ABOUT THE PROJECT
Experimentation from the Bottom Up
Project Background
This research aimed to examine what it was like for an artist to set up and manage a new Instagram account and evaluate the "success" rates of various post types based on the reach and engagement of non-followers. For various reasons, Instagram was chosen for this project. Ultimately, the platform emphasizes media over text, whether the pictures or videos are presented in the form of regular postings or reels.
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It's the perfect visual platform for artists, allowing users to easily view their artwork in thumbnails on their personal page. In addition, Instagram offers a helpful business profile, a free tool for all users, to help them measure insights from their followers and the overall engagement of their posts. This feature proved extremely useful for me in the collection of my data.
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For this project, a new account was created to act as a blank canvas. Documents were generated to assist in creating a posting matrix and data sheets to track and evaluate the effectiveness of each post and each week throughout the posting period. The goal is to identify any patterns that, when applied to the issue of algorithms, can help an artist boost the success of their posts and grow their fan base.
In order to evaluate the effectiveness and success of each type of post, I made the decision to limit my posting efforts to regularly publishing photo posts and reels. To maximize posting consistency I decided to post several times per week for 30 days. In order to measure the "success" of each post, I recorded data. This entailed writing down the number of likes, comments, shares and bookmarks the day after each post. In order to see what content my followers and non-followers were seeing and how many engaged with the post, I also kept track of the reach and engagement for each individual post.
Based on the overall effectiveness of my content during the relevant week, data was also recorded. Weekly recorded data covered various topics: reach for followers and non-followers, the content reach of regular posts and reels, the number of an engaged audience and content interactions, and the total number of followers. This made it easier to see the account's overall growth. The way it is organized made it simple to compare the overall reach and efficiency of regular posts and reels.
Results & Observations
​After the 30-day period of posting, I was able to collect data for every post each week. I took the time to analyze and reflect on the information and my personal observations. The first thing to note is that I was able to maintain steady growth in terms of engagement with only a slight dip in week four, which may have been due to the Easter Weekend. This may have caused fewer people online or a decrease in interest in my posts as it was not related to the holiday. It was also hard to draw a firm conclusion on how many postings seven days a week truly impacted the overall results in terms of engagement for posting. As my followers grew, many of my current followers saw my regular posts and reels.
In terms of which posts are the most successful, my observation is that Reels are the most successful means of gaining engagement and followers compared to regular posts.​
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First, you can see the total reach of each post type for each week of posting, total number of reaches includes reach to follower and non-follower accounts. Week 1 starts off with smaller numbers due to the account being entirely new, how you can see Reels increased by 78% of reach to user accounts. In the following weeks, regular posts continue to struggle in terms of reaching user accounts even with the usage of hashtags. In Week 5, reach skyrocketed for Reels due to one Reel going viral. To date, the Reel is continuously receiving attention and engagement with 6,186 non-follower accounts and 886 likes.
When looking at overall engagement (including likes, comments, shares, and bookmarks) we can see the same trend of success between regular posts and reels. Due to the increased reach that Reels offer, engagement increases in comparison to regular posts. An important note about Week 4, three different Reels were posted which had a decrease in engagement compared to the week before and after. Reels still received better engagement and reach than my regular posts. This goes to show that Reels can fall short of success if not planned properly.
From my personal observations, paying attention to what sounds are trending on Instagram increases the chances of reaching user accounts. One Reel was posted on Sunday, so as mentioned earlier, the poor performance of this post may be due to the Easter holiday. As for the second Reel posted, I utilized an audio track that was over a month old when other audio tracks were trending. This may have been the reason for the drop in engagement. As for my third Reel, it did significantly better than the first two even though the audio track I used was older.
The overall visual engagement may have caused the difference in engagement. The first two Reels were simple, the first being a speed paint and the second only having two clips. As for the third, multiple cuts moved in time with the song playing, creating a visually appealing and engaging experience for user accounts.
In terms of patterns that can assist artists to build a following on Instagram, there are no concrete or long-term ones. With the data and observations, it’s clear to see that Reels have a heavy influence on account growth due to their increased reach and engagement rates. However, no one can predict whether new features will be implemented in the next few years that will become the new main driver of account growth.
The most important piece of advice that I can give artists is to play with the tools at their disposal. Also, maximize your content so that you post consistently on Instagram five times a week instead of seven. Even keeping your audience engaged will be much easier. Regular posts can also get more exposure if they include a repost of the story for followers in different time zones and eventual support from shared art accounts.
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Each person will have their own individual experiences in account growth, so there is no one size fits all plan. Ultimately, this experiment only looks at regular posts, Reels' features, and success rates. It does not consider the connection made with followers that ultimately increase the overall success. Perhaps it is simply a matter of trying, finding ways to manage oneself with posting, and creating connections with mutual artists and the community one has made.