Hello! As an artist, posting work on Instagram can be fun, inspiring, frustrating, confusing, disappointing…so many different and conflicting descriptive words fit here!
Here’s what I’ve learned from posting fairly consistently. Regardless of what the current trends are or what the Algorithm is doing, my intention is to approach instagram with lighthearted fun and excitement in sharing what I’m making. My intention is also to be myself and not follow trends. For me that means sharing the process of making my work in the context of my studio practice. I also have the added bonus of having a musician husband who collaborates with me by improvising original music for reels.
I have found that making reels that are behind the scenes glimpses into making my work do really well with viewers. I create short 30 second video clips of what I’m making and from those I edit together several clips that range from 3 to 10 seconds and string them together. This also means I’m taking a deep dive video look at my process and making lots of video clips and daily photos so it’s easy to create a library of content. The key here is to have fun!
This also points to the idea of not agonizing over a single post too much. There will always be posts that do well, and posts that don’t and I recognize that it’s out of my control due to the algorithm. I remind myself that posting 1 image or reel is like a droplet of water in a vast ocean and I’m creating an archive as I go. I have consciously tried to let go of thinking about (and agonizing over) what time of day to post, what the best hashtags are to use, or what the numbers are - none of it really matters. I find my mental health drained when I start overthinking any or all of those questions.
In closing, I try to have fun, keep posting, don’t get too concerned with numbers/likes/followers, etc, and I also keep in mind that it is a meaningful thing to connect with 1 person. I hope this is helpful to you. If you have some mindfulness tips to share about Instagram, please leave a comment!