Social Media Campaign

Research

At the start of the campaign, like any project, research was the first task. The research was to find out more about the various social media platforms that I could use for this campaign. There are many platforms that a creative professional could use to share their work such as Instagram, Adobe’s Behance, Facebook, LinkedIn and TikTok. Instagram, Behance, Pinterest, ArtStation, TikTok, LinkedIn, and X (formerly Twitter) are highlighted for their unique benefits to artists, ranging from professional networking to showcasing visual portfolios and engaging with a broad audience through dynamic content (Prins, 2024). Platforms like Instagram and Behance allow you to upload images and videos which appear as 1080 x 1080 pixel resolution of an aspect ratio of 1:1. Facebook and LinkedIn allow you to upload images and videos which keep their original resolution and aspect ratio. This allows users to showcase their work without the worry of the form of media being cropped.

 

After researching the different platforms that could be used for this social media campaign, I began to research what makes a successful social media post. From this research, I found out that, in terms of ‘hashtags’, successful accounts on Instagram use between seven and ten hashtags despite the thirty hashtag limit. Studies have shown that using too many hashtags can become a disadvantage. For example, if your goal is to reach a specific audience, adding popular hashtags (example: #ForYouPage) to your posts might cast too wide of a net and fail to connect you with the right people (Sproutsocial, 2023). By limiting your hashtag count between seven and ten, you are more likely to reach the target audience as you are only including tags that are relevant to your post. If you are posting a piece of digital art, the best tags to use would be the software that you have used such as Adobe Illustrator or Procreate, the theme of your work and the medium that you are posting (digital art, photography, videography, etc).

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Why I chose the social media platforms

As my two social media platforms, I decided to choose Instagram and LinkedIn. Instagram was my first choice as a platform for my social media campaign as it was originally made for creatives to share their work with other creatives. Before this module, I mainly used Instagram as a platform to showcase my photography and digital media work so I was familiar with how to use the platform for a creative purpose. An example of this is that I know what hashtags are popular within the creative industry and what themes are the most successful. Although Instagram has now become a platform where people share their everyday lives, according to the latest data, there are 207 million people who are considered “creators” in a professional sense (Howarth, 2024).

 

LinkedIn was my second platform of choice for this campaign for multiple reasons. The first reason was that we were required to use LinkedIn due the platform’s main use being for industry professionals to share their experiences and give advice to other professionals. My second reason for using LinkedIn was to share my experiences as a co-founder when starting up my 3D printing business and to give advice to other users who are considering starting their own company. Being able to help other people who are in the same situation as me (starting a business) but do not know what they need to do creates a good feeling as it becomes a sense of online networking. It is also interesting to find out what type of businesses other people want to start and how I can help to make their business successful. 

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Influences

During the research process, I found multiple accounts on Instagram which are similar to the type of posts that I wanted to create. There are many digital artists on Instagram which use different styles of art in their work such as manga, cartoon, animated and 3D. For my posts, I decided to create pieces in a cartoon style so I looked at other accounts who also create cartoon pieces. One account that I found was @milostadic_art (Appendix 1) and the reason that I used their work as an influence was because they also created digital art based on superheroes. Throughout their profile, they have used a variety of techniques and styles but I was focusing on the cartoon styled posts. Another Instagram account that I took influence from @thisprocreate (Appendix 2). Their profile includes reels on various designs and time lapses of their process. My reason for choosing this account as an influence for my campaign is that they focus primarily on digital art. While I was looking through their account, I was able to decide what type of digital art I wanted to post based on what style was most appealing to me as a designer.

 

The main LinkedIn account that I took inspiration from during this campaign was Ravi Toor who is the Managing Director at a 3D printing filament company called Filamentive. I took inspiration from this industry professional as they post about their day-to-day experiences as a Managing Director as well as important updates/issues within the industry. After looking at their posts, I used my own experiences as a Co-Founder of ZD Design and Print LTD to write the captions/descriptions for each of my posts.

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Development of the campaign

Throughout my social media campaign, there have been both positive and negative aspects on Instagram and LinkedIn. The negative aspects were mainly on Instagram whereas LinkedIn showed more positive points. On Instagram, the most likes that I received on one post was 10 likes despite posting at the peak posting time for the platform. Another negative on the Instagram campaign was that after creating a question based ‘story’ asking for post ideas/commissions, I only received one post idea and reached only nine out of nineteen followers. This led to only six posts being made due to a lack of ideas and/or audience participation. 

 

On LinkedIn, the main positives were that I was able to reach over one hundred users on all of my posts. The main negative to my LinkedIn campaign was that due to procrastination, I only created four posts which meant that I was unable to post everything that I had set out to discuss on the platform. Another negative aspect that I had encountered throughout the LinkedIn campaign was that there was a decline in post interactions with each post. This meant that my posts were becoming less visible to my target audience. I believe this is due to leaving long periods of time between each post. 

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Time management

Before I began my social media campaigns, I created a schedule that I was going to follow when posting for each platform. Through research, I found out that, on Instagram, the best days to post creative content were on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays between 11am and 1pm. Then I researched when the best days to upload LinkedIn posts were, and I found out that the best days were Tuesdays and Thursdays. Using this information, I decided to schedule my Instagram posts for Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and LinkedIn posts were to be uploaded on Tuesdays and Thursdays. A negative to my time management was that due to procrastination, if I had missed a post, I would wait for the next day on the schedule which meant that if I missed an Instagram post on a Friday, the next post would not be uploaded until the following Monday. If I missed a LinkedIn post on Thursday, I would then wait until the following Tuesday to upload which meant that I would not upload for five days. When conducting another social media campaign, to make sure I do not miss a post, I will create multiple posts on the same day and schedule the posts to match my upload schedule. This way I will be less likely to procrastinate as I will have more time to make the next batch of posts.

