What I Did Wrong On Instagram
Coming Late To Instagram
I joined Instagram months before the chronological feed was taken off. There were already large accounts who understandably would receive the most likes. The conditions that helped them become popular were not there for people who came much later and you had more people fighting for your attention. After removing the chronological feed, it started a succession of changes that seemed to go against the point of having a social media account. There seemed to be a battle with the ever changing algorithm. Veering from it, may have made your account look suspicious, for using the same hashtags from the last post that you made. Just when you became used to it, the algorithm changed again. This seems to be a pattern with Youtube and other Social Media platforms. They have a relative golden age at the beginning, before the developers start tinkering with their app and it all goes downhill from there. Now I routinely look through Reddit or other social media platforms to see what new platform are coming out.
Commenting Madly In Hopes Of Gaining A Follower
I should say commented on artworks I enjoyed and these compliments were not false. The problem with this strategy is that I ended up with many followers who are artists. In many ways it was lovely because you feel that you are part of the art community. There is a scratch my back, scratch your back attitude to raising each other up. Considering I started so late this strategy didn’t pay off. The hope was to have non artists discover my page and become fans of my work. Because it took this long to have such a small amount of followers who were engaged with my work, now I would do a different strategy. My strategy on Twitter and Pinterest (followers are not the most important metric here) is different on each platform. I would try a strategy to build up quicker and prioritize on building a group of followers that are engaging with my account. Even if you are a small account, but all of your followers are engaged and interested in your work, it can take you far. It is said you only need one thousand true fans to make a living from art.
Didn’t Post Enough
I have a rule with my art, it will take as long, as it needs to. As a result I don’t post on social media as often as others do and this ruined my engagement. After the changes to Instagram, it was a struggle to be found. If a new visual social media platform came, I would figure out ways to increase my posts by deconstructing my art in a photo or posting more progress photos. Posting is one of the best way to find new followers, no matter the social media platform.
Putting All My Eggs In One Basket
Don’t rely on one social media platform. As a result I wouldn’t have had to start from scratch on Twitter and Pinterest. Often followers, especially from your niche are happy to follow you on other social media platforms, as they are doing the same thing. Because each social media platform is different from the other, you can and need to use each differently. Though twitter is not visual platform in the same manner Instagram is, I love how easy it is to repost art. The artists there, love to have an artshare all the time. On Instagram you can’t do that. Pinterest is more a visual search engine than a social media platform, but you don’t need to build up a large following to bring people to your site. This can happen early in the process of learning Pinterest. I wish I knew this and started an account years ago, with these two platforms.
Privacy
I don’t show my face on Social Media. That is a rule I follow unequivocally and I have no regrets about doing this. It is all about my art. That is the reason why I am on social media. This rule led to my account being suspended by Facebook with no ability to regain it, as the only way to have it restored meant sending a photo of myself to Facebook.
I wasn’t going to do that. Since I already sent them a heavily redacted bill with personal details, that already had to proved I own this account. I am not going to risk my privacy being infringed upon, so I can have a social media account of five thousand people. Luckily I already said I was going to Twitter in my last post on that account, so some of the friends I made on Instagram are with me on Twitter. That I am grateful for to still be in touch with them. Though I believe this was the right move for me, it was the wrong move on Instagram and I have lost my account. I don’t look at this as a negative experience, as I have joined Pinterest and Twitter. Hopefully in the near future, there will be a social media platform that is similar to Instagram.
Coauthored with Francesca Darcy who has more technological expertise then I possess and helps me with the technological aspects of my business. Twitter @francesca_darcy
