Over the past decade, Instagram has grown to be one of the most popular social media platforms globally, standing shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Facebook and Twitter. Unlike its colleagues, which focus more on text posts, Instagram is an almost completely visual platform. In this article, we’ll learn top tips on how graphic designers can increase & boost Instagram followers.
This makes it a social media platform that cannot be ignored by graphic designers looking to further their careers. Indeed, whether you’re a budding artist or an established professional, Instagram is practically a necessity if you want to move forward with your work.
However, technology and digital marketing isn’t every designer’s forte. Some will find setting up an Instagram and attempting to grow it an intimidating endeavor.
If you’re a graphic designer who’s looking to get started with the platform or grow your Instagram followers, then you’ve come to the right place. Here, we’re going to give you five tips that talented graphic designers use to make professional looking accounts that attract Instagram followers.
Most of these tips you can implement right away, so you can hit the ground running. So, without further ado, let’s jump into our first tip.
1. Understand Your Audience: Graphic Designers Increase Instagram Followers
It’s effortless for artists to fall into the trap of thinking that if they could only improve their technique, they’d see success and build a following. Perhaps if they could get their textures just slightly better or cross-hatching a little neater, the fans would come pouring in.
But that isn’t the case. The real key to success is creating content that people can connect with and engage with. While the technique is definitely important (you need to create your vision, after all), it often takes a backseat to the overall feeling of a piece of art when it comes to popular success.
This means that when it comes to building your following on Instagram, your focus generally shouldn’t show off your virtuosic design skills but rather create and post pieces that your Instagram followers can really connect with and gain value from to make designers with tips to boost & increase Instagram followers.
Of course, there are exceptions to this rule. If you’re a hyperrealist, for example, it’s impossible to separate the virtuosity of your work from its content. But even then, your goal should still be to connect with your audience — in this case, perhaps by not posting any minimalist designs.
Out of all the tips we’re going to cover, this is perhaps the most effective but also the most difficult. Unlike the others, it’s not solely an Instagram tip, and it actually concerns your designs themselves.
At the end of the day, just be yourself and let your talent and creative vision shine through to make designers with tips to boost & increase Instagram followers.
If the technique is naturally a big piece of your work, then don’t tone it down just for Instagram — that’s a recipe for failure. After all, true connection requires honesty, and if you’re a hyperrealist feigning minimalism just for some likes and follows, it will show.
2. Use Design And Automation Tools To Save Time: Graphic Designers Increase Instagram Followers
Thanks to Instagram’s popularity, developers have created dozens of tools to help you automate some of the tasks you need to complete to grow your account, which leaves you with more time to do what you do best: make art. Plus, there are also tools out there that make the design process itself faster and easier.
On the Instagram side of things, scheduling tools like Later and Sprout Social can speed up some of the more menial parts of the Instagram growth process. These tools allow you to schedule posts in advance not to spend time posting them manually throughout the coming month, week, or year.
If you want to speed up your design process, you can make use of tools like Canva. Although it’s not as deep and powerful as Photoshop or Sketch, Canva is an online graphic design tool that can help you make simple designs quickly. It’s a good tool to get an idea down quickly or create a straightforward design.
3. Use An Instagram Planner To Visualize Your Feed
Your Instagram posts don’t live in a vacuum. Whenever you post a new piece, it will be displayed alongside your other works whenever someone visits your profile. In a sense, your Instagram profile as a whole becomes a work in itself to make designers with tips to boost & increase Instagram followers.
As a graphic designer, you should take the larger picture of your Instagram profile into account whenever you post your work. You should consider how each new post will affect its appearance. For example, will a predominantly blue piece be jarring amidst the neon pink theme that your last six pieces featured?
To help you make these decisions, you can use Instagram planning tools to visualize your feed and give you a better sense of what it will look like when you post new content. Luckily, many schedulers also include features that let you see how your feed will look once you post all your planned content. This means you’ll save time and also be able to get a better idea of how your profile will look to your Instagram followers.
Tools you can use to plan your feed in this way include Later, Planoly, Plann, Preview, and Unum to graphic design increase Instagram followers.
4. Customize Your Fonts And Colors To Strengthen Consistency
If you think about your favorite designers and artists, what is it that sticks out to you about them? Chances are, it’s their unique style and voice. Whether you’re doing work for Instagram or the gallery. Your voice must come through, and your work maintains a certain sense of consistency.
But when you’re posting your work on social media. You also need to ensure that your profile as a whole maintains that same style.
On Instagram, this may mean customizing your fonts, color themes, and highlight covers to reflect your identity as a designer and your unique voice.
Some of this goes hand in hand with our last point. You can maintain consistency by keeping a solid color theme across your recent posts.
However, fonts and highlight cover photos can also help tie your profile together. Using alternative fonts is a lesser-known trick that Instagrammers use to give their profiles a unique sense of personality. To add fonts, you’ll need to copy and paste some from another website or application.
Highlight cover can be created using tools like Canva (which we covered in tip 2) and uploaded to Instagram. These can really give your profile an extra professional flair and sense of style.
5. Only Use High-Quality Photos: Graphic Designers Increase Instagram Followers
This should go without saying, but it bears repeating: if you’re trying to represent yourself as a professional graphic artist, you must post only high-quality images.
Instagram is filled with talented artists and graphic designers. That means your potential followers are used to looking through high-quality images. If you post something that’s fuzzy and grainy or looks overly compressed, it will stick out like a sore thumb.
These days, Instagram serves as something of a professional portfolio. Whenever you post something, assume that your potential clients. Will see it and evaluate whether it would make your work more or less appealing to them. If you think what you’re about to post could raise any doubts, don’t post it.
At the end of the day, this is really just about pure quality control. Make sure your work is kept to high standards. Without that, none of the other steps will fall into place.
Graphic Designers Increase Instagram Followers: The Bottom Line
Marketing yourself on Instagram is difficult. With so many exceptional artists vying for many of the same followers’ attention. It can be hard to stick out and build a following on the platform.
However, the tips here will arm you with some of the tools. Skills you need to stay competitive in this constantly shifting landscape. Finally, some of them can save you hours of work so that you can spend more time honing your craft.
At the end of the day, honesty is the thing that will win you Instagram followers. If you create art and designs that come straight from the heart. Maintain a consistent style, and are undeniably you, then everything will fall into place eventually.
Use these tips to help you move forward with your marketing strategy, but don’t get too lost in the weeds. Ultimately, the success will come from your ability to create captivating work.
