Instagram is a great social media platform that you should probably be using if you are an artist. It is the perfect place for sharing beautiful images of your art to really capture people’s attention. Some artists even rely solely on Instagram to make their living, so if you aren’t using it, you might want to check it out. 

Knowing how to use Instagram to get the full benefits can be tough and it does involve a lot of trial and error. Below are some tips that will help you build your brand and business on Instagram.

Make Your Account Stand Out:

When trying to build your brand it is important to have your business account separate from your personal one. When you make your account, try to keep the name as close to your business name as possible. If you can, the same across all social media sites. Your profile picture can be a logo, some of your artwork, or a picture of yourself, but whatever you choose make sure it will be easy for people to recognise your brand. Make your Instagram bio personal and informative, emojis can work really well, and include a link to your website or online shop if you have one!

Follow People in Your Niche:

Some people recommend a cycle of following a huge amount of people and then unfollowing them all and then starting again with a new group of people. While it’s true that you can increase your follower count this way, you probably won’t get many followers that are genuinely interested in your art. They’re also unlikely to keep following you for long. 

The best way to get followers who will be interested in your account is to follow similar artists in your niche. You can also look at their followers and give them a follow because chances are they’ll like your style of art too.

It might be worth running an ad to make sure you reach the right people, as you will be able to target based on interests. You don’t have to spend much to get it going. 

Unfollow People Without Guilt:

If you follow someone that has since become inactive, or you’re just no longer interested in someone’s posts, it is okay to unfollow them. You shouldn’t feel guilty even if they follow you back. There is nothing wrong with unfollowing people, in fact you can only follow a maximum of 7,500 accounts anyway, so at some point you will probably have to unfollow a few users. 

Use Influencer Marketing:

Influencer Marketing can be one of the most useful advertising tools. There are a few ways to get someone to share your art/products as an influencer. One way is by sending them the item you want them to promote in return for a post. 

When choosing an influencer, don’t just look at their follower count, the most important thing is actually their engagement rate. There are a few websites that calculate the engagement rate for free. The more engagement someone has the better because their followers are more likely to actually be interested in your work. 

#Hashtags:

Before posting, do some research into the best hashtags to use for your niche. I have found that the best results come from using a mix of the most popular hashtags and then more refined, niche-specific hashtags. Don’t forget about location related hashtags as well. Just make sure the hashtags you are using actually relate to your post and brand. Also always check for any banned hashtags and make sure not to include them on your post.

Get Involved:

It is important to get involved with the Instagram community. Like other people’s posts and comment on them too. If anyone comments on your post make sure to either reply or like their comment. As an artist it can be hard to get the right exposure because there is so much competition out there, so make sure to give support to others where you can and people will  return the favour back to you.

Collaborations:

Collaborations are different to Influencer Marketing as a collaboration should be free. It could be a shoutout or mention from someone with a larger number of followers, or you might shoutout someone with a similar number of followers to you for them to do the same in return. Try to find artists who share a similar style to you as it will be more beneficial. Even if it doesn’t really amount to anything it is a great way to network and meet artists willing to support you.

Videos, Stories and Reels:

While great images can give you a lot of success on Instagram, it is worth expanding the type of posts you are doing. Try to include videos, reels and Instagram Stories. Videos and reels allow you to show your creative process in a way that static images can’t. Stories are perfect for if you want to post more often without clogging up your followers’ feeds. 

Ultimately a variety of content is good for keeping your followers engaged. You could even try live videos if you think that is something that your followers would be interested in. 

Analyse Your Posts:

This is the only way to really tell how successful your efforts are. Instagram has its own built in analytics which is really helpful, but other online tools can also help you to analyse results. Check to see which posts have performed well as this is a good way to shape your future content. If any posts didn’t do as well then maybe rule out similar posts in the future.

Photo by Alexander Shatov on Unsplash