As an artist, your Instagram profile can be a powerful tool to showcase your work, build your brand, and connect with your audience. But with millions of users using the platform daily, it can be challenging to stand out and gain a following.
Luckily as artists, we have the advantage that art often stands out on Instagram. This will increase the chances of you gaining a decent following.
So, how can you increase your art Instagram following today? In this article, I’ve compiled eleven tips to help you optimise your profile, post engaging content and promote your account.
Some of the tips in this article are based on my experience promoting my art on Instagram, where I have built over 100k followers. You can check out my Instagram profile here.
By the end of this article, we hope you’ll have the tools you need to grow your audience and take your art to the next level. So, let’s dive in.
Bookmark this post on Pinterest!
Optimise Your Instagram Profile
Set Up Your Instagram Profile For Success!
Optimising your profile is the first step in gaining a more significant following on Instagram. Your profile is your first impression, and it’s essential to make it count. Start by selecting a profile picture that represents your brand and style. It can be a picture of you, your work, or anything that embodies your brand.
Craft an Instagram Bio that speaks about your personality
Make sure your bio is concise, clear, and engaging. Use relevant keywords to your work and add personal flair to make it more relatable. Also, include a link to your website, online store, and other social media accounts you may have to drive traffic and increase engagement.
Use a Link in Bio Tool in your profile
I use Koji to share all my links in my Instagram bio. This excellent link-sharing app allows you to sell your products directly from the app and share your links to your website and other social media sites.
A Koji is a free, digital storefront that makes it easy to share your links and sell to your audience through social media. If you have digital downloads, physical products or premium content you want to sell, you can do this directly from the Koji app. Whatever it is you create, you can sell it on social with your Koji.
Choose an Instagram Username That is Easy to Remember
Ensure your username is easy to remember and reflects your brand. Don’t use complicated usernames or ones that are filled with characters such as hashtags for example. Just keep it simple.
Lastly, remember to switch accounts to business account to access additional features such as analytics and the ability to promote your posts.
Have a Consistent Art Style
A consistent art style on Instagram is paramount to building a solid and recognisable brand as an artist. It allows your audience to quickly identify your work amidst the sea of content on the platform. Consistency in your art style creates a cohesive visual narrative that tells the story of your artistic journey.
To maintain a consistent art style, explore different techniques, subject matters, and mediums to discover what resonates with you. Once you’ve found your artistic voice, embrace it wholeheartedly and let it guide your creative process. Consistency doesn’t mean stagnation; it means refining and evolving your style over time while staying true to your core aesthetic.
Ultimately, having a consistent art style on Instagram sets you apart from other artists and strengthens your brand identity. It enables you to carve out a unique space in the art community, fostering recognition and opening doors for collaborations, exhibitions, or even commercial opportunities. Embrace your art style, nurture it, and let it shine through your Instagram feed, captivating your audience and propelling your artist following to new heights.
Post Regularly
In addition to optimizing your profile, posting regularly is crucial to gaining more followers. This was key when I started posting and I was growing my Instagram following.
Aim to have new posts, at least once daily, but don’t sacrifice quality for quantity. Post content that is engaging, high-quality, and consistent with your brand and style.
Respond to Your Comments
Use relevant hashtags for your posts to increase discoverability, and feel free to engage with your audience in the comments section of new posts. Responding to comments and direct messages shows that you value your followers and can lead to increased engagement and loyalty.
Use a Post Scheduler
Posting every day on Instagram can be time-consuming and takes a little organization. Using a scheduler like Tailwind can be helpful as you can organize all your posts for the next week or even next month, which means you can schedule all of your posts in one go.
When I doubled down on growing my Instagram following, I used Tailwind to schedule my posts. How Tailwind works is you upload all the images you want to post, and it will find the best times to post your pictures onto Instagram. Not only that, but it finds the most relevant hashtags for your Instagram followers to use as well. Tailwind allowed me to grow my following on Instagram significantly.
Other features of Tailwind include scheduling posts for Pinterest and Facebook, and it has an AI generator for creating Instagram and other social media descriptions for your posts.
TAILWIND
Tailwind allows you to schedule posts in advance, manage multiple social media accounts such as Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook from a single dashboard, and analyze engagement metrics. Tailwind ensures that your art reaches the right audience at the right time.
Use High-Quality Images
Posting consistently is vital to growing your art Instagram following. Still, it’s also essential to maintain the quality of your content. This is where using high-quality images comes in. Make sure you are posting your best quality artwork.
Your artwork also deserves to be showcased in the best possible light, so take the time to ensure your photos are clear, well-lit, and properly edited.
Invest in a good camera or phone and use editing tools to enhance your images. You want your artwork to stand out and catch the attention of potential followers. Remember, your posts reflect your brand and the quality of your artwork.
By using high-quality images, you’ll attract new followers and keep your current ones engaged. Your art Instagram following will grow with regular posting and visually stunning content.
Now you may be thinking, what if I don’t have enough artwork to post daily? You can do a couple of things to create more content to post if you don’t have enough finished artworks to share.
