Feedback on my Instagram?

cianamacaroni

Hey friends,

Summary: Is there anything I can do to improve my Instagram? https://www.instagram.com/cianamacaroni/

Full version: I'm looking to grow my Instagram audience and am having some difficulty doing so, despite taking the Jake Parker course and watching this great video by @carlianne: https://youtu.be/uG7UlU9KfUI (thanks Carlianne!).

I currently work at The Children's Museum of the Arts in NYC, where I make video tutorials and printable projects for kids, and I also make personal illustrations for my picture book portfolio on the side. So most of my posts are one of the following:

A WIP of or finished portfolio illustration
A WIP of or finished video for kids (which also involves illustrations by me)
A printable activity for kids
An occasional photo of me teaching

I would say I'm trying to occupy the niches of arts education and picture books, but I'm not sure if I'm doing too much right now (or not enough?). If you happened upon my page, https://www.instagram.com/cianamacaroni/, in its current state (and shared some similar interests), would you want to follow me? If not, is there something I could do to make you more interested?

Any ideas or suggestions would be truly appreciated. I know this goal may seem shallow, but I believe an audience is important for an artist to be able to garner support for independent projects, and I'm working on things that I'm excited about and believe in.

Thanks so much in advance for your time,

Ciana

Melissa_Bailey

@cianamacaroni hi! Not only do I LOVE your work, I also follow you on Instagram. Your posts are great and you seem to be posting fairly regularly (much more regularly than me, lately!).

As you probably know from Carlianne's video, consistency will help grow your following. Also, you may want to include more videos, as IG's algorithm now prioritizes videos over images. For example, even though I follow you, your posts weren't coming up in my feed -- I went and liked a few of your posts and commented on them, so the algorithm will probably show your posts more in my feed now.

Another thing I read/saw somewhere (forget where, sorry!) was to reply to comments and interact for the first hour after you post on Instagram. It seems the algorithm likes this and when I do that, I've found I do get more eyes on my posts.

Another way to grow followers is to be featured on someone else's account -- I've gotten followers from being featured on SVS, SCBWI, Illustration Station, and an illustration account (forget which one; it was a while ago). You can also do a "draw this in your style" challenge (#dtiys) -- usually the original artist will feature other artists whose work they admire. These artists usually have larger followings so getting a shout out from them will often bring followers over to you.

Just a few ideas and suggestions of how to hack the algorithm and gain more followers organically. There are SO many tips and tricks -- do what works for you and just keep posting your beautiful work. You're doing a great job!

kayleenartlover

@cianamacaroni I think it kinda depends on personal preference. I like the posts like the wizard, the “jack” character, and the frog king more than the collage kit stuff. But that’s because I’m not the target audience for it. But if you want to do children’s books, you don’t need a million followers to get there. When you finish making projects for your portfolio, then you can seek out publishers or advertise for freelance work and give them your account name to show your work.
I am super curious to see what you would make for SVS’s monthly critique arena art challenges in your collage style? They are really clever for making the prompts fit as portfolio work as well. I also recommend watching their videos from previous critique arena streams because I’ve learned a ton from just watching one of those so far.

kylebeaudette

Not shallow, an audience is super important.
I'd say post at least once a day, boost your posts, and work on getting big accounts to follow you. Choose a few 'white whales' and interact with them.
Your Instagram has everything it needs to be huge, you're an amazing talent. Now you just need to build it up
I shared it, hope that gets a follower or two

Pamela Fraley

@cianamacaroni I am experiencing issues too. One of the reasons is that the algorithms change so frequently that what used to work, doesn’t anymore. I actually just found(this video) on it.
I think he does a good job of explaining it. I really don’t want to take time away from creating to make my posts more visible, but I think a few tweaks would help. I guess we just have to recheck our methods every year now.

carlianne

@cianamacaroni I'm so happy my video was helpful! You might try specifically #arttips as I found that hashtag to work pretty well

Also I have also found it to be true that Instagram is currently favoring reels quite heavily as well so it might be worth it to share some of your WIP or tutorials as little videos.

cianamacaroni

@melissa_bailey Thank you SO much for your kind words and thoughtful reply, Melissa! All good advice. I haven’t tried many challenges (like #drawthisinyourstyle), and that seems like a good way to engage with a larger community. So I’ll have to try that out

cianamacaroni

@kayleenartlover Hi Kayleen, it’s useful to hear what’s interesting to people and what’s not, so thanks a lot for your honest feedback! And I actually did try out the Critique Arena tiger prompt this month! I just haven’t posted it yet (which goes to show that I’m a bit delayed in my post - another area I could improve in). But if you’re interested in that you can see my response on the Critique Arena page for January. Thanks a lot for your feedback

cianamacaroni

@kylebeaudette thank you so much Kyle, that was super helpful and appreciated!

cianamacaroni

@pamela-fraley Okay, yes! I have the same issue. Thanks a lot, I’ll check that video out

cianamacaroni

@carlianne All helpful advice! Thanks a lot, Carlianne