Should my Instagram name be my actual name or my shop name
I finally got around to setting up an Instagram account for my work. Small furniture, carved spoons and bowls, that sort of thing. I put my shop name as the display name and figured that was enough.
Then someone told me I should have my real name visible somewhere on the profile, not just the business name. Their reasoning was that people connect more with a person than a brand, especially for handmade work. But I also wonder if having a shop name makes it easier for people to find me when they're searching for a specific type of work.
For those of you selling handmade or one of a kind pieces, did putting your real name on your profile make any noticeable difference in how people engaged with your account? Trying to figure out the right balance here.
In my experience, people tend to connect with a person behind the work more than a brand name on its own. When I updated my own profile to include my actual name alongside what I do, I noticed more genuine interaction. Something else that helped was putting descriptive words in the name field, not just the handle, but the display name area. Something like "carved wood for the table" or whatever speaks to the people you want to reach. It gives the algorithm a better sense of who to show your content to, and it tells a visitor immediately if your page is relevant to them. I found that framing it around the audience worked better than just listing a shop name.