Transcripts
1. Welcome to Instagram for Creatives: For creatives, social
media is a convenient way to share their art and communicate
with people worldwide. But it does have its
share of drawbacks. In particular, how it can alter our mindset
and self esteem. Hi, I'm Lisa in Illustrator and licensing artists working from my studio in New Hampshire. Being a freelance illustrator, I've used Instagram as a way to share my art and
connect with others. Over the past year, I've witnessed them
exchange on the platform and can relate to the
feelings of frustration. As artists, our workflow
can be affected by these negative
feelings spiraling into self-doubt,
overwhelm and burnout. To avoid this, I needed to
find a fresh perspective on Instagram so that I could
focus on what I enjoyed most about being on the
platform to begin with. And that is what I want to
share with you in this class. I'll go over ways to establish a better relationship
with Instagram. That starts with understanding your unique purpose for
being on the platform. I've created a handy
workbook that accompanies this class for you to download
and help with the process. This class is not about
hacking and algorithm. It's more focused on personal
fulfillment, on Instagram, deepening your
creative skills and cultivating a
supportive community. Having a more positive outlook toward Instagram sounds good, then you are definitely
in the right place. Let's dig in.
2. Part 1 / Plan: It's time to begin planning your new relationship
with Instagram. How do we start to have
this more amazing, healthy attitude
towards Instagram? Well, it's not as
hard as you think. And I have included with this
class free workbook that you can use that'll help
you 0 in on your purpose. The workbook isn't a
requirement of the class. It's really just there as
a handy tool to help you. If you prefer, you
can easily just grab a piece of
paper and a pencil and jot down some answers to a few questions we're
going to go over next. It's really important
to ask yourself some questions to
define why you're on Instagram and to know what type of content
you enjoy making. When you've determined
your own purpose, you have your own
measure of success. It shifts all the
balance back to you. It has nothing to do with
chasing an algorithm. It's not going to feel so
overwhelming or frustrating. Instead, it's personal. You've determined your reason
for being on the platform.
3. Part 2 / Cultivate: On Instagram, it's
so important to let your personality
really shine through. And that's how you'll attract
a like-minded community. Whether your purpose
is to educate and inspire, promote, or grow. You need to let people know
what you're all about. Don't get caught up
in anything gimmicky, like follow for follow. Instead, really focus on
gaining authentic followers. People who want to be part of your journey and we'll
support you along the way. There are so many options when it comes to
content on Instagram. And as a creative, you certainly have an advantage. We are visual individuals. So this platform is
pretty perfect for us. Take a screenshot of this
list and then select five items from it
that you would like to try in your own Instagram feed. Depending on how you want
to approach Instagram in terms of mixing up features
are sticking to one or two. There really are four main
ways to share your content, and that's through
posting to your feed, sharing a story, sharing
a real, or going live. When you're building that
community around you. We don't always know what's going to resonate
with them best, coupled with the fact that yes, Instagram does lean more heavily towards one
format right now, knowing all of that, I think it's good to keep an open mind and try a
few different formats. See what you enjoy doing, and then see how your
community responds to it. I began participating
in art challenges, and I found to be so much fun. I've also started
hosting art challenges. I posted my first draw
this in your style. And it was just lovely
seeing people create this little koala character
that I designed in their own style and
sharing it with me. It was just, it was really inspiring and doing
those challenges, like on the flip side, when
I've done those challenges, it's a great way to flex your
creative muscles and try things and try color
palettes that you may not normally
gravitate towards. It's another way to
communicate in meat. I say meat in air quotes. Other artists online. Stories are really easy way to share your personality
and your overall vibe. There are a lot of fun and Instagram has added
features like stickers that make it a lot easier to interact
with your community. When you post a stories, if you click the icon at the
top that has a happy face, it'll take you to the
sticker menu and there you have a variety of
options to choose from. Stories are an easy way to
share more personality. They're only up on
Instagram for 24 hours, so you can be playful with
them and a little spontaneous. People are curious about
the person behind the art. And this is a great way to show them a little more about
you and what you do. I think by now everybody
has heard about reals and everyone seems to
have a very strong opinion. Right now, Instagram is
more willing to share them and push them outward,
then other content. That said it can be a great way for people to discover more
about you and what you do. I film while I'm
drawing and then using an app on my
iPhone called in shot, kind of chopped up pieces
of my process and then stitch them all back together and pop it up on
Instagram with some music. And my community seems
to find it inspiring. In fact, I pulled them in my stories to ask
if they'd prefer seeing me draw live or seeing a new creative
process real. And it was the
real that one out. Keep an open mind if you
really don't want to do reals, you don't have to. But I think you should try
it a couple of times first. And if you find it fun, it might be worth the time
investment if you do, especially if your
community responds to it and your community
grows because of it. Live is a great way to interact with your
community because it's your life so people can directly engage with
you, ask you questions. I totally see the benefit in it. As for me, It still remains something that
makes me a little nervous. I don't get nervous if I'm sharing the live
with someone else. If you have an
outgoing personality, going live, is an amazing way to connect with your community.
4. Part 3 / Nurture: One of the simplest ways
to make Instagram more of a positive experience is
by engaging with others. This means moving
beyond the Like button. Instagram is making it
even easier to engage with other creators by encouraging interaction through
collaborations, lives, and interactive
stories stickers. If you're not into all these
new bells and whistles, you can try a few other things that won't take up
a lot of your time. I've created a list to give you a few ideas on how you can
nurture your community. It really isn't rocket science. Most of it is just coming down
to being kind and polite. Respond to people who
comment on your posts. Reply to DMZ in a timely manner. Leave a thoughtful comment
on someone else's post. Share content of other
creatives that you admire and think your
community would enjoy, whatever the primary purpose
you wrote down for being on Instagram will benefit from
nurturing your community. Using Instagram direct
messaging to communicate with people is another
wonderful way to connect. You can use this to
send a note to friends and family as
easily as you could send a thank you
to someone who in community who messages you or respond to the messages that you feel are really
thoughtful in nature. Don't be shy. Start a
conversation by sending a DM of your own to
someone that you admire. Being on social media
is a two-way street. You can expect to get back if we're not
willing to put in, be friendly in social. Really, what's the point
of being on social media? If you don't want to
interact with other people.
5. Part 4 / Grow: How you grow on Instagram
is all about perspective. I think this is one of the
most important reasons that you can have to establish
your own measure of success. Because growth tends to
be the area that a lot of people are disappointed
in or frustrated by. When you begin on Instagram, you have a small
account and it's easy to be discouraged and feel that you're not
making an impact. Or maybe you've been on
Instagram for some time now, but feel like the efforts that you've put in are
just not adding up. It's okay if you only
have 50 followers, if they are really actively engaged and sharing
your content, if they're supporting you in there and authentic community, That's a good thing to have. How do we foster a
healthier perspective so that we can keep our
mindset and on good place. Feeling stuck at a certain
number of followers or putting a lot of time into
your content and posting something and you, it don't get the response that
you thought you would get. You're not alone. I struggled with this. I think anyone who's
been on social media has struggled with this and
still struggles with that. It's one of the downsides of social media is how we
can get in our heads. And especially as a creative, if those negative thoughts
begin to creep in, it affects our work, it affects our flow, it affects how even
approach our work. And that's a terrible
place to be in. Instagram's always
resonated with me. So I, I decided to refocus on Instagram and find a
better approach to it. As creative individuals. One of the best things about Instagram can be
finding your voice. It can be about sketching and playing and experimenting
in your creative process, and then sharing
it with the world. There are so many ways
to consider growth on social media that have
nothing to do with followers. You can grow in your craft and your skills, your techniques. You can even grow at creating
reals if you wanted to. By creating content that
is meaningful to you, the right people will find you and your community
will begin to grow. My best tip to avoid
getting caught up in likes is to simply
turn off the light count. I don't know if you're
aware that you can do this, but it is a very simple thing that you can do
right? In Instagram. It does take a certain amount of bravery and courage
to put your heart and soul in artwork in your creative endeavors and then share them with the world.
