[LAUIL602] Feedback from Corrie Jones of Untapped Digital on my Instagram Presence

 

• @corriefjones / @untappeddigital

• Corrie Jones of Untapped Digital offered to review students' instagram accounts for free to and to give pointers on how to improve to increase clients, relevance and professionalism. I followed both accounts and reached out via DM for the opportunity to have some tips.

• Corrie was glad I enjoyed the webinar and was more than happy to offer tips and advice on instagram as a professional tool. She began by complimenting my artwork as "amazing." She is interested to learn how I come up with my ideas and how I develop a canvas. Having some reels or IGTVs will fulfil that question for the audience as well as increase my visibility on the algorithm. This could be done by setting up time-lapses on IGTV of me working and/or explaining the thought process of how I create my pieces. A 'before and after reel' would be immediate and effective. A reel of gathering all the colours together or how I feel inspired to create a piece of art would be interesting content. Something that will give the audience a greater insight into my practice and process that will encourage other artists to follow and connect with me in this space.

• The more different formats I have on my page, the more that instagram will prioritise my content on the algorithm. If I'm posting reels, IGTVs and even going live, then I will achieve a lot more reach and more of an audience looking at my content.

• Corrie also recommended to not be afraid to show more of myself on the page, allowing the audience to know me as an artist and a person. The posts I do have already of myself where I talk about my life are really nice and having those more sporadically and sprinkled through the page will be beneficial. "People always like faces in their feed and that kind of content always performs really well."

• "Generally your content is really great. The art is really cool visually and I really like the detail that you give in the captions and you tell the story really well there. You are great with using the maximum amount of hashtags in each and every post, putting them in a separate comment, using a long caption to have "dwell time" on each painting, and using the location feature. Keep testing, keep experimenting, observe your analytics if you need to, and watch back over the webinar and consider any changes you'd like to make to your bio or hashtags. Best of luck with everything!"

Reflection and action plan:

The feedback on my instagram was invaluable and I already knew from yesterday's webinar that my lack of video/in-motion content would be mentioned! I have hangups about reels, lives and IGTVs as I don't like myself very much. I have body image issues and elements of my face that I don't like. As a first port-of-call starting point, I need to work on this. It stems from my traumatic experiences of witnessing my mum have a stroke in a public setting, a childhood filled with eye and ear surgeries, recent double retinal detachment in 2018 and all of the emergency surgeries during that period, my very low level of vision that I'm left with, ad currently not having Tami - my Guide Dog. My confidence is in pieces. I think with time, healthier eating and exercise as the weather warms up and the gyms reopen, and upon Tami's return, I will start to feel more whole.

In terms of visual content for filming, I am going to struggle with this. I find it difficult already doing a lot of tasks on the computer. I need to consider who I can ask for help with filming, basic video editing, and assisting in livestreams when social distancing is over and we are out of a pandemic.

I am much happier with static material for the time being and think it serves me well - such as posting my selfies with longer captions explaining what I do, selfies of me where I am happy with how the photo turned out, etc. As we come of the pandemic and I can get some assistance, I can begin to start motion elements in video.

[LAUIL602] Online Shops for Independent Artists, Makers and Designers Webinar

• With Fiona Wilson, course leader at the University of Stafford

• Fiona Wilson prints started in 2012

• After completing textiles degree she began to sell work through art events and indie shops. Then made a web shop and shop on notonthehighstreet. Also does pop-up events and is a business mentor to 12 start-up businesses. Worked in sales and marketing for 10 years

• @fionacw1

• Why an online shop? Everything is online today. As a professional, having an online presence gives a visibility and credibility. It builds trust, shows your profile, testimonials of assurance. The main reason is clients want to see what you do and perhaps invest in it.

• Lockdown is a perfect time. Not many can go out safely and will be purchasing online. The past year has been just as busy for me as pre-Covid times!

