100K followers on Instagram- what do you think it means?

First of all I have to say “Thank you” to every single one of you that are a part of the 100k followers- I am extremely grateful to have so many people interested in my work. Other than my actual painting and drawing, Instagram is where I spend a lot of time and energy, so without support via this channel I think my journey would look very different.

A question I often get is “How did you grow your following?” or “What is your social media strategy?” So I think it’s important to speak about the numbers and what they mean for me, what others might think it means?

Me trying to communicate about my art effectively

I’ll try and break it down question by question. First of all “How did you grow your following?” The answer, it just happened, through lots of sharing. I know this might be a bit of an infuriating answer for people, it is by no means a complacent or ego driven answer. The answer is such, because none of it was numbers goal driven. Of course I wanted the audience to grow, because the more people that had sight of my work, the more connections I could make, and then fingers crossed that would result in sales, which at the end of the day is what I need to keep going financially. I can manage my motivation to keep making work, but I need the sales to finance this and pay the bills! What I think is far more important than the numbers, and I can somewhat qualify this, is the engagement. It is better to have fewer well engaged followers, than thousands of passive followers.

During lockdown I had around 7k followers, my posts reached more people, there was more engagement, and that particular year was the most I have ever earned. I appreciate it was unprecedented times, and people were spending their money differently, but it just goes to show if people are engaged they are more likely to interact and potentially buy your work.

I am not interested in a certain number of followers to make me feel better about my work, external validation can give you a boost, but it is like training wheels or stabilisers on a bike, if that factor is removed you need to be able to keep cycling without them. This is exactly why I try not to focus on the numbers, especially when I know I lose followers every single day.

The second question I’m often asked, “What is your social media strategy?” With this I can only speak in terms of how I work/function as an artist within social media, I think it is very different for influencers and other product focused accounts. I don’t want to dismiss social media strategists, as there are some amazing ones out there such as Lou from @sparksocial. I haven’t used Lou’s services before, but she always offers really insightful tips and questions on Instagram. The ones I would be wary of are the ones that guarantee results, especially when there are so many variables.

I think authenticity is important, and that’s why I show up without the smoke and mirrors. This is my beautifully messy, small but perfect for me, studio space

I don’t have a well formed strategy other than I do the best I can with the energy I have, and with what I enjoy doing. I try not to jump on the band wagon with new trends, as to be honest most of them are entertainment focused rather than focusing on what you want people to see which is your actual creation. the “Art spin” is something I regularly do, it doesn’t require too much effort or editing, and it satisfies how Insta works in terms of getting your audience to witness your post past the first few seconds. I don’t enjoy editing clips too much, I have many artist friends who are amazing at it, they put a lot of effort into it and they really enjoy this part, so why wouldn’t they do it? I have even had someone comment that my presentation could be better, which was a joy to read. The fact is, I only have so many hours to create and the more I spend making a reel look pretty the less time I have to paint. I know people will say that if it looked more professional then I would probably reach more people, but again my answer to this would be that I want to portray an authentic version of the Artist that I am and I don’t want to add to the smoke and mirrors effect that social media creates. There is another side to this as well, if I share content within the realms of what I am happy doing then it’s sustainable. I only manage to post so frequently because I have made it work for me, rather than creating “content” how others create it. I’m not saying that you need to post every day, I just choose to do this as a part of my own routine, I don’t think it’s a necessary activity for growth.

I do show up on my posts, despite the same lovely person who commented about my presentation, telling me that “I didn’t need to be on show, people just want to see the artwork”. (I seriously need to drop these negative comments getting to me) I totally disagree. Despite it feeling awkward, disregard the numbers, it is valuable, I believe in you showing up on social media for a few reasons. What you are creating, isn’t mass produced, it has an actual human behind it that has a story, whatever that story is, and that is part of the connection. People like to feel connected, I know I do, when people buy my work. Also it really helps with visualising scale. We have become so accustomed to seeing small squares, or now rectangles on Instagram, that we have lost appreciation for scale. So if you can hold what you create then it helps people appreciate the scale more, not in terms of just buying it, but how they perceive and enjoy the artwork. If you aren’t ready to hold and spin, then sharing an image of your work on a wall, in your workspace, anywhere that offers something for scale comparison, then I think this is a really good tool to use.

Final strategy, if you want to call it that, is to share old and new. I may go on Instagram each day because it’s part of my work routine, but not everyone will. People will definitely have missed seeing your work, even those followers that regularly check in with have missed posts or forgotten about older pieces, and it’s really lovely (most of the time) looking back at your work. It doesn’t become irrelevant once it has sold, or if it was produced a while ago, it’s all a part of you and your journey.

Back to the numbers, what do they mean, or maybe what do I think people might think that they mean? I think (again art related), that people believe that higher followers means more sales and opportunities. I guess the odds are there that if more people follow you there is a better chance of you reaching the person who can make these things happen? I think people think that higher followers means consistency in terms of sales. None of these are necessarily true, it is absolutely a case by case, time by time basis. I don’t really think that there is a point when you reach consistency in terms of sales, and if that means high levels of sales, that would be unsustainable on your own as an artist, you would absolutely need extra support.

An insight into what it means for me. Do I have consistent sales? No, but they are more regular than they used to be at the beginning. Does an original always sell quickly? No. Do I always sell lots of prints when I release a new one? No. Do I have more commissions than when had less followers? Yes. Am I happy with where I am right now? Yes, but I know I’ll always keep pushing, childhood habit. Do I still have periods of time when nothing sells? Yes

All that I want people to gain from this is that the numbers probably don’t mean as much as you think they mean. They aren’t representative of “success”. Success for me is having people want my work in their spaces, still being able to do something I love every day, and hopefully encouraging others to back themselves or be a little bit braver.

Having said all of this I will absolutely celebrate reaching 100k as I know people have been celebrating for me, and I am truly grateful that people support my work and want to acknowledge this number as a milestone. I love a giveaway, I haven’t done one for ages so this is a good reason to offer one.

Keep an eye on Instagram as I’ll share details there, or feel free to sign up to my newsletter.

A final thought…

“Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.”- William Bruce Cameron

As always, thank you for your support and for taking the time to read the blog

Flo x

If you would like to support me so I can keep doing something I love, please feel free to tap “Buy me a chocolate bar” to find out how- Thank you x