What role does TikTok and short videos play in shaping modern art PR campaigns?

Today short videos like TikTok’s are reshaping how artists choose to promote their artwork, portfolio and brand as the traditional methods of promotions are not as effective anymore. Platforms like Tiktok or Instagram Reels and Youtube stories allow artists and creators to share their authentic, behind-the-scenes content, join viral trends to boost visibility and connect directly with their audiences. Seeing one’s creative process that simply the result changes the way one perceives an artwork and maybe even increases appreciation. By showing their personality to the world in a more casual and unofficial way artists become more relatable and engaging. They manage to reach new audiences, spark conversations and most of all drive sales. What is the most fascinating about that is that there is no need for a traditional/ live gallery or marketing team.

In The Art Coaching Club Podcast, this one artist shares how she used TikTok to grow their following but most of all share their artwork directly through the app. An example such as this one emphasizes how effective authentic, behind-the-scenes and personal content can be in building a brand.

But two questions arise, how can artists strike a balance between media trends and staying true to their artistic style? And is TikTok and social media platforms becoming essential for emerging artists to gain recognition, or is it just a passing trend?

Here are the experts' insights.

• Look at the core of trends and how they can relate to your artwork
• Use TikTok as a funnel to direct people to your website
• Short videos create emotional investment
• A micro-moment of connectivity
• A long-lasting change in the way art discovery takes place
• Behind-the-scenes clips of creative chaos
• The delivery mechanism is the trend
• Know what you stand for
• Know how to play the mechanics of storytelling, timing, and establishing contact with the audience
• Short videos train an audience to feel invested in the process

Look at the core of trends and how they can relate to your artwork

Emily Reynolds-Bergh, Owner at R Public Relations

"All trends are meant to be reworked to align with individual style and preferences. When selecting the best trends to showcase your work, look at the core of the trend: maybe it’s a sound, a certain editing style, or a joke. Think about how that one thing can relate to your artwork. While trends might be passing, though, social media is here to stay. The platform of choice may change over time, but it’s up to every entrepreneur to adjust accordingly and showcase their personal style through video, images, and beyond to stay relevant."

Use TikTok as a funnel to direct people to your website

Rebecca Falzano, Owner at Vernacular

"After 15 years in shelter magazines and now running Vernacular Agency, I've watched the art world shift from traditional gallery PR to direct audience connection. The biggest change isn't just the platform—it's that artists can now control their entire narrative without gatekeepers.

When we worked with The Independent Ice Co., we finded that backstory sells better than finished product. We built their entire brand around Maine's ice harvesting history, not just their whiskey menu. Artists doing well on TikTok follow this same principle—they're selling the story of their process, not just posting final artwork.

The balance question is backwards. Artists shouldn't adapt their style to trends—they should use trends to amplify their existing voice. We helped Whitten Architects get coverage in national shelter magazines by packaging their 30-year expertise in fresh ways, not changing their architectural philosophy.

From a PR perspective, TikTok has become artists' primary findy engine, but the smart ones treat it like a funnel. They use short-form content to drive people to their websites where they control the experience and can actually sell work. Social media builds awareness; owned platforms build businesses."

Short videos create emotional investment

Steve Sliker, Owner at MVP Cages

"As someone who's built MVP Cages' brand entirely through social content, I've learned that TikTok works because it democratizes storytelling for any creative field. The key insight most miss is that platforms reward process over polish—which is why our "behind-the-scenes" cage setup videos and player change clips consistently outperform our professional promotional content.

What's fascinating is how short videos create emotional investment before purchase decisions. When I post a 30-second clip of a kid's swing change over three months, parents don't just see results—they feel the journey. That emotional connection converts 40% better than traditional before/after photos we used to post on Facebook.

The algorithm rewards consistency over virality, which actually helps artists maintain authenticity. I post daily training moments using whatever trending audio fits, but the content is always genuine coaching interactions. This approach grew our following from zero to over 2,000 local families in 18 months without changing who we are.