Share Your Process
Sharing your process is an excellent way to give your followers a glimpse into your creative world and build a stronger connection with them. When you show the behind-the-scenes of your art and progress shots of a painting you are working on, you allow your followers to see your personality, skills, and dedication.
You can share your process through photos, short videos below, or Instagram Stories, depending on your preferences and the best way to showcase your art. You can also use captions to share your insights, thoughts, and inspiration. Sharing your process can spark conversations, answer questions, and inspire your followers to create their art.
Moreover, sharing your process can help you attract new followers interested in your style and approach. People love seeing how art happens and appreciate authentic and transparent content. When you share your process, you show that you care about your followers and are willing to let them into your world.
Sharing your process can also help you utilize hashtags strategically. By including relevant and specific hashtags in your posts, you can reach new audiences searching for content related to your art and style.
Use Mock-Up Tools to Showcase Your Art
Another effective way to create engaging art content is by using mock-up tools like Placeit to showcase your artwork in real-life settings. These tools allow you to overlay your art onto various mock-up templates, such as walls, frames, or gallery settings, giving your audience a sense of how your art would look in different environments.
I use Placeit to showcase my artwork in various settings, from living rooms to bedrooms. It is an excellent way to create content for Instagram. I have also used those same images to showcase my artwork on my website. Using mock-up tools can ultimately help you increase sales of your artwork.
By incorporating mock-up tools like Placeit into your art page and your Instagram strategy, you can create an abundance of captivating art content that resonates with your target audience. It allows you to present your artwork in versatile settings, expanding your visual storytelling possibilities and fostering a deeper connection with your followers.
PLACEIT
PlaceIt allows you to create beautiful mock-ups, for example, images of your art hanging on a wall This can boost art sales and provide you with more content to post on social media.
Utilise Hashtags
Hashtags can help you grow a following on Instagram, especially as many people follow popular hashtags, for example, #landscapepainting. When you use hashtags, research them, test them, and analyze their effectiveness.
Including relevant and specific hashtags in your Instagram posts is a great way to increase your art Instagram following. Hashtags can help you reach new audiences searching for content related to your art and style. They can also help you join communities and conversations that align with your values and goals. When you use hashtags, however, it’s essential to research them, test them, and analyze their effectiveness.
You can use tools like Tailwind, which allows you to schedule Instagram posts and generates relevant hashtags for you. Hashtags can be a powerful tool to increase your art Instagram following, and by sharing your process, you can make them even more effective.
Promote Your Art on Reels
Instagram Reels have become a popular feature for sharing short, engaging videos. Reels have been one of my most effective ways of growing my following on Instagram. As an artist, you can leverage Reels to showcase your creative process, provide art tutorials, or share time-lapse videos of your artwork coming to life.
Create visually compelling Reels with music, effects, and captions to capture your target audience’s attention. Utilize relevant hashtags in the caption to increase discoverability.
Spot trends happening on reels, copy them but put your spin on them. You can spot trends by looking at other people’s reals and taking note of similarities of reels that are doing well.
In the art niche, it is pretty easy to spot trends as many involve an artist revealing a painting. I have had a few reels go viral receiving well over 1 million views using this strategy.
Another thing you an artist can do to increase your following using reels is to ask people to follow you. You can write something like ‘Follow me if you like my painting’, for example, and place it in your video’s last couple of seconds.
Use Instagram Stories
Another effective way to increase your art Instagram following is by using Instagram Stories. These short, 15-second videos or images can be an excellent way to showcase your art and your process more personally. By showing your followers behind-the-scenes glimpses of your work, you can build a stronger connection with them and keep them engaged.
You can also use features like polls, quizzes, and questions to encourage interaction and gather feedback from your followers. For example, you could ask your followers which artworks they would like to see more of or which colors they prefer in your work.
Using Instagram Stories can also help you reach new audiences through the right hashtags and location tags. By including relevant hashtags and locations in your Stories, you can attract more viewers searching for content related to your art and style.
Now that you know how to use Instagram Stories effectively, let’s move on to the next tip: running giveaways.
Promote Your Instagram Account
Now that you have implemented various tactics to grow your Instagram following, it’s time to promote your account further. After all, only so many people will stumble upon your profile on their own.
One way to promote your account is to collaborate with other artists or brands. Reach out to like-minded individuals or other businesses and propose a collaboration that benefits all parties involved. This could be as simple as a joint Instagram post or a more complex project. Collaborating with others exposes your account to their followers and can lead to new creative opportunities.
Lastly, pay attention to the power of cross-promotion. Include links to your front page, blog and Instagram account if you have a website or blog. You can also include your own page and Instagram profile in your email signature and business cards.
Promoting your account increases engagement, the chances of attracting new followers, and growing your audience and number of followers. With these tips, you’ll be on your way to a thousand followers and becoming an Instagram influencer in no time.
Conclusion
In conclusion, growing your art Instagram following is a process that takes time. Still, by implementing these eleven tips, you can start seeing results sooner rather than later.
Remember to optimize your profile, post regularly, use high-quality images, engage with fellow artists, collaborate with brands, share your process, utilize hashtags, use Instagram stories, and promote your account.
Above all, stay true to your brand, have fun, and keep creating and sharing your beautiful art with the world.
