Poster Boy

This month, I really have to thank Elle Decor. What a start to February!


(photo courtesy of William Abranowicz for Elle Decor )

In addition to my showhouse room's inclusion in this month's issue, they featured me in an article titled, "Poster Boy," discussing yours truly and the way in which I use social media in my personal and professional life.

Thank you to everyone who takes the time to read my blog or follows me on Facebook and Twitter.
It has certainly been a fun adventure.

I look forward to sharing more of my adventures with you.

Here is the article (you can also click HERE to view it online):

Poster Boy

Grant K. Gibson’s blog draws readers—and new clients
Written by Tim McKeough




San Francisco–based interior designer Grant K. Gibson has been turning plenty of heads in recent months, and much of the attention is being generated by his savvy use of digital media. In fact, even the editors at ELLE DECOR first discovered Gibson through his blog before naming him as one of the five designers to watch in the June 2010 issue and asking him to participate in the magazine’s first showhouse. “It’s how a writer from The New York Times found me as well,” says Gibson, noting that his blog, and the resulting press, has helped him expand beyond San Francisco, bringing in work from new clients in places like New York and Florida.

Gibson’s experience with digital media began in September 2008, when he started his blog to share photos with friends while visiting Paris. But when he returned, he decided to keep it going, writing frequent tidbits about his design process and travels. “I also read other blogs and started to link to them, which helped bring more people to read mine,” he says. “When the blog started, it was just five friends looking at travel photos; today, I get 20,000 hits a month.”

Although it started as a casual affair, Gibson says his blog has been surprisingly effective at bringing him new clients. “I just signed a new client who read my blog,” he says. “She said ‘I see that you have dogs. I see that you cook. I see that you decorate your front steps with pumpkins. It seems like you’re a real person to me.’ That’s different from a static website. She got to know a lot about me before we even met.”

At the same time, the blog serves as a living archive for Gibson’s inspirational images and thoughts. It also forces him to edit—when he returns from a trip with hundreds of photos, he selects only the best few images to post online. Another advantage is that his online musings help spark new conversations with existing clients. “One client e-mailed me to say that when I did a post about my visit to Carolyne Roehm’s house in Connecticut, she loved the fact that Carolyne had no area rugs in the living room,” says Gibson. “So, she asked if we could skip the area rug in her living room.”

Although he also uses Facebook and Twitter, Gibson’s focus remains his blog, where he has more room to stretch out. “With Twitter, I’m always freaked out by the limited word count,” he says “I don’t love it, but I might link to a blog posting, or put up a quick picture of a dinner I’m at. It doesn’t hurt.”

Indeed, the strategy of simply putting himself out there, by all means possible, has been rewarding. “Some designers I talk to don’t understand social media and why you would blog, Facebook, and Twitter,” says Gibson. “But you never know what could happen. Someone sees something and shows it to a friend, and then the chain reaction is quite phenomenal.”