Artists shouldn't chase every trend, but they should understand that TikTok functions like a 24/7 open studio where potential collectors can find them. The platform isn't replacing galleries—it's replacing the need to wait for gallery representation to start building an audience."

A micro-moment of connectivity

Caleb Johnstone, SEO Director at Paperstack

"TikTok has radically changed the art PR and made process more valuable than the final creation. A majority of the artists continue to believe that they require refined portfolio images and business galleries to establish their brand. They are wrong. The algorithm gives more emphasis to authenticity rather than perfection and audiences feel more related to disheveled studios and failed projects compared to shiny gallery walls.

Process documentation is the actual strength. When artists record their process of blending colors of paint, drawing first ideas or even peeling off some works, they create 340% more engagement compared to those who share finished artworks only. The weakness of expression of mistakes bring the formation of parasocial relationships that cost the traditional PR agencies thousands of attempts to create.

It is here that most artists have gone wrong, that TikTok is not a brand awareness campaign but rather a micro-moment of connectivity. A 15 second video of an artist who is aggravated with a brushstroke works better than a well-developed brand video since viewers empathize with creative struggle. One of our upcoming artists has been developed by us to a sizeable following in six months and the content of that success was entirely failure related things not succeeding, methods malfunctioning, and open responses to creative deadlocks.

The platform promotes consistency at the expense of quality although the majority of artists take the opposite path. They prepare their content in batches every month rather than writing about how they were practising day by day. Daily reporting creates viewer interest in results. Spectators are emotionally attached to the success of a work since they have seen how it has evolved to become what it is today.

The conventional galleries are turning into legitimizers as opposed to finders. Artists that accumulate large TikTok followings and this is generally 50,000 active followers do so with some strength instead of having to plead. The social evidence changes the dynamics of power completely.

Social media has not eliminated the traditional art PR but reversed its order. The first step artists can take to establish real online communities is to make bargains with galleries, collectors and PR agencies later. The platform does not simply give rewards to those who adopt the creative path as entertainment but not as the destination as art."

A long-lasting change in the way art discovery takes place

Baris Zeren, CEO at Bookyourdata

"The struggle between media tendencies and artistic integrity reduced to the utilization of social platforms as distribution but not creative dictators. Successful artists on the TikTok platform keep their original style and adjust the format of presentation to the native behavior patterns of the platform. The best way is to record the actual creative process without coercing unnatural participation of trend.

The social media sites have emerged as important infrastructure to the rising artists just as email did with business communications. The shift is a long-lasting change in the way art discovery takes place and not a temporary fad. Artists who develop email lists and owned digital properties in addition to their social presence make careers sustainable to change of platform algorithms."

Behind-the-scenes clips of creative chaos

Deepak Shukla, Founder & CEO at Pearl Lemon PR

"TikTok isn’t just a stage for dances, it’s a gallery without walls. I’ve seen artists who couldn’t get one local gallery to call them back pull in 100k+ followers by posting messy, behind-the-scenes clips of their creative chaos. That’s the hook: audiences don’t want polished; they want paint-stained fingers and late-night rants. But the danger is trend-chasing.

If you’re mimicking every soundbite, your art becomes wallpaper. The balance is to use trends as a frame, but keep the canvas unmistakably yours."

The delivery mechanism is the trend

Loris Petro, Marketing Manager at Kratom Earth

"One of the major changes in art PR that have been brought about by TikTok and short-form video is the establishment of direct artist-audience connections that avoid any middlemen, such as galleries and art critics entirely. The authority of real life over idealism, when artists display their disorderly workspaces, the frustrations of the creative process and moments of discovery touch the audience on an emotional level that no neat gallery displays ever has.

The trend and the artistic integrity do not conflict with each other but one has to adapt wisely. Pop icons exploit meme-computed audio and formats as a conveyer of their original work, rather than as an instruction to alter their creative vision. Not the message, but the delivery mechanism is the trend.

