How to Start from SCRATCH on Instagram for Artists

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Instagram for Artists: How to Start from Scratch Easily

You’ve heard time and time again that Instagram is the bomb for artists – and that’s because it is!

Instagram is a killer social media platform for artists because A) it’s a visual platform which is naturally great for artists, B) it’s free, and C) it puts an emphasis on creating quality content.

Don’t fret if you’re only getting started on the app now – this post is your action guide to get the ball rolling.

We’re going to learn how to start from scratch on Instagram just for artists.

Step 1) Create Your Account

Maybe you’ve played around with an Instagram account for personal use, cute latte shots & endless puppy pics (whoops, guess that’s just me), but want to move to something a little more art-driven.

For the purpose of this post I’m going to assume that you’re starting completely from scratch.

The first step is to create your account.

As of this date, you’ve got 3 choices for account types: Personal, Business & Creator.

Personal

basic usage, can be set to private
No insights or analytics, nor can you monetize it

short of DMs, no contact details (so no website link or email)

Business

Access to analytics & insights
can run ads

Creator

Access to analytics & insights
Profile is more flexible, you can choose the type of creator you are

Access to the Creator Studio for desktop use\

All of the account types have access to the usual features – Feed, Stories, IGTV and the like.

And switching account types is easy-peasy, so don’t worry too much about this decision. I recommend starting with the Business or Creator profile because like always data is far more powerful than any of us seem to remember.

For your account username, you can’t go wrong with your name, or whatever you want to be known for.

Step 2) Rock that Profile

Instagram profiles are short & sweet – you’ve got limited real estate so every letter counts.

Start with your profile pic – the best option is to choose a nice sunny & warm photo of your smiling face.

Too scary? Your next best option is to turn a piece of your art into your profile pic. Choose carefully here, the tiny size of the photo can really affect the clarity of the art.

Next up, you’ve got your bio. 150 characters only, so choose each letter wisely.

The instinct here is to fill it up with things about us – but if you change your focus from yourself to how others can benefit from following you, you’ll really uplevel your Instagram profile.

Instead of writing how you love painting, your dog and flowers, tell them that you create paintings that will transport them into a peaceful state of mind.

Definitely juicier.

Posting your location to your profile is also a great way to get found locally – even popping the flag emoji for your country into your bio can go a long way!

Step 3) Upload at least 9 great posts

Someone that floated onto your account right now would probably read your bio and get excited, thinking that they stumbled upon an account that will bring some joy into their lives.

Buuuuuut with no posts there isn’t any reason for them to stick around!

Before you start pumping time & energy into growing your audience, set the foundation for everything to come. Give those viewers something to look at!

Take the time to create at least 9 (12-15 is better) quality posts to flesh out your account.

What makes up a quality post?

Two main things: good, clear photos of your art, and a compelling caption.

Your photos should always be clear and bright, we’ve got no room for blurry, dark & grainy photos here.

Get creative – snap a pic of your art in progress in your studio space, or of it framed up on your wall.

Now the image is only half of the battle – the caption is the other piece of the puzzle.

A good caption is captivating & engaging – it entices the viewer to stop scrolling and to read & respond.

Share the story of the art, where the inspiration sprang from or even if the piece frustrated the hell out of you. Share the juicy stuff.

You can also pop a few hand-chosen hashtags into your caption to broaden your reach across the app. Go into the Explore feed within the app and type in a hashtag that might apply to your art.

Let’s use “#flowerart” as an example.

That’s a fine hashtag to use, but you’ll notice that there are over 1.4 million posts currently using it – which means that you’ll get buried almost instantly.

But don’t fret – we’re going to find some other hashtags that will serve you better.

See at the top there, where it says “Related: “? There you have a collection of other hashtags that are related to the one that you searched.

You want to find some that are related to your art, and that have less usage.

#flowerartwork has less than 50,000 posts – much better!

Keep exploring the related hashtags and make a list of the ones you’d like to start using.

Step 4) Get the Ball Rolling

Account created? Check

Profile pic chosen? Check

Bio shares why your audience should follow you? Check

Gorgeous posts now gracing your account? Check times 9.

You’ve put in the time to set up a solid foundation for the new beginnings of your Instagram account for your art.

Now it’s time to get yourself out there!

There are a few options for ways that you can escalate your growth on Instagram – some are really good, and others are really bad.

Buying followers, and the follow-unfollow game are bad strategies. Not only are they expensive (both monetarily and time-wise), they’ll always fall flat and can even hurt your efforts in the end.

If you’ve got hashtags on your posts, you’re making yourself visible. But there are other ways too.

My favorite method for racking up engagement, building relationships and growing a following is something that I continue to do to this day, even though I already have a passionate following that frequently buys my art.

I call it my “Treat People How You Want to Be Treated” Method (10 points for a great name).

Here’s what you do.

Every day, pick a hashtag that is related to your artwork. Explore that hashtag, and take a nice scroll down the feed of posts that use it.

Whenever you see something that catches your eye, stop and open the post.

Take a moment, and absorb the post. What do you like about it? How does it make you feel? After reading the caption, are you compelled to respond?

Now leave a comment on that post. No, not a one-worded “cool!” or an emoji – a good comment. One that is specific and personal, bonus points if it gives the artist something positive to respond to.

Give the post a like while you’re there.

Now go back to exploring the hashtag – rinse & repeat 4 more times. Per day.

Here’s a shortlist of why this strategy is great:

it’ll make you feel good
it doesn’t take long
when you comment on someone else’s post, there’s a good chance that they might visit your profile and if they like what they see, they might follow you

when other people see what you’re commenting on someone else’s post, they might also check you out and follow you!
the algorithm (the all-knowing formula that dictates what people see on the app) pays attention when accounts engage, and in turn tends to deliver those high-engagers more views. win-win!

The next step is to start posting consistently. Consistency is highly rewarded on the app. If you post once per week, for a year straight, you’re going to see MUCH better results than someone else that blasted through 20 posts in a week, then went on hiatus for 3 months, and repeated the cycle.

Are you a super prolific artist that creates new (quality) work every day? Great, post every day!

But most of us aren’t quite at your level, so posting every day will lead to burn out (and crappy results) super fast.

I’d recommend posting at least once per week, but the importance here is that you are consistent.

Well look at you! You’re now the proud owner of a strong Instagram account that will help to spread your art far and wide!