HOW TO GROW A FOLLOWING ON INSTAGRAM FOR ARTIST'S

★V1 ( exposure )

★★★

There are many ways to grow an audience and you should know about a few, before you begin your climb. A few things to note that many people don't know about, After you reach 10k you will be suggested and recommend a lot more and it will be substantially easier to gain followers. You also gain the ability to add a link on your Instagram story once you hit the 10k mark. The climb from 0-10k is very difficult and it may take a long time, so be prepared to give it your all. These are a few ways you can grow your audience

★EXPLORE

Explore Is very hard to appear on when starting your climb. This is all up to chance, but this chance does decrease depending on your following count and interactions on the post in question.

★ HASHTAGS 

Hashtags in the beginning of your journey are where majority of your following will come from. Try and use a mix of popular and uncommon hashtags on each post, this will extend your reach. On your post specifically try and not use too many hashtags to not come off as spam. To little hashtags and your content might not reach the amount of people you might have hoped. ★ Your goal is to reach the “TOP POST” on a hashtag. This is all by chance and at the moment there is no clear way of showing up on “TOP POST”.

★FEATURES

Features are sometimes sketchy but if it is an authentic page then It can be worthwhile to have your post featured there. A large amount of feature pages may be owned by single people and the following they have may not be authentic. Some feature pages request a payment to be featured ( DO NOT PAY FOR A FEATURE ). I ask this because of the high risk of unauthentic pages, It would be better to find a free feature page. You can find feature pages by looking through hashtags like ( #artfeature, #artistfeature, etc.) Just be sure to double check the pages following and the amount of likes each post receives. 

★COLLABORATIONS

Collaborating with other artists is also a great way to reach a large audience fast. Please be mindful of other artist’s time, and availability. If you want to collab with an artist make sure your style will work well with them, Otherwise the artist will most likely not won’t to collab. 

★PROMOTIONS

Paid promotions is the most straightforward way to reach an audience through Instagram. Make sure that you choose an image that already has great feedback. When you create a promotion Instagram will allow you to choose the audience you will reach. Be sure that you include what ever niche you are attempting to reach on your page. Promotions aren’t recommended unless you have the extra money to just throw around.

★V2 ( consistency )

★★★

Timing and knowing when to post is a large part of your growth overtime. I recommend daily uploads but I know this isn't possible for everyone. At least 3 posts a week will keep people interested in what you will be posting next. Try and avoid frequently posting such as posting multiple times in one day. This will lead to less views on a single image and comes across as spam. On the other hand not posting for extended periods of time will lead to people un-following do to disinterest in content or lack thereof. Depending on where you live, late afternoon (after working hours 5pm - 7pm ) or in the evening would be recommended because most people will be more liable to be on their phones ( 8m - 12 ). There are other times that vary in success such as 10am or even 2am but I would recommend testing out what works with you best. Consistency also includes your artwork, followers are more likely to stay following if you post the content they followed for. Posting non-artwork or random photos every now and then is fine but keep it to a minimum.  

★V3 ( quality of content )

★★★

Lastly you want to make sure that your artwork is of high quality. This means no blurry imagery and no dim lit illustrations. I recommend scanned images unless you work digitally, in this case make sure your work is a higher dpi ( 300dpi or above.) Your content should showcase your skill set and overtime should show your improvement. Followers will enjoy watching you grow :)