➕3000 followers with only 1 art post, how did I achieve that ?
➕3000 followers with only 1 art post, how did I achieve that ?
#11 Create viral Instagram posts
Dear little demon,
Welcome to the edition #11 of the Art Missive! We are now 2071😈 in this newsletter: thank you sm for reading ❤.
If you haven't already, you can also:
Read all the previous Art Missives
Ask your questions for the next QaAs here
In this Art Missive
1. INTRO : Instagram made photos great again
2. CASE STUDY : analysing these incredible numbers
3. CASE STUDY : what made this Carousel so successful ?
4. Ask me your questions !
INTRO : Instagram made photos great again
👉 Instagram CEO recently said :
”We were overfocused on videos in 2022 and pushed ranking too far, and basically showed too many videos and not enough photos. We’ve since balanced…”
Commenting on the fact that Instagram recently changed its algorithm.
The past few months, carousels and posts have been almost shut down compared to Reels with which you could get bigger reach. But with the late changes, Instagram gave more attention back to pictures and carousels.
What does it mean for artists ? It means that now, if you want your art to be seen, you don’t have to focus exclusively on Reels anymore. You can also incorporate more Posts and Carousels!
That why, I thought it would be a good idea to explain to you how I reached thousands of people with my posts and carousels.
Welcome in this edition #11 of the Art Missive ; we are going to follow a case study of one of my latest carousels that got +100k of views.
CASE STUDY : Analysing these incredible numbers
On February 8th 2023, I shared a carousel of one of my drawing.
And here are the insights :
Let’s analyse these numbers together.
1️⃣ Reach : my carousel has been viewed by 133,369 persons. This content was shown to 18,774 of my followers. But what’s also amazing is that 114,595 people who didn’t know me saw this post.
These numbers show that carousels are not only shown to our followers anymore, it has become a tool for artists to grow their account and reach new audiences.
2️⃣ Engagement : Not only has this content reached a lot of people, but it has been very appreciated. Within all the people who saw this content, almost 18% of them liked the post, which is a lot!
Also, 9017 people saved it (which has greatly contributed in making this post grow even more).
3️⃣ Conversion : It is cool that so many people have interacted with my content, but at the end of the day what matters to me is that they follow me! Well, I gained about 3000 new followers only with this unique carousel.
Conclusion : now you probably believe me when I tell you that Instagram made photos great again.
There are 3 components of a content that you need to master to get successful content
👉 reach (make people see your art)
👉 engagement (make people like your art)
👉 conversion (make people follow you).
It is already hard to get a great reach.
But what’s the worth of the reach if people don’t interact with your content and don’t end up following you?
That is why growing an art account on Instagram is so hard : if you miss one of these 3 components, it means your content can be improved.
Now, we are going to see how strategically designed my post to get a crazy reach, a great engagement and incredible conversion.
CASE STUDY : what made this Carousel so successful ?
👉 KEY 1 : improve your artwork : I won’t lie by telling you that the quality of the artwork has nothing to do with being successful. The prettier your artwork is gonna be, the greater are your chances to be successful. But there are many ways to improve your artwork : improve your art, improve your photography skills and material, improve your setup when taking pictures, improve your editing skills…
All of this plays a role in sharing content that is eye-catching and pleasant.
However, I want you to understand that the artwork itself is not the only key to get a successful content.
And I have a good and a bad news for you :
The good news is that, even if your art is not extraordinary yet, you can still play with the other keys to reach people and make them like your work.
The bad news is that, if your art is amazing, it is still not enough to get a successful post and you’ll need to work on the other keys.
Let’s move on to the other keys :
👉 KEY 2 : carousel vs. post?
Choosing a carousel over a single-photo post is a strategy that I systematically apply. Why ? Because people tend to stay longer on carousels because they have to scroll until the last photo… and Instagram loves contents that make people stay longer !
This strategy only works if you manage to rise curiosity and make the viewer stay until the end.
👉 KEY 3 : the hook. You can see that my caption starts with a hook that gives the viewer a reason to stay longer on this content. Generally speaking, always use this first sentence of your caption to grab the attention of the viewer.
👉 KEY 4 : add value. I can't stress it enough : adding value to your audience is the most important key to make your art account grow. On this carousel, I chose to share my step by step process because I identified that my specific audience likes it. But there are many ways to add value : teach them something (educational content), help them feel better or make them laugh (entertaining content), make them identify with you (relatable)... there are so many ways you can value others, you just need to find your own. The idea is to give someone a reason to follow you on a long-term perspective.
👉 KEY 5 : ask them something ! I ALWAYS finish my captions with a call-to-action. People like to be told what they should do next. If they enjoyed your content, asking them to save, like or follow would give them a clear guidance of what they should be doing. On the other hand, if you don’t tell them what to do, they’ll simply won’t do it. In this case, I asked people to follow me. By adding value (previous KEY), I already gave them a good reason to get interested in me and now, with this CTA I clarify the next step to take and why they should take it.
Wanna get this kind of results yourself?
1. I’m building a secret guide for you
You’re an artist and you want to grow an Instagram art community ?
I am currently working on an Instagram Growth Guide for artists.
From profile optimization, to making strategic Reels and successful Posts : I wanna dive deep into my techniques and my process to reach millions of people and gain thousands of followers each month.
2. Ask me your questions!
Would you be interested in getting this guide ?
If yes, can you tell me by responding to this email?
If you guys are asking for this guide, it might be released for my birthday in two weeks, what do you think?
Also, ff you are motivated, you can also answer these questions :
👉 1) Why are you interested ? Why do you want to grow an audience ?
👉 2) How does growing on Instagram feels lately ? Do you feel motivated ? disappointed ?
👉 3) What are you struggling with currently ? What prevents you from growing your Instagram account ?
👉 4) What would you like to learn in this guide ? (ask me all the questions you want!)
Your contribution will greatly help me build the perfect guide for artists on Instagram.