The thing that makes the described shift permanent and not temporary is the fact that younger generations learn about and experience art on mobile screens first and in real space later. Galleries are surfing the social networks to identify new talent and collectors to identify new artists using hashtags and viral videos. Those who adopt this reality early enjoy enormous benefits compared to those who will see the traditional systems revert."

Know what you stand for

Alec Loeb, VP of Growth Marketing at EcoATM

"What grabs me most is how real it feels. I’ve led marketing teams that spent months building glossy campaigns, yet a 30-second clip of someone sketching at their desk could spark more conversation than a six-figure rollout. That hits you. It reminds you people don’t just want polish, they want proof.

The balance comes from knowing what you stand for. I’ve worked with brands that chased every trend until the message felt hollow. The ones that cut through were the ones that said, “This is us,” and let the trends support that, not define it. Short video isn’t about losing yourself, it’s about showing yourself in a format the world now pays attention to.

I don’t think this is temporary. I’ve seen too many careers, not just in art, grow almost entirely from these platforms. It’s not about replacing galleries, it’s about adding another door in. And for artists starting out, that door is wide open.

Even in my own work, I’ve found a casual phone video from the office sometimes pulled in more response than a carefully crafted ad. That kind of shift tells me this isn’t going away. It’s only getting louder."

Know how to play the mechanics of storytelling, timing, and establishing contact with the audience

Rahul Jaiswal, Senior SEO Consultant & Head of Project Management at GeeksProgramming

"The art world and the social media have been transformed by sites such as TickTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube stories; we are just now trying to chart the transition. The short videos enable the artists to display their process, personality and experimentation and make the viewer not just a curious participant but an active one. The gallery opening or the press coverage was the only way to have that kind of exposure, and, nowadays, an artist may share a sketch or color study and get in touch with thousands of people in a few hours.

The dilemma facing the artists is how to remain real and embrace trends. The whole thing of leaping on any viral form can be harmful to the fundament of their work. My advice would be to push the envelope and not too much, consider trying out a new trending format at a time, gauge interest levels and modify without getting distracted by the vision.

TikTok isn't a passing trend. The nature of its algorithm would boost content in a manner that would not have been advantageous when it was done through conventional marketing methods to upcoming artists. Making visibility yield opportunities, commissions, and sales is possible by artists who know how to play the mechanics of storytelling, timing, and establishing contact with the audience.

The platform requires creativity not only in terms of art, but also presentation, combining digital and artistic personality."

Short videos train an audience to feel invested in the process

Caleb John, Director at Exceed Plumbing

"Operating a 24-hour trade company has shown me how beneficial short videos can be to change public perception. Art PR is an example of something you can do with video that is very difficult to achieve with a static gallery: you watch an artist paint, make a demo, or mix pigments in their messy studio. Watching an artist produce something incomplete still resonates more than seeing a glossy catalogue. Messy uncertainty is much more compelling than a nice, well-framed final piece on a white wall.

There is also another layer to video that the majority miss. Short videos are also able to train an audience to think and feel invested in the process rather than the outcome. In my trade, the blocked drain clears in seconds on camera, but when the process takes two hours in "real-life," it fascinates people. The same is true for art video. A video can condense hours of effort into about 30 seconds, holding all of the suspense and satisfaction. The mental space of viewing and consuming art content shifts those viewers from just general content creators, who might enjoy seeing an outcome, to a loyal following because they feel invested.

TikTok, for example, does not simply replace traditional galleries; it collapses the space down to almost zero. An artist can create and post at midnight and get thousands of reactions without a paid advertisement or a curator to approve it for a gallery, before breakfast. It rewrites the past where certain gatekeepers could decide who deserved to be on the viewership radar. As the old model shifts, an advancing artist has a direct line to people who truly care about the crafts they produce. That is its real value."

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