Find a niche social media network that fits you could be great marketing for your arts business.
Starting with A-L
Billed as a simple yet professional profile to showcase who you are and what you do, about.me is basically an easy way to create a website for your business. Initially free and only $6.58 a month to connect your own domain it’s one of the cheapest options out there, but you are limited to one page (also known as a landing page) which sums up you and your business. It is insanely easy to set up and the free version is great if you’re a recent graduate or just starting out and want a little online presence.
An International Social Media Platform for people who love reading. Does exactly what it says on the tin, whether you’re into fiction or non-fiction and whatever the genre you’re bound to find your next read on here. You will also be able to find the right community to interact with! So, if you’ve written a book which has been published, or you are thinking about writing and want to check if there’s a market for it this is the network of groups, discussions and blogs for you to be a part of!
Share your personal brand with employers and professionals. It will help your business grow and allow you to network within your industry. In the UK it is primarily used as a job search site which you can limit by location and find freelance positions or jobs which can be done remotely (or from home). The perfect network for finding work in the pandemic.
Also our App of the Month for April 2021 Behance is a social network set up by Adobe as a place where you can showcase your work in an online portfolio as well as find some new, hand-picked inspiration for whatever your next project might be.
This company is genius and I really hope it grows to be an important resource in the corporate world. Blind is community of over 3.5 million users who are there to share advice, discover information about taking steps in their chosen profession and provide honest feedback on their workplaces, whether dishing the dirt or singing the praises. It’s mission is to break down barriers within the business industry to enable people to make a real change where it is needed and make informed decisions on their career path.
Have you ever wanted to start a blog? Well with blogger you’ll find that it is super easy! Find a community filled with millions of people with different hobbies and interests to match yours. With free domain names, loads of templates to choose from and built in analytics so you can get to know your audience this is the perfect platform to kick start your creative business. As you start building your following you can even add Google AdSense into your blog so you can start to earn money from your hard work.
This is the world’s largest community for good. With over 45 million users it is the perfect place to build online petitions, whatever the cause. Anyone can start a petition, share petitions to help them gain momentum and sign up for updates on causes they’re interested in! Current Arts, Media and Culture petitions include things from changing the name of Columbus Day to Indigenous People Day to co-naming West 8th Street in New York to Jimi Hendrix Way. As you can see it allows a wide scope for people to make a change. They also have important partnerships with companies like Amnesty International to ensure your petition gets seen by the right people.
8. Clubhouse 
This new social network is so exclusive you have to be invited by a current user. Experimenting with the current rise in the popularity of audio-based content (like podcasts and radio plays) this platform is all about dropping in on other peoples conversations. Audiences can listen live to interviews, discussions and general chit-chats! The difference to platforms like Twitch is that these aren’t saved and stored to listen to later, you have to be there or you’ll miss out on the fun!
A relatively new social network that aims to bring together entrepreneurs from all over the world to create a positive change in the business world. Entrepreneurship can be lonely so it’s important to remember that we can ask for help from others who have been there and done that! In return, we can provide our own knowledge and expertise to those who need it and this is the perfect platform to do it all from.
This is the world’s most popular Anime Network connecting fans of Anime and Manga across more than 200 countries. They provide unique content, events, products, games and Manga to their subscribers. It’s a nieche network but if this is where your artistry and expertise lie this is most definitely a platform you’ll want to be a part of.
11. DeviantArt 
Created in 2000, with over 61 million users and 45 million unique monthly views DeviantArt is the must have social media network for artists and art enthusiasts. This platform allows you to share, exhibit and promote your work online, whatever your medium from comic to cosplay, sculpture to street art, traditional artforms to tutorials, and everything inbetween. The supportive, inclusive community on DeviantArt will allow you to grow and develop your work with like-minded individuals.