• There are lots of different options for an online shop and it depends on what you are selling. Craft, music, fashion. Sell directly through social media now

• Crowdfunding sites to make products

• Which is the right one for you?

• When you design your own WordPress or Wix website you can implement an online shop as a feature

• Also Big cartel, Shopify, Squarespace...

• What are the pros and cons of making your own shop? Or another company making it for you?

• Think of time and budget available to you

• E-commerce sites such as Big Cartel is good for money and Shopify is seen as the best on the market

• Research Big Cartel vs, Shopify and which is the easiest to use

• Big Cartel is easy to use, set up a simple and fast, great themes to choose from and it's affordable. $19 or £17 a month but there are limited features

• Squarespace originally a portfolio platform, easy to use, stylish themes, unlimited products

• Online marketplaces to consider: Etsy, notonthehighstreet, Wolf and Badger, ASOS, market space

• There are pros and cons to all of them

• Allows you to sound good without setting up your own online store

• Low start-up costs

• Another channel to sell products

• Well established with customer base. Trusted and secure.

They do the marketing. Often good support, often charge commission on every sale plus fees

• NOTHS: Curated platform. Application process and approval. Joining fee is £199 and 25% of commission goes to them. Look at what is already being sold. Make sure you have good quality photos and product descriptions. Support and training is offered through regular webinars. They are good with postage companies. Big customer base is already there. I push people to go to my website and shop but NOTHS reaches a different audience. If you are using both consider that you may need different packaging without your website as part of the terms and conditions is that you cannot promote yourself

• Etsy: There isn't an application process, it isn't curated, and so there is a mix of quality in terms of items and products. Etsy is a great way to get started and to see if you have an audience and demand. It will take some time to understand how to use it. There are guides and support like Etsy Leeds or Etsy Sheffield on Facebook. You could have an Etsy, Folksy, and an online shop if it works for you.

• Pic Fair for photography

• ASOS marketplace and Wolf and Badger: Fashion and homeware. Account manager to help you get started. There are fees and commission prices so check the terms and conditions. ASOS is a high traffic website so consider if it's good for your products

• Social Media: it's not just about marketing a brand anymore, it's about social selling. You can directly sell goods. 67% customer buying journey is digital and more than 50% of people shop on their phone. Social media marketplace include Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest. Make sure you have a business account as it enables you to have insights and shopping tools.

• Instagram is massive. 1 billion people a month visit Instagram. Highest audience engagement rates. As a way to sell. Slightly younger audience 18–29. But not always. Instagram business profile required. It allows you to have a plethora of business tools to access to demographics and analytics which are very useful to gauge your audience. Not just about marketing anymore but also selling.

• Pinterest features something called rich pins or look pins. Used primarily for fashion or home decor products. It's not an online shop per se but it's another type of shopping experience that links to other websites.

• Online Portfolio Sites: creates a good online presence, visible and flexible, way of sharing your projects and portfolio, good for networking, easy to set up. Great for freelancers. Useful guidelines and advice, opportunities and competitions.

• Axis, Behance, Artsthread

• Online Membership Sites: 

• Crafts Council Maker Directory - £5 a week.

• Design Nation - £120 + VAT a year includes social media training, trade fair opportunities and many other benefits

• AOI (Association of Illustrators) - £210 a year. Folio Membership with 1:1 portfolio consultation, pricing calculator, insurance and copyright info

• Other Shops and Retail Outlets: Brick and mortar shops have their own customer bases you can capitalise on. Ask if they are looking for new people to sell.

• Online events and markets:

• The Hepworth - Christmas Market, Print Fair, Ceramics

• Digital Craft Festival

• Great Northern Craft Fair

• Paper Dolls

• Pros and Cons: Cheaper to attend (£500 for real life stall at an event). Don't have to travel great ways to reach broader range of customers. Craft Festival have a mailing list, directing traffic to your site. Networking and meeting of the smaller businesses. Some events are better organised than others. Doing videos, lives and reels. Being present online during event times if people have questions

• Print on demand websites:

• Thortful

• Society6

• Redbubble

• Spoonflower

• Teemill

• They print and ship the item off for you

• Pros and cons:You can create products quickly and put it up for sale fast. Shipping is taken care of. Low investment.

