Using Illustrated Quotes To Promote Your Brand On Social Media
The key to success in social media is promoting your brand in a low-key non-salesy way. Ideally, you want people to share your posts and help spread the word.
People love fun images, and they also love quotes. Combine the two, and you’ve got a very shareable post– perfect for Twitter, Facebook, your company blog.
Here’s a great quote about storytelling. Annette Simmons believes that story always improves communication.
The above is a good example of how images can be recycled, which makes them a good investment. I’d previously used this “balloon image” for a post called 10 Storytelling Essentials. By including the URL for my website, I insure that my brand gets promoted whenever someone shares the illustrated quote.
Here’s one by blues legend B.B. King who died earlier this year. The quote is inspiring because it highlights his work ethic, and says very clearly: if you want to be good, you’ve got to put in the time. It’s nice to have your brand associated with dedication and hard work.
Quotes by others aren’t your only option. Share your own wisdom and professional opinions. Here’s one of mine. Namely, that it’s a waste of time and energy to try to be
on every social media channel. You have to find the ones that work best for you.
Newsman David Brinkley was a familiar TV face when I was a kid. I love this quote because it’s both funny and true. Criticism and failure are hard to take, but if you want
to move forward, you have to view them as learning opportunities.
Here’s another example of creative recycling. The image is an old editorial illustration. I’ve forgotten the related news item, but the image seemed like a fun fit for this Ben Franklin quote about the value of persistence.
I did a birthday tribute back in March for detective fiction writer Mickey Spillane. He left behind some colorful quotes, including this one. He died in 2006, but he was ahead of his time. He would have excelled at social media marketing.
The image below started out as a poster with the caption: Don’t settle for a still life.
Make the break. But I quickly saw its potential for quotes about courage, faith, daring,
and taking the initiative.
Always resist the temptation to recycle an image too frequently. It will lose power. Use it, then put it back on the shelf for awhile. When the time is right, trot it out again, and pair it with a new quote.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Do you promote your brand on social media? Care to share your strategy?
Do you share or retweet posts? If so, what usually prompts you to do so?
Do you have a favorite quote? Seen a good one lately? I’d love to hear it.
Hope you’ll leave a comment.
If you enjoyed this post, please click the Like button below.
If you’d like to share this post with others, please click Tweet or Facebook or StumbleUpon or one of the other Share buttons.
I also invite you to get updates. Just click the Get Updates button in the sidebar below the Portfolio Thumbnails, or click + Follow in the blog menu bar.
If you’d like to buy prints or greeting cards, click on any of the large preview images in the sidebar below the Get Updates button.
Other Posts You Might Enjoy:
Creation + Evolution = Illustration
Meet The Beatles Parody: Vote For Me, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!
A Dam Fine Post: Happy Canada Day!
Follow @mrstrongarm
Mark Armstrong Illustration Specializing In Content Marketing Advertising Editorial Infographics Animation Videos and Social Media 
According to Ralph Waldo Emerson “When nature has work to be done, she creates a genius to do it.” enter genius Mark Armstrong! 🙂
I share work I find interesting and admire. In fact that is one reason why I use twitter or fb [the other would be to promote my work].
You, my dear friend, fall under a category of your own of someone who’s work I admire and share EVERYWHERE, as I feel I owe it to humanity!
And here’s one more quote which I find you are already true to:
“Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it.” - Buddha Thank you [says I!] 🙂
LikeLike
Zip! Zing! Zong! Ka-WHOOOOOOOOSHHHH!! Whizzzzzz, whoop, ka-woodle!!! x 3… EEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeyaaaaaahhhhh……. SPLAT!!! 😊😊😊😊😊😊… That was me flying over the moon, circling it three times, then falling back to earth, and lying there with a big smile on my face as the cosmic dust settles… 😊
Thank you, dear Marina, for that stupendous comment, which certainly falls into a category all its own!! I’m completely floored, as the roll of linoleum said after he was installed in the kitchen!! Loved the quote, which sent me on another moonshot!! Buddha thanks you, and I thank you, for your wonderful contributions to art, friendship, humanity, and the Mt. Olympus Pantheon!! 😊
LikeLike
Don’t have a strategy yet but thought your article was great – some excellent tips!
