Oh Instagram. It can be so easy to fall prey to the siren song of constant thumb-scrolling, draining away hours and so much of our precious energy.
Don’t get me wrong – it can be a powerhouse tool for artist when used correctly. The visual-based platform is practically built for artists, it’s a killer way to build an audience and relationships that translate into major sales.
But it can be tricky – anyone that has spent any time trying to run a business or build an audience for their art knows this.
So here are 7 mistakes that you’re making an Instagram (and how to fix them) so you can start selling more art on Instagram!
Mistake #1: Only posting a painting once
Here’s the deal – unless your followers are only following a small handful of people, they’ll only ever see about 10% of your posts come through their feed.
This is due to two things: the sheer amount of content that most people have to scroll through these days (which is made even larger thanks to the pay-to-play nature that Instagram and Facebook are adopting), and the way that the algorithm works.
And I want you to ask yourself how often you find yourself revisiting the profile pages of the artists you follow. Probably not super often, right?
That means a lot of the art that you post isn’t being seen by the majority of your audience, so by posting it only once you are missing out on a ton of views.
What to do instead:
Snap a bunch of photos of your artwork – while you’re working on it, close up shots, videos. I wrote a great post about how you can turn your latest painting into at least 5 different posts that your audience will love (plus it’s a total productivity hack).
Schedule them to go out over the next few days or weeks, avoid posting them back to back as this can be overwhelming, makes the algorithm cranky and overall tends to be more ignored than well-received.
Find yourself not knowing what to post because you haven’t been painting? Grab one of these photos and repost and older painting!
Also don’t worry about your audience being unhappy about seeing the same painting a few times – this will actually help you to be more memorable!
Mistake #2: Posting the same style over and over again
There are so many great styles of posts (LINK TO 5 POSTS blog) that it always makes my heart break a little when I see artists just posting one singular style, and not seeing the results they want.
Using the same post style over and over again not only is super boring for your viewer, it can get pretty redundant for the artist as well.
A few years ago before I figured out how to leverage Instagram to build a passionate audience and sell my art, I would only post completely finished paintings. I would take a photo or scan it, and then post exclusively that. Not only was it super bland, that particular post style doesn’t actually perform all that well.
What to do instead:
Check out this blog post to get inspiration for other post styles, and see what gives you the best results. Some post styles outperform others by a landslide, so get a feel for what works well with your art and your lifestyle.
Keep an eye on your Instagram Insights to see what your audience responds best to, and do more of that post type! Keep it lively by switching up styles.
A great post style to start using is flat lays, especially when you photograph your art on a nice clean white background. This gives your profile feed some breathing room so it’s not overwhelming.
Mistake #3: Leaving captions that don’t match your art
Your art is incredible, so pairing that art with a totally bland caption is leaving SO much on the table. Imagine trying to serve a 3-Star Michelin meal paired with a bottle of Dom Perignon on paper plates and red Solo cups.
The algorithm delivers content to users that it feels they would like best, and it does this by gauging how much they engage with certain types of content. Engagement meaning likes, comments, shares and the length of time spent on a post reading.
So when you pair your art with great engaging captions that has people hanging on every word, the algorithm is going to work in your favor and show your art to far more people (which means more targeted fans coming your way!).
What to do instead:
Share the story of your art, however epic or mundane. Was the inspiration for your last painting a crack in the sidewalk that had a bit of grass growing in it? Then share it!
The story and meaning behind your art adds so much value to it, and is often the secret that transforms casual viewers into passionate fans that can’t wait to trade their hard-earned cash for your beautiful work.
Another little trick to ensure you’re producing knock-out captions alongside your art is to ask yourself “how is my audience going to get value out of this?” Whether it be inspirational, educational or entertaining, make sure you are delivering value.
4) Mistake #4: Posting Inconsistently
With the amount of noise in the online space these days it is paramount that you stay top of mind, and one of the best ways you can do this is to be consistent with your posting.
Posting consistently, whether it be every day, every week or every month, produces much better results thanks to the way the algorithm operates.
What to do instead:
Set yourself a manageable schedule, and be consistent. If you are an extremely prolific painter that can create quality posts with each passing day, then daily posts will be the ace in your sleeve. Or if you can only manage a single high-calibre post per week, then that will also work for you.
The key here is to be consistent. Decide on a schedule and do everything you can to stick with it.
I’ve fallen into a pattern of posting on Instagram on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, always posting in the morning when I’m able to respond to comments.
My other secret weapon is scheduling tools, which allows me to batch content (LINK TO PRODUCTIVITY BLOG POST) and schedule them to go out over the course of the week or month.
Mistake #5: Posting & Ghosting
Posting & ghosting means that you post something and then leave the app for a few hours, not responding to comments or interactions that come your way after those first couple of hot hours after posting.
According to the algorithm, any engagement that happens on a post within the first hour of its life are pivotal – high engagement means that it’s a hot post that should be shared with more viewers.
And the engagement counts coming from you too – so responding to comments that come through within the first few hours of posting will do wonders for increasing your reach on the app.
From your audience’s perspective, seeing that the artist is active in the comments and having conversations will increase the chance that they will engage as well!
What to do instead:
Rather than posting only when the app tells you most of your viewers are online, post when you can actually spend time responding to comments and DMs.
Take the time to respond to every comment you get – even those “barely there” comments with a single emoji or “nice”.
And take this to the next level by continuing the conversation – ask them a pointed question or say something specific that will encourage them to respond again.
Mistake #6: Obsessing About Numbers
It is so painfully easy to get caught up in the “more more more” game on Instagram, where the myth of “more followers = more sales” whispers sweet nothings in your ear.
Sadly (or happily, whichever way you look at it) this isn’t the case in most situations, but can have you falling prey to the game of constantly chasing a bigger number.
Obsessing about the numbers not only puts emotional strain on you, but it also means that you likely aren’t paying as close attention to the people who are already following you.
What to do instead:
Now the numbers, while annoying at times, are definitely helpful when it comes to tracking what is producing results. Rather than checking how many followers you gained (or lost) daily, set one day per week where you gather your data and ignore the stats in between.
See which things people are responding best to, whether it be a certain post style, caption content, hashtags or even the artwork itself.
My favorite stats to track or engagement and follows, but pick and choose what aligns best with your goals.
Mistake #7: Treating the app only as a tool to sell and get eyes on your art
I went through a phase where I viewed Instagram purely as a way to get more eyes on my work, and went in with the misinformation that more views = more sales. I was super consistent in that I was posting every single day, but now in hindsight I realize that it was trash content.
I would post quick close-up shots that lacked context with either non-existent captions or ones that drove a strong and icky sales message.
I ended up forming a pretty bad relationship with the platform which meant that I would be fearful to engage with my audience, which ended up adding insult to injury, not to mention it resulted in me feeling major burn-out very quickly.
Don’t make the same mistakes I once did.
What to do instead:
Change your mindset so that the app isn’t just a tool to increase the number of eyes on your art, but to build relationships that will end up producing long-time fans (paying fans at that!).
Take the time to engage with people – start conversations! Ask them questions about themselves, ask for their opinions. Enrich your life with interactions from others.
Again comes the handy trick of asking yourself what you can do that will add the most value to someone’s life and encourage them to engage with you.
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What mistakes have you caught yourself falling into on Instagram? Hopefully this article can act as a bit of a guiding light to adjusting your social media strategy so the app brings you so much love and joy!
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