• Teemill: you only make a few pounds per shirt

• Thortful: Free to set up an account. You keep a copyright and your name and bio is printed on the reverse of every item. 

• Redbubble: They take 20% - 30% of money made from each product. A design that works on a face mask won't work on a flask

• Crowdfunding: Rewards-based crowdfunding. Give money to an illustrator for a pin, for example. May have a target of wanting to make 100 pins for £12.50 each. There has to be a demand for the product. Promote product and idea.

• Online shopping and marketing and LinkedIn.

• How to research what is best for you: Research. Look at your competitors who make work similarly to you. Analyse what they do, where do they sell? How do they host their website? What could they do better?

• Online shop through your own site: Has to look professional. Easy to navigate. Good quality imagery and photos. Try to get testimonials and reviews. Have a section about you. People buy from who they trust!

• You can start claiming costs back only after you start paying income tax

• Etsy has a listing fee for each item

• Sell with a consistent price across all platforms. What is the lowest you are prepared to take where you will still make a profit

• Artists newsletters

• £12,500 is your personal allowance before you start paying tax

• Be clear if something is made to order and there is a period of waiting time to make the product and send out. Ceramicists have a sense of urgency in selling products to clear stock and make next batch.

• Register as self employed in the gov.uk website. Don't have any kind of scammer do it!

• Redbubble have a rule where they only make payouts when your royalties reach £20 that month

Reflection: This was so incredibly helpful as there are so many shops on offer. Sometimes it can feel impossible to start. This webinar helped to give me a clearer picture of everything that is available with all of the pros and cons. There were also some very important points about how to set up as a freelancer on the gov.uk website and when to start paying income tax which I had no idea about. 

[LAUIL602] Instagram for Professionals Webinar

• Careers and Employability: Instagram for Professionals

• With Corrie Jones: Founder of social media company called Untapped

• @corriejones and @untappeddigital on Instagram

• Sophisticated elements of Instagram. Tone of voice, IGTV, going live, etc.

• Tone of voice and visuals: Content is shareable, saveable, consistent, constantly updated, relatable, clear set of visuals, customer first

• What is tone of voice? Every brand has one. How you speak to the audience. Contains a tone of voice

• Zone of tone: analysing an example and picking it apart. Is it very corporate? Self centred? Using contractions, social media elements, competitions, whimsical, community, emojis

• Build hype. Very informal. Freelance opportunity

• You may want to be somewhere in the middle of corporate and fun/light-hearted. Giving information in a personable way.

• What are your three core values? Is it being honest, creative, trustworthy, human, whimsical?

• If you were a brand will you use "I" or "we"?

• A good example is innocent smoothies who have a very playful and whimsical tone of voice to sell their products in an engaging way while retaining a corporate background

• Are emojis appropriate? It builds a connection and engagement. But if you're posting something serious then perhaps limit the use of emojis

• Consider language. Contractions. We are or we're? Be consistent with your website too in conjunction with your Instagram. Get your character across on social media

• Visuals: bright colours or pared back? 1212 format - Video, text, video, text. How do you want your instagram grid to look?

• Do you want to pretty Instagram, inspirational Instagram, aspirational Instagram?

• Photography. Cohesive with filters. Bright colourful images will get someone to click.

• People will use the first 9 to 12 images to judge, engage and perhaps follow. If the visuals aren't cohesive people won't follow.

• Think about brand colours though you may not want to overcommit to certain colours and visuals in case you change over time

• Instagram Algorithm: People always want to "beat" or "hack" the algorithm. It isn't out to get you

• It is a way of sorting out the feed and deciding on the interests expressed rather than chronologically

• Instagram will prioritise what you see based on what it thinks you want to see.

