Sarah Edmonds looks at how to use Instagram effectively, from boosting your sales to increasing your online presence in a way that suits you.
Social media has changed everything. A heightened need to connect and collaborate, coupled with the innate creativity and curiosity of artists has resulted in a proliferation of social media initiatives and successes of late. Global crisis aside, the art world has used social media as a real force for good and it’s been incredibly exciting.
The art community is quickly finding a home in the online world and continues to grow and evolve. In the past year 80 per cent of millennial art buyers have purchased online using Instagram.*
*According to Gotham magazine
Gin with Clementines, oil on board, (20x27cm) by Georgina Potter (see case study below)
Art at home
Recently there has been a meteoric surge in the pursuit of arts and crafts and social media has played a huge part in making it accessible to everyone. IGTV and Facebook Live have made it possible to follow ‘live’ art classes while Stories has shown us behind closed doors and welcomed us into private studios we would never have seen before. Watching Jonathan Yeo in his shed-come-studio painting portraits via FaceTime whilst streaming on Instagram has been fascinating. Social media has allowed us all to see the process behind the finished paintings – doors that have always been shut are now being opened.
The fine art world has shrugged off its expensive coat and is an altogether lighter, more entertaining beast. The big hitters of the art world have quickly found ways to keep us close – virtual life drawing at the Royal Academy, virtual tours of the Uffizi. Many outside the city have travelled ‘virtually’ to see some of the greatest art attractions in the world, galleries and institutions that were always too far away, until now.
Art should be seen and felt and yet there is something deliciously thrilling about having the global art network at our fingertips. Having ‘Tea with Julia’ (Julia Peyton Jones, ex-director of The Serpentine Gallery, now Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac) via Instagram live is one example of the unprecedented access to art insiders.
What does this mean for artists?
You can now sell your work online to an enthusiastic new audience. Exclusive West End galleries still have their place, but it’s exciting to see a younger and braver crowd taking over Instagram and encouraging a whole new generation of collectors.
There have been countless creative initiatives springing up, including the viral runaway success of #artistsupportpledge founded by Matthew Burrows and, just lately, #artforcharitycollective conceived by painter Lucy Kent. Young collectors are happy to buy online (they’ve always shopped this way) and support each other, finding strength in numbers and online communities.
The exposure social media offers to artists and organisations is inconceivable to past generations. One can imagine a wildly ambitious Picasso using Instagram to promote his paintings, ceramics and prints, with live demonstrations and achingly glamorous posts of his bohemian life.
The exposure social media offers today’s artists and organisations was not enjoyed by past generations, yet one can imagine a wildly ambitious Picasso using Instagram to promote his paintings, ceramics and prints, with live demonstrations and achingly glamorous posts of his bohemian life.
The exposure social media offers today’s artists and organisations could not have been conceived by past generations. Yet one can imagine a wildly ambitious Picasso using Instagram to promote his paintings, ceramics and prints, with live demonstrations and achingly glamorous posts of his bohemian life.
A strong social media following gives you credibility to both buyers, galleries, potential collaborators or sponsorship. Galleries are actively searching Instagram for new artists alongside film stars and influencers. To quote Vogue magazine, ‘Today artists use Instagram as their own virtual art gallery, playing both dealer and curator while their fans become critics and collectors.’
Are you worried about selling out? Don’t be. As highlighted in our Case Study with Georgina Potter, below, Instagram is a tool to be used in whichever way suits you – in her case, she has built a community of supportive fellow artists around her. Keep control of your brand and copyright (watermark your images) and embrace the possibilities of networking – there are regional and national Facebook groups and communities that offer amazing support. Learn the tools you need to use social media effectively (did I mention hashtags?) and enjoy it – it’s a portal for opportunity.
Case study – Georgina Potter
Low Light and Sun, oil on board, (30x30cm) by Georgina Potter
Q. Do you sell work directly from Instagram? (Artist Support Pledge?)
A. When I first started out with Instagram I felt that I had a lot of enquiries but no sales, however since the Artist Support Pledge this year, I feel that online buying confidence has shot through the roof and people are much more likely to enquire with a view to buying. Many of my sales are now either via instagram or are through clients that have found me through those outlets.
Q. Do you advertise via Instagram or Facebook?
A. I have recently placed a few adverts through Facebook, which automatically link through to Instagram, also therefore covering a huge range of people. Both adverts have created sales for me direct from my website, so they have proved worthwhile. However, timing is important: adverts placed at the start of the summer holidays, for example, are not going to be so successful. You need to know your market and judge when you feel it might be most engaged with your subject matter.
Q. How many times do you post per day/per week and do you have a particular time that works better for you?
A. I started by posting every day on Instagram and although it can be immensely satisfying to get immediate responses to my work, I now feel that I get the best response if I post every few days. I have a business Instagram account that lets me know when my followers are most engaged – it tends to be between 6pm and 9pm. I worry that I will bore my followers if I post too much and, although I paint quickly, these days I like to think about things a bit longer before I put them online; I’ve made a pact with myself to only post paintings that are 110 per cent, to keep the quality on my feed.
Q. How important are Stories for you?
A. I love using Stories as a sideline to my posts. They mean I can post extra content that shows who I am as a person, my life and my thought processes. Many followers do love to engage with me and the Stories are a fabulous way of breaking the ice. They are also great for videos and progress shots and I now post videos as much as I post on my feed.
Q. What difference has it made to your business?
A. Instagram has completely transformed my business. I was fairly late to the Instagram game, compared to others. Prior to that I had felt very lost and lonely in my art, having moved from a large art studio in London in 2011 to the middle of the countryside on my own. Early in 2018 I was questioning whether I wanted to keep painting and was considering giving up, but I decided to have one last push and really throw myself at it in all ways, so signed up to Instagram and started having a look around.
Prior to this with my work was sold through galleries and the only feedback I ever received was whether a painting sold or not. When work came back I painted over it, assuming it wasn’t good enough, so many paintings were destroyed during that time as I had no way of knowing whether they were okay. Since using Instagram this has changed completely.
Instagram has also brought me many fabulous friendships with people who are just like me – passionate about art – and it has opened up my work to thousands more people and given me a community that I lost when I left London. I absolutely love the inspiration and ideas I get from seeing other artists’ work and I love the excitement when someone comments on one of my paintings.
Instagram: @georginapotterartist
About Sarah Edmonds
Sarah is the marketing manager for Pegasus Art and a freelancer supporting creatives and fine artists. Sarah studied a short course at the Slade School of Fine Art and has a degree from Chartered Institute of Marketing. www.sarahedmonds-marketing.com
This feature is adapted from The Artist November 2020
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