Gaining a following on Instagram can be frustrating. On one hand, there’s all this potential—the ability to have your profile erupt overnight, find fans all across the world, connect with that one person who’ll give you a chance to make a name for yourself.
On the other hand, you can put all this effort in to make your feed pretty and get almost nothing back. No followers, no likes.
So how do you do Instagram right?
After years of building up my profile, here are a couple of my tips and tricks to help you do Instagram right.
Set Your Theme
Think about what you like and what inspires you. Now, think about your ideal follower. Where would those two intersect? What styles, subject matter, or colors would be included?
Think about this deeply because there’s always going to be some compromise on your end. Whether you’re vying for the attention of the contemporary art community or trying to sell some prints, tossing just any ol’ thing up on your feed won’t get you the results you want.
Your would-be followers, they’re looking for a certain aesthetic from you. And if you want their attention, you’ve got to give them what they want.
It doesn’t need to complicated.
Check out pcyburrs’ feed for reference. Cute, creative compositions set on a white background. Every. Single. Time.
Now this is an extreme example, but it shows that being cohesive and consistent goes a long way.
Try out multiple styles to begin with. Test out different compositions, color selections, or subject matter and see what sticks.
Variety in Content
Don’t be afraid to show off some variety a bit though. Instagram isn’t a gallery. You’d do well posting “B” content such as outtakes, behind-the-scenes, or even works-in-progress.
User smallbatchb on Reddit has a great post about this.
“Sketches and progress shots are fine to post, but how you present it is important. Sketches and (works-in-progress) pics can be engaging and eye catching or boring and forgettable. I mean certain stages of the process may themselves just not be visually interesting yet. A couple of lines on a page isn't going to be captivating.
One thing I like to do if I'm posting a work in progress or unfinished piece is make it a post that focuses on details that might be more interesting. For example if I'm doing a lot of cross hatching or something, get some up close shots of all the little details or if it's a piece where you're trying something new focus on those things you're trying and talk about your learning process in the description. Or you could also take several pictures along your process so you can make an album post so your followers can actually see your working process.
For example:
Here is a post I grabbed off IG of someone's work in progress. There is nothing bad about the art itself but the stage in which they chose to share the process is just not going to catch peoples' attention as they're scrolling through feeds full of art.
Here is a post from someone else in which the work is also not finished yet but they chose a good point in the process to share it so the image they're sharing is still visually interesting.
Trying to get noticed on IG is basically the same thing as a product trying to get noticed on retail shelves. Your product needs to stand out from the wall of other products the customer is seeing at the same time.
Another easy way to make a better quality sketch post is making sure you're getting good pictures of the work.
For example:
This is actually a nice drawing but the presentation of it made me scroll right past it.
Whereas this is not really much further along but it immediately grabbed my eye while scrolling.
I would say you're fine posting both finished work as well as sketches as long as you find ways to make your sketch posts look nice and visually interesting. Sometimes though, if you're in the middle of a super light under-sketch and just can't get a decent shot of it, I'd say you might be better off waiting to post until it's further along because you might be pushing followers away by posting low-quality content.”
Don’t be shy on showing your face once in a while as well, as the Instagram algorithm loves posts with people’s faces.
Think in Grid
When crafting a visually aesthetic feed, it can be helpful to organize your feed into 3x3 grids.
This way you can exhibit cohesiveness and still display some variety.
Think about the colors and mood your artworks evoke. Take the viewer on a journey. Instead of posting content with similar moods and aesthetics in a row, try mixing the content in a 3x3 grid.
For example, if you have some shots dominated by red color, make sure that similar shade of red makes a return somewhere on the grid. This will produce a natural, effortless aesthetic.
Simone Bramante (@brahmino) does this with great effect. Look at how he blends his posts together.
By maintaining some elements consistent, he is able to tie pictures together like a pair of shoelaces.
The 3x3 grid allows you to mix in new styles without being disruptive. When you’re first trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t, you can still try mixing and matching different styles without your feed looking messy.
Some tips to create a grid that keeps people wanting to scroll:
- Be consistent in your color tone
- Play around with borders. Something as simple as a 1cm white border can really tie things together
The Power of IG Story
I know. Sometimes you have a funny dog photo or a slice of life you’d like to share.Resist! The dog photo (however cute) will look bizarrely placed in between your artworks. Put it in your Instagram story instead. More people are engaged through IG Story compared to posts, being more “real-time” as they disappear in 24 hours. So for the people who’ve been following you, they’d appreciate the glimpses into your life where new, would-be followers might not. With the Highlight feature, you can also curate your old stories and put them into your profile so new followers can see them. Try putting something more personal and relatable on your highlights like printing your works, process videos, or installing your exhibition.
Getting Traffic to Your Page
With your feed setup, the only thing left to do is to get people to see it. There are two main ways for people to find your page:- Hashtags
- Forming relationships on Instagram
Conclusion
It’s true. Content that is easier to “digest” will have a much easier time attracting followers. But that’s not to discount more abstract pieces. You’ll just need to find what works. Try following Instagram accounts that appeal to the same audience you’d like to attract. Look at what they do.- What hashtags do they use?
- How do they organise their grid?
- What kind of content do they put out?
- What type of captions work better?
- What days/times do they post?
- How often do they post?
- Start by posting what you want to sell. Tweak your posts as you go along.
- Have a strong, cohesive feed so people know exactly what they’ll get when following
- Organise your feed into a 3x3 grid to introduce variety while maintaining cohesiveness
- Post personal content to your IG story so people can get a feel for you without messing up your feed
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