Social Media Doesn’t Have To Be Overwhelming

I get these similar questions over and over again.

“I love what you do on Instagram, how do you do it? How do you know what to post? You post a lot how do you manage it without getting overwhelmed?”

A simple and probably not very helpful response is, “I enjoy it”. I know Instagram has had a lot of bugs lately but I still enjoy the platform, getting to know you lot and being inspired by other peoples’ content. I know that’s not what you want to hear so let me give you some advice which is actually implementable..

People want to know you.

How much do people actually know you when they follow your social media? You might think that sharing a few images of your face means that people know who you are, but you’ll be mistaken. It takes time and showing up repeatedly to build a connection with your followers.

As artists we’re often taught that, ‘our work should speak for itself’. Therefore why would anyone be interested in me and who I am. Historically people have always been fascinated with the artists’ story. What inspires and informed them into making the work they did.

This is why there’s a lot of value in sharing your story too. Who you are, why you create the work you do, what you want the viewer to feel when they experience your work.

I promise you, people do care.

You don’t have to be perfect.

I know you’ve heard this before, that your social media doesn’t have to be perfect. But I want to emphasis this as it’s an important point to remember.

If you’re anything like me, then you’re a self‑proclaimed perfectionist, a bit of a control freak and you hate people seeing your work when it’s not finished..

The idea of showing a work in progress or pieces that failed, used to make me feel a bit nauseous. ‘People will think I’m a rubbish artist if they see this’, was the narrative that played in my mind.

This belief isn’t real. The only person who is expecting you to be ‘perfect’ all of the time is you. The moment you realise that your own expectations are sometimes unrealistic compared to others expectations of you, you can start to show up as a more genuine version of yourself.

That’s the aim, to show up as authentic and integral as possible. The only way to do that is to actually be authentic and have integrity in what you post.

Document everything.

To avoid being overwhelmed with how much content I need to post I do my best to document as much as I can.

I bought a £10 tripod from Amazon which holds my phone. I use it to take images, videos and time lapses. I still don’t have any professional lights, I just try to place myself near a window.

I now have a folder full of content I can use to create posts, edit for reels or simply share as a video.

You don’t always have to create brand new content to share on your social media. You can look at content you might have taken months ago but just forgot to post, or repurpose content you’ve already shared by framing it in a different way.

Lead with value.

When knowing what to post I try to tick these two boxes..

✅ Educational

and/or

✅ Entertaining

People who use social media are on here for either or both of those things and it’s a good indicator as to if your content is valuable too. Knowing your content is valuable also encourages you to show up as it builds confidence in what you’re posting.

Educational content could include:

• Sharing what materials you use in a reel

• Making art on a live stream

• Writing about your processes in the caption of a post

• Putting a guide together of what inspires your art

• Answering a Q&A in your story

Entertaining content could include:

• Sharing images of your work in a post

• A time lapse of you making art

• Sharing someone’s funny reel to your story

• Using funny audio to make your own reel

The great thing about Instagram is you can share so many different forms of content: images, writing, short video, long video, livestream, stories. This means that you can lean on what you’re best at.

Have a think about what area you feel most confident in and focus your energies there.

Get to know your followers.

Do you know who is following you, liking your posts and watching your stories? This is important as you need to know who you’re speaking to when posting content.

My followers tend to sit in 4 different categories:

1. Family and friends who follow me because they want to show support.

2. Emerging artists who follow for the educational content I share and the work I do with @doncastercreativenetwork

3. Public bodies, eg. Arts organisations, community centres, theatres, charities. Who are interested in murals and my approach to art and accessibility.

4. Established artists, we tend to follow each other and sometimes discuss working on collaborative projects.

Because I have a clear image of who I’m talking to I can start to tailor content for each individual group.

Lastly, the more you interact with your followers the more you’ll show up on their feed too. Instagrams’ algorithm will push what you post to all the people you interact with the most. Replying to messages and comments is how you build this.

You’re building a habit.

I typically post everyday, often twice a day. I didn’t start out the gate doing this though. I’ve slowly built it up to where I can consistently post now without it feeling like a lot of work. I usually spend an hour each day writing/filming/photographing content to share to my social media. That can sound like a lot of time for some people as you may not have an hour spare.

This is why you need to start small.

I would start by challenging yourself to post 3 times a week and then slowly build from there.

I’ve been posting consistently for around a year now so it does just feel like a habit. It gets a lot easier once you get into a rhythm.