The ultimate guide to social media for creatives

Instagram is one of the fastest growing, visually led platforms. So how can grow your audience by using a personality led strategy? 

It’s a given that your profile should feature some of your work, brand or products that you sell. All these points will help followers to understand what you offer, but how do you really become unique? Here are some top tips for improving your feed.

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01. Hone your focus

Pick a consistency topic. This could be your products, brand values or concept. Merge this with a specialist topic. This isn’t always on-feature but will enable you to expand outside of your normal publishing realms, building an audience that appreciates not only your work, but also your commentary and creation.

For example, if you are an illustrator, your page could feature your work, mixed in with appreciation and/or commentary of other peoples’ illustrative work. By sharing and introducing your passions, you are further injecting your personality and interests. All these traits give a user a reason to follow you, as you are aligning further with their own interests.

02. Focus on individual posts

It’s been reported before, but I’m here to tell you that colour coordinated profiles are over. Ditch the block colours, colour themes and colour matching. Instead, focus on the creative – let it sit jarringly next to the post before. There is a need for less conceited profiles, an injection of the raw and experimental.

03. Don't forget stories

Instagram Stories are more throwaway, but this doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice your content quality – it just means being more accessible and engaging, and less like a series of adverts. An example would be using a question or poll sticker to support a live draw on stories, documenting each stage with the involvement of your community. Not sure how to use them? Look at our guide to Instagram Stories.

04. Organise your bio

If someone is going to take the time to look at your page, you need to make sure you have any info they might want on there. Make sure you include a URL where they can find more about you, and add an email button so they can get in touch. Story highlights help give an idea of your personality. When you've done all that, it's time to explore personalisation options, for example you might want to change the font on your Instagram bio.

05. Engage!

If you are going to ask a question or any include any form of a call to action in a post, either on stories or your timeline, make sure you do something publicly and respond. There is nothing worse than seeing a brand ask a question just for the sake of engagement. You can also share other people's content – just make sure you follow the etiquette rules (take a look at our guide to how to repost on Instagram for this). 

 Next page: Twitter and Pinterest