12. Ello 
Known as The Creative Network, Ello showcases art, fashion, photography and web culture. What sets it apart from other platforms in this area is that they won’t sell your data and they never display adverts. They also have some awesome features including a blog with recent news and a discover section which is similar to Pinterest. There are offerings of creative briefs from companies which work almost like a competition-based system. You send in your design (at the moment to companies like #OnlyTogether and films including Space Jam and In The Heights are participating) which you will be paid for if it’s used in the final campaign. They also have a Giveaways section in which artists can give away pieces of artwork in a competition to encourage online interaction and user generated content.
13. Fandalism 
Fandalism is a social networking site especially for musicians run by Philip Kaplan, a New York based Drummer. Reported to have 500,000 users, it’s simply a place to share your music and meet fellow musicians. They also run a business called Distrokid alongside; a paid service which will put your music into online stores and streaming sites including Spotify, Amazon, Tidal, TikTok and YouTube.
14. Fotki 
Fotki is a photo sharing site (like Flickr and Tumblr) but what makes it different is pretty much that it’s been around the longest so it is bound to have a lot of users. Starting in 1998 and constantly evolving it has state of the art, super protected servers which store your images, basic editing software built in and the ability to buy prints of your photos along with every genre of photography you could ever imagine, but no porn (or at least no obvious porn)! So, that’s a win over Tumblr.
15. GoodReads 
Another site for avid readers, GoodReads is now a recognisable brand in the UK as they frequently run award ceromonies and book recommendation campaigns. You can use it track what you’ve read, create a reading list, see what your friends are reading and read book reviews. It’s unique feature is its recommendation engine which analyses 20 billion data points giving you suggestions tailored to your literary tastes! Scary, but pretty amazing!
16. Hello Network 
I’m not gonna lie, I have little idea what this social network does, but my god it is compelling in its ambiguity! I really think this is one to watch. It’s based on love and creating real connections from shared passions. It has a graphic novel in which adventurers explore a parallel universe (What’s not to love about that?!) but it also isn’t available in the UK… yet! It’s made by a load of old google engineers and I reckon it’s gonna be great so keep your eyes on this one!
17. Hive
Hive Social is pretty much an amalgamation of all the social media platforms you know and love with the best bits pick n mixed in to create a new uber network. Like Twitter, you can microblog, like Instagram you can upload snapshots, like Facebook you can share and repost stuff you’re interested in and for those of you who remember the good old days of MySpace and Bebo you can save your favourite music to your profile. And (for now at least) the feed is chronological instead of algorithm-based so your content is more likely to be seen and spread! It’s blowing up at the moment so definitely one to watch!
18. Kroogi 
Kroogi is a Russian and English social networking company based in San Francisco (obviously…) which tranlates to ‘circles’. It’s a site for creatives including musicians, painters, writers, videographers, photographers and other artists to showcase their work, but what gives this platform an edge? They run a ‘Pay what you want’ scheme in which you can pay artists directly for downloads they’ve created. Artists are also able to set a minimum contribution. It pretty much sits in the middle of free of charge sites and fixed price models in the image industry respecting both the rights of the creatives and consumers.
19. Library Thing 
Yep, you guessed it, it’s yet another social network for book lovers! Catalogue your books and must reads alongside a community of like-minded people. Turn your catalogue of books into an online library or book store with Library Thing’s paid service Tiny Cat with prices ranging from absolutely free for personal libraries to $35 per month to list up to 20,000 items.
20. Likee 
Pretty much TikTok but from what I can tell a lot more lapsed with its security. It’s target audience is over the age of 17 so it has more adult content than TikTok and it has an expansive selection of unique video effects. It also boasts an impressive 150 million users so someone must be using it. I would take a look but approach with caution. There is a lot of negative press about it kicking around the interweb!
21. Listography 
I don’t know about you, but I bloody love a list! And this site is full of them! Lists about everything from Baby Names to Things to make you happy, you can store all your lists on here and hopefully spread a little happiness. They also offer a great range of Listography merch including list journals and even a board game!
Do you visit any niche, creative social networks we haven’t listed? Let us know in the comments and we’ll add them.
