A report from Nature and Scientific Reports recently took a look at how an artist can be successful on a marketplace selling NFT art. They study the Foundation platform, identifying over 48,000 artworks through the associated NFTs listed by over 15,000 artists, allowing them to then further characterize the patterns that govern the networks that shape artistic success.
I thought this would make a great piece of content to share. It’s important to note the unique platform growth mechanism in place at Foundation: as a creator, you need to be invited by someone, and only certain users can invite other users to the platform. Much of the below will make more sense now.
Analysis of User Growth and Sales Over Time
The study grouped users into four buckets: Initial Adopters, Early Majority, Majority, Laggards. This image helps define those trends, and then provides some interesting information on trends over time:
Early Mover Advantage
Well this one is a bit obvious, but Initial Adopters have earned more than the Early Majority, which in turn earned more than the Laggards.
Early artists have also sold more art for a higher average price than the late comers and early collectors have invested in more art at a higher price than new collectors. The study claims that early adopters established themselves as successful artists, benefiting from a significant first-mover advantage. If you didn’t get there first, don’t worry, we’ve still got tips you can use today.
Tip #1: If you’re not on Foundation, get invited by a very successful artist
So how does Foundation work? It is based on the drive to become an established and successful artist, so you can then invite additional artists. There is a proven benefit to being in a good circle of artists, as far as average sale price.
Who knows how it works underneath the hood, but the data doesn’t lie: If you get invited by a successful artist, and your peer group of fellow invited artists are successful, it seems like you’ll have a better chance of being successful, too.
Tip #2: In-platform followers shape NFT valuation, understand the impact
On Foundation, collectors can keep track of their favorite artists by following them. As you might expect the number of followers on Foundation greatly impacts the selling price. Followers will likely see your new mints, driving up demand for your art.
The left hand of this chart below shows you how the number of Foundation followers impacts the total artist earnings.
Tip #3: Grow your Foundation followers with these strategies
- Follow other creators on Foundation that you think might sell into a similar audience.
- Follow collectors on Foundation who are purchasing art similar to yours.
- Work for the followers! Find twenty Foundation users you would like to turn into followers of yours, and then contact them, and ask them to follow you! Just a brief tweet or email saying: “Hi, I’m a new artist on Foundation and I’m struggling a bit. Would you please follow me if my art is remotely interesting to you”?
- Remember, as an artist your job is sometimes marketing, too, if you want your art to sell. Use your network of friends and family to build up your Foundation followers. Use your whole toolbox, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, school groups, NextDoor – any group of people you know might have people willing to follow you!
Market Yourself
You are the brand if you’re an artist, and your goal is Foundation followers, and Twitter followers, in that order of importance. Any tips you’ve discovered? Please leave them in the comments!
I also invite you to check out my company’s new Roku Channel, called StreamNFT. You can view your NFTs, and tons of others, right on your existing Roku-Enabled TV. Stay tuned for the next NFT Market Analysis!
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*All investment/financial opinions expressed by NFT Plazas are from the personal research and experience of our site moderators and are intended as educational material only. Individuals are required to fully research any product prior to making any kind of investment.
Founder of NFT Labs, building tools for collectors, creators, and speculators.