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Analytics 

Between both social media platforms that I chose for this campaign, there is a significant difference when it comes to analytics. On Instagram, my profile gained 73 profile visits with 19 users following my account (Appendix 3). This means that 73 unique accounts have visited my account over the past ninety days. Based on data collected by Flick.social, the average profile views that an account got in April 2024 is 2,389 views (Flick.social, 2024). 

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My posts and stories reached a total of 57 accounts (Appendix 4) with 16 of those accounts following my account and 41 accounts being other users on the platform. Although there are less followers who saw my posts and stories than those who do not follow my account, the positive is that my posts were being viewed by people other than the users who follow my account. 

 

Your Instagram engagement rate is the number of likes and comments you receive per post, divided by the number of followers you have, multiplied by 100. A result of anywhere from one to three is thought to be good, while anything above three is considered an excellent engagement rate (Express, 2022). The account engagement that my design account gained was 16 which means that my account has a good engagement rate (Appendix 5).

 

As I mentioned above, the LinkedIn campaign had better analytics than the Instagram analytics. At the start of the campaign, my LinkedIn account started with 28 followers and connections and by the end of the campaign period, I had accumulated 52 followers and 50 connections (Appendix 6). I have gained these followers and connections through post interactions and following and connecting with other users on the platform. My connections range from course peers and university staff to 3D printing/modelling professionals and graphic designers. From the four posts that I created on LinkedIn, each post gained over 150 interactions; however, I only gained a maximum of 9 post reactions and 2 reposts on a single post (Appendix 7). 

 

After finishing the campaign, I researched how to gain more post reactions and on the LinkedIn website, it has given advice such as: Craft a powerful opening to engage readers from the start, make your LinkedIn post easy to skim to enhance readability and make a compelling call to action to encourage interaction and direct followers to a link (OmniCreator, 2024). If I did not procrastinate throughout the campaign, I believe that I would have been able to gain more followers and connections as well as gain more attention on my posts due to being more active on the platform, therefore my posts would have been more visible to my target audience.

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Examples of my posts

The type of posts that I made on Instagram were digital art posts focused around Marvel characters. The characters that I chose were Thor, Scarlet Witch, Iron Man, Hawkeye and Deadpool. I decided to create designs based on Marvel characters as I have a fondness for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) over other film franchises. To create these posts, I found royalty free images of these characters and used Adobe Illustrator to draw each section of the character. Then I took inspiration from one of their main characteristics to create the background. An example of this is, for my Iron Man post, I drew his arc reactor and scaled it to make sure that it was visible behind the character on a blue background. 

 

As mentioned above, I used LinkedIn to share my experiences and to give advice on starting a business. For each of my LinkedIn posts, I discussed each step to start a business. My first LinkedIn post focused on being motivated and determined to develop the business. I discussed that if you are not motivated and determined to put time and effort into starting the business, you will not succeed. The last post was different to the other three as it was a post to promote the University of Winchester Digital Media Department’s end of year showcase.

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References

Express, A. (2022) 9 tested tips to boost your Instagram engagement, Adobe.com. Available at: https://www.adobe.com/express/learn/blog/instagram-engagement (Accessed: 14 May 2024). 

 

Hashtags: What they are and how to use them effectively (2023) Sprout Social. Available at: https://sproutsocial.com/insights/what-is-hashtagging/#:~:text=For%20example%2C%20if%20your%20goal,you%20with%20the%20right%20people. (Accessed: 13 May 2024). 

 

Howarth, J. (2024) 30+ incredible creator economy statistics (2024), Exploding Topics. Available at: https://explodingtopics.com/blog/creator-economy-stats#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20latest%20data,between%201%2C000%20and%2010K%20followers. (Accessed: 13 May 2024). 

 

OmniCreator (2024) 10 must do things to get more likes and comments on your LinkedIn Post 2024 edition, How to Get More Likes and Comments on Your LinkedIn Post 202. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/10-must-do-things-get-more-likes-comments-your-linkedin-post-zwvrc/ (Accessed: 14 May 2024). 

 

Prins, N. (2024) Social Media for artists: How to showcase your work, SocialBee. Available at: https://socialbee.com/blog/social-media-for-artists/#:~:text=Instagram%2C%20Behance%2C%20Pinterest%2C%20ArtStation,broad%20audience%20through%20dynamic%20content. (Accessed: 13 May 2024). 

 

Bibliography

https://www.instagram.com/milostadic_art?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==

 

https://www.instagram.com/thisprocreate?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==

 

Profile views on Instagram: What’s good?: Over the 3 months (no date) Profile Views on Instagram: What’s good? | Over the 3 months. Available at: https://www.flick.social/learn/instagram-analytics-benchmarks/insights/profile-views/3-months (Accessed: 14 May 2024). 

Appendices

Appendix 1

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Appendix 2

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Appendix 3

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Appendix 4

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Appendix 5

 

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Appendix 6

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Appendix 7

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