• Instagram will analyse your profile

• Post frequently, post your location, use hashtags (up to 30 in total). Actively engage in activity. The algorithm notes when time is spent reading a long caption, "dwell time." Notes whether a post is shared in DMs. Is the post recent? Is it relevant? Do users look at your profile often? For how long?

• Hashtags: a maximum of 30 can be used. No down voting if you use all 30. It's best to use hashtags in a comment to hide them in there. It makes the post look cleaner, while still targeting an audience. Switch up the hashtags you use often or Instagram will class the post as spam. Research hashtags. Macro hashtags - popular and big hashtags. Micro hashtags - more condensed focus and less popular bit your post will be better seen. Use a combination of macro and micro hashtags.

• A micro hashtag is a niche community with the potential of higher engagement. More effective. Your post won't move so freely and will rank higher and stick around in that hashtag. Look at the hashtags you're using and the users looking at them. What hashtags are your competitors using? 

• Instagram stories, reels, IGTV, going live. Instagram has a lot of features and will reward users who implement these

• Instagram Stories: stay in the front of the mind of your audience. Call to action to clients. Link in bio, promote new post, they are discernible through location and hashtags and can be hidden from certain people/audience. Instagram notes the engagement from stories and performs your feed better. Consider tone of voice and colour palette to match your brand, website and feed. No more than 10 to 15 Instagram stories a day as people will drop off at the constant information.

• Instagram Reels: reels give a new reach. Up to 9 thousand potential followers. Wow factor. Authentic. Go viral. No blurry images or video. No logos from other apps such as TikTok, Instagram recognises if something comes from TikTok with the logo and doesn't promote it as much. Instagram prefers original content and will promote/reward that much better. No borders or text. Not using music on everything due to copyright. Copyright free music.

• IGTV: videos longer than a minute. Vertical format. Links are clickable so that the audience can swipe up and visit your website

• Instagram Live: Engage with your audience then and there. Be authentic and honest. You could do a Q&A. Invite audience chat with you. Livestream of a new piece of art you're working on. Allows your audience to engage with you. Episodic content each week makes you become a destination and a hotspot on Instagram. Have a think about how these things can be used for you. 

• Using daily Instagram stories, regular IGTV, and livestreams through "lives" builds connections and promotes your Instagram page better in the algorithm.

• Questions: is there a better time of day for posting content? That depends on your audience and their location. You can take a look at your analytics and the hours that people spend online and the most on your page when you post content

• Does the algorithm prefer pictures with borders or without? Go through analytics and see if pictures with borders perform better than your pictures without borders. Instagram doesn't have a preference

• Paying to promote your posts requires a solid strategy in place first. It requires an audience to engage with your website. Don't promote your posts if you don't have a website. A lot of brands post on the hour or half an hour. So perhaps avoid those busy times and post before or after this

• The Plannable app can be implemented in your routine to plan and post Instagram posts

• Corrie has offered to look at students' Instagram pages for free and give feedback which I will take full advantage of!

Reflection: I thought I was well versed in Instagram but I have learned a lot more about the tools available through Instagram and its importance as one of the busiest social media platforms. I haven't thought about looking through my analytics before, or the demographic of my audience, and will certainly follow-up and look at those tools. I have also made the mistake of paying to promote my work to advertise to a wider-audience. It had gained me a following but I have no website yet to capitalise on. 

[LAUIL602] Professional Practice Session 2 Notes

• Inspire and enrich community and others lives on your own life? Financially be supported. Very different endeavours. Look after yourself or others? 

• Illustration is embedded within lots of industries. Not the old idea of illustrating chocolate boxes, jigsaws anymore. Illustration is everything and anything: homeware, knitted, crafts. It's a very exciting time to be an illustrator. 

