Going All-in on Instagram & What I Learned (for Artists)| Liron Yanconsky’s Podcast – Episode 49

Today I wanted to share this update regarding the recent changes I made in my Instagram routine / strategy / tactics, and the impact they had on my presence on the platform.

Two Main Changes on Instagram

I changed two main things in my Instagram routine:

1. Increased post frequency

This did prove to provide faster growth, and it didn’t seem my audience “got tired” of my content (:

I basically moved from 1 post a day to 2-3.

2. Tons of stories

I used to post 1-3 stories a day, and sometimes zero. Now I’m doing as much as 15-30 stories. I’m also making sure I use hashtags there as well.

One last thing I did, though that was a little while before all of that, was changing to a business account. I wanted to get the analytics (:

The Results & Impact on my Instagram Account

I’ve been feeling the acceleration in growth in terms of followers, no doubt.

But the more important thing is the amount of messages and genuine comments I’ve been getting, which really blew me away.

The engagement went crazy too.

So we’re not talking only about quantity, but also about quality.

Future Plans

My future plans are basic – keep this new baseline, and increase / go above it as much as possible. I’ve been doing the occasional 4 or 5 posts a day too.

I will keep you updated on how it goes! (;

That’s all I wanted to share today. We can now move onto the artist corner.

Artist Corner

Today I’m featuring Ilya Ibryaev, a Russian watercolor painter.

His focus seems to be light, and I don’t mean that in the usual sense. His great talent is portraying actual light shining through trees and clouds. He focuses on simpler landscapes with more complex and interesting skies, clouds and light.

What I noticed he does is play around with edges and contrast, to create a strong illusion of light. It actually FEELS like you can see the light itself.

If you want to see what I mean, I actually found a GREAT article written on him over at Seamless Expression – a website about painting and watercolor that I LOVE: Ilya Ibryaev on Seamless Expression

And here’s where you can find me

Check out my YouTube Channel – Liron Yanconsky

Or ask me questions on Instagram – @LironYanIL or Snapchat – @LironYan3

I hope you enjoyed this one. Take care, and we’ll talk again really soon,

– Liron

How to Draw Courses & Sales Funnel Update | Liron Yanconsky’s Podcast – Episode 34

Hi there! In this episode I talk about my sales and marketing funnel, through which I share my online video course on drawing and sketching.

Valuable Information for Artists

I think there’s not enough information out there about marketing and sales for artists. This is one of the white spaces I’m trying to fill up with my work.

As I’m very business oriented, and enjoy recording videos and podcasts, and writing – I try and leverage these skills to share my business insights.

Sales Funnel for Artists

My sales funnel is essentially a website. The goal of the funnel is to lead potential customers through a purchase process.

I sell several products using my funnel.

A funnel is a must. It’s a system that’s meant to automate as much of the sales process as possible.

I want to grow really big and reach and positively impact as many people as I can. One of the best ways of doing that is actually getting many students into my courses. A system like that is a must if you want to be well-organized and achieve some significant level of success.

Can You Sell Art?

It doesn’t really matter what you sell. The most important part is doing the proper research work. You need to know your market and customers really well.

You need to do audience research, competitors research and much more.

The New Course I’m Adding to my Sales Funnel

I’m currently in the last stages of working on a new, third course to include in my funnel. The course will go for 97$, and customers will be charged after a 7-day free trial.

This course is really meaningful, because it’s where I plan on finally getting some profit margins (for example when compared to my first course that goes for 24$).

Want to Learn More About Sales and Marketing?

I’m starting to talk about these topics a little more on my YouTube channel, as part of my Business Monday series.

If it interests you be sure to tune in to that. Here’s a Playlist of all the episodes: Liron’s Business Monday Show.

Let me know here / on YouTube if there are other topics you’d like me to talk about. I want to make this useful and practical.

And this is it for today, I hope you liked this one!

Artist Corner

Today I talked about Shari Blaukopf. She is an amazing artist from Montreal, Canada, and her urban-sketching style has a special place in my heart.

The reason is that this is what got me initially into watercolor painting. I fell in love with urban sketching, and the loose painting style that is so often seen alongside it.

