Today, I want to outline what I call the online “roller coaster” for artists and small businesses. Tomorrow I will discuss the things that help me ride the ups and downs in a healthy way.

The roller coaster has two phases.

THE RISE: social media and blogs (SM especially) are set up so that you get attention for posting random, stupid, vapid things like memes and cat photos. If you post such insipid content, you will be rewarded. You will get views and shares. Your page will get noticed.

Your stats will go up. This is a good thing. It feels like an opportunity. So then you start posting things are NOT insipid, but targeted for your business, or to sell your art or books.

This is when the fall comes.

THE DROP: Social media, in particular, HATES when you post links to outside things: like your blog, or your business page, or Etsy, or Amazon, where people can buy what you are selling.

You were riding high, but as soon as you start trying to narrow your focus, targeting the people who would be interested in your business, or talking up your business . . . it’s crickets.

You get no interaction and no reach. No one even sees what you are posting. You try this for a day for two, then you resign yourself that they want to force you to run ad after ad to get any kind of meaningful or useful attention at all.

And you go back to the insipid memes, hoping that maybe at least a few people who see the memes will visit your page, scroll a bit, and see some of the stuff you actually want people to see.

It’s frustrating and it’s draining. So what we do about it?

I’ll write about that tomorrow.