Instagram: Is anyone using it to promote and sell their artwork?

I know a few people who are using Instagram to build a brand and promote and sell their artwork. I’d like to hear about any positive experiences you have had with Instagram and/or building your brand.

For me it has been a minor impact on sales but also a minimal imposition on my time compared to website/blog postings. Anyone who sees my Twitter/Instagram posts would probably have already seen the same painting posted on Facebook? It did lead to one new commission when a previous buyer shared a painting on their account and it reached one of his friends who then contacted me. So I guess it could be used as a way to reach fresh eyes through re-tweets.

Thanks for sharing that story! I can see the advantage of fresh eyes making the effort worthwhile. I post once in a while on FB, with little expectation that it will produce a sale. My FB friends are generous with praise, though. :relaxed:

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I just started selling here, my friends are being great also but no sales. One or 2 sales would make me happy. Got a site, got a blog newsletter etc. Now comes the slow proccess of building an audience. Big sigh.

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I just started selling here, as well. I looked at your gallery and I’d be very surprised if your paintings don’t sell. You have a unique style that results, I imagine, from the way you see how random objects can work together to make an interesting painting. The audience for your work will come.

Thanks sharon, I appreciate the vote of confidence.

Interesting to see this post. I just got a book from the library called “Instagram Power” - Build your Brand and Reach more customers with the power of pictures".
I’m going to start reading/studying it and I’ll let you know what I find out. There were times when I uploaded pictures to Instagram until a few weeks ago and when I did, I got sales. I thought it was probably a co-inky-dink, but maybe there’s something in it. Pinterest also.

I’ve been posting recent plein air paintings on Instagram and using hashtags that include the locations where I painted. No sales yet but, for what it’s worth, I’ve been getting more followers that I don’t believe would have ever seen the same images posted to Facebook. It’s easy to use and while Pinterest is beautiful to look at, I find Instagram easier to manage and not quite so overwhelming. I think the key IS using a mix of meaningful hashtags–not just the obvious like #art or #oilpainting as you’ll quickly fall way down in the feed.

I’m so glad to see this thread. I need to improve on my consistency of posting and this is a good reminder,

I’ve started posting on Instagram, too I agree that it is easy to manage, and I’m working with the hashtags to find the happy mix that may result in more traffic to DPW.

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Is there a way to SHARE a painting from my DPW gallery to INSTAGRAM directly, like we can to FB?

I have just started posting on INSTAGRAM and was delighted to sell a small pastel there. I was actually quite surprised to do so. I would like to post my DPW auctions if I can.

@Rhett_Regina_Owings, Instagram requires posting to be from its official apps. So unfortunately, unlike with Facebook, you cannot post directly from DPW. You can, however, use the Social Media Wizard in the “I want to…” drop down menu to make posting work in DPW to Instagram easier by giving you easy access to both the work’s image and description text in DPW.

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I had resisted going to Instagram because I was more of a Facebook person. But I made it a goal to use it more often for the past year and I have to confess that I LOVE instagram way more then Facebook. It’s different. The advantage of facebook is the groups. I often post in painting groups and the support you get there is great. Instagram gives you more of an opportunity to build your brand. I get a lot more view and comments on Insta! I have made a couple of sales but mostly, I just love having my art all displayed nearly on my page. I mostly only follow artists I admire, so scrolling is like going to an art gallery showing only your favourite painters! Also, the next generation does not have a Facebook account at all. Kids under 17 years old are not on Facebook. So if you want to reach those futur buyers, you have no choice :slight_smile:

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