Welcome to our new series, Artists’ Insights, in which we will be talking a different professional involved with the Copperdollar Studios each month and sharing with you some of their top tips.
Each month will feature someone from a different industry and will hopefully give you a little insight into how they work.
This week, we spoke to Alex Young, the person behind Copperdollar’s Instagram account. Alex is a social media expert and content writer. We wanted to find out what she thinks is the best way to increase your following online. Here is what she said:
1. Branding yourself online is key
Social media is such a powerful tool and will only continue to be used in new and innovative ways in the future. That’s why it is key to stay up to date on your social media platforms and really sell yourself and your brand consistently. You want people to recognise your logo and your pictures, that way they’ll be more likely to follow you as they know they like what they’re going to be seeing.
For photo sharing platforms, mainly Instagram but also Pinterest and Facebook, it’s important to have a theme for your pictures. For the Copperdollar Studios account, we wanted to show off the uniqueness of the building so a lot of our pictures feature the wooden floors and brick walls. This was the foundation for our rustic theme. Although not every single picture fits right into this theme, a quick look at the Instagram will show that the regular content is coherent and representative of the space.
Good branding doesn’t just rely on the pictures but also the text you put up. Think about who your target audience are and what kind of content will interest them. It’s always a good idea to talk to people and find out what they like to see so that you don’t spend hours coming up with branding that doesn’t quite reach the people you wanted it to. Make sure there is coherency between your social media platforms through your branding, too. That means your display picture, contact details and bio should be similar, if not the same, on all of your accounts.
One final tip for branding would be: make personal accounts for personal things. Personal accounts are lovely and I am guilty of being ‘that’ person who photographs their food to put online (Am I ashamed? Not really) but unless your brand involves lifestyle as a selling point, people will be put off if they see pictures of what you had for lunch or your family holiday on your brand’s pages.
2. High quality pictures and videos make all the difference
When it comes to social media platforms, the higher the quality of picture or video, the more likely it will appear high up on your followers (and potential followers) news or discover feeds. Facebook especially prioritises higher numbers of pixels and will put them at the top of your feeds so invest in good pictures, whether you take them yourself, have a one-off photo shoot or have regular photographs taken by a professional. Lighting, clarity (no busyness in the background) and focus will also make your photographic content a lot more attractive and encourage people to follow you.
3. Interact to make Interactions
Ask your followers questions, do shout outs and give-aways. Making your accounts ones where people can see clearly that you make effort to engage with your followers will be what racks up your social media following pretty quickly. It’s refreshing to see accounts which talk to their followers, rather than just promoting their own agenda (dare I say ‘aimlessly’?). Keeping a friendly and interactive persona online will encourage people to pick up the phone and call you to book your studio (for example) or send you an email and see how much your items cost. You can start today by adding a simple ‘How’s your day going?’ on the caption of your Instagram pictures or sending out a Facebook poll for people to take part in. It doesn’t cost a penny to be nice and in this day and age where people feel as if they are constantly being sold things, especially online and even more so now thanks to paid adds which appear on the side of your Facebook or on your Instagram (How did you know I was looking at black loafers in a size 6?!), it’s refreshing to add a personal touch with your social media posts and just say ‘Hi!’.
If you have the funds then doing give-aways for your followers or running competitions (especially ones that require your followers to get their friends to follow you in order to be entered into the draw) are great ways to gain a following but, as I said, it doesn’t cost you anything to talk to your followers and, trust me, they will appreciate it.
