After spending years building an audience on social media for my art, I was thrilled when I hit 10k followers on Instagram. I loved hearing from my followers and using the app to build relationships and partnerships. But as my audience continued to grow, I realized that I was having a ton of trouble keeping up with the comments and DMs. Not only was I missing nice messages from people who loved my work, I was also missing messages from potential customers and brands who were interested in collaborating. And just as importantly, I was struggling with how to sell on Instagram instead of just building my audience. I knew that if there was a simpler way for my followers to buy my work I’d be selling a lot more of it. But I wasn’t sure the right tool existed - until I learned about HiBeam.
A fellow artist friend with a big social following told me about HiBeam when I mentioned that I was getting lots of interest in my pieces, but wasn’t selling many of them. She mentioned that she had the same issue until discovering the app that, in her words, “brought order to the chaos” of her inbox and helped her make more money by streamlining the sales process right in Instagram. I was obviously intrigued and downloaded the app to try it for myself.
HiBeam’s free inbox management tool sorts messages by topic (purchase requests, collaboration opportunities, and content feedback, etc), making it so much easier to filter through everything and make sure I’m not missing anything important (i.e., sales inquiries!). This tool was huge, but the real game changer was the auction drop tool, which is part of a commission plan.
The auction drop tool automatically drives the entire bidding process for you by accepting bids, letting bidders know if they are outbid, and selecting a winner. The setup on the seller’s end is so easy - you just pick an item to auction, pick a keyword that people will message you to participate, and set the minimum bid price. To be honest, I was a bit skeptical - it sounded too easy.
But I gave it a shot and auctioned off one of my paintings that was getting a lot of positive feedback in the comments. I set the minimum bid to $300, wondering if anyone would bid at all. By the time I checked in an hour after posting, the bidding was up to $550 with 12 hours to go! The painting ended up selling for $825 - way more that I ever would have listed it for. And the feedback in the comments was super positive with people wanting me to auction off more pieces!
After this, I’m a complete HiBeam convert. I’ve started exploring some of their other tools to help me build my text list, analyze comments, and increase followers through automated messaging. I finally feel like I have control over my sales with a secure, private auction experience that’s safe for the bidder and seller. For content creators looking to streamline (and supercharge) their sales through social, HiBeam is a must-have tool in your arsenal.