they see all those comments. That is Social Proof.
I’ve mentioned before that there is no such thing as good or bad art. When it comes to an individual piece of art, there will be people who do like it and those who don’t. What you should be concerned about then is getting people to like your art. One of the best ways to get people to like your art is to show them that other people like it.

I know it sounds a bit like circular logic, but it tends to be true. People take their cues from others as to what is popular. If they see a lot of people paying attention to something, they too will want to see what all the fuss is about. This is a concept known as social proof.

When it comes to selling art online, there are a few ways that I’ve found to apply the concept of social proof.

Likes, Favorites, +1’s

One of the ubiquitous features of social network sites is the ability to the somehow indicate that you like someone’s post. On Facebook, its “liking” while on Twitter it’s called “favoriting”. Don’t forget: it’s not just those sites that are social networks, MANY sites are built on the social network architecture and will have a similar feature. For instance, FineArtAmerica.com has both a favorite and a like feature.

So how does this apply to social proof? Well, let’s say you’ve posted one of your works to a social media site. If visitors see that it has a lot of likes, they are likely to give it a closer look. In fact, Facebook, actually relies on the number of likes a post has received to determine whether or not to place your post in more of your friends/followers streams. They’ve actually institutionalized social proof in their system!

So how do you get likes on your posts? If you have a good following, you will naturally just get a few from your biggest fans, but if you want more, you’re going to have to be…well…social on social networks. Find other artists and like/comment on their works that you find appealing. Some of those artists will reciprocate.

Also, on some sites, you might want to send a personalized thank you message to anyone who likes your post. It will increase the chance that they will like more of your work.

Comments

Sometimes I see artists disable the comments on their posts. I think they’re crazy. This is a great opportunity to gain social proof.

Think of it this way: say you are looking to buy a book on Amazon and you’ve narrowed it down to two books. Otherwise equal, one has dozens of reviews, the other has none. Which one are you going to tend to pick?

You get comments on your posts the same way you get likes. Comment on other artists works that you like, thank people who comment on your work, and build a following.

If visitors see a lot of good comments about a work, they are going to be more likely to buy. That being said, delete all negative comments. Negative comments might put doubts in a potential buyer’s mind. And don’t leave negative comments on other artists posts either. It’s bad form all around.

Sales

One last way to have social proof of your art is to let everyone know when you make a sale. Sure, it may seem a bit like bragging, but you really should be proud of a sale anyway. After all, you just beat out the competition for someone’s wall space, and, when it comes to art, there is some pretty stiff competition.

So whenever you make a sale, post it on Facebook, tweet it out, mention it on Google+…let everyone know. A few people are inevitably going to come see what was so special about your art that someone actually paid for it.

Some sites may make this easier for you. For instance, FineArtAmerica.com has a nice feature that automatically generates an announcement page for any of your sales with buttons right on it to send it out on social sites.

One more thing you can do with this is also take the opportunity to publicly thank the buyer. Perhaps this will turn them into a returning customer.


So, after you’ve published a work online, put some work in to get it some social proof. When people see a lot of activity around your works, they’re much more likely to give it a closer look.

Regards,
Daniel

P.S. If you liked this article, please consider signing up for my newsletter. I send it out every Wednesday and it includes links to my latest artworks, articles, and videos, as well as discounts, deals, and freebies!