Instagram is the ideal social media platform for independent creatives and small businesses; its focus on visual content is the perfect way to share an online portfolio of your work while also allowing you to maintain a more personal relationship with your followers. 

The term ‘marketing’ might seem intimidating when you just want to share their creativity and indulge in your artistic hobbies.

It may feel uncomfortable to turn something as personal as your artwork into a somewhat calculated business, but social media allows you to retain your authenticity and form genuine relationships with your audience.

It also allows artists to maintain full control of their image and let people meet the person behind the artwork. 

Instagram is a great tool for marketing your artwork – whatever medium you may use – and the great thing about social media is how natural it can feel.

With an emphasis on community, you can encourage organic and genuine engagement around your art without feeling like your creativity is being overshadowed by the technical side of running a business.

Investing time and effort into your profile can be very enjoyable and rewarding when people engage with your content and support your artwork. 

How To Create A Professional-Looking Profile

As an artist, you likely have a developed personal style, and you can tailor your Instagram profile to match. Maintaining a consistent and aesthetically pleasing profile grid can attract new followers.

Things like color themes to link posts together in a pattern will entice followers through the pleasing visuals – you’ll already have an eye for what looks good, so just be conscious of maintaining a style where possible. 

If you want to create posts with graphics and texts, you can use free software like Canva to create post templates that you can easily update and recolor.

You could also design your own templates with a digital art application if you want more customization. 

A great way to maintain a cohesive look on your profile is by using a post scheduling tool. This will allow you to plan ahead and see a preview of your feed.

It’ll also help you stay on schedule and save time, as you can dedicate a set amount of time to planning your upcoming content every week. 

Types Of Instagram Content 

The amount of formats that you can use when posting on Instagram allows you to share a variety of content.

Using a combination of these formats will ultimately strengthen your profile and boost engagement, so here we’ll cover the types of content you can post on Instagram, and what works well with each type of post. 

Single Photo Post

Single photo posts are one of the most popular and traditional formats on Instagram. They’re great for posting finished pieces of artwork and “filler” posts. 

Filler posts can be used if you’d like to focus on the text in the description and give updates on your life, how your artwork is going, or any store updates.

You can post images that fit in with your feed’s aesthetics to maintain the grid, and you can design posts with text on it to inform people of any sales, or share quotes. 

You can treat your profile like a journal of your artistic journey and document your personal life – this will strengthen your relationship with your audience, and can also provide some context to your artwork if your life influences the style or themes within it.

Carousel Post

Carousel posts are great for sharing photos of a project at its various stages through to completion.

With carousel posts you can also include videos, so it can be a great way to give step by step guides or document your creative process. 

You can set the cover of your carousel post to fit in with your profile grid without worrying about whether the rest of the content will match, as it won’t be visible on your profile grid.

You can also share multiple pictures of artwork from the same collection.

Videos

For video content, you could share videos of you creating your artwork, tutorials, speaking to your followers, and/or showing any new products you have created. You can also share animated graphics. 

Mixing things up with video content could start engaging new conversations with your followers.

Reels

Reels have a separate function to traditional video posts and have a much higher potential for going viral and reaching new audiences. If you have a TikTok account, you can post your content from that platform as reels. 

You can use popular audios on your videos to add your own contribution to current trends and piggyback off the virality of them. 

Reels are great ways to strengthen the aesthetic of your page, as you can set the mood with music and create relaxing videos that are enjoyable to watch.

Stories

Stories are a great way to share content and updates that aren’t time consuming for you to create, and it doesn’t matter if the quality is lower than your feed posts.

It is an opportunity to be candid or send out alerts for restocks, flash sales, and you can communicate with your audience here.

You can post polls or interactive stories to get ideas from your audience so you can try and cater to their interests. 

Highlights

Highlights are really an extension of “stories,” but as you can add them to your profile and have them remain at the top, it can be a good place to leave details about commissions, how to order your artwork, and other FAQs. 

You can also have an ‘about me’ highlight to share your story with your audience.

Another great way to use highlights is to compile any stories that you might have posted while you’ve worked on a project.

You can look back through them yourself to revisit the process, and it can be interesting for your followers to be able to see how you create your artwork.

Live Videos

Live videos aren’t a necessary part of your Instagram marketing, but they can be fun to explore if it’s something that you feel comfortable with.

They allow you to interact with your followers in real-time and share announcements. It can be a chance for you to talk through the meaning and backstory of your artwork and answer any questions that people may have. 

How To Grow Your Account

Though the end goal when you’re gaining followers on your small business page is for them to ultimately become customers, a good way to grow your account is by catering to your existing followers. 

Your followers provide indispensable value to your business as their engagement is what exposes you to a larger audience.

Focusing on content that encourages people to interact through likes, comments, and sharing, inevitably leads to more sales in the long run. 

Responding to comments is a great way to strengthen your relationship with your audience and ensure that they continue to interact with you.

Through your social media, you will become a source of entertainment and inspiration to your audience and this can be a great confidence booster and inspiration for you yourself. 

Final Thoughts

Small businesses are finding a lot of success thanks to social media, and a large part of that is the human desire for genuine connections.

People are becoming less receptive to traditional marketing methods used by larger businesses, so fostering a relationship with your audience is an effective form of marketing that is a lot more subtle. 

You can use social media to build a community around your passion, and by combining the information we’ve given you here with the work that you put into your art, you can build a thriving profile that enriches your enjoyment of art rather than stifling it.