Instagram marketing best practices include:
- Having an Instagram business account
- Setting business goals
- Optimize your profile for search and include a call-to-action
- Publish high-quality images
- Write great captions
- Use hashtags
- Optimize your profile picture
- Creating brand awareness
All of the practices mentioned above will either create a positive or negative brand for your art business Instagram account.
A great way to increase your Instagram followers and sell more art on social media platforms is to be consistent with your branding. The objective is to make it easy for your target audience to identify that you are the artist who created the artwork they are admiring.
How can you separate yourself from all other artists selling art on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest?
Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase by clicking on an affiliate link, Nevue Fine Art Marketing may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you. Affiliate relationships include, but are not limited to, Bluehost, Tailwind, Skimlinks, SareASale and StudioPress. To learn more visit Affiliate Link Disclosure Policy
The answer is branding your business with consistent:
- Brand colors
- Images
- Words
- Styles
- Social post
- Blog post
Everything you publish online, either on your business accounts or private accounts, will be a reflection of your brand. The key is to be consistent with everything you make public online.
Creating your brand will take a lot of planning, and a great place to start is to focus on the style of art you make.
- What is your niche?
- What is the medium you work with?
- What is your color palette?
- What style of art do you create?
This information will help you to separate yourself from other successful artists online. In addition, branding your art business properly will allow you to reach a broader audience and potential customers.
Your brand should help potential art collectors identify:
- What you create
- What products and services you sell
- The value of your work
Are you having a difficult time branding your Instagram business profile? If so, don’t worry. We have you covered. In this post, we will walk you through the essential steps to create an effective brand that will have you reach new fans every month.
How To Identify Your Brand
Before you begin branding your Instagram page, you need to picture what you want your brand to look like.
Take out a piece of paper and ask yourself these questions:
- What inspired you to become an artist?
- What inspired you to start selling your artwork?
- What is the message you want people to receive when they view your art?
- What style of art do you create?
- What medium do you use to create your artwork?
- How big are the pieces you make?
- What are the primary colors you use?
Once you have a clear vision for your brand, you can create the type of content that will attract your target audience.
Branding Your Instagram Account
The first step you will want to take if you haven’t already done so is to change your personal account to a business account.
Instagram Profile
The Instagram Bio is the section where new followers can learn more about you, and it will be the only place where you can include a link to your artist website or online art portfolio. The Bio is located under an Instagram username and provides a short description, contact information, and a website or online store URL. Hashtags and emojis can also be included in the bio section.
Here are some tips on how to brand your Instagram Bio to increase your follower count.
Instagram Name
The first thing to do is create a username and name for your Instagram page. The user name is also referred to as an Instagram handle. The handle is located on the top of the profile page with an @ symbol.
What is a good Instagram name for art?
Depending on what type of art you create, you will want to add keywords that describe what you will be offering and promoting.
The good idea is to use your name with keywords at the end like art, fine art, wildlife artist, abstract artist, watercolor artist, etc. When creating your username, the important thing to consider is to make it easy for your fans to remember.
In addition to your username, you will also want to add your art business name to your business account’s “name” section.
The name is located underneath the profile image and is searchable in the search results.
To add your art business name, go to your profile, click “Edit Profile,” and type your name in the “Name” field.
Instagram Profile Picture
Next, upload an Instagram profile picture.
The Instagram profile picture size is 320 x 320 pixels.
Some artists use a headshot for their profile picture, while others use a logo or an image of their best artwork.
Decide on what will compliment your brand and use that for your image. The key to reaching a wider audience online is to use the same profile image for all of your social media channels. The objective is to make it easy for your fans to identify you on all of the channels they visit.
You can easily create and edit a prole image with Canva.
After you create the image:
- Download it to your PC.
- Email the picture to yourself.
- Open your email on your smartphone, save the image on your phone and upload it to your Instagram business account.
Instagram Bio
Your Instagram Bio is where you will be able to add your brand’s story. You only get 150 characters, so you will have to be creative when writing your Bio. The objective is to describe your business so that Instagram users know what to expect when they follow your Instagram page. The best business Bios on Instagram explain to potential buyers what their business can do for their customers. Include Instagram hashtags in the Bio section so you can attract the right people to your page. Pay close attention to how many hashtags you are using. You do not want to make your Bio hard to read. You only have 150 words to make a good impression, so make every word count.
Instagram Call-To-Action
Businesses use call-to-actions to urge readers to take a specific action, like visit this page to purchase prints of this original painting or join our email list for special offers.
To decide what the best call-to-action is for your art business, ask yourself:
What would you like your fans to do next?
Do you want your customers to:
- Buy prints
- Visit the landing page of a new painting
- Go to your artist website
- Join your email list
- Follow your Instagram page
- Comment on your images
An easy way to have your fans do something is to ask. Ask them to visit your website or ask them to join your email list.
Take advantage of the free emojis Instagram offers. Try using the arrow emoji to point to the URL you want people to click on.
Another strategy many businesses use is to change the call-to-action and URL regularly.
Maybe you what to showcase a new painting. In this case, you will want to include that call-to-action in your Bio and add a URL to the page where they can learn more about the painting.
Or maybe you want to sell some prints that have been hanging around for a while. In this case, you will want to include a URL to the prints.
Enable Notifications
Instagram is a social network that will see the best results when you engage with your fans regularly. Optimizing your profile is vital for letting potential customers know what to expect with your Instagram account. Still, the best Instagram strategy is to be the center of your community and interact and engage with your followers. A simple like and comment make a huge difference. Use Instagram to connect with your audience. You might not see sales right away, but you will start to see your sales skyrocket over time when you connect with your audience on a personable level.
The easiest way to engage with your fans is to enable notifications. Notifications will allow you to engage with your followers in real-time.
Instagram Posts
Instagram is a visual social platform. If you want to have any chance of having people discovered your posts to visit your profile, you will have to produce high-quality images. If you struggle taking photos of your paintings, you might want to consider highering a professional photographer. The only chance you have of stopping someone from scrolling through their Instagram feed is to provide breathtaking professional photos of your artwork.
Final Thoughts On Branding Your Instagram Profile
Like your Facebook page, Instagram is a useful tool that will help you reach a broader audience and increase your art sales. Before you publish your first post, make sure you take the time to brand your Instagram profile.
More Related Instagram Posts
15 Instagram Tips For Artists Selling Art
Social media has changed the way businesses conduct business and how shoppers discover new products. So whether you are selling art online or selling art at local craft fairs, social media a great way you reach a broader audience and get new followers. Instagram Tips For Artists Every day … [Read more…]
How to Host an Instagram Giveaway and Increase Your Art Sales
How would you like to increase your art sales with a simple Instagram giveaway? Hosting an Instagram giveaway is the perfect way to get your followers excited about what’s in store for them. In this blog post, we will discuss how to properly word an Instagram giveaway and provide examples of some … [Read more…]
How Artists Can Use Instagram to Promote Their Art
Note: This post, 7 Ways Artists Can Use Instagram to Promote Their Art is a guest post by Scott Mathews, You can learn more about Scott at the end of the post. 7 Ways Artists Can Use Instagram to Promote Their Art The Internet is a great place for all kinds of artists to engage and … [Read more…]