Is Instagram necessary if you have a website with portfolio accessible digitally?
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Thank you so much @NessIllustration! I really appreciate you taking the time to share your experience with me. May I ask another question... in starting my Instagram then, would you recommend posting several pieces at once just to get it going and not looking empty, or wait and just post one each day?
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@BreannaB My pleasure! I think post at least 3 to start to have a full row, then pick a schedule and stick to it. My schedule is once a week on Tuesday, and even if I have 10 new pieces to show I curb my enthusiasm and schedule them once a week. I know I'll need the backlog for slower months! Scheduling is HUGE. I use the free app Buffer personally. You select your schedule and it creates slots. Then you can queue up your work and then will post one by one according to your schedule. If you have a good backlog of pieces, you could take a couple hours to set it up and literally not have to look at it again for a few months. It's a great time saver!
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@NessIllustration you are so helpful, thank you for all your great advice!
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I think @NessIllustration hit the nail on the head here.
I have an Instagram following of over 7K and I have had no jobs come from Instagram (besides self published authors which I don't take). Most of my followers are young, or other illustrators. On the contrary one of my friends has about 1K and a publisher reached her through Instagram. It's not the be all and end all. I try and just treat it as something I do in my spare time and don't get too wrapped up in the engagement and numbers.I actually think Twitter is more helpful for illustrators now days. It's much easier to connect with ADs by following them there. Some post on twitter looking for new illustrators, where you can post your work under their tweet and hope they see it. I have only a few hundred followers on twitter but I've have a few different agents reach out to me after seeing my work there.
Unless you want to be a 'social media artist/artist influencer/art youtuber' etc I don't think you need social media, but there is a great community of other illustrators out there on twitter and Instagram and it's nice to feel part of that community. -
@eriberart Thank you for sharing your experience and thoughts, it’s super helpful to hear from others who’ve been doing this awhile, I appreciate it!
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Instagram has been great for me and I would really recommend it. I had an editor contact me after seeing my work on Instagram, and several self-publishing authors have found me through Instagram. Two of them have turned into well paying book jobs. I’ve also made friends with other illustrators through Instagram, some that I FaceTime with occasionally and some I’ve now met in person. I’ve also gotten work through Facebook and my next book is someone who found me on Pinterest. Any way you can get your work out there is good!
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@NessIllustration your experience is so helpful! Thank you for sharing! Is there a link to your Etsy store on your site? I couldn’t find it. Would love to check it out - thank you!
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@Natalie-Lundeen Wow! How exciting you’ve found so much success through social media! Thank you for sharing!
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@Mairin-Kareli Not it's not listed because it's digital planning products (stickers and planners) so it's quite unrelated to children's books haha.. But you can see it here: https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/thedigitalsiren?ele=shop_open
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@Natalie-Lundeen how do you promote on Pinterest? I haven't figured that out yet