LikeLike
Thanks, Claire! Glad you enjoyed the post, and thanks so much for your kind comment. Always a pleasure to see you!! : )
LikeLike
I appreciate the tips, Mark. As for quotes, my favourite here is the David Brinkley – so very apt. As for a promotion strategy – I’m still working that out. I particularly appreciate your suggestion to be selective with social media platforms.
LikeLike
Hi Jill, thanks so much for your comment. Glad you enjoyed the post and found it helpful. Yes, that Brinkley quote is a winner. I remember him as having a very dry sense of humor, and I can almost hear him saying that particular line. I think we’re all working out our promotional strategy. So many avenues, ideas, so much information– not so easy to see one’s way clear. We’ll get there!! Wishing you all the best, and thanks again for your kind comment. : )
LikeLiked by 1 person
So so clever! The illustrations plus their corresponding quotes really blend altogether…. like coffee and donuts…. hmmmm perfect combination to attract everyone! 🙂
Thank you so much my dear friend for the visit to my blog and leaving me tons of notes that made me smile, laugh so much that millions of donuts fell down from the sky, I almost drown … whoaaaa! I love you… and I appreciate all of your comments…. mmwhahhh
LikeLike
Like coffee and donuts… toothpaste and floss… mac and cheese… I mean Mac and Giggles… : )
My dear Dolly!! Thank you for your lovely comment. Why, I haven’t felt this high since I used a whole box of double chocolate fudge donuts as a nutritional supplement… : )
I’ve heard of pennies from heaven, but never donuts from heaven– now that sounds truly heavenly!! I hope you turned your umbrella upside down and caught as many as you could… : )
Always a pleasure to hear the little bell go tinkle-tinkle-woo-woo-woo, that’s how I know you just walked into Armstrong’s Sugar Lips Pastry Shoppe & Blog… mmmmmmwahhhh!! : )
LikeLiked by 1 person
I had many quotes on my MySpace page a long time ago. I put them on my Facebook timeline years ago, but no one reads anyone’s timelines anymore. Here are a few of my favorites.
“Man stands face-to-face with the irrational. He feels within him his longing for happiness and for reason. The absurd is born of this confrontation between the human need and the unreasonable silence of the world.” -Albert Camus
“Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is opinion.” -Democritus
“Man has three ways of acting wisely. First, on meditation; that is the noblest. Secondly, on imitation; that is the easiest. Thirdly, on experience; that is the bitterest.” -Confucius
“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” -George Orwell
“We all know that art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize truth.” -Pablo Picasso
LikeLike
Hi, Steven! Always great to see you, and I apologize for being so late in responding to your comment and your wonderful quote collection. I loved them all, and every one seemed to hit like a hammer.
“The unreasonable silence of the world”– what an arresting phrase. And it’s not just artists who encounter it. Everyone has their dreams and ideas and enthusiasms, and so often the world just shrugs and moves on. Democritus? He could be describing society today: 24/7 babble, much of it marketed as truth. The Confucius quote made me think of my dad. He used to intone: “Experience is a good teacher. Expensive, but good.” The Orwell quote is more than a little chilling. It reminds us how imperiled free speech and freedom of religion are in these days of political correctness. Express a contrary opinion, and you could find yourself charged with a hate crime for “telling people what they do not want to hear.”
The Picasso quote really threw me. Must confess I googled it and found the whole thing in its original context. Here it is:
We all know that Art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize truth, at least the truth that is given us to understand. The artist must know how to convince others of the truthfulness of his lies. If he only shows in his work that he has searched, and re-searched, for the way to put over lies, he would never accomplish anything.
