It’s so lovely to read such a transparent review of your recent experiences with Instagram Milena. I’ve started to treat the all as just a part of my social media presence. While I can post a little differently on each app depending on the kind of community I’m engaging with, the content I post is consistent across the platforms, with tweaks for necessary style differences.
Instagram is still important but I feel such a betrayal of trust and disconnect from any long term ownership of my audience that giving the app lots of time for unique content feels like a lost cause. However seeing how you present it, you’ve given me food for thought.
The thing is though, I’ve long wanted to make more video content for Instagram and maybe move to YouTube as well with more specialist content but since finding and recently launching my Substack I’ve realised this is one social media space I am happy to write and create very specialised content for because the audience I grow is something I own and the community here is undoubtedly so much more connected, enriching and engaging.
All in all, thank you. I can’t wait to read more of your posts!
It's really interesting to hear from someone with a similar approach! For the most part, I also repurpose content across platforms: blog posts turn into Threads posts and Instagram carousels, and my illustrations get shared everywhere in the same form. As for Instagram-specific video content, I stopped making reels of my art process since they took so much time and didn’t bring much traction. Even the animated mouse video I mentioned in my post didn’t do well. It seems like carousels are the only thing working for me, and honestly, I’m fine with that! They’re just another form of my writing.
I’m really enjoying Substack so far! Even though I’ve only been here a short time. The community is amazing, and it’s so rewarding to see my content actually reaching people. I’m still a bit lost with Instagram, especially with the recent surge of new followers. Part of me wonders if I should stop catering to it now that it’s growing… but hmm, you know what? I might actually write about this!
Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment and for sharing your experience! I loved reading your post about your new life in Chile. Looking forward to more!
Makes so much sense to simply tweak the idea presentation across platforms but the core post is the same.
Oh I think you’ve got a great opportunity to dive even deeper into your experience with Instagram there. I’m keen to read more of your thoughts on this, especially continuing on all you’ve shared in this post.
Thank you so much for reading my recent post and your lovely comment. I’m sitting down to write more this week.
Super relatable! I personally have given up on the idea of growing an audience there and just look at having it as a necessary evil... a sort of unwritten agreement as an illustrator because people expect you to have an account on a major platform. I will say, I do feel like insta still keeps me accountable in some ways to show up and make the work. And one thing that keeps me coming back there is the story feature. I like posting stories of a project over days, weeks, months and then compiling it into one highlight and see how the project progressed over time. But I totally emphasize with everything you said in this post ❤️
The accountability aspect is so real. Sometimes I think that’s the one thing that keeps me from fully abandoning it too. I love your idea of using stories to document projects over time; that sounds like such a great way to see progress in one place! Thanks ❤️
Thank you for sharing your experience with us, Milena! Oh, Instagram, I have such mixed feelings about it 😅 I think I'll rethink my approach to Instagram when I finally finish my website. For now, I just post my illustrations and something about my creative journey twice a week.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts! I totally relate... Instagram can be such a love-hate relationship. Posting twice a week feels like a good balance. I hope the process of building your website goes smoothly! How far along are you in the process?
Totally! 😅 I really like the process of creating a website, but at the same time it requires a lot of energy and time. At this point, I've decided what I want my website to look like and what I want to add inside. Some of the main pages are already ready, but work on them has not yet been completed. For example, I am currently working on the “artwork for licensing” section and at the same time updating my “old” works to make them look presentable and professional.I'm a maximalist, but I try not to overwork this project and not give in to my perfectionism. And I also don’t know anything about SEO so I have to learn about it as well. Much more work to do!
It is A LOT of work. I designed mine back in September and have been tweaking it ever since. What platform are you using? SEO is challenging for our niche. I'm still not sure what "the keywords" for us is...
Oh, it seems like a long term project for me as well! And getting into SEO scares me a little! Interesting but challenging! I decided to go with Squarespace after watching some reviews on YouTube. And I bought a “basic plan” so not all the features are available for me, but I think I will decide in a year if I should upgrade my plan to “business” for the next year.
Oh, I’m on the same plan now! I totally get the SEO struggle. It feels overwhelming at first. I can recommend the Squarespace SEO webinar. You can sign up for a live version or request a video. I learned that alt descriptions and image optimization are super important. It’s a lot of work, but it really helps with indexing. Keywords are still tricky for me too. One of my blog posts started ranking for 'visual storytelling,' but I’m way down the search list. It’s a slow game, but progress is progress!
These are things that I have wanted to try as well.
I know Anoosha Syed does the carousel of tips from her blog and it looks like it’s working well too.
I joined Instagram kind of late. I think in 2016. At first I loved having a place to share my work and connect with other artists. I didn’t really worry too much about numbers. I’ve seen it slowly change and try to compete with Tik Tok and Facebook (the merger now). I can’t keep up and am not motivated to fight the algorithms anymore.
All social media looks the same to me.
I joined Substack in October. I like this platform because it feels like the way Facebook used to be. I hope it stays this way.
Anoosha does an amazing job with her carousel posts and they're super engaging!
I totally relate to what you’re saying about Instagram. At first, it was such a great way to connect with other artists. But over time, it started feeling like a constant battle with the algorithm, and I just don’t have the motivation to keep up with it anymore.
Substack feels like such a breath of fresh air in comparison! It reminds me of the earlier days of social media when things felt more personal and community-driven.
I think it honestly depends what you're there for and what you want to get from Instagram (or any social media or publishing platform, really). What sort of audience are looking to build? Are you looking specifically to attract art directors? Parents who might be lead to buy your books? People to buy prints? Other illustrators for community? Newer illustrators who might be interested in courses? If your posting is part of a business strategy of any kind, then these things will be really important, rather than just going with the flow and sharing what you want to.
(Caveat, that this is coming from someone who has NEVER succeeded at Instagram and is also kind of wanting to leave it.)
I totally agree, it really depends on your goals and who you want to reach. I’ve mostly treated my Instagram as an online portfolio for publishers and art directors, since I’m actively looking for an agent. Until recently, I kept my feed focused on illustrations, and my reels were more about showing my illustration process. But I was pretty stuck at around 1,200 followers for a long time.
I’m still focused on breaking into the publishing industry, but I’m also considering selling prints since the pay rates in publishing aren’t always great, and I’m exploring other sources of income.
To be honest, I’m a bit puzzled too. There’s a lot to balance, and it’s hard to know what direction to fully commit to yet.
I’m really disappointed in Instagram right now. I managed to grow a pretty big audience with cute animations, but it turned out that’s not the audience I really wanted, and even with ~80k followers only a handful of ~1k really see my posts 😒 I thought having such many followers will help with my store, but it didn’t work either, because Instagram sensors everything that looks like advertising 🙈 My stories and posts about my products are the worst performing 😆
I also started YouTube channel, since my animations did pretty well on Instagram, but it was a disaster. First several videos got really good reception, but then everything declined and I’m getting about 20 views with my 1k followers 🙈
Seems like I don’t understand social media at all 😞
It’s so lovely to read such a transparent review of your recent experiences with Instagram Milena. I’ve started to treat the all as just a part of my social media presence. While I can post a little differently on each app depending on the kind of community I’m engaging with, the content I post is consistent across the platforms, with tweaks for necessary style differences.
Instagram is still important but I feel such a betrayal of trust and disconnect from any long term ownership of my audience that giving the app lots of time for unique content feels like a lost cause. However seeing how you present it, you’ve given me food for thought.
The thing is though, I’ve long wanted to make more video content for Instagram and maybe move to YouTube as well with more specialist content but since finding and recently launching my Substack I’ve realised this is one social media space I am happy to write and create very specialised content for because the audience I grow is something I own and the community here is undoubtedly so much more connected, enriching and engaging.
All in all, thank you. I can’t wait to read more of your posts!
It's really interesting to hear from someone with a similar approach! For the most part, I also repurpose content across platforms: blog posts turn into Threads posts and Instagram carousels, and my illustrations get shared everywhere in the same form. As for Instagram-specific video content, I stopped making reels of my art process since they took so much time and didn’t bring much traction. Even the animated mouse video I mentioned in my post didn’t do well. It seems like carousels are the only thing working for me, and honestly, I’m fine with that! They’re just another form of my writing.
I’m really enjoying Substack so far! Even though I’ve only been here a short time. The community is amazing, and it’s so rewarding to see my content actually reaching people. I’m still a bit lost with Instagram, especially with the recent surge of new followers. Part of me wonders if I should stop catering to it now that it’s growing… but hmm, you know what? I might actually write about this!
Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment and for sharing your experience! I loved reading your post about your new life in Chile. Looking forward to more!
Makes so much sense to simply tweak the idea presentation across platforms but the core post is the same.
Oh I think you’ve got a great opportunity to dive even deeper into your experience with Instagram there. I’m keen to read more of your thoughts on this, especially continuing on all you’ve shared in this post.
Thank you so much for reading my recent post and your lovely comment. I’m sitting down to write more this week.
Super relatable! I personally have given up on the idea of growing an audience there and just look at having it as a necessary evil... a sort of unwritten agreement as an illustrator because people expect you to have an account on a major platform. I will say, I do feel like insta still keeps me accountable in some ways to show up and make the work. And one thing that keeps me coming back there is the story feature. I like posting stories of a project over days, weeks, months and then compiling it into one highlight and see how the project progressed over time. But I totally emphasize with everything you said in this post ❤️
The accountability aspect is so real. Sometimes I think that’s the one thing that keeps me from fully abandoning it too. I love your idea of using stories to document projects over time; that sounds like such a great way to see progress in one place! Thanks ❤️
I like using the stories too and I like the idea of putting it into my highlight for my own personal growth. Thank you for sharing. I may try this.
Thank you for sharing your experience with us, Milena! Oh, Instagram, I have such mixed feelings about it 😅 I think I'll rethink my approach to Instagram when I finally finish my website. For now, I just post my illustrations and something about my creative journey twice a week.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts! I totally relate... Instagram can be such a love-hate relationship. Posting twice a week feels like a good balance. I hope the process of building your website goes smoothly! How far along are you in the process?
Totally! 😅 I really like the process of creating a website, but at the same time it requires a lot of energy and time. At this point, I've decided what I want my website to look like and what I want to add inside. Some of the main pages are already ready, but work on them has not yet been completed. For example, I am currently working on the “artwork for licensing” section and at the same time updating my “old” works to make them look presentable and professional.I'm a maximalist, but I try not to overwork this project and not give in to my perfectionism. And I also don’t know anything about SEO so I have to learn about it as well. Much more work to do!
It is A LOT of work. I designed mine back in September and have been tweaking it ever since. What platform are you using? SEO is challenging for our niche. I'm still not sure what "the keywords" for us is...
Oh, it seems like a long term project for me as well! And getting into SEO scares me a little! Interesting but challenging! I decided to go with Squarespace after watching some reviews on YouTube. And I bought a “basic plan” so not all the features are available for me, but I think I will decide in a year if I should upgrade my plan to “business” for the next year.
Oh, I’m on the same plan now! I totally get the SEO struggle. It feels overwhelming at first. I can recommend the Squarespace SEO webinar. You can sign up for a live version or request a video. I learned that alt descriptions and image optimization are super important. It’s a lot of work, but it really helps with indexing. Keywords are still tricky for me too. One of my blog posts started ranking for 'visual storytelling,' but I’m way down the search list. It’s a slow game, but progress is progress!
These are things that I have wanted to try as well.
I know Anoosha Syed does the carousel of tips from her blog and it looks like it’s working well too.
I joined Instagram kind of late. I think in 2016. At first I loved having a place to share my work and connect with other artists. I didn’t really worry too much about numbers. I’ve seen it slowly change and try to compete with Tik Tok and Facebook (the merger now). I can’t keep up and am not motivated to fight the algorithms anymore.
All social media looks the same to me.
I joined Substack in October. I like this platform because it feels like the way Facebook used to be. I hope it stays this way.
Anoosha does an amazing job with her carousel posts and they're super engaging!
I totally relate to what you’re saying about Instagram. At first, it was such a great way to connect with other artists. But over time, it started feeling like a constant battle with the algorithm, and I just don’t have the motivation to keep up with it anymore.
Substack feels like such a breath of fresh air in comparison! It reminds me of the earlier days of social media when things felt more personal and community-driven.
I think it honestly depends what you're there for and what you want to get from Instagram (or any social media or publishing platform, really). What sort of audience are looking to build? Are you looking specifically to attract art directors? Parents who might be lead to buy your books? People to buy prints? Other illustrators for community? Newer illustrators who might be interested in courses? If your posting is part of a business strategy of any kind, then these things will be really important, rather than just going with the flow and sharing what you want to.
(Caveat, that this is coming from someone who has NEVER succeeded at Instagram and is also kind of wanting to leave it.)
I totally agree, it really depends on your goals and who you want to reach. I’ve mostly treated my Instagram as an online portfolio for publishers and art directors, since I’m actively looking for an agent. Until recently, I kept my feed focused on illustrations, and my reels were more about showing my illustration process. But I was pretty stuck at around 1,200 followers for a long time.
I’m still focused on breaking into the publishing industry, but I’m also considering selling prints since the pay rates in publishing aren’t always great, and I’m exploring other sources of income.
To be honest, I’m a bit puzzled too. There’s a lot to balance, and it’s hard to know what direction to fully commit to yet.
Ah, that's definitely hard, then! There's always a doubt that you should have taken a different direction, isn't there? Good luck!
I’m really disappointed in Instagram right now. I managed to grow a pretty big audience with cute animations, but it turned out that’s not the audience I really wanted, and even with ~80k followers only a handful of ~1k really see my posts 😒 I thought having such many followers will help with my store, but it didn’t work either, because Instagram sensors everything that looks like advertising 🙈 My stories and posts about my products are the worst performing 😆
I also started YouTube channel, since my animations did pretty well on Instagram, but it was a disaster. First several videos got really good reception, but then everything declined and I’m getting about 20 views with my 1k followers 🙈
Seems like I don’t understand social media at all 😞