9 social media tips for illustrators, graphic designers and creatives

Series of graphic illustrations and illustrator content posted on Instagram by professionals, featuring animal motifs, empowering text, and people
These illustrators' social media content is impossible to ignore. (Image credit: Grace Perdana Mulia, Yuk Fun, Fox Fisher, Con McHugh, Mustaali Raj, Sarah Akinterinwa)

Social media provides a way for illustrators, graphic designers and other creatives to make their work known. From Instagram, which started as a photo sharing app but now puts the focus on Stories and Reels (short videos) to TikTok, a video-based app with a younger core audience that allows users can ‘remix’ and respond to other people’s content, and the suddenly popular Cara app, there are plenty of choices.

We all know that social media has positive and negative sides, but most creatives will want at least one social platform to help showcase their creative work. Right now, X (formerly Twitter) is problematic and awash with spambots, Facebook is struggling to attract the Gen Z audiences many of you are targeting, YouTube is less important for most designers, and LinkedIn can be cringe-inducing for its inspirational posts and echo chamber feel. That leaves Instagram and TikTok as the main options for most creatives to reach non-creatives.

@thefoxfisher

♬ original sound - Fox Fisher
@outridercreative

♬ Once Upon a Dream - Invadable Harmony

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Polly Allen
Freelance journalist and marketer

Polly Allen is a freelance journalist and marketer based in Bristol. She specialises in travel and lifestyle journalism, including art reviews. As a marketer, she has worked for the charity sector, the travel industry, the museum sector, and healthcare organisations. 

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