Did it help? Well… no! I’ll have to think about that one for awhile… : )
Thanks for sharing those provocative quotes, and for all your thoughtful contributions to this blog.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I look at my artwork and writing as fabrications of my perception of what is true. But I always strive to be truthful (or show truth) in the fabrications I make. Author Stephen King said he tries to be truthful in the lies he tells. Same here.
LikeLike
Being truthful in the lies one tells… Gosh! I wish I’d come across that concept back when I was in church school– or when I was taking Moral Theology in college!! : )
Thanks, Steven. I think the word “fabrication” may be the sticking point here– a cause of confusion. We all perceive reality differently, so our version of same must necessarily be inaccurate to some degree. Norman Rockwell certainly romanticized and/or idealized certain scenes. Oscar Hammerstein romanticized love in his song lyrics. I think we all know the “truth” of the matter is different, but it seems rather harsh to accuse such artists of lies or fabrication. They gave us something to strive for, which should be one of the aims of art, at least IMO.
As for political cartoonists and pulp paperback cover artists, the charge of fabrication is, perhaps, more accurate!! Still, I’m sure the former at least would echo Mr. King: editorial cartooning is very much the pursuit of truth via distortion and exaggeration. Thanks again for your most interesting contribution here!
LikeLiked by 1 person
The quotes and illustrations for B.B. King, David Brinkley, and Mickey Spillane are my favorites. They perfectly capture the essence of those characters. But the other illustrations are wonderful, too. Excellent work, Mark. .;-)
LikeLike
Interesting, my dear Judy! You’re right: some quotes seem to sum up their originators perfectly. I hadn’t really thought about that before. Why it’s even true for me; consider this famous Armstrong-ism:
Ask not what the world can do to amuse you; ask what you can do to amuse the world!
Yup, pretty profound. And it’s gotten me in a lotta trouble… : )
LikeLiked by 1 person
You have an amazing talent and It’s a pleasure see your blog! I can use Illustrator too but I prefer traditional art:) I’ve just opened my own blog with my boyfriend in which we talk about art and music, it’s written in Italian but I’ d love If you can give me some good advices to make a beautiful opening image at the top of the blog!*-* you are hilarious and I’m sure you’ll have beautiful ideas 🙂 thanks in advance:D
LikeLike
Hello! Always nice to meet another chaotic artist… : )
Many thanks for all your kind words. Beautiful ideas? Me?? Oh right, that’s my specialty, I forgot… : )
Your blog looks very promising. Your current header image is certainly chaotic, but the colors are rather dark and muted. I think something bright and cheerful would be a better match for the “voice” I hear speaking in your comment.
Since there are two of you (with different personalities) working on the blog, how about this: two cartoon character artists, boy-girl, wearing berets and paint-stained smocks, standing back-to-back, each working furiously on a large canvas on an easel. Put whatever you like on the two canvases, but make them different– like you’re competing against each other, each trying to be the more chaotic. Every so often you could use Photoshop to change what’s on the canvases and give your header image a fresh look. Just an idea.
Good luck, nice to meet you, and thanks for stopping by! : )
Ciao! Sempre bello incontrare un altro artista caotico …: )
Molte grazie per tutte le gentili parole. Belle idee? Me ?? Oh giusto, questa è la mia specialità, dimenticavo …: )
Il tuo blog sembra molto promettente. La tua immagine di intestazione attuale è certamente caotico, ma i colori sono piuttosto scuro e in sordina. Penso che qualcosa di luminoso e allegro sarebbe una migliore corrispondenza per la “voce” Ho sentito parlare in tuo commento.
Visto che ci sono due di voi (con diverse personalità) che lavorano sul blog, che ne dici di questo: due artisti personaggio dei cartoni animati, ragazzo-ragazza, indossando berretti e grembiuli vernice macchiata, in piedi back-to-back, ognuno dei quali lavora furiosamente su un grande tela su un cavalletto. Metti quello che vuoi per le due tele, ma li fai different– come si è in competizione l’uno contro l’altro, cercando di essere il più caotico. Ogni tanto si può usare Photoshop per cambiare ciò che è sulle tele e dare l’immagine di intestazione un cambio di look. Solo un’idea.
