What Are the Clues Telling You?
Looking at the numbers is only the first step.
By Sue Pendleton, Founder
Last week, I wrote about social media Insights. Not analytics as a scary word. Insights. The numbers that show what happened after you posted: what people saw, what they reacted to, what sparked a comment, what traveled a little farther.
For many artists, even opening that section is a meaningful step.
But then comes the next question: What do I do with this information? Because having the numbers does not automatically mean you know what they are telling you. Sometimes the information itself can feel paralyzing.
Feedback doesn’t always arrive clearly.
Artists receive feedback in all kinds of ways.
A teacher’s note.
A workshop critique.
A juror’s decision.
A buyer’s selection.
A friend’s comment.
A gallery conversation.
But social media feedback is different.
It often arrives as numbers.
Reach.
Interactions.
Comments.
Saves.
Shares.
Follows.
Silence.
A post you barely thought about may travel farther than expected. A post you cared about deeply may not seem to go anywhere. A finished piece may get fewer reactions than a messy studio photo. A quick, honest caption may bring more conversation than something carefully written.
That can feel confusing. But confusing does not mean useless. It simply means the clues need interpretation.
The numbers don’t give a perfect answer.
This is important. In marketing, there are often a lot of numbers. But the best marketers are not simply the people who can read a chart. They are the people who can look at the numbers, ask better questions, and then adjust the creative work in a thoughtful way.
There is a lot of room for interpretation. If a post with a certain color performs well, does that mean people love that color? Maybe.
Or maybe they responded to the way that color was used.
Or the contrast around it.
Or the subject matter.
Or the mood.
Or the caption.
Or the fact that the post was more personal.
Or the timing.
Or the format.
The number may point to something worth noticing. But it does not always tell you exactly what to do. That is why this work is not about finding the one right answer. It is about making a hypothesis. Testing it. Learning from what happens next. Then refining from there.
Start with a small set of clues.
When I reviewed my own 90-day art marketing practice, one of the most helpful things I did was keep the review small. I did not try to analyze everything. As we talked about last week, I looked at two simple groups: Reach and interactions. That was enough.
Reach helped me notice what traveled. Interactions helped me notice what sparked a response. Then I looked for patterns.
Was it the subject?
The format?
The color?
The place?
The caption?
The story?
The studio setting?
The vulnerability?
The availability of the work?
I was not looking for a perfect answer. I was looking for possible clues.
I named my assumptions.
This was the part that surprised me. The numbers alone didn’t tell the full story, so I wrote down what I thought might be happening.
Why did this post reach more people?
Why did this one get more interaction?
What might people have connected with?
What felt different about this image, caption, or moment?
This step matters. Because once I write down my assumptions, I have something to test. Not a verdict. A theory.
Maybe people are responding to finished work. Or reacting to studio scenes. Connecting with a specific place. Enjoying my process. Maybe my more honest captions are creating more conversation. Or my audience is showing me what they want to understand better.
I don’t have to know for sure. I just need a place to begin.
I missed having a creative team.
As I was working through my own assumptions, something unexpected happened. I missed being at work.
For years, I worked with teams of creative people. And one of the best parts of that kind of work was being able to walk down the hall and pick someone’s brain. I could say:
Here is what I am seeing.
Here is what I think might be happening.
Am I missing something?
Does this mean what I think it means?
Then everyone would chime in. Someone would ask a smart question. Someone else would see a pattern I had missed. We would talk it through, challenge each other, and slowly the next step would become clearer.
That kind of creative interpretation is incredibly valuable. And many artists do not have easy access to it. We are often working alone. In our studios. With our own thoughts. Trying to make sense of our work, our audience, our marketing, and our next steps without a team down the hall.
Another perspective can make the process feel less lonely.
This is one of the reasons I think artists need support around marketing. Not because someone else should tell us what our work means. And not because there is a secret answer everyone else knows and we somehow missed.
But because another perspective can help us see patterns that are hard to see from inside our own practice.
A friend can help.
A fellow artist can help.
A teacher or trusted supporter can help.
And, used thoughtfully, AI can help too.
When I brought my own assumptions into a conversation with ChatGPT, I felt something familiar. It felt a little like having a creative person down the hall. Someone who knew the context. Someone who could reflect what I was saying. Someone who could help me notice where I might be right, where I might be over-reading, and where there might be another explanation.
That was reassuring. And honestly, it made the process feel less lonely.
AI can help you sort the clues.
This is one of the places where AI can be genuinely useful for artists. Not to replace your judgment. Not to tell you what kind of art to make. Not to turn your art practice into a formula. But to help you sort information.
You can give it a small set of posts and say:
Here are my top posts by reach.
Here are my top posts by interactions.
Here is what each post showed.
Here is what the caption was about.
Here’s why I think each one may have worked.
What patterns do you notice? What else might explain the results? What should I consider testing next?
That kind of prompt can help you move from scattered information to a few possible next steps. And then you decide what feels true.
One useful next step.
The goal is not to analyze everything. Chase every number. Copy your best post forever. The goal is to find one useful clue.
One thing you might repeat.
One thing you might test.
One thing you might make clearer.
One thing you might share more often.
One thing your audience seems ready to understand better.
That’s enough. Because the next 90 days don’t have to begin with a giant plan. They can begin with one question: What is one clue I can use?
