Comments on: Is It Too Late to Start Instagram?

By: Mary Rose

Mary Rose — Tue, 19 Nov 2019 16:25:29 +0000

No, it is not too late, there are new people all the time, and IT IS FUN and gives you an automatic portfolio of your work.

By: Laurie

Laurie — Wed, 08 May 2019 01:10:06 +0000

It’s never too late. However; pinterest is a tremendous under rated social media platform. The visuals and now hashtags are where people start their shopping experience. Remember this was a shopping platform
To start with.

By: Mary Anne

Mary Anne — Tue, 26 Mar 2019 12:07:43 +0000

In reply to Judy. I too, went from full time artist to social work in a non profit. And I also doing love labor intensive work like bead embroidered cuffs!

By: Mary Anne

Mary Anne — Tue, 26 Mar 2019 12:05:01 +0000

In reply to Lisa. My friend, who makes high end miniatures has gotten several commissions in the thousands of dollars just by posting to Instagram. Of course, he also has a solid following on Facebook, and a professional website too.

By: Judy

Judy — Wed, 18 Jul 2018 13:49:43 +0000

Wow! I’m so grateful that you asked this question, Megan, and for all the wonderful responses! I know people sell on Instagram, but I find the very thought intimidating. I’m a full time social worker in a non- profit which requires working a ton of hours, and have been selling jewelry on the side at a yoga center with a 60/40 split. I couldn’t keep up with creating new inventory each month (plus, I love making bead embroidery cuffs, and all but gave that joy up in the interest of making less time-intensive pieces) so I recently stopped selling there. I don’t have another sales outlet, and these comments are so timely and so very appreciated! Thank you!

By: Judith

Judith — Tue, 17 Jul 2018 18:56:03 +0000

I don’t think Instagram is going anywhere, and it’s actually fun and easy to use. Just take a good pic with your phone, write a short caption, and add a bunch of relevant hashtags. It can take as little as 5 minutes, To get followers, follow other people and comment on their posts. Some will follow you back and others will come out the woodwork (including junk accounts unfortunately). And to get the hang of it, just follow a bunch of different people you are interested in, both jewelry designers and completely different people. Figure skaters have taught me almost everything I know about Instagram! Some of them follow me back too. There are cabochon cutters who sell exclusively off Instagram, so that is one type of person/business you might want to follow if you like rocks. I don’t know if there are jewelry makers who sell mainly off Instagram. It looks to me like they use it more as free PR.

By: Elizabeth Payne

Elizabeth Payne — Tue, 17 Jul 2018 15:06:40 +0000

There are good tutorials on working with Instagram by Tailwind, an app that can help you schedule your Instagram and Pinterest postings so that you do not have to be a slave to your computer.

With Instagram, you include your shop address in your profile. You have 150 characters to describe yourself. With each photo, write a brief description, include hashtags # to refer your picture to those that would find it interesting. For example, I sell knitting stitch markers. I add hashtags #knittersofinstgram #knittinglove #stitchmarkers etc to my photo. You need at least eleven hashtags to get your photo seen.

Pinterest is also important.

Follow other artists, comment on their work. Instagram is a social network, be social. If you have pets, find a way to use them in your product pictures and hashtags. I occasionally have my poodle or my rescue chorkie in the background. I have followers that are knitters and poodle owners! With pro accounts you have free analytics to see what your viewers are doing when they see your post or pin. You can pay for promotions, if you want, but that is not mandatory.

There are free apps like Canva, Canva.com for desktop that you can use for making your graphics. There are many picture apps that have templates that will size photos for Instagram and help you design vertical multi picture pins for Pinterest.

Both Pinterest and Instagram help to increase your brand awareness. It takes time to build a following, so don’t be discouraged if you don’t see immediate results. Don’t pay for followers. When you start interacting, using hashtags, you will get followers.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Tue, 17 Jul 2018 13:58:42 +0000

I don’t have an Instagram account but I have heard that it has changed recently and like Facebook it is tougher on businesses. Remember it is now owned by Facebook so they have made changes to the platform. Having said that, I think you should try it as it seems to be a very “in” social media platform to use right now. Good luck!

By: Angela

Angela — Tue, 17 Jul 2018 13:11:51 +0000

It is never too late for social media! Rena makes excellent observations and suggestions. There are plenty of great blogs that have excellent advice on how to do this. I found the most helpful have been the actual Help sections from the platform itself as well as for social media schedulers help/tips sections. Sites like Hootsuite, Buffer or Postcron.
I have never sold from instagram, but there are plenty that do very well using that platform.
I see new businesses starting up every day on it. Never too late!

By: Joybelle Malcolm

Joybelle Malcolm — Tue, 17 Jul 2018 12:24:44 +0000

Megan/Mary,
I am also on this trail. Here is a funny though! My business has been registered on Instagram and Twitter for over 5 yrs. and I have never posted. OMG! What does this mean? LOL! It’s on my bucket list because social media is blowing up every second, so, it’s not too late, let’s do this! Good luck to ya!

By: Mary Anne

Mary Anne — Tue, 17 Jul 2018 12:00:12 +0000

Megan, I feel the same way. I was selling on etsy and also used flickr to heavily market my jewelry and art around 10 years ago. I faded out and got involved with life, and a new career in social work. I would love to get back in to selling my work part time things but yes, things have changed so much over time- I feel greatly overwhelmed. I also do not have the 6 to 8 hours a day 7 days a week as I used to to apply to this endeavor. I just wanted you to know that you are not alone!

By: Rena Klingenberg

Rena Klingenberg — Sun, 15 Jul 2018 20:42:54 +0000

Hi Megan, the benefit of being a “late starter” to a social platform is that you can check out the accounts that inspire you, and see what they’re doing, when they do it, and how they do it. Also, by the time a social platform is well established, there is also a ton of free info online for getting you started toward your own success there. In addition, most of the major social sites have a “business” page of info to help businesses (like yours) use the platform effectively.