How to Launch a Course When You’re Already Too Busy Running Your Creative Business (Copy)

Business

14 Aug

Written By Georgia Draws A House

**How to Grow Your Instagram as an Artist (Without Feeling Salesy)**

If you’ve ever opened Instagram with the best intentions, only to end up scrolling, comparing yourself to strangers, and quietly wondering if it’s even worth it..
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Hot Takes:

Optimise your profile
Content you enjoy making
Hacks

If you’ve ever opened Instagram with the best intentions, only to end up scrolling, comparing yourself to strangers, and quietly wondering if it’s even worth it.. Then let me tell you, you are NOT alone.

For a lot of artists, Instagram feels like an exhausting mix of “you have to be here to sell your work” and “please don’t make me dance on Reels.”

But in mine and my student’s experience, Instagram can be a place that brings in customers, builds a community who loves what you do, and even leads to life changing opportunities… without it feeling fake, cringey, or like a whole other full time job.

The secret is to stop doing what you think you “should” do and start doing what actually works for artists.

After teaching over 100 students inside my Level Up Your Instagram program (and growing my own account to over 40k followers), these are the four simple steps I recommend.

1. Optimise your profile

Before you even post anything new, check if your Instagram profile passes the “stranger test.”

If someone stumbles across your page for the first time, can they..

Instantly understand what you do?
See your work clearly without going on a wild hunt for it?
Feel like they’d enjoy following you?

Your username, profile picture, bio, and pinned posts are your shopfront. Make them obvious and inviting.

2. Create content you actually enjoy making

Here’s a secret most “Instagram gurus” won’t tell you.. if you hate making a certain kind of content, you won’t keep doing it. And the second you stop, your growth stops.

That’s why I focus on content that feels easy for you. For some artists, that’s process videos. For others, it’s storytelling in captions. For Nellie (one of my students), it was faceless content that ended up going viral twice.

The goal is to match your creative style with what your audience actually enjoys.

3. Make Reels feel quick and doable

Reels are still one of the fastest ways to grow on Instagram.. but they don’t have to be high-effort, mini short films with jazzed up editing for it to be worth it.

I use something I call the Two Second Reel Model inside Level Up Your Instagram, which is literally about making videos that hook people in under two seconds without eating up your entire day.

Tess, another student, increased her engagement by 84% with this approach, all without changing her art or her style.

4. Give people something to do next

The biggest missed opportunity I see is that we post without a clear next step.

You can post the best reel in the world, but if your audience doesn’t know where to go next, that momentum disappears.

This is where your bio link, captions, and stories all work together. Whether you’re directing them to shop your prints, join your email list, or book a commission you MUST make it obvious and easy for them.

Want support to get your instagram growing?

If you’re ready to make Instagram feel easy and effective, Level Up Your Instagram gives you the exact steps, tools, and confidence to do it — in just a few fun lessons.

Inside, you’ll get: