Instagram has been adding a lot of new features over the past year. I’ve always enjoyed using Instagram to share my art, and recently I started thinking about some new opportunity's for artists to share their work. Here are just a few…

Pods

You might have heard of this weird new thing called Instagram pods. It’s when a group of Instagram users form a group to like on comment on each others posts. The general idea is that this will have a positive influence on the feed algorithm in Instagram, effectively making sure your posts don’t get buried.

Does it work? Probably can’t hurt. But I think if the group shows each other general support then that’s a great thing. Even though the idea primarily came about as a way to boost engagement, I think this other advantage is creating your own little community of practice to share ideas and support with.

User polls: Likes as Votes

You can undertaking a user survey and getting people to like your preset comment options.

Example, your post image or post text introduces the choices, A, B, and C. You then make a comment for each of the options, one each for A, B, and C. People then like/heart the one they option they wish to choose.

Galleries

You can now post up to 10 pictures in one post. This is great for anyone that has a narrative angle to their post. Comic artists on Instagram have used this to create little mini slideshow comics, where each new image is a panel. Another use is to show the artwork progress shots. Usually the finished picture is shown as the first one (as it’s the most polished , and eye catching).

Note: gallery posts have to be square.

Saved Posts

When Instagram first added this feature I thought it was interesting but I wasn’t sure how it could be useful. Instagram recently added another feature to saved posts, allowing you to create folders to save the posts into. Effectively creating a mini Pinterest.

What cool new features or tips for artists do you have? Leave a comment and let me know your thoughts.

I’m @awcomix on Instagram, come on over and say hello.