SOCIAL MEDIA FOR CREATIVES
An artists guide to Instagram
My art journey began on Instagram. I had recently purchased my very first smartphone at the age of 25 (yes, that is old when you consider how common it is for young kids to own a smartphone these days). I was in awe of what this fancy new thing could offer, and like so many before me, I soon became fascinated with the beautiful world of Instagram. Having recently given birth to my first son, I was in desperate need of a bit of me-time. Browsing through all of the beautiful pictures on Instagram, I fell in love with the colourful world of alcohol ink. Looking through the feeds of talented artists such as the Australian artist Fern Siebler and the Danish artist Lone Zimino, I decided to try my hands on alcohol ink.
I instantly fell in love with the uncontrollable nature of the alcohol ink, and I loved most of what I created. Looking back, these first creations were nothing compared to what I make today, but they helped me develop my style.
I decided to publish them on Instagram, just to get a sense of what other people thought - and the response was positive. This helped me gain more confidence to keep creating. The more I created, the more I published and the more my following grew.
Having an Instagram account have benefitted me and my art business in many ways, and I would therefore like to share a bit about how I managed to (organically) get the following I have today.
1: Do not pay for followers
My first advise must be this: Do not pay for followers!! These accounts are set up to scam you, and the followers you gain are most likely not even real people, but so called ghost followers - a fake Instagram account created by bots.
2: Decide how you want to represent yourself.
Decide how you want to represent yourself and stick to it. I decided very early on that I would like to share my art, but not my personal life. You will only find one photo of me and no photos of my family on my Instagram. This is a very deliberate choice, as I am a private person. I know that other people share a bit of their private life along with their creative journey. This is of course completely okay, as long as you are conscious of what you do and why.
3: Create Great Content
Create great content by posting good quality pictures. Keep an eye out for other Instagram users you get inspired by, and see how they curate their feed. Photograph your products in daylight. Mornings give the best light for photography. My most popular posts are process posts, where I give a visual insight into how I create my paintings. Theses posts gets a lot of attention, mostly from other creatives who are interested in my materials or how I create my paintings.
Other popular posts are the ones where I stage my paintings. I use an app called WallPhoto and then I purchase mockup walls from Etsy. To stage your painting successfully you will need an accurate photo of your painting in good natural light.
I also posts photos of my finished work and close-up photos of details I particularly like.
4: Know your audience
Know your audience. Know what kind of spectators you would like to attract with your feed. If you are interested in attracting other creatives like yourself, it is a good idea to post mainly process photos. This can be helpful if your main goal with your Instagram is to inspire others, drive traffic to your blog-posts and/or advertise workshops etc. If you would like to sell your products, posting staged photos or finished paintings are more likely to attract potential buyers.
5: Post regularily
Post regularly, and use “Story” as much as possible. When I have content to post, I often post once every day. This is of course not always realistic, and sometimes life gets busy (I have two children under the age of 3!!), but the point is, the more you post the more engagement you get. However, try to still post good quality content - if you do not have any good photos to post, don’t.
If you upgrade your Instagram account to a business account you can see which days and what times during the day you get the best engagement. This can work to your advantage and you can choose to post at “peak hour” to make sure as many as possible will see your post. I have never done this - instead I post whenever I remember or have the time to do so.
6: Find the right hashtags
Hashtags are vital to your success on Instagram. Hashtags are used to organise content into categories and if used correctly, can help promote and draw attention to your account. It is important that you use hashtags that are related to your specific content. If your account is mainly set up to promote your weaving business, it is not going to help you to use music related hashtags. You will then attract the “wrong” audience, and people will feel mislead when your account has nothing to do with music. Instead, try to look for accounts with similar content as you, and borrow some of their hashtags, however, do not just copy-past. I have seen a few accounts who have copy-pasted all of my hashtags - including my very specific material hashtags such as #poscapen and #yupopaper, which is great if they actually use those materials, but that is rarely the case. These accounts have missed the whole point of hashtags and how they should be used, namely to describe your content as precise as possible.
7: Do not let instagram consume your life
Most importantly, do not let Instagram consume your life!! Do not let your creative force be dependent on whether or not you get likes and followers on Instagram. Instagram is just one out of many different platforms from which you can brand yourself and your business. If this does not work for your business or your lifestyle, then do not waste your time on it. And don’t believe everything you see. I get at least 100 likes on every photo, but that does not mean that my art business is always thriving. I have months without a single purchase! Of course this is not something I am likely to share on Instagram. From an outsider perspective it is therefore easy to think, that I must get a lot of sales when all I ever share is my success.