We discussed how to start your own resin business a few weeks ago and briefly mentioned Marketing on Instagram in there, but there is actually so much that you can learn about Marketing on Instagram specifically that we thought it deserves its own Blog.
Instagram and Resin Art go together like the sun and the sky! Instagram is a platform that thrives off of beautiful images on feeds and resin arts fills this need perfectly, I mean what’s more beautiful than seeing lots of colourful and elegant resin art photos displayed perfectly in one place?
Not only is Instagram great because it’s a platform that loves aesthetically pleasing images, but also for resin artists it’s free! It doesn’t have to cost anything to Market your beautiful artwork on Instagram if you don’t want it to, which can be perfect when starting out.
We’re going to take you through getting started with Marketing on Instagram, through to some tips for increasing your following organically (with real followers who will actually love what you’re offering) and growing your engagement on the platform too.
Getting your business profile started on Instagram:
Setting up an Instagram account is pretty straight forward, you might even have your own personal account so you’ll roughly know how to set up a separate business one too, they’re very similar to set up.
Below we'll cover how to do this in a step by step guide, although it looks like a lot of information and might put you off, stick with it, it's actually really easy!
1 - Download the app.
Posting content on Instagram can only be done via the app, not via the webpage (although you can use the webpage to engage with followers and reply to messages). So step one is to pull out your phone, click on the app store and download Instagram.
2 - Create an account using an email address.
While it might seem easiest to use your personal Facebook account…don’t do it! That will create an account based on your personal Facebook page. Since this is for your business, you should use your business email address.
3 - Profile basics and choosing a username.
Next, you’ll create a username and password. If you’re setting up Instagram for a company, the username should be the company’s name, or as close as you can get it. If your business name is taken, choose a variation of your business name, the type of business you are, the business location. You need something that distinguishes you from a personal account.
For example ours is craft.resin which is our business name, but with a . in it, as craft resin was already taken.
Do some research into this, you want to try to stand out, so if you just go for resinart there may be a lot with this or similar. Try to come up with something unique and personalised to you. Think about how you want people to think of your business, when they think of your username does it say what you do, what your business does etc.
Note: Instagram will automatically generate a username for you based on the name you input. This can easily be changed as you go through the prompts.
4 - Find Facebook Friends and contacts.
Then, you’ll be asked to find people to follow via Facebook and within your contacts. It’s best to have your account completed and a photo or two posted before you start following people so it’s okay to click “skip” for now. Instagram gives you the opportunity to find Facebook friends whenever you want from your page settings so this is not a one-time offer.
5 - Picking the right profile picture.
Picture time! Your profile picture should be your logo or something recognisable that’s associated with your brand if you don’t have a logo. Remember, this is your Instagram business account, not a personal page. Avoid the selfies or group pics. If you’re the face of your business, use a professional headshot you like or take a new one.
After tapping “Add a photo,” you’ll be given a few photo import options.
Do not import from Facebook; that will pull in your personal account info. You can import from Twitter as long as it’s a business account.
Once your profile picture is uploaded, you’ll be asked if you want to save your info. This will make future logins faster. You can opt to save, or you can hit “Skip” again.
After that, you’ll see a page with suggested accounts to follow. You don’t have to follow any of them – and you shouldn’t if they don’t fit your strategy. For example, don’t follow Entertainment Weekly if you’re setting up a business account for a resin company. Click “Done” in the top right corner to move to the next step.
(Again, this isn’t the only chance you have to find people to follow.)
6 - Complete your profile.
Tap on the profile button on the bottom right to see your account, then tap on the “Edit Your Profile” button. This is where you complete your profile info.
Fill out bio and contact information fields. This is the only place on Instagram that allows you to use a clickable URL. For example, if you were to post a URL in the comment of a photo you post, people won’t be able to click it, so don’t waste your time. Your profile is the only place you should put your URL – preferably directing people to your website or wherever you need them to go.
We’ll add in some information about Linktree at the end of this Blog, this is a great place to put your Linktree URL.
As for your bio, you’re limited by character count. Briefly summarise what you do and where you’re located. You can edit this section whenever you’d like so don’t worry if the perfect words aren’t coming to you right away.
For an example here is ours, it's simple, it's straight forward, everyone can see what we do and are offering:
7 - Now comes the business part.
Click “Try Instagram for Business Tools” and follow the self-guided steps and instructions to complete your profile and take advantage of the tools offered.
8 - Link your business Facebook Page.
Remember at the beginning of this journey when we said you needed a business Facebook page to be able to use the Instagram for business tools? Here’s why. Instagram will ask you to link your business Facebook page or create one. For those unaware, Facebook acquired Instagram a few years ago so there is more integration than ever with the two platforms.
This can be really great if you are time poor and your Marketing isn’t your biggest priority. Its great that Facebook and Instagram integrated because what you post to Instagram can now automatically be shared to your Facebook Business page, so this can save you valuable time at the start.
9 - Start Posting.
Time for the fun part! As we mentioned earlier, it’s a best practice to have a photo or two posted to your account before you start following people. There isn’t much incentive for people to follow an account with no content. Find a couple of photos you think would be share worthy.
As you’re in the world of resin art, you should have so many photos already available of the work you have already created. It’s always a good idea to get snap happy, take lots of photos of all your work as you go so that you always have a supply of images that you can share and even schedule if you use a platform like Later, further down the line. Too many photos is never a bad thing!
You might also want to consider at the start in your first few images to share an image of yourself. People buy from people, if people can see that your brand has a human element from the start they will more likely engage with you and in turn buy from you further down the line. Post a professional looking photo of yourself explaining a bit about you, why you started resin art, what you love, what’s you’re excited for in the future and how excited you are for people to see and love your work.
The key with posting is to be consistent. You will not grow if you only post once a week, or even worse once a month. You need to post to your feed daily, and to your stories a few times a day minimum. We’ll share a tip for this at the end of the blog.
With our feed we actually share images that resin artists using our brand create. It would make for a very boring feed if we only shared our products and so instead we have chosen to share what these products can be turned into. We then credit the artist in the text of the post by 💣 Original and then use their Instagram handle so people can easily find them and check them out:
If you are your own business creating your own resin art we would suggest only sharing your work on your business feed. You don't want your followers buying from your competition you want them buying from you. Notice on our account we don't share any other resin products from other brands!
10 - Write captions and use hashtags #.
Keep your caption brief and use appropriate hashtags. Hashtags are often used in a joking way, but they are also how millions of photos are found, and in turn, your content can be found. The most popular hashtags (#love, #happy, #tbt) range in the hundreds of millions of times used, so if you’re targeting a particular niche, consider using a more specific hashtag.
Also, keep the hashtags to a reasonable number. Followers don’t want to be spammed with dozens of hashtags per post.
Tip: check out Later’s Top Hashtags to see what’s popular on Instagram.
Here’s an example of a picture with hashtags that we posted to our @craft.resin Instagram, again we haven't gone # crazy:
11 - Follow people and get social!
By this point you have a complete profile, a couple of posts shared, and now it’s time to start following people so they start following you. From your profile page (bottom right house icon), go to the search page (magnifying glass icon in the bottom left bar).
From here, there are a few options at the top of the page:
- Top (the top people who have posted on Insta recently)
- Accounts (anyones account, business or personal)
- Tags (# that people are using)
- Places (where in the world people have tagged themselves into)
I wouldn’t even bother with the Top tab, people at the top have millions of followers and probably won’t engage with you or follow you back at the start.
Instead you can search in accounts for people that you may already know and follow them. It’s always a good idea to not only just follow those you know, but send them a little message afterwards too, something like Hey Barbra, I’ve just taken my business page onto Instagram, it’s very exciting, if you could follow me back I’d really appreciate your support. I’ll be posting lots of great content which I think you will love!
You can also follow people by searching through Tags (# used). Have a good think about the type of people you want to attract to your business, who is your ideal customer, what do they love, what # are they going to be using?
You can also search by Places (or location). Lots of people when they are out and about tag a location in. So where does your ideal customer live, where do they hang out? There’s no point in searching and following people in the US, if you’re in the UK and can’t ship out there. Follow your potential market!
Once you start following other accounts get commenting and engaging with their posts. This is how you get people to start following you back. And liking a post is no longer enough, so you want to comment on their posts, compliment them genuinely, spark up conversations. If you like or comment on their stories this will go straight into their inbox and this is a great way for them to see you and also a great place to spark up a conversation. Again show them a human behind your business.
Note: Do not go straight in with would you like to buy my products! Build the relationship with them first, they will not only then be more likely to purchase from you later on but also to re-buy and recommend you to their contacts and friends too.
As you post more to Instagram and follow more people, you can check your notifications page (heart icon) to see who has liked your photos, started following you, left a comment, or mentioned you in a post.
Start noticing what posts people are engaging with more and what times of day these posts went out, if you don’t get much engagement in the mornings, but do in the evenings, stop posting in the mornings.
12 - Find and define your brands story.
Once you’re set up and ready to go, it’s important to decide what your Instagram business account’s purpose should be and keep it on message. A resin artist can use Instagram to showcase their creations, their passion for what they do and also share tips for other resin artists who may be newer through photos and engaging with followers.
Keep on point, if it’s to share resin art, share resin art, don’t put images of your gym workouts on there, don’t post your photos of friend catch ups on there, save those for your personal account if you have one.
13 - Get your name out there.
Once you’ve got your account established, be sure the Instagram icon is on your website (best practice would be in your contact/about me section) and in your email signature. You can also include your handle on your LinkedIn page or any other site that drives visitors to contact you.
Extra tips:
Linktree - Linktree can be a great add in to put in your bio where you can showcase multiple links. So for example if you sell on Etsy, Ebay and your own website, with Linktree you can have all of these in one link that people can then choose where to purchase your resin art from. It’s also a great place to put your Craft Resin referral code too so that any followers wanting to purchase the resin you use can buy it through your link and you can then get paid for that.
Learn more about the referral program here.
Learn more about Linktree here.
Later - No not we’ll cover this later, but Later the social media scheduling tool! Having a resin business can mean that you are so busy creating and fulfilling orders that updating your social media each day can fall by the wayside and with that comes all the benefits for growing your brand that comes with being consistent when posting! Try out a platform like later.com to schedule all of your posts and stories so that you can sit down on a Sunday afternoon and create all your posts for the week/month ahead, then get back to making your artwork.
Find out more about later here.
Have fun! - Use your Instagram business account to connect to your network and enrich your relationships. Get creative with your posts, your images, create videos, reels IGTVs and Lives. Mix it up, get brave and smile through it all. You’re obviously involved in resin art to begin with because you like the creative side to it, well, use Instagram as an extension to your creativity!
You can do this!
