The following is a repost of an article I originally wrote on my personal blog, but based on the positive feedback I have received, I thought I would feature it here as well. I think a lot of artists will find it useful. I have a couple other artist marketing related posts that I will be adding in the next couple of days, so enjoy and please let me know if you find it useful.
Promoting Your Art on Instagram: #Hashtag Power Tips
I did a little experiment yesterday using some strategically targeted hashtags to promote my art on Instagram.
How did it work out? Lets just say the results were instant and dramatic.
BTW, If you are not using Instagram yet to promote your art, you should jump on it! As you will see below, including some strategic #hashtags to your Instagram posts is where the real promotional power is at.
Normally, I would just add two or three hashtags as an afterthought just to get the images positioned and seen. Since my work is primarily pin-up, I would use: #pinup #pinupart #vintage & #retro but would normally stop there. Just by doing so, I would get a couple likes and followers. First, a few immediately, then one or two a week as the exposure trailed off. Nothing spectacular, but they worked ok.
After reading a post over on Art Marketing Resources, I decided to take their advice on using some popular artist related hashtags and put them to the test.
#Hashtag Power
Obviously, you can add whatever hashtags you want, however, the ones that primarily interested me were hashtags related to lists where art buyers might be regularly and casually browsing. In particular, hashtags that are related to buyers who might be looking for ideas for decorating their homes, and more importantly might be inspired to see and purchase art prints.
This was the real “AH HA!” moment.
The strategy behind this is targeting hashtags based on where the BUYERS are, not just the artists or fans. My feeling on this is also that you want to use hashtags for lists where people really do want to browse for inspiration, not just random related hashtags that people add to posts to be funny.
Interesting Hashtags for Art Buyers:
Here are some of the hashtags I used:
#homedecor #interiordesign #architecture #realestate #decorating #fashion #officedecor #style #auction #investment
I also added a few of the more popular general hashtags that were related to pinup art. These are also topics where I am sure people browse on a regular basis:
#girls #babes #love #hotties #redheads #lingerie #rockabilly
Results:
Within a 24 hour period of adding these, I received 92 likes, 7 new followers and 2 mailing list signups. This was all done by updating old art posts with more hashtags. As I type this 2 days later, my Instagram notifications are still going off.
Tips:
You can experiment by either adding all hashtags at once for the “big bang” effect, or try adding a couple each week to stretch out the duration. Not sure yet which approach is best but, so far, the second option seems to be working well. It also makes it more manageable to keep posts visible during peak Instagram usage times. (Still researching and experimenting with what the peak usage times actually are)
I’m going to continue to experiment and I’ll be sure to post more results as they happen.
Do you have any favorite power hashtags? If so, feel free to share.
Follow me!
Oh yeah, while you’re at it, be sure to Follow Me On Instagram! I’ll totally follow you back:
Digital Girlies
Sean Earley
