SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH | 6 minute read
Due to its visual nature, Instagram is prime digital real estate for the artists of today’s world.
Here, we’ll take a look at how a number of successful artists are selling their art on Instagram — and highlight how you can adopt their approach to drive sales of your own.
Rule number one of selling art on Instagram: make sure your art jumps off the screen.
While Andy Dixon’s color-splashed artwork is attractive enough as it is, the artist also knows the importance of taking high-quality photos.
Takeaway: Be sure to communicate the value of your artwork by posting high-quality, detailed images and video to your Instagram page.
Take a quick scroll through Tobias Hall’s Instagram and you’ll find almost nothing but pictures of his artwork.
While there are a few candid posts sprinkled throughout the artist’s feed, it’s clear Tobias wants to focus his audience’s attention on his art rather than himself.
Takeaway: Depending on who you are as an artist, and what your audience expects from you, tailor your Instagram content accordingly.
Neil Secretario’s lettering designs vary widely in terms of subject matter.
For example, some of his most recent work focuses on a number of US cities:
In order to categorize each piece—and attract the right audience—Secretario includes different hashtags in his posts.
Takeaway: Include relevant hashtags in your Instagram posts to group related content and present your art to high-probability targets.
Art is all about getting your audience to feel something.
Which is exactly what Meera Lee Patel aims to do not just through her artwork, but through the way she presents her work on Instagram:
Takeaway: Use every piece of Instagram real estate you have to evoke the experience and emotion you intend your audience to have.
As an artist, you’ve probably heard the question, “How in the world do you do this?” more times than you can count.
Emmy winning artist Mike Perry uses his Instagram channel to answer this question once and for all:
Takeaway: Documenting the creation of your artwork allows your audience to truly see how much effort you put into it. And, it adds a personal and personable touch to their experience with your work.
One look at glassblowing artist Alex Rosenberg’s Instagram will make clear …
He may take his art seriously, but he’s not afraid to have a little fun with his followers.
Of course, this is just one silly post amongst a sea of art-focused content. Still, it’s a great way for Alex to sprinkle his “real” personality in with his artist persona.
Takeaway: Your art is created by you, a human being. Use your Instagram presence to introduce the person behind your art to your audience.
Take a look at Abby Diamond’s most recent posts on Instagram:
Scroll down a few dozen posts, and the theme remains the same: paintings and photographs of animals and nature dominate Diamond’s page.
Takeaway: While you do want to keep your audience engaged with new and exciting content, you also want to be sure they get what they came for when they visit your page.
As documented in a 2017 article on Forbes, Shane Miller knows first-hand how valuable the right influencer can be to an artist.
Long story short, Miller met up with a micro-influencer acquaintance, who introduced him to a friend with over one million Instagram followers.
This influencer liked Miller’s work enough to present it on his own feed, which caused Miller’s audience to grow from around 500 to a few thousand almost overnight.
Takeaway: Existing audiences for your artwork are everywhere. By working with influencers with large followings, you can easily uncover these new audiences—and start selling to them immediately.
Alex Pardee makes it crystal clear to his followers: his art is for sale.
While not selling directly within his posts, Pardee aims to funnel his Instagram followers directly to his website.
From there, the visitor can continue their experience — and hopefully make a purchase.
Takeaway: Make sure your Instagram audience knows how to go about buying your artwork. The more clear the path to purchase, the more likely they are to move forward.
Many solopreneurs and small business owners take a more hands-on approach when actually selling their artwork on Instagram.
While we’ve focused mainly on using Instagram to generate more automated sales (i.e., via your eCommerce website), you can also use direct messaging to seal the deal with individual customers.
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Automating your sales processes via Instagram can be hugely beneficial to your business. However, don’t neglect the importance of directly connecting with your customers for transactional purposes.
