How Nicholas Jensen Got His Photography in Front of 700,000+ On Instagram
How one photographer got his art reposted by Nikon, the results, and why being active on Instagram is so important for fine artists and photographers.
Photographer Nicholas Jensen recently shared this bit of news to #SmallWins - our private art marketing community on Facebook:
The first thing you're probably wondering is - why him?
How did Nikon find him? What is he doing so right with Instagram?
To figure it out, let's take a look at his profile:
It may not look much different than any other Instagram profile, but Nicholas is doing several key things that make all the difference.
1. Instagram Stories
Nicholas posts to his Story constantly - the #1 thing artists and photographers can do to maintain an exciting Instagram presence.
2. Story Highlights
This row of pinned Stories gives his audience easy access to the his must-see content and announcements.
3. Free Print Giveaway
This Story Highlight tells us Nicholas has ran a free print giveaway in the past - one of the most effective tactics we taught our customers in 2018.
4. Romance Marketing
Once or twice a week, Nicholas shares an eye-catching image along with a quick story about how that image came to be. A powerful way to build an audience.
5. Hashtags
Making smart use of hashtags allows his images to be discoverable via a variety of search terms.
6. Responding to Every Comment
This is so critical. By adding a quick reply to each and every comment, he's going above and beyond to make connections with his audience.
Altogether, these 6 elements mean Nicholas is taking full advantage of everything Instagram offers artists and photographers.
Nikon found him because he used their hashtag - #NikonNoFilter. But his post was just 1 in an ocean of over 1.5 million.
They chose him because he's built a profile that is beautiful, engaging, and extremely follow-able.
So, how'd it turn out?
To date, the post has received over 15,000 likes and 140+ comments.
And Nicholas didn't fail to make the most of the opportunity - continuing his practice of responding to jumping into the comments to build relationships with potential print buyers. Here's just a sampling:
Here's what he had to say about the experience:
As we close out the year, I’ll share the results of my exciting weekend.
Friday morning Nikon USA followed through and posted my photo on their Instagram account with over 700K followers. This is by far the biggest account that’s shared one of my photos.
You might have some people tell you not to waste your hashtag real estate trying to get reposted onto big accounts like this because you’ll just never break out from the crowd trying to get on there too. This is proof you don’t have to listen to those people.
You can see the engagement results for Nikon’s post in my screenshot, incidentally it ranks pretty highly for their usual engagement. I tried to keep up with responding to the commenters, even carrying on a few conversations there.
But what were the results for me? I added 150 new followers over the weekend, and still edging up a few more every day. When you get a quick bump of legit followers like that the algorithm also gets tricked into making you a lot more relevant, the reach on my own posts was much higher as well.
I had 900 visits to my profile on Friday/Saturday when I was getting about 15 a day. There were also 30 people that clicked through to my website.
Nothing sold as a result yet, but the surprising thing is the attrition on those new followers is small, so they must really like what I’m doing. I’ll be able to continue to engage with them and try to get them to buy going forward.
I started 2018 with about 700 followers on IG, so I made a goal of getting over 1000 by the end of the year. Stuck at 865 on Christmas I had made peace with the fact I was going to fall short. Then Nikon helped me get over the hump and make it.
Great job, Nicholas!
What's your goal for Instagram this year?
Seen enough and just want to get started? Awesome, Request a Demo today - let's start growing your art business.
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