Technology is Seductive

Along with art, I am a tech head by nature and vocation. I have taught Web design and development and its use in marketing for years. Artists interested in marketing themselves get tons of encouragement from marketing and career coaches to start a Web site, do blogging, post pod and video casts and join social networks. This is great advise, but beware:

TECHNOLOGY IS SEDUCTIVE SO PACE YOURSELF
Try to master one new technology at a time. This is harder than you might think. Not because the technology itself is difficult to master. Often times it is quite easy to use which can be part of the problem. It is seductive. For example, blogging is free, and easy to set up, but it can be addictive as can social networking on MySpace and/or FaceBook. And one technology often leads to another – building a Web site leads to shopping carts, to e-mail campaigns, to blogging, to Facebook and MySpace, to podcasts to YouTube, etc. It can really suck you in and suck your time. I know this from oh so much personal experience.

DEFINE YOUR GOALS
Know exactly how the technology is going to work for you to achieve your goals. Make it part of your marketing plan. If you just dive in without that clarity you can easily find yourself wondering around in a virtual maze of options.

BE AN ARTIST FIRST
Technology is great and its proper use is critical to your success. But it can be a huge time drain especially when you are just getting your feet wet. As artists we need to have our art be our primary focus and not let the use of technology replace your productive art time.