Is Instagram a good platform for artists?
Instagram is not a great place to sell art, unless you can activate a lot of people to view and interact with your posts, stories and reels. Instagram is not a natural marketplace for art, but it is an incredible place to promote and popularize your art.
Instagram Stories, Posts and Reels
Instagram offers three ways to post content: Photographs of any aspect ratio (trimmed to square thumbnails in your profile), Tall Aspect photographs that can be edited as a story and Videos, known on Instagram as Reels. Stories offer you the most flexibility in terms of editing. You can add text, animation and more to your stories, but they only stay up for one day. It's a great way to get some attention, because most people will see your story at the top of their screen.
Posts can combine multiple photos in a side-scrolling slideshow. When you use multiple photos, they will all crop to the size of the initial photo, so think about that if you have different sizes and aspect ratios. Consistency is important to making a successful slideshow post. Of course you can also post an individual image. Look in the lower left of the image to determine the aspect ratio - Instagram defaults to a square trim, which may cut off parts of your photo. You can choose the original photo or various other aspect ratios to determine how your image appears in the feed.
Reels are a way to get people excited about your Instagram. People love videos and if you make it funny or interesting they will watch it and like it. Think about your lighting, your setting and your plot before filming.
What are alternatives to Instagram?
Cara is a new platform that supports artists and bans AI art. If you like that idea, you can sign up pretty easily, but the platform is not generating huge amounts of traffic right now.
Think about how Tik Tok started - no one was on it and creators got a lot of exposure. Early adopters now have thousands or even millions of followers. If Cara grows anything like that, you could get in early and become famous.
Links to more Instagram Ideas
How to use Instagram for artists & creatives – Veronica Winters Painting (veronicasart.com)
What is Cara, the Instagram alternative that gained 600k users in a week? | Creative Bloq
How To Use Instagram as an Artist (marylynnbuchanan.com)
