Hey friends and allies!
Did you forget to put Instagram posts in your blog posts? Did you completely not realize Instagram posts were part of this course until last-minute reviewing the Personal Learning Journal rubric?
If so, you’re in the same boat I am!
Luckily, I did start a new Instagram account over the course of this… well, this course. I’ve been personally interested for a while in how “influencers” make social media their primary income source, and I did an independent study this semester, where I explored blogging a little more, in addition to this class. So, with my personal Instagram account, I’ve been sort of able to experiment with things that worked/got more views and likes, and things that… basically no one had any interest in looking at.
And, with that knowledge in mind, I made a new account. Maybe, one that will eventually help me with some kind of online presence.
If you’ve seen my latest post, and my Sketchbook Project process/review post, you might recognize Talitha, my live-action role play (LARP) character. (Have no idea what I’m talking about? Check out my blog to learn more about this weird game.)
Talitha now has her own little corner of Instagram to hang out in, @talitha.lamour.
So far, I’ve mostly been playing catch-up with her content. I’ve posted things like…
Costume Pieces
Illustrations
…both old…
…and new…
and Poetry.
I’m still figuring out some of the things I, and other people on Instagram, like seeing in their feed, but I think I’ve narrowed down some of them. Being a very visual platform, I have realized that, on Instagram, it’s pretty essential your content looks good.
The following post is one of my most successful posts on my personal Instagram, which I’m planning to model more of Talitha’s posts after. I think this post did as well as it did because I took the time to do an actual staged shoot, with my DSLR (rather than my phone), and went in and did some editing in Lightroom (rather than relying on Instagram’s basic filters and editor).
Something I also noticed about this post was the tags. I think part of the reason this post got as much attention as it did was because the tags reached out to multiple online communities: LARPers and historical costume-makers, and the witchy/neo-pagan and halloween-loving people of Instagram.
Another one of my more successful forays into photography was this post (TW – internal organs/medical imagery):
(This may have also inadvertently been the most risque picture on my account, which may or may not have had something to do with it’s success…)
Of course, not all Instagram imagery needs to be done with a fancy digital camera–but success may still depend on a solid understanding of relevant design elements, like lighting and composition, color, form, and that kind of thing. This picture, I took with my phone, and it still was one of the better-received posts on my personal account:
Reaching Out?
While I didn’t notice it as much on my personal account, I have noticed comments on my Talitha account that were basically other people trying to get me to follow them. It does seem to work–when people show an interest in you, it seems natural to want to know more about them, too.
One comment in particular caught my interest, on this post:
I checked out Eco Creations Co. They sell apparel and jewelry, and some of the profits from their products goes to the Environmental Defense Fund. Could their request for me to message them be a request to use these words on a t-shirt or something? That could be cool. Or is this just them personally advertising to someone who might be tempted by their products or cause?
I haven’t decided yet whether or not to message them (I know it’s been a week; they’ve probably forgotten about this comment), but maybe I should? Nothing ventured, nothing gained? Has anyone else encountered a situation like this? I’d love to hear about it.
TL;DR
If you’ve had any interest in my previous posts in this class, check out my blog about role-play and medieval combat, and my relevant Instagram account! I’m trying to suss out how this “online presence” thing works, and I’d appreciate the extra little boost of support!
Thanks everyone! See you around. 🙂