Hi Eric, first, thank you a lot for comments on my art, appreciate it a lot!
About instagram, it is certainly worth trying, but it requires your time and commitment, on daily basis. And often you don’t see results immediately. Well, usually it takes time, 1+ year at least . My instagram is about 2.5 y. o. and only last year was good 
I do expose my work widely with hashtags , also you can take a look @julia.kamenskikh No, my friends don’t buy my art 
with a few exceptions. Good luck to you, Eric, you also can give me your instagram page, I promise to support you