She is an incredible painter and graphic designer. She actually had the opportunity to learn from Edgar Whitney, who is a master of the medium.

Shari also teaches as part of the Urban Sketchers organization.

You can learn more and see her work in her websites:
http://www.blaukopfwatercolours.com/
https://shariblaukopf.com/about/

Here’s where you can find me (:

You can support me on Patreon

Check out my YouTube Channel – Liron Yanconsky

Or ask me questions on Instagram – @LironYanIL or Snapchat – @LironYan3

And this is it. I hope you enjoyed this episode, and I’ll talk to you again real soon!

– Liron

 

Interviewing Steve Mitchell | Liron Yanconsky’s Podcast – Episode 33

Hi there! In today’s episode I interview Steve Mitchell, of The Mind of Watercolor!

If you are interested in watercolor painting I’m sure you came across Steve Mitchell’s YouTube channel – The Mind of Watercolor – at some point.

He has incredible tutorials and lessons on painting.

Interviewing Other Artists

I talked a bit about my idea of interviewing other artists.

I think this will work great to encourage channel growth on YouTube. I also think this will create amazing content that viewers will really enjoy.

I made a list of artists I want to get to next, so expect updates in the near future!

Steve Mitchell Interview

Steve was the first creator I thought about reaching out to.

I’ve been following him for several years now, and learned A LOT from him. His fun personality and sense of humor make his videos not only educational, but also entertaining.

And as luck would have it, I noticed he started following me on Instagram, and even commenting and liking some of my posts!

As soon as I saw that I decided to reach out to him. He was super-cool about it, and the result is this interview!

I’m not going to transcribe the entire interview / questions (mainly because it’s a bit long).

But I do recommend you listen (or watch on YouTube – Steve Mitchell Interview). We talked about creating, being an artist, his career, and even Reese! (; You don’t want to miss that.

So sit back, relax and enjoy this one (or listen to it while doing something else!).

Artist Corner

As expected, today I mentioned Steve Mitchell! Haha.

It felt stupid choosing a different artist for this part, so I decided to go with the most relevant one – Steve!

You can check out his YouTube channel here: The Mind of Watercolor
And his website here: http://SteveMitchellDesign.com/

And Here’s where you can find me (:

You can support me on Patreon

Check out my YouTube Channel – Liron Yanconsky

Or ask me questions on Instagram – @LironYanIL or Snapchat – @LironYan3

And this is it. I hope you enjoyed this episode, and I’ll talk to you again real soon!

– Liron

 

Business Monday – How to Build a Successful Art Business | Liron Yanconsky’s Podcast – Episode 27

Hi there! In today’s episode I want to present to you my new show – Business Monday. The show will deal with how to build a successful art business.

Business Monday – My New Show

Next week I’m going to start a new show on my YouTube channel.

Business Monday will be a show dedicated to the art business. I will talk to you from my own PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. I want to share my insights regarding how to build a successful art business.

Why I’m Starting This Show

My current content attracts a lot of older audiences, which is great! Sometimes, later in life – people find more time to create art and paint.

However, I’d also like to help younger audiences. I’m talking about young artists that are HUNGRY for success.

I feel like this is something I can share my knowledge about.

How I Got the Idea

I wanted to talk about topics related to art and business for a LONG time now. In fact, I’ve been doing that to some extent for a while now.

I would occasionally talk about topics such as business, marketing and so on. But it was always at the “fringes” of my content. It was something I always did “along” the way.

a few days ago I was talking to a friend about this. Suddenly he told me: “Why not just make a show dedicated to that?”

I immediately felt how on-point he was.

Content Pillars – Building an Art Business

I have many content pillars in my YouTube channel (and on other places such as Instagram). I talk about watercolor, sketching, The Paint Show, and I also have my new series – Painting Masters.

Having these as content pillars, or “headlines”, helped me significantly with brainstorming a multitude of ideas for videos, posts and so on.

But up until this point, I haven’t had an organized content pillar for BUSINESS. And now I do (:

My Intentions with Business Monday

Sharing ONLY What I Know

My only intent with this show is the share my insights. I will not pretend to know everything. I want to talk about the things I am experienced at.

