How artists can use Instagram

 

So this happened: Christie’s had an art auction on Instagram, grossing $134.6 million. And an artist in New Orleans, Ashley Longshore, sells paintings directly from Instagram, for upwards of $30,000. Obviously there is some serious coin passing hands through an app that was designed just to share your own cell phone pictures.

I’ve grown a decent following by posting 3-4 times throughout the day. I love looking at my feed and hope Instagram doesn’t eff that up like Pinterest did (but that’s another story). My Instagram has become the main driver of traffic and sales to my website Lee Wolfe Pottery, in just 7 months. Here are my best tips for artists and artisans who want to gain and grow a following on IG for the purpose of selling their work. The basics can be learned anywhere, and by that I mean how to set up an account, use hashtags, comment on posts, etc. Let’s pretend you already know that, plus how to use your camera, editing apps, PayPal, online shipping, etc. The next level after the basics is where just being an artist, that is, having a lot of natural curiosity, an opinionated and focused point of view, and an aesthetic sense that you feel deep in your gut, will make you stand out.

1) Know who you are as a brand before you start. You might be very clear about what that is, but if you are not, try putting it into words. What is your artwork about? What larger trends, if any, are you aligned with?What are you opposed to? What need does your work fulfill? What problem does it solve? Visually, what represents you? Musically, what represents you? What gets expressed when you make things? You don’t need an autobiographical answer to each of those questions in order to open an Instagram account! But it helps if you could confidently answer a few.

2) Make sure that every post, and every element within your posts, represents you as a brand. This gets really obvious after you think about it awhile.  Take me for example. Lee Wolfe Pottery is based in the organic, natural world and is connected to simple living, artfully prepared food, warm and welcoming homes that nurture and revitalize creativity. So, which of these does not belong in my photos as a staging prop?

a) a flower from my garden

b) works by other artisans, such as block printed napkins, hand carved wooden spoons, handmade soap

c) garden vegetables, fresh baked desserts, organic eggs

d) plastic cutlery from Dollar General

I hope you got that one right. It’s d.

3) Look at your posts as a whole. There should be enough negative and neutral space within each photo to allow the grid of your posts to seem harmonious and uncluttered. For example, my posts are usually shot on a white table. I space my dark background shots so that they have at least 2 white background shots before and after. This isn’t the only visual formula that works by any means! But a formula is important.

4) Be social more than promotional. A life lesson to apply: no one likes that person at a party who is always selling insurance or trying to list your house, even though you’d be likely to ask within your circle of friends when you need insurance or a listing agent. So use your IG as a window into your world more than as free ad space. Post a bit of daily life in your studio, new works shot informally, and other parts of your life that directly relate to your brand. Watch which posts get the most likes and comments and then post more like that. People will teach you about what to post if you pay attention!

5) Like and comment liberally. It’s free and it matters.

6) Space your posts out. I don’t like to post more than 1X every 4 hours, no more than 4X a day (usually less than 4). You don’t want your posts to be spam. If you have multiples of similar photos, pick only the best, the one that tells a story, the one with great lighting and composition.

7) This is really everything: always add value. If you can’t see the value, don’t post it! Give people something interesting, informative, revealing, inspirational, beautiful, and/or funny. Think about original and unique posts. Play with editing apps. Make still shots little collages. Bake things just for Instagram! Make your children  hold things on their heads or until their little hands cramp while you get the perfect angle… okay, maybe not that. But do stretch your creativity and make an account that must be followed because it is that good.

you can follow me here LeeWolfePottery, if you like.

If you want to succeed on Etsy, don’t take advice from Etsy

Etsy has come under fire for anti-feminism once again; this time by Emily Matchar, whose book  Homeward Bound spawned a maelstrom of indignation on Etsy’s blog. Is Etsy, as Matchar suggests, peddling a false dream of DIY Utopia, a hipster revolution won with glitter and glue guns?

