Instagram: Things Artists Should Know

You will have a slow start

The first thing that you should know if you are an artist using Instagram is that you are going to have a slow start, and there are no two ways about it. The good thing is that there is nothing wrong with that, and every account on Instagram had to go through the same thing. When you first join, it might be easy to give up hope, since you might post the most amazing piece of art, but only get a few likes.

The key is to consistently create quality work, and post the best photos of it. It doesn’t matter how slow the progress is, so long as you are gaining at least one follower a day.

You need to use hashtags

The second thing that you absolutely have to know is that using hashtags is the fastest way for your account to grow, and you are doing your art a disservice if you are not using them. Hashtags allow for your content to be more discoverable, since similar content is grouped under them, and when a user searches for a specific hashtag, they might see your work.

Choosing hashtags can be a bit of a challenge though, so a great idea would be to take advantage of the many tools at your disposal, such as Task Ant for example, a hashtag generator. This will save you a lot of time as it finds the best hashtags to use with each post, which does wonders for engagement and reach.

You should focus on dedicated followers

The one thing that accounts need in order to grow are followers, and the goal that everyone has is to get as many followers as they can. If you are a new account, this might sound like a tall order, since progress is slower for newer accounts until you begin to snowball. So, a better idea would be to try and focus on getting dedicated followers.

You could think about it this way; having a lot of followers is great, but what’s better is engagement. Having many followers doesn’t always translate to a lot of engagement, since most of the people aren’t passionate about your content. Dedicated followers on the other hand, or otherwise known as targeted followers, will constantly engage with your content and share it with friends.

Try behind the scenes content using Reels

A feature that was recently released to Instagram are Reels, and if you are not aware of what they are, they are basically 15 second clips that are very similar to TikToks. Most of the time they are funny, but what a lot of users are now doing is using them to show behind the scenes, or the process a user goes through when creating content.

For artists, you could show how you paint, what the different stages look like before the product is completed, or even show what tools you use and where they are bought from. This is great for building a relationship with viewers, as well as humanizing your account.

Post consistently

Finally, if you are looking for your account to grow at a fast rate, then the one thing that you need to do is post consistently. Instagram has changed the way their algorithm works for users’ feeds, so posts no longer show in chronological order. Post are now being shown in the order that relates to which content users engage with the most.

This means that if you are not posting consistently, users searching the Explore tab, and your own followers will almost never see your content. You should post at least twice a day, if not more, if your account is new in order to get noticed.