• It's embodied everywhere and we are very lucky to be part of that industry to shape the world

• Shift and change and adapt to the environment to earn a living. Don't be afraid. Negotiate, prove your worth

• Fangirls over Patrick making the milk carton character for Blur. An adorable character design that defined a time and became a brand for the band. Applied to many products. Became a symbol of youth. I remember seeing it even after its original time period, into the mid 2000s, on various MySpace profiles and Livejournals used as avatars and GIFs. Changed into something else but still retained youth and subculture; attaching onto emo and a different music movement.

• Questions over the next 6 to 8 weeks. Can be very simple stuff. How to write an invoice? Basic questions of getting through life

• Studio Brief 1:creative strategies. Open talk. What are you interested in? This is a good opportunity to find out where those opportunities might be

• Arts jobs UK, working in house, working freelance, working for yourself

• Skills you need and skills you want. What do you want to learn? What are you asking of yourself?

• Blog – research. Magazines and commissioning illustration. Are they commissioning the work you make? How do you get in touch? Sending out mail – Instagram – website?

• All of this leads up to the presentation

• Connect with people. Industries, professionals, agents to make that visceral connection. Doesn't have to be super formal

• If you don't connect with these people they won't see your talent. You are valued.

• What you're adding to it is a new way of thinking and working so that you can step into the industry that is productive. That becomes a career.

• The study tasks will aid this development

• If you want to do a Masters – why? To go into educational fields, curating? Academic areas? Perhaps take a few years out and then go into the MA. Research academic MA courses. There are specific areas such as children's book illustration. To really appreciate it pace your education and experience in life. Really think about and consider things.

• Studio Brief 2:portfolio – can be playful, can be a piece of work with a few comments. 

• Visual identity – leave with a client or steering career towards somewhere. Think of what it is and spend your time doing it. Really thinking of what you need to do. Thinking of you and the branding. It's a digital submission in a lot of ways.

• Online presence – website. In-house. Freelance. Teaching. Show that you have social media skills. These are important now. Tailoring what you need.

• Who are you aiming at? How do you best communicate with them?

• Instagram may be easier to create and manage

•  Work to submit: All research on blog for presentation

• Presentation slides

• PDF of portfolio

• Some slides of visual identity

• Link to Instagram or websites

• Intro to the world contracts. Pay as you earn.

• Contracts: legal agreement between you and a company, or you and a person. Agree on a set of terms before entering a working relationship together. Protection and security. Working agreements. Each party's expectations on an outcome. Could be a publisher, creative, agent.

• Ben has a standard contract

• The AOI has help with this on their website

• Be aware of what you want, what you are offering to protect yourself

• Payment on time and in full

• Self protection. Contract limits upfront the agreement. It can also be used to get parts of our full payment. Some kind of financial recompense at some point

• Legal advice can be given for free. What's you're offering is an extraordinary talent that no one else can offer and what you need is to protect yourself and be paid

• Illustration can be centred anywhere and the work should be under taken within a timeframe, within the contract itself, proper requirementsIt's uncomfortable but payment is the first thing that you need to talk about. They have a budget. Understand the value of the work that you are doing. Your skills. Your training. Your time. Your investments and the quality of work that you're producing. You are talented and individual. It is spun gold. Nobody else can do what you do.

• Pay for your time, the work/the product/and outcome. The usage. Advertising or editorial? More or less valuable?

• How are you going to be paid? Faxed? Cash? When? There are various strategies that people employ. 30 days is fairly standard.

• Intellectual property ownership. Who owns the rights after you have created the image? You do. Don't accept a small payment if you are selling the IP.

• Bigger companies often take longer to pay

• Consider where your images go. Are you images going to be seen in a gallery, globally? In books? What context?

• Working within a timeframe, hours. Consider the work to be undertaken and timeframe.

•  Be specific as you can. Outline clearly what is to be expected and to be done. The timeframe it will be completed in. Email is usually the best way to do this. Legally binding document. From the date you pass it through. You have to be quite bullish sometimes

• Sometimes not many amendments are made in Ben's experience to the work.

