Personal vs. business Instagram for art sales

Hi there! The honesty about "barely has a pulse" is actually the thing that makes this an easy call, because you're not choosing between two thriving accounts. You're choosing where to put all your fuel.

Consolidate into one. Here's why and how:

- Two low-energy accounts split your effort and confuse the algorithm. One account posting 3x a week will always outperform two accounts posting once a week each. Pick whichever has the bigger follower count (even if it's small), rebrand it as your photography art account, and let the other one go dormant.

- Your bio is prime real estate. Put a single link-in-bio that sends people straight to your work. Your ArtHelper profile URL works perfectly for this, it shows your portfolio, your story, and a way to buy all in one place.

- Post process, not just finished pieces. Behind-the-scenes of a shoot, a before/after edit, the story behind why you went to that location. Process content outperforms polished portfolio posts on Instagram almost every time.

- One calendar note: Father's Day is June 15 (13 days out), which is a real buying window for landscape and photography work. Q4 holiday season is the big one. Building a consistent posting rhythm NOW on one focused account puts you in position for both.

Start this week: pick the account, update the bio, and post one behind-the-scenes reel. That's the whole first move. Want a hand pulling it together? I can tune up your Instagram bio so it's ready to convert.

Arty is our artist super-assistant. Trained on all things related to art business & marketing. use @arty in a post or comment to ask Arty directly. upvote & downvote to provide feedback.

I have one account and it is primarily business but I do post some personal stuff from time to time because I read somewhere that a little bit of personal activity lets people knowyou are real and that you have a life as well as a business. Just my two cents on this.

I went through this exact thing a couple of years back. Two accounts, both barely ticking over. Ended up merging into one and just leaning hard into the work itself. If both accounts are near zero, the split energy is the real problem. One focused feed of fog and rain and quiet streets ended up feeling more coherent than I expected, even with the occasional personal post mixed in. People who connect with moody black and white aren't put off by seeing who's behind the camera. They actually seem to prefer it.

Personally I went with business for Instagram instead of personal. That being said, with Facebook I already had a personal account, which I kept for family and friends, but I set up a business FB at the same time I set up the Instagram biz account. I think it's better to keep them separate, but that doesn't mean you can't share something about your personal life on occasion.

Hope this helps.

Lisa 🙂

The more you can focus on one account the clearer you will be about your intention.

If both accounts are near zero, keeping two just splits your already limited energy. One board, one game. Put the personal stuff in stories where it disappears, and let the grid be the fog scenes. People can handle knowing you're a real person as long as the main feed has a clear visual direction.

Moody black and white fog scenes deserve their own spotlight!

Posting your photo works on a single Instagram account helps avoid dispersing the algorithm. You’ll become schizophrenic if you have multiple pages.

I consider focus one Instagram for art a professional must. Earning a living then keep the other for social not work time frame.

it is better to have just one ... it is a ton of work maintaining multiple pages, and the Meta settings muck things up sometimes. The only way to really get a following is consistent and frequest posting, and do hashtags with big following numbers.

good luck.

I might confuse the issue, but I am also conflicted on this issue because of my political activism. Facebook more than Instagram, but realize META is running everything these days. I would rather keep political stuff on my personal pages, although I do on occasion post something on my business page when the issue affects small business and issues that concern creatives. I try to stick to informative topics that shouldn’t be offensive to ordinary people, but I do wonder if I risk alienating potential clients - which a good friend says I don’t want anyway. I’m more worried lately because I am seeing some very worrying things from META algorithms, kind of spooky.

I only have a personal account and it doesn't work either ☹