# Interview With an Expert: Social Media Management Can Make or Break a Freelance Artist

- Link: https://chatterblast.com/blog/interview-with-an-expert-social-media-management-can-make-or-break-a-freelance-artist/
- Published: 2022-12-16T14:53:11-05:00
- Author: Sarah Mammano

When I think of how much I have to do day-in and day-out as an agency copywriter,
I’m forever grateful to have a team of well-rounded, dedicated people surrounding
me in every facet of ChatterBlast—from creative to strategy to analytics and beyond.

And when I think of that, it blows my mind to consider how a single person can do
all of that, alone, to promote a brand. Especially when the brand is _themselves._

Such is the life of a freelance artist—figuring out when to post, how much to post,
where to post, and simply what to post is just another part of the job… on top of
whatever creative work they’re churning out to make a living. So I spoke with my
friend Naomi Franquiz, an incredibly talented, successful, full-time freelance illustrator
and comic artist, to pick her brain at how she manages this monumental task, and
why an active social media presence is just as important for a lone artist as it
is for full-blown Marvel Universe marketing.

### **For people who don’t know you, tell me about yourself.**

I’m Naomi Franquiz, I’m a freelance illustrator and comic book artist who has been
published in works like _Unbeatable Squirrel Girl_ (Marvel), _Bitch Planet: Triple
Feature_ (Image), _Proctor Valley Road_ (BOOM!), multiple different publications
that you’ve probably seen on the shelf.

![](https://chatterblast.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/PVR01_cover_-Franquiz-675x1024.
png)

Proctor Valley Road cover by Naomi Franquiz.

### **What are some current projects you’re working on that you’re excited about?**

I’m currently working on a graphic novel with a publishing company called First 
Second, and that’s going to be the beginning of a series of ghost stories, based
off of actual ghost stories. My book is going to be _Strange Mysteries, Unwanted
Guests._ It’s written by [Steve Foxe](https://twitter.com/steve_foxe). He’s the 
writer behind a lot of different titles, but most recently, I collaborated with 
him and the wonderful writer [Che Grayson](https://twitter.com/cheinwunderland) 
on a short story for a horror anthology magazine called [_Razor Blades._](https://imagecomics.com/comics/releases/razorblades-the-horror-magazine-year-one-omnibus-hc)
So if you’re into horror, I highly recommended it

### **I know you’ve put in a lot of work to get to where you are now as a successful, freelance, full-time illustrator. Can you walk us through how you got there?**

I got my first actual comics gig, I want to say… 2017, 2016, when I got signed on
to do _Misfit City_ with BOOM! Box. That was my first monthly series. But before
then, I was just kind of trying to put my work on the Internet and go through Twitter,
sending hashtags and everything.

I was working a day job for about four years before I had saved up enough money 
and was getting enough work that I felt confident in my ability to go full-time 
freelance. And I mean, it worked out. Most of my references came from editors that
I worked with on past comics, and they would suggest me to other editors within 
their publishing house, and then about a year and some change ago, I got an agent
for the first time. I signed up with The Bent Agency, who was also a friend of mine
and used to be my editor.

Since then they’ve been really great at getting me in contact with editors that 
I hadn’t already gotten to know from past projects, and that’s how I got this current
book that I’m working on. So the best decision I ever made was going with my agent.

![](https://chatterblast.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/STL064784-666x1024.jpeg)

Misfit City cover. Artwork: Naomi Franquiz. Colorist: Brittany Peer.

### **Do you have anyone else on your team that works for you? Or is it just you as a freelancer, putting your stuff out there, and then your agent helps you network, essentially?**

Overall, it’s just me and my agent, Desiree, who isn’t my PR agent because they’re
not doing my public relations. You know, I’m advertising myself on Twitter and Instagram.
So, being a freelancer is kind of multiple jobs in one. 

### **What social media platforms do you currently use—or, you know, used to use and don’t use so much anymore—to market yourself in your work?**

Before I got more into freelance, I used to be predominantly on Tumblr, but the 
demographic of Tumblr kind of shifted, so it wasn’t getting the kind of professional
traction that I wanted there. And then I started using Twitter and Instagram, but
Twitter specifically. When I first started using it, it was helping a lot more because
there were a lot of trending hashtags like #WomenInComics. #VisibleWomen is another
one.

Or just like every month has a theme. You know, there’s Inktober. Or MerMay, so 
it’s mermaid-May: draw illustrated mermaids and use the hashtag. It was a lot easier
to tap into what’s trending and get my work out that way. 

![](https://chatterblast.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/SG-and-Tip-sketch-791x1024.
png)

Squirrel Girl sketch.

