Instagram Graphic Designers

As a graphic designer, one of the questions you’re probably asking is what I should post on Instagram to grow my audience and consequently attract more clients?

Over the years, many graphic designers have managed to create a vibrant Instagram community, which has allowed them to pull in loads of orders from an increasing number of followers. So, the question is: what’s their secret?

Honestly, there is no secret, but instead, you need to draw from a pool of content ideas. Fortunately, we have a shortlist that covers just about every idea out there that should help successfully grow your audience.

It’s important to highlight that many of these ideas apply to other social media platforms too.

How Good Is Your Bio?

Image credit: @S0phiedesigns on Instagram

The first piece of content is your bio. The bio is huge. A high-converting bio should include the following:

• Your company’s name

• Your job title

• A short bio that explains what you do and what you offer clients

• Link to your website

• A Call To Action. Our advice is to offer something for free in exchange for them opting into your mailing list and ‘following’ you on Instagram.

Share Your Best Work

It’s a no-brainer, but some graphic designers don’t do it for one reason or the other. The most common reason is that they haven’t received their clients’ approval for that graphic design.

The easiest way around that is your ask your client for permission and offer to include a link to their website or their Instagram profile.

The advantage of doing this is two folds, the first being that prospective clients can see that you have lots of live work. The second being that you’ll be affirming to the client that the logo or any other graphic isn’t being used for anything other than your portfolio.

Some Behind The Scenes Pictures

Now beyond just your finished pieces of work, every now and then, post some behind-the-scenes photos and short videos on Instagram. Not only is this is an awesome way to connect with your audience, but it shows your human side.

Here are a few ideas:

• Film yourself illustrating a logo or maybe fine-tuning a website design.

• A timelapse of a day in your life as a graphics designer or creative consultant.

• Show off medals, certificates, trophies, etc.

• Show a design in the process. Speed up the video so that people can see the actual design come to life in a few minutes rather than the hours it would take.

“You” As a Graphic Designer

We admit that not everybody is going to be comfortable with sharing this type of content on Instagram. However, it’s always a good idea to show your face every now and then. At least on your IG stories, once a week is a good start. Think of it this way: This is your Instagram page with this is your audience and business.

You always want to face your audience and talk directly to them. Allow them to see the person behind the work.

Some of the most engaging IG accounts are ones where people share just enough about who they are with their audience.

Content That Adds Value

Everyone wants to learn something new. If you can share insights into your work, industry, or any other part of your process, it will help keep people engaged.

Sharing valuable content helps establish you as an expert. Think about the Instagram accounts you follow; why do you follow them? The most likely reason is that they share valuable content.

Think this way: when someone stumbles upon your Instagram account, they are asking, “what does all of this mean to me?” Sure, you might be creative, but what can you do for them?

Here are a couple of value-driven content ideas:

• Tutorials – You may want to show your audience how to retouch a photo or create a unique effect in minutes.

• Review a product – Talk about some of the products you use and why.

• Words of wisdom – Why you do something the way you do it. Maybe an easier way to do something.

• A bit of history – Maybe talk about what you learnt from doing things a certain way, and that changed the way you do things today.

You will want to make sure that your value-driving content is sharable. The more sharable it is, the more people will engage with it. Spend extra time to work on the visuals so that they come across as being professionally done.

Q&A Type Posts

The Ask Me Anything (AMA) format of the content is pretty popular on Instagram. This type of content helps because it directly engages with people following you.

However, you need to have already built up an audience for it to work. Then hop on Instagram and let everyone interview you. You can also bring on a special guest, like maybe your spouse or mentor.

We strongly advise that you take notes on the type of questions that the audience sends in. If anything, this type of activity can help fuel future content ideas.

Post Testimonials

So, this one is a no-brainer, and we are sure many graphic designers reading this are doing it already. However, it is worth mentioning if you’re not.

Testimonials are social proof. In a way, they tell people that you’re good at what you do. However, add a short Call To Action to power up the testimonial. Even something simple as “contact me for similar designs” can work great.

A word of advice though is that your feed shouldn’t be filled with a zillion testimonials, only the best ones.

Finally – Mix Up Our Instagram Tips

You should in no way limit yourself to the ideas above. In fact, if you have a better idea, feel free to use it to increase engagement.

As I might have mentioned earlier in the article, learn from what other larger accounts are doing successfully. You don’t need to copy and paste their work, just their strategy!