What kind of Instagram posts are actually working for you lately?

I’m new here. I have been experimenting with Instagram posts of different types. So far most of my reels stay within the 2 to 400 (occasionally 600 over time) views with little engagement. The one post of me cleaning my studio got 2000 views in one day which was crazy. However, it brought me no new followers. Static pictures and carousels have not had any traction, reels seem to be it and weirdly the reels with me in them seem to be out performing my other posts as much as I hate to be on the camera. But I need more followers!! And the right demo and audience. Please send advice😊

I'm actually looking at stopping my efforts on social media. I've done everything on the different forums for over 2 years now with zero rewards. Not a single sale and so much time and effort spent. This is fact, not a complaint. I started out after buying into Art Storefronts and this platform posting 5 times a day, videos, photos, telling my stories and sharing my beautify. Also paid lots of money toward advertising all at a loss. Got the likes, people follow me, drew people to my website, but it appears to me people just want to see it not buy it. All good, I learned a lot along the way, for one, social media isn't it. I will keep my presence there for people to continue to inspire people towards beauty but not to grow my pages. There is so much propaganda out there and at the end of the day these places want one thing, YOUR MONEY. It is a sad but true fact.

I do like this platform and enjoy seeing other people's beauty and talents as well. It is inspiring. I held my first show in person and feel this is the real path forward and am looking forward to next year to sign up for a gambit of shows. Most start accepting applications the beginning of the year. Hoping to get one more this fall, will know in three more weeks. Either way I love what I do and I'm always drawn to images of beauty in nature where ever I go.

I have backed down on the socials, stopped advertising and am seeing my presence growing only posting two images a day and send a weekly reel out from a hike and adventures I go on to FB, Insta and Tiktok. To your question, Reels get way more views and likes than my pictures alone over the past 2 years. Go with your gut, you'll find it. Cheers and love to you. Keep sharing your beauty🥰🥰🥰

This question gets asked repeatedly, And in my experience when people find something that works, you can't get them to shut up about it. Yet the countless number of times this questions is asked, nothing. Crickets. The only answer comes from Arty and it's a bot you pay for.

I have suggested several times that people on this forum should research and discuss rethinking art marketing. Doesn't seem to go anywhere which leads me to believe they're content following the herd.

I think I have mentioned this post to you already but in case I haven't: https://www.arthelper.com/community/artbusiness/post/why-art-marketing-is-looking-at-the-wrong-numbers

The answer to you question is more likely going to come from discussions about these sorts of issues rather than "Hey Josianne! The fact that you're questioning what to post instead of just posting more of the same puts you ahead of most. Flat engagement on a consistent posting schedule almost always means the content type needs a shift, not the quality of the work."

This was an interesting opening and made me wonder if I’m using IG wrong. For me, IG is mainly the tool where I post my stuff and let it share the post to Threads and Facebook. The craziest part is that so far I’ve gotten the most sales specifically from Threads posts, where people sometimes even ask about a certain topic or color for their rooms. By replying to those posts, I’ve been able to guide people to sales sites and get sales results that way. But IG is just an app where I upload a post and let it spread the message. To be honest, I don't give a damn whether I have followers or not.

I had co-pilot generate posts for me for two years and all it seemed to do is offer a daily art show peek of my art and people left with very low engagement. Didn't move the needle in sales.

Reels, with me in them, on IG are performing the best right now. Someone suggested a single photo with music will be starting to get more push by IG, but I'm sure not seeing it so far. With those, it will only get shown to followers the first 3-4 days. Non-followers remain at zero until day 4. But the reels get non-followers right away.

Now on FB, carousels seem to be equally good as reels if not better. Especially if they share a story with some emotion attached. But can't over do that either or it will seem fake vs authentic. Carousels on IG, on the other hand, have not performed well for me. But others swear by them.

I have to remind myself that all Meta cares about is keeping people on their platforms as long as possible. The constant reminders to get more engagement, post more-more-more are getting an eye rolls from me right now.

Although I just started with ASF, and I am in my 1st month, we (my husband and I - my husband handles all the back office stuff so that I can dedicate myself to creations) feels similar. We bought into Copilot, which does great and generate regular photo postings. My husband creates IG Reels which go to both my IG and Facebook, but like everyone else commented here, it only generates some traffic. New followers are not qualitative with a few exceptions here or there. There's no conversion between social media and sales.

We think that social media is strictly a support to all the work which needs to happen in real life, i.e. exhibits, studios, possibly art markets and networking very actively. It is no different than any other businesses: you have to go out and sell, sell, sell...

I post reels almost exclusively. They get likes with comments usually from friends. How to get engagement has really stumped me. Sometimes I wonder if the algorithm picks up on my behavior, whether I scroll by, like or comment.

none for me last couple of weeks, not that I care much anyways - with 25k followers I've never had a sale from ig

reels, reels, and more reels. That's what I've seen as having the most impact. Even if it's just a video of the finished piece. Make it a reel and post that.

When posting to i stagram and Facebook, how do you start the conversation? With a question ir a statement of fact

I I'm having about the same experience as you, Brit. It seems like the wheels where I am in it get the most traction, but it does not necessarily turn into a click on the website. As a matter of fact, unless I boost and I have a commercial, I can't track the ratio of views to website. When I did, I generated four clicks onto the website out of a thousand views, which I thought was pretty good, but there's no purchase.

Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, all of these social media platform might be the it thing, but it's not really turning into any sales so far. Keeping my hopes up, but really, Facebook to email to website ratio or any other variations (instagram to website) , none of it is generating sales, so it's a bit scary.

@Josianne Fahey

Word of mouth usually works for some of my customers but my work usually works for edges groups.. so happens where I paint ( storage unit) they allow small bands practice so everyone walks by my unit ! Or as always so coffee shops or new age dinners face to face commission pieces works!

For what it's worth, I've noticed the same thing with my own travel sketches. Static posts of finished pieces used to get decent engagement, but lately video has been doing most of the heavy lifting for me. Reels and stories seem to get pushed out so much further than a single image post. I still share finished work as regular posts, almost like a visual catalog of what I've done, but when I actually want people to see something and interact, I lean into short video. Even just a few seconds of paint going onto paper has pulled in way more eyes than a polished final shot. Your garden subject matter seems like it would translate really well to that format, honestly. All those greens and blooms in motion would be lovely to watch.

I'm a photographer. In addition to creating and posting wall art, I do a lot of sports photography, including surfing and youth sports. These generate views in the hundreds and sometimes thousands and lead to additional followers. They definiately do better than room view posts of my photographic art. What I can't tell is whether these new followers are eventual buyers. Nevertheless, this seems like a steady way to grow and expose more and more people to the work I do. So for now, its a great way for me to connect to the local community. Certainly a different basis than the fine artists on ASF.

I have been roaming around on all platforms the WWW offers for years (fb, insta, tiktok, youtube, pinterest), with tiktok making me feel queasy due to the many right-wing populist posts. X is even worse, so I quickly deleted my account there. I didn't sell anything as a result, whether money was involved or not! In the meantime I’ve already reduced my postings, because I waste too much time producing advertising clips, instead of painting the next picture or taking a photo. The Web eats up too much creative time.

Hey Josianne! The fact that you're questioning what to post instead of just posting more of the same puts you ahead of most. Flat engagement on a consistent posting schedule almost always means the content type needs a shift, not the quality of the work.

A few moves that tend to land for floral and garden painters specifically:

- Reels of you painting in the actual garden, even 15 seconds of mixing that four hundredth green with the real blooms behind you. Process content in the environment where the work happens outperforms studio shots almost every time because it gives people a world to step into, not just a product to look at. Instagram also pushes reels to people who don't follow you yet, which static posts almost never get.

- Put yourself in the frame. A photo of you standing next to a finished piece in the garden it came from, or even just your hands holding the palette with wet paint, consistently outperforms artwork-only posts. People connect to the person before they connect to the painting.

- The "finished piece with the story about the garden" format still works, but shift the story from describing the garden to describing what you noticed or felt. "This pathway disappears around a corner and I painted it three times trying to capture the feeling of not knowing what's next" hits differently than "painted this lovely brick path at the botanical garden."

- Use your caption as a conversation starter, not a statement. End with something like "what's blooming in your yard right now?" or "anyone else repaint the same garden corner obsessively?" Posts that ask a real question get comments, and comments are what the algorithm rewards.

The fastest win this week: film one 20 second reel of you mixing paint outdoors with the garden visible behind you, no talking required, just the sound of the brush and the birds. That format is doing serious numbers for plein air and garden artists right now.

Want help putting together a few post ideas tailored to your garden paintings? I can draft a week of Instagram captions for you

Other resources you might find helpful:

- Observations on one trial reel a day for a month — One artist's month-long experiment with daily Instagram reels, showing what metrics improved and sharing concrete findings about engagement drivers.

- Selling Art in 2026: What's Actually Working Right Now — Current insights on what Instagram strategies and sales approaches are actually working for artists in 2026, addressing algorithm changes and collector behavior shifts.

- What happens when you paint over a painting four times and the last version becomes your most viral post? — Deep analysis of what Instagram content strategy worked for a successful painter, with data-backed insights on engagement patterns and post performance.

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 am very surprised by the number of views I am getting on my reels. The ones that get the most views, I am talking 1K+ are the ones with me just working on any the of many steps it takes to create textile art. I even got one with 5K+. That what I am posting. Short and sweet.

Reels for me typically get more attention. Short reels at show a bit of my process painting.

none R working for me. I dropped way down in my # of postings from nearly daily to maybe once a week, because it did not seem to ever get any significant attention. I felt I was just wasting my time & efforts.

So far I have had three spam requests from Instagram. Maybe it is one trying three different ways. That's all.

Thank you for the article and thanks everyone for being honest. I have grown my audience on FB and IG but sales do not reflect that. I spend more time trying to do the marketing side that I have lost a great deal of my creativity. I stay frustrated most of the time—nothing seems to move the needle on sales. As the time for renewal approaches on memberships and programs, I have to consider what is working and what is not. I wanted by sales to at least pay for the investment.

I’m new to all this, I am at a loss as to how to market my art etc

nothing has been working for me i've posted everyday and nothing works

not an expert i just don't at times as much on IG or to @threads or TikTok just are no guarantees are there?

instagram is dead 🙂

my niece &nephew painting on my studio floor! Sooo, not me.