I have not been shy about the fact that I am not a fan of social media, but it’s a bit more nuanced than that. The truth is that I am a big fan of consuming social media, maybe sometimes to my detriment, but I am not a fan of 1) the pressure to create quality content for social media, and 2) the fact that it seems necessary to use social media to be successful as a surface pattern designer. I do like the responsibility I feel towards maintaining social media gives me a metric by which I can measure my productivity (new stuff to post?), as well as giving me that oh-so-desired hit of admiration adrenaline when someone likes what I put out there.

Also, to clarify, by social media I am only speaking of Instagram. Yeah, it’s not even like I’m drilling away on content for multiple platforms. Nope, just the one. And even that is taxing to me. Sheesh.

Ideally, I would like it best if I could just set it and forget it when it comes to posting on Instagram, which I am already doing to an extent, but if I’m going to spend some of my oh-so-precious working hours on posts then I really want to maximize their effect. And the reality is that I’ve been putting the real work off for quite some time, but I have come to realize I might just be spinning my wheels if I don’t put in the effort. So, I decided to write about my experience for those of you who, like me, would rather walk around with a single rice grain in their shoe at an amusement park than give much thought to the ole ‘gram.

Not too long ago I had a social media advisor give my account a glance and got her opinion. The piece of advise she gave me that has really stuck with me was asking, who is my audience? I had been using a number of hashtags related to surface pattern design, and her question was whether that was who I was marketing myself to. It seems so simple, but yet so obvious. Of course I wanted my designs to reach art directors and companies, but also the masses. I wanted people who might one day buy something I sold. And considering that I would bet my bottom dollar that the sun will come out…wait, no - I would bet my bottom dollar a majority of my potential customers have never even heard the term surface pattern designer, let alone follow related hashtags. So while it’s well and good to be discovered by fellow designers, it might not bode well for business to reach other people trying to get the same jobs and sell the same wares I am, you know?

And so it’s been on my mind ever since that I need to sit down and do the work and find relevant hashtags to use that are not going to be seen by only other pattern designers (though I will continue to use some of the more successful ones because I love the SPD community and some individuals do follow the most popular ones). But if you’ve ever waded into the pool of hashtag usage you will know that it’s not so much a pool as a tsunami and absolutely anything can be a hashtag. And then there is the question of whether it’s better to use a hashtag that has a significant number of posts, or a smaller one for a more, ah, curated audience? The reality is that I have no idea. Hashtag science confuses me to no end. But I’m determined to figure it out, and here’s how I’ve started.

1. Pilfered - until recently I had no idea that you could see the hashtags that accounts on Instagram follow, but you totally can. Which made me realize that the best chance to come up on a specific company’s feed would be to tailor my hashtag to them. Not really practical if I want to maximize my reach, but a good source for hashtag ideas that might get you seen. The thing to remember here is that most companies have individuals whose sole job is to manage their social media accounts. So even if you manage to master the algorithm and get in your dream companies feed, the person who sees it might have nothing to do with hiring or licensing.

   To take this a step further, you can try to find individual accounts of designers or directors that would make decisions about hiring you. The problem here is 1. it’s kinda creepy to track down the personal accounts of these individuals, 2. they can be really hard to find, and, even if you do, they are likely to be private, and 3. it can be hard to fit the hashtags to your work without it being so obvious. If you tag a floral pattern with #doggystyles (not what you think), the jig might be up.

2. Analytics - I like to think that I’m not quite yet to an age where I look at things related to technology with a confused stare down my wrinkled up nose, but I definitely squint my eyes looking at hashtag analytics. It’s not entirely clear to me what things like bounce rates and impressions means, and I have no idea if they’re good or bad, but I do appreciate when I can see the effects a post get. I would love to figure out how to use this to improve a posts performance, but have yet to really succeed in that area. I don’t know if there is really any quantifiable way to test if hashtags are really serving the good purpose I need, but at least I’m getting more information to use?

3. Pilfered, part 2 - the great thing about following other accounts is that you can see the hashtags they use. There is no way to tell if those hashtags are successful or not, but at the very least it gives you ideas. Instagram allows for 30 hashtags, and my brain will dry up on ideas after 4, so this is a great way to see what other hashtags are out there. This is a less direct attempt to get seen by specific people or companies, like in the first point, but if you try some hashtags by accounts that are more popular than your then you might find some more traction.

So these are some of the methods I am trying to improve the ‘gram game, but the fact is I have no idea how people will have thousands of subscribers. I have heard so many takes on social media as well, and so I don’t know what to make of it. One designer talked about how one of her posts went viral, with thousands of likes and shares and saves, but it really didn’t turn into sales or contacts like she would have hoped. She, along with many others, have talked about not depending on social media for your contacts and consumers, but rather to build your email list instead to really connect with people. Still others say that social media is a nice thing to have, and yeah, sometimes a company will reach out to them, but it’s not the main focus for getting jobs and doesn’t really serve a big role in their business. And yet, still more people say social media is critical because it can define your brand and give you credibility. And there are so many people who have said that it’s the use of hashtags that really built their brand/company/store into the success it is today. Some have said that companies are looking for larger followings as a marketing bonus to working with a designer, and others have said companies couldn’t care less about followings if the work is good. It is literally enough to make you want to take a nap.

And what do you do if you have no email subscribers and have no idea how to get them?

I am continuing to look to better my hashtag usage, try to find the magic algorithm to find Instagram success. I am going to watch a video or something on how to make stories and shorts, because that is apparently key to Instagram success too nowadays. And I’ll use my posting service to plan out posts and keep regularly posting because some story somewhere told me slow and steady wins the race (maybe with a turtle in it?). But maybe I just need to look at this as a thing I am going to do, but not put too much stock and brain power into it. I like the idea of curating my brand and maximizing the visual appeal, but I really think I need to stop counting every follower I get. I want to release the pressure I’m putting on myself to win the Instagram race and just make beautiful things that I would want to buy, and hopefully others will too. And hopefully, one day, I will reach some Instagram follower milestone and be able to relish in my social success.