6. Part 5 / Bloom: Focus on your art and
stay authentically you. I wanted to find a way to make Instagram more of a
positive experience. Because I do enjoy
being on the platform. I like communicating with other artists and seeing
what they're up to. I like sharing my art. I didn't want to
abandon the platform. Instead, I wanted to abandon
the negative mindset. It was acknowledging that things were always going to be perfect. It was being more
focused about following people that lifted me up, that brought me joy,
or made me laugh, or taught me things
that I wanted to learn. I also began to set time
limits on Instagram. I was much more
mindful with signing on and what I wanted to
do and then signing off. Of course, because
this comes up a lot. I do want to tackle the
old algorithm dilemma. And personally, I
don't waste my time worrying about it because I don't understand the
reason behind it. I I don't I'm a freelancer. I'm a one woman show. I do not have the
mental capacity or the time to try to track and analyze and strategically
manipulate algorithms, especially when they're gonna change in a few months time. I think it's much more important to spend
time focusing on my art than it is worrying
about an algorithm. When you compare yourself
to another artist, you really don't know
that person's story. You don't know their
background and the hours they've invested at the
education that they've had, the effort that has been put in. Just as they don't
know that about you. Instead of comparing yourself to another creative
compare where you are now with where you
were six months ago. That's a healthier
comparison tool to have. The best way to
avoid falling down the old instagram rabbit hole is to set daily
limits for yourself. Set a time limit. Instagram has made it really easy to
do on the platform. And once you've done
that and alert will pop up and tell you when you've
spent so many minutes on the, on the app and then be good to yourself
and close the app. Setting a time limit
with this reminder made a huge difference
to me because we all know how easy it is
to lose track of the amount of time
we're spending on any social media platform. Here's some easy instructions
on how you can set a daily reminder to take
breaks on Instagram. Setting a daily time limit is really an easy way to make sure that you do have a healthier relationship
with social media.
7. Part 6 / Flourish: Don't be afraid to take full
advantage of the features on Instagram to give your followers unique insight
into your world. Embrace your creative
practice and be sure to celebrate the progress
you make along the way. Yes, you can gain recognition
from being on Instagram, but it's not a requirement to be successful in your endeavors. A better sense of
well-being comes from an accomplishment that you
have set for yourself. As we wrap up this class, I hope you keep in mind
a few important things. First and foremost,
to be mindful with the time you spend on Instagram, social media can become
a great big time suck. And more time spent on social media means less
time spent on your craft. Make a reasonable posting
schedule for yourself. For some people that can be
posting five days a week. For me that's typically
posting three times a week. That's the balance that I've
found works best for me. If you haven't tried this yet, please hide the light count. I really believe that can make a huge difference in
flipping the switch on your brain so that it isn't
heavily focused on lights. Through this class,
I have mentioned a few apps that I use and enjoy. So I wanted to include them here for you in case you
wanted to check them out. These are not affiliates. There's no link here. They are just recommendations
that I enjoy. All of them have a free option if you want to check
them out for yourself. If you really want to
be more in the know. Regarding all things Instagram, I highly suggest you
follow this individual. He's great for keeping
folks updated on the latest news and
happenings and he does a Q&A weekly in his stories. For our class project, I would like you to share your unique purpose for
being on Instagram. Include with that a
recent posts that you've made that you believe will
help cultivate community. Thank you very much
for taking this class. I do appreciate your
spending time with me. And if you have any
questions or thoughts, feel free to leave them. I tried to check
in with students weekly to answer any
questions they have. I also have a bonus supplement for students who have
taken this class. It's all about crafting a
more mindful Instagram bio. If you're brand new
to the platform or you just need a refresh, this workbook might
come in handy for you. You can find a link to it on
the class resources page.
Lisa Griffin, Illustrator