I’ve been working on my art business and personal brand for the past 4 years, and only now feel like I start to reap some of the rewards.

And so, I also feel like I have a lot to teach.

Detailed, Specific Talk

Another thing I intend to do is to go DEEP. I want to show you the exact things I’m talking about. I want to show you my actual sales funnel, my Facebook ads, my autoresponder. Everything!

There’s plenty of general information out there. Frankly, it helps almost nobody. It’s been commoditized.

I want to give you what I did, specifically. That’s the best type of information, in my experience.

Conclusion

So now that you know about this new show, make sure you subscribe to my YouTube channel, if you still haven’t.

The first episode will be up on Monday, the 7th of May.

As always, feel free to comment and let me know if there are any topics you want me to cover in the show, podcast, or anywhere else!

And now, let’s wrap up with the Artist Corner.

Artist Corner

In this episode I wanted to talk to you about Alexander Votsmush.

Alexander is a watercolor painter. He creates surrealistic works that are simply astounding. He seems to have complete mastery of watercolor, and even realism. I believe he distorts reality as a style choice. I wouldn’t be surprised if he can draw realistically, or even hyper-realistically.

By the way, I read that Votsmush is a nickname, a play on the letters of his original last name – Shumtov.

Check out his Instagram here: @Votsmush

Check out these websites for an awesome view of his works:

LivingDesign – Alexander Votsmush
LinesAndColors – Alexander Votsmush

Here’s where you can find me (:

You can support me on Patreon

Check out my YouTube Channel – Liron Yanconsky

Or ask me questions on Instagram – @LironYanIL or Snapchat – @LironYan3

And this is it. I hope you enjoyed this episode!

– Liron

Publishing as Much Content as Possible | Liron Yanconsky’s Podcast – Episode 26

Hi there! In this episode we’ll talk about publishing A LOT of content and making the most out of opportunities.

Focusing on Publishing a Lot of Content

My current focus in my work is to publish as much content as possible.

I post three videos a week on YouTube. I post on instagram, Snapchat and Facebook every day. And I have this podcast (and the new one on anchor! Anchor.fm/Liron)

Reasons for Publishing so Much Content

There are many reasons for me doing the work I do.

I would say the main thing is that there’s less competition now. Not a lot of people (and artists in particular) actually try to show a lot of their lives, work processes and so on.

This is a rare chance to do so. It’s easier to get peoples’ attention on different media outlets.

This connects to another reason – regret.

Regret

I only regret things I didn’t do.

Looking back at my YouTube channel, my first video is from 2014!!! I always have this thought with me: if only I would have done back then, what I do for the past year and a half.

I’m sure if that would have been the case, then I would have at least quarter-half a million followers by now. Same for Instagram. If only I’d have started years earlier.

This really goes to show you the importance of doing things to the fullest. At the moment I have nothing I regret from the past 1.5-2 years. I did (and am doing) everything I can to my best knowledge.

Avicii

I talked about this in several places. Avicii the musician died at the age of 28, which is my age. This again makes me realize how important it is to have a life of no regrets. At least as much as possible.

IWS Competition

On a completely different note, in this podcast episode I’m also talking about submitting my work for a IWS Israel competition.

I’ll keep you updated on that. Wish me good luck! If you want to see some ideas for paintings that I had, consider supporting me on Patreon (: I’ll be sharing more info there, as things develop.

My Patreon page

Artist Corner

In this episode we talked about no other than John Singer Sargent! He was an incredibly impressive American artist.

He worked mainly in oils, but also produced some watercolor paintings. His style is my favorite in oil painting, and he is highly regarded for his portraits.

He had a way of simplifying everything he painted. If you look from far, it almost looks realistic. But when you get up close you see all the roughness of the brush strokes, and what a “mess” he makes.

It’s my favorite!

You can read more about him on Wikipedia: John Singer Sargent

Or check out his works on Google Images. Here’s one of my favorites of his:

Here’s where you can find me (:

You can support me on Patreon

Check out my YouTube Channel – Liron Yanconsky

Or ask me questions on Instagram – @LironYanIL or Snapchat – @LironYan3