I’m currently trying to shift more into Instagram. I kind of neglected it for a 
bit because Twitter was so easy for me without getting too time consuming. But the
Twitter dynamic is shifting now that the company has changed hands and things are
changing with the algorithm. So now I have to try and learn Instagram’s algorithm
and try to make reels for my art. And I hate to admit it’s already working.

### **Reels is where it’s at, baby. So how important would you say it is to regularly update and post art on these platforms in order to stay relevant?**

I mentioned before, PR and advertising itself becomes another job when you’re a 
freelancer. So you have to start actually scheduling administration time in your
day and your workday in order to manage that because social media has a huge impact
on a freelancers work—especially if you are more of an independent creator and you’re
not trying to work with publishers and you’re just trying to sell original works
or crafts or whatever you’re doing. Social media is a huge part. I started getting
more traction in my following the more I started paying attention to trending hashtags
and themes.

### **Do you think you’ve gotten any unique opportunities solely from your social media account that you maybe wouldn’t have gotten otherwise?**

One particular unique opportunity came from the hashtag #VisibleWomen on Twitter.
That hashtag was started and maintained by an in-house publishing company called
[Milkfed Criminal Masterminds,](https://milkfed.us/) which is run by [Kelly Sue DeConnick](https://twitter.com/kellysue?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor)
and Matt Fraction.

Kelly Sue was the creator behind series like _Bitch Planet_ (along with Valentine
De Landro) and also wrote for _Captain Marvel_, which is now a big MCU hit. So she
found my Twitter and my work through that hashtag and also through word of mouth.
And that became my first standalone comic—a short story in their _Bitch Planet_ 
series, written by Jordan Clark. So that was my first Image publication and through
them my name got introduced to other editors.

Most of the editors who emailed me found me through Twitter. If you’re not actively
appearing in the algorithm, your work isn’t going to be promoted and isn’t going
to be put in ‘recent’ posted works that show up in people’s feeds. So it’s very 
important to make sure you do that because you could be an amazing creator with 
amazing talent, but if nobody sees your work, it’s going to be hard to get the jobs
that you want out of it.

### **Do you have a strategy when it comes to managing your platforms? If so, where do you go to teach yourself these things?**

I’m learning a lot specifically with Instagram. I’ve been going through the reels,
and a lot of people are making reels specifically about, “this sound is trending,”
like, “this audio is trending or this meme is trending right now. Save this to help
promote your brand or promote your Instagram page.” So a lot of people are being
super helpful and showing you how to use the sound or how to spot audio that could
potentially go viral. 

Because a lot of times, with Instagram specifically, if you’re looking at a trending
sound or meme and then you look at the source itself, the actual sound, it’ll show
you how many reels have used that sound. And if it’s under a thousand, it usually
has more room to grow. That tends to be the trend with Instagram: it starts off 
slow at first, but then it picks up. 

The higher the number of uses on that sound… it becomes kind of like throwing a 
guppy into a tank already full of guppies. It’s already been swarmed by all these
other reels, so you have less chance of getting noticed or of it really standing
out. So I try to find reels that are kind of the happy middle ground: not too low
a number, that’s not getting _any_ use, but not too high that it’s a bit over-populated.

But because my shift from Twitter is quite recent, since Elon Musk bought it, I’m
actively trying to figure out what my strategy is going to be on Instagram. I’ve
been noticing a lot of artists using reels to promote their work, so I put one out.
It was just like an “artist’s hand versus the artist’s work” to see “Does this match?
Does this look like my art?” Which is kind of silly, but it’s working. It’s doing
numbers.

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> [A post shared by Naomi Franquiz (@naomifranq)](https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cks81e5jrIm/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading)

### **Do you have a ko-fi too? Is that what that’s called?**

Yeah. I don’t know if it’s pronounced ko-fi or coffee. I’ve been saying coffee.

### **This is the first time I’ve ever said it out loud. So I don’t know. **

I do have a [ko-fi](https://ko-fi.com/naomifranq), or coffee. And I’m thinking about
trying to open up a Patreon again. But again, it’s another job, right? So I have
to really organize my time and see if I can make that happen. And if I do, I’ll 
probably want to keep it as casual and chill as possible so I don’t make it even
more of a job because I don’t have an assistant or somebody to help manage that.
I would love to one day be able to hire someone to help manage my PR. But, goals
I think for me.

Keep up with Naomi and her awesome work:

 * [https://naomimfranq.com](https://naomimfranquiz.wixsite.com/illustrations/)
 * [https://www.instagram.com/naomifranq/](https://www.instagram.com/naomifranq/)
 * [https://twitter.com/naomifranq](https://twitter.com/naomifranq)
 * [https://naomifranq.tumblr.com/](https://naomifranq.tumblr.com/)