According to Matchar:

But now, in many progressive communities (Austin, Brooklyn, Portland, my hometown of Chapel Hill, NC ), small—very small—businesses have gained a new, distinctly groovy luster. In these parts, people speak of an "artisan economy" of "hyper-local" businesses selling "handmade" goods. In this new artisan economy, running a teeny-tiny business is not just fulfilling, it's morally good. Not only are you pursuing your creative goals and rejecting the rat race, you're also striking a blow against corporate behemoths and all they represent—greed, environmental destruction, the homogenization of culture.

If you take out the sarcasm, I agree. There are fulfilling moments in my own artisan career path unmatched by anything else. And it worked exceedingly well for me as a mom with children in my home. There are sound, wise reasons for women to cherish domesticity and yearn for a home based business.

The problem :

According to studies, less than 40 percent of small businesses are ever profitable.

That’s what Matchar cites to indict Etsy for peddling a false dream???? Really? Because according to this Inc Magazine interview “It seems fair to assume, using statistics the company has released, that there are fewer than 1,000 sellers who make $30,000 a year or more, and a mere handful who make more than $100,000.” So the very-bad-odds-of-success with a fledgling artisan business turn to virtually-guaranteed-to-fail if you rely solely on Etsy, Unless financial poverty is part of your business plan.

I was among that elite “fewer than 1,000” before I started my website  Lee Wolfe Pottery which now generates the bulk of my sales. In this I am typical. Most artisans who manage to sell well on Etsy graduate to their own website, which makes Etsy a poor barometer for how well artisan businesses are doing. It also makes the advice and collective wisdom spewing forth from there particularly bombastic. I mean, if you go to learn, most of your advisors are failing.

The truth is, the internet has changed the nature of commerce to the supreme advantage of Indie businesses IF you use it intelligently and think like an entrepreneur rather than a drone. This suits me just fine.

Back to the question,Is Etsy peddling a false dream? Not for its investors! But for those who really would like to quit their day job, Etsy is doing a very poor job of providing an artisan business access to financial success while giving itself a lot of credit for it. Many of the things that might nurture a fledgling business cripple an already successful one, so, perhaps inadvertently, Etsy is engaging and catering to marginal businesses while repelling viable entrepreneurs who want a professionally hosted site with more stability, fewer capricious changes, and less interference with buyer transactions and communications. In its favor, Etsy has undergone huge changes in its young life, and it isn’t done yet. The promise of supporting and empowering home based artisan businesses is a worthy one.

Your thoughts and experiences are welcome!

New Website Launching Soon!

pieces currently available at OneClayBead

LeeWolfePottery.com is in the works! I am excited and strangely filled with a humble grace as I move my online sales to a website of my own. I’ll be offering my full range of dinnerware options, heirloom wedding gifts, and fine artisan serving pieces. Plus it will look really cool.

dinnerware currently viewable on Facebook

I want to acknowledge Sarah-Lambert Cook of Tuckooandmoocow for her invaluable help and encouragement.

hand painted Chickadee locket by Sarah-Lambert Cook

To a smart young person like Sarah, setting up a website means a few weeks of learning CSS while breezing through the endless ‘next’ buttons on the 4,261 steps necessary to create a web page in 5 easy steps. Whereas to me, who was born into an era when an Apple was a fruit, the web was built by a clever talking spider named Charlotte, and technology gurus published helpful tips on how to operate your manual can opener, creating a website is synonymous with

or perhaps building a nuclear reactor that comes in a box with “some assembly required”.

Anything on LeeWolfePottery.com  that looks like Yoda made some stoneware pottery or reads as if ee cummings wrote the descriptions is mine. But anything that actually works is to Sarah’s credit.

I also want to acknowledge and thank the Full Time Etsy Crafters for their inspiration and technical help. These women have opened many windows and doors into what I now see as possible as an artisan business.

As always, I work, create, and dream in solitude, but it is the radiant candles of friendship that light my path.