Buona fortuna, piacere di conoscerti, e grazie per l’arresto da! : )
LikeLike
Quotes I didn’t know, and glad to know now
Your illustrations really make them seizing! I love how you do your work, how you know to exploit your drawings to it’s most (the fruits in a basket drawing), and also giving a bit a knowledge to other illustrators, it really helps, thanks for your awesome work!
LikeLike
Quotes are fun, aren’t they? Such a pleasure to encounter one that speaks a truth in a clever and witty way. I find they often conjure up images for me. I’m not sure the authors would approve, but it’s nice to know you do!! : )
I’m afraid I’ve never cared for paintings of bowls of fruit. It’s tempting to make fun of them– and I guess I gave in to that temptation! Thank you for your very kind comment! : )
Citations sont amusants, sont-ils pas? Un tel plaisir de rencontrer celui qui parle une vérité d’une manière intelligente et pleine d’esprit. Je trouve qu’ils évoquent souvent des images pour moi. Je ne suis pas sûr que les auteurs seraient d’accord, mais il est bon de savoir que vous faites !! : )
Je crains que je ne l’ai jamais pris soin de peintures de bols de fruits. Il est tentant de se moquer de eux– et je suppose que je donnais à cette tentation! Merci pour votre commentaire très gentil! : )
LikeLiked by 1 person
Exactly, and finding quotes that describe our way of thinking, knowing that it came out of the mouth of another, in some ways feels reassuring, would it be that or a life lesson taught!
I’m sure the authors would approve, and even if they don’t, there are many many people that will be there to approve of them!
I like that way of mocking, it’s true that paintings of dead nature (sorry, I don’t know the art term for that in english) , well, we don’t really see what they’re there for. The most liberating thing in art for me, is to create new things, make thoughts that travel your mind visible for others, oranges apple and grapes aren’t included in that wonderful equation
LikeLike
Ha! Yes, quotes can be wonderfully reassuring. There are few happier experiences in life than suddenly knowing one is not alone in feeling a certain way.
I like your expression “dead nature”– I know exactly what you mean. In English, that kind of painting is referred to as a still life— collections of fruit, flowers, books, and other inanimate objects. Such paintings can be beautiful, and demonstrate great technical skill– but alas, they are not my cup of tea (another inanimate object!). But as those très charmant French people say: à chacun son goût!! : )
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, in the end nobody can be truly alone, but nobody can be perfectly conscious of that.
But even throughout technical skill, it isn’t enough (I like what you did with the tea there 🙂 )
Exactly, we need different people with different tastes, claiming only one aesthetics for our whole population wouldn’t be as wonderful as the diversity in art (well, that we can already observe with the image sold of women, but I’m not sure if I can Fit that in this context though).
If I were you though, I wouldn’t count on the very charming part, In five years living here the majority is the opposite for now :’)
LikeLiked by 1 person
What?? There’s a charm shortage over there?? Well, I’m sure you and I more than make up for it… : )
LikeLike
Well I hope so then 🙂 Or else we’ll have to create a charm-people gang someplace, that could work someday when the british gentleman would care to come give a kick in those fellow’s buttocks
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love illustrated quotes. Thank you for sharing this post! I just discovered your site and I’m looking forward to soaking up all of the wisdom you share here!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi, Eva! Thank you for your lovely comment. An illustrated quote fan? Excellent! They do seem perfect for social media: an eye-catching visual, some short pithy text, a dash of humor. Just the sort of thing people like to share, which translates to high engagement for brands.
As for soaking up all my wisdom– don’t spend a lot of money on a big sponge! Glad you enjoyed the post, and thanks again for your very kind comment! : )
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, good point, very good for social media! I love to think that someone may be mindlessly scrolling through their news feed (like I so often do) and have to pause because they’re laugh at a funny little cartoon! A simple way to brighten someone’s day 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person