Last night I went to a workshop with a ceramic artist as the speaker. Curt Hammerly, of Hammerly Ceramics, has 68K followers on Instagram and counting! Wow! Of course I had to go to see what he would teach us about this platform.
I wasn’t surprised about what he said, and it served as a good reminder for all of us that whatever you put in, you will get out. Meaning, he takes the time to be authentic on Instagram and this is why he has so many followers.
Here are a few of his words of wisdom to follow:
- It is good to use a business account which connects back to your Facebook Page. This is a great way to make sure you have good content for both social media platforms, and to keep your business separate from your personal life. If you are trying to sell your art, you will not want to distract your followers with a cute pic of your cat. Well, maybe sometimes. >^..^<
- Make sure to engage with people both where they are and if they comment on your posts. If they do comment on your posts, get back to them within an hour. The algorithms on Instagram will change around that time, so it is good to connect with them quickly if you can.
- Put your hashtags in the posting section and not the comments. Hashtags in comments are not picked up.
- Use your bio link to drive people to a central website for your work. For example, Curt uses Etsy to sell his ceramics so he makes sure he lets people know to check out the link in his bio. Currently, this is the only place that Instagram allows a link, so we might as well promote it!
- Make sure your pictures are well lighted and they show off your uniqueness. You don’t have to have the most professional pictures, but they do still need to look good and show off who you are and what your art is really about.
- Curt gained a ton of followers just by posting videos on the process of how he makes his ceramics. Videos are key! People became very fascinated, almost, dare I say, obsessed, about his process, and when they bought a mug from him, they would post pictures of the mug with details about the process. They became owners of the process and bought into what he was creating! You could see the pride of the people sharing their mugs with their mugs. :O)
- Be authentic and have fun – meaning – do not simply market, market, market. People on Instagram are still there to be entertained. His videos and posts became similar to a mini reality show, in my opinion. People loved to follow the reality of his art!
- Look at similar artists and see what is working for them, how they are pricing their items, etc. Then, experiment to see what works for you.
- Lastly, make sure you create some hype. Post items individually so they are one-of-a-kind purchases. Place dates on when you will post new items and how long they might be available. Share with them information like “this is the only chance before Christmas to get particular pieces!”
As you can probably tell, Curt is extremely disciplined about using Instagram, and he has reaped the benefits many times over. He focuses a great deal on connecting with people, making his selling of his art a two way street. People comment, he gets back to them, and people look at all the comments to see the different reactions. They are enjoying the story behind the art as much as the ceramics themselves.
I have not been as disciplined on Instagram, having had only a personal account. I decided to give the business account a try. We shall see, with using his suggestions, how well it goes! Feel free to follow along.
Thank you to the Boulder County Arts Alliance (BCAA) for hosting this workshop!
Cheers to happy and loyal audiences,
Shoshana
Shoshana Fanizza
Chief Audience Builder, Audience Development Specialists
If you would like to learn more about audience development and how to build authentic audiences and support, check out my books!