• Project requirements. Make sure you are provided with all of the necessary information, assets, logos et cetera. It is important not to take on any extra costs to get the job done. Discuss the practicalities. Clients may never have done that print job before. Make sure the client provides what you need and the intangibles. Stock photos, recordings etc. That is not your job. Ensure they will foot the cost. Understanding between you and your client. Be brave.

• Look after yourself. Tax bill is horrible. 20% of everything earned. Freelance or employee?

• When undertaking the work it needs to be made clear whether you are a freelancer or an employee. It has an impact on how you are perceived and has legal/financial implications upon taxation

• You are responsible for your own tax

• Getting paid: How and when to get paid. Do you want paying on time and you can ask them for more money if not paid on time

• Intellectual property ownership is down to you and your client. You can maintain and own and license it to that partner/client. Negotiate. State whether it's one use only. Paid for one use only. If used again you should be paid again.

• Payment before giving full-size hi-res images is the best thing to do. You can show a smaller lo-res image.

• If you need to retain image rights you can put something in the contract to say you want it's on your website to Instagram and they understand that

[LAUIL602] Professional Practice Session 1 Notes

• Coping with freelance work

• Freelance life (how to stay sane)

• Huge distraction with being at home currently in the pandemic with Netflix and Internet

• Maintaining discipline of work. Be reflective. How you work best. Peak productivity. Know yourself. Be honest. Patterns of creativity. Timetabling can be hard but it can get you going.The biggest hurdles are often psychological

• Practical regime. Release creative thinking

• Doing the admin and tax work is part of everyday and set aside time for that

• You are human and people want to find you and see you. Go to work. Pricing list of what needs to be done. Regime

• Life hacks: Reshaping how you use social media. Apps that allow you to schedule tasks by project. To do lists for productivity

• Bad social media habits are hard to break. Block websites that are distracting!

• Allow structured procrastination. Be timeless for longevity. The occasional "off" day, not a day off

• Build exercise into day-to-day feed me physically and mentally

• What do you enjoy doing? Don't make work for other people. Make work that you enjoy

• Commercial admin – organising portfolio, rebranding, website, talking to clients, talk to agents etc.

• Take an overview of what's happening globally

• With no one to talk to, or bounce ideas off, it can be maddening

• Build preventative measures into your daily routine. Finish the day off with a set amount of ideas/drawings/concepts. However bad. Harvesting something is better than nothing.

• Who do you trust to be appropriate for feedback?

• The human touch: Try a skill swap. Put an event on yourself

• Networking. Real life networking (not possible at this time)

• "A lot of people I work for again and again. Keeping and maintaining that relationship" Ben Jones

• Clients are real people who understand that you are young and scared. Human.

• Portfolio master classes

• Follow-up on initial meeting with agents/clients but don't be creepy

• Appreciate your followers: you don't know what they will become in the future

• Defend your castle

• Agree your fee first. You don't want pizza, you want money. Take the budget seriously. Be transparent. You will be taken seriously.

• Have clear and consistent terms and conditions. 30 day payment terms. Late fees. Kill fees..

• Join an industry body

• Be reliable, be polite, on time and you will get paid. Don't miss deadlines.

• Chase chase chase – ideally contact the right person in the finance department, separate the payment person from the creative person. Confront the right people to keep the working relationship!

•  Update website often and email out to past clients. Make and print booklets and pitch to clients, get work on the back of that

• Turn work into promotional work. Like postcards. Individual and distinct style

• About being you

• Heart agency. Set of stamps turned into prints

• Risograph prints, screenprints. Foldout poster and portfolio on the other side. 

• Finding the right names and who to connect with

•  Find the area you want to work in. Think about who you can talk to.

• Talk to Pete as he seems to be into galleries/curating?

• Bikini list – the AOI have one to buy uses lots of useful job contacts

• The Dots – creative LinkedIn

• Intern