Week 8 | Post A Alternate Assignment

As my stained glass Instagram profile has been running for a few years now, I've opted to complete the alternate assignment this week.

My business uses both Facebook and Instagram for social media and Instagram is hands down the more effective platform for me.  I think that this is due to a few things:

• Facebook severely limits how many of your followers see your business posts unless you pay up.  Also, they take user engagement into consideration when feeding content to newsfeeds - if a follower (who has taken the time to Like your page!) doesn't like or comment on your posts Facebook will assume that they're not interested in the page anymore and won't show as much content from that page.  This is really a disappointing tactic, as not all users want to engage with posts but many do still want to see them.  And it also negatively affects small businesses that don't have the budget or reason to run ads.  Instagram on the other hand shows ALL posts to ALL followers.
• Instagram is more image-driven, which works extremely well for stained glass.  The focus is on the aesthetics of the image with little visual clutter, whereas on Facebook the images get lost in the mire of content a bit.
• It's easier to gain organic followers on Instagram by way of hashtags.  Yes, Facebook has hashtags but they aren't used to the extent that Instagram uses them.  It's easy to wander on Instagram and find new people who make stained glass, peruse their content, and decide to follow or not.  I get one or two new followers on Instagram every month simply by hashtagging.  I don't have this luck on Facebook.

Currently, my Instagram profile has 128 followers and I am following 72 people (largely other stained glass creators, a few friends, and several stained glass supply manufacturers/retailers).

I post whenever I have a new piece to show off, perhaps 2-3 times a month (though I wish I could be finishing and photographing creations constantly!).  I'm conscious of the "grid" on Instagram so I'm careful to take attractive pictures that are cohesive and interesting.  Any works in progress or silly pictures go into my stories where they will be seen, but will not affect my aesthetics.

Currently, I have a "base" set of hashtags on every post:

#shellebelledesigns #shellebelledesignsstainedglass #stainedglass #artglass #glassart #stainedglassartist #stainedglasspanel

And then, depending on the type of project or product I'm selling, I'll add some of the following:

#etsy #etsyshop #stainedglasspatterns #stainedglasspatternsforsale #nightlight #lantern #pattern

Following that, I'll add hashtags that are specific to what the creation is of, such as:

#cat #dog #moon #sugarskull #pineapple #lemon #dragonfly and so on.  Basically, I work to define my content from all angles so that I can tap into as many organic searches as possible.  It seems to do ok, though I've had my best results when I'm posting several times a week.

I also see some traffic from my Instagram into my Etsy storefront, so something is working to a small degree.  I do also enjoy the little group of other artists I follow!