Instagram growth for artists

Every artist is told Instagram is their gallery now, and it is half true. It is a gallery on a street nobody walks down unless something brings them there. The collectors, curators and commissioners exist, and they are on Instagram every day, following galleries, fairs and other artists. They just have never been shown your work.

Virallized brings them to it. Through your own account, we engage with the followers of the galleries, publications and artists your future collectors already follow, and the ones your work speaks to follow you back. No bots, no bought followers, and your feed, your statement and your prices stay entirely in your hands.

Why art accounts stall

The audience you have is not the audience that buys

Friends, family and fellow artists like every post and buy almost nothing. Collectors follow galleries and fairs, and until your work appears in front of them, the account grows in applause rather than income.

Studio time and marketing time are the same hours

The daily engagement that grows an account competes directly with making the work. Most artists choose the work, rightly, and the account sits still for months at a time.

One viral piece does not build a collector base

A post that travels brings a spike of followers who came for that one image. Collectors arrive differently: steadily, from the art world's own accounts, and they stay because they care about where the work goes next.

How we grow an artist's account

  1. You name the art-world accounts your collectors follow Artists in your medium one tier up, the galleries that show work like yours, art fairs and residencies, the publications and curators your buyers read. For makers, add craft markets and the materials brands your buyers follow.
  2. We engage with their followers, from your account People who look at art on purpose see your profile every day. We never post, comment or message on your behalf, so the work is always presented exactly as you present it.
  3. The ones your work speaks to follow, and collect Erika grew from busy-artist invisibility to an audience that engages with the work itself. Mela, a sculptor, has run with us for 18 months. Layla, a painter, saw it start working in her first weeks.

Who we reach for you

The strongest target most artists never think of is the interior designer. Designers and art consultants buy art constantly, in multiples, for clients, and their followers include exactly the homeowners who buy originals. Galleries and fairs bring the traditional collector; publications bring the serious audience; peers bring community. A good list mixes all four.

Medium matters as much as market. A ceramicist grows from craft and maker accounts, an oil painter from galleries and figurative peers, an illustrator from publishers and print shops. Your dashboard shows which targets actually convert, so the list refines itself month by month.

Every medium, every practice

The medium decides where the buyers gather, so a painter and a ceramicist run completely different target lists. These are the practices we grow most.

Painters

Galleries, figurative and abstract peers, and interior designers gather the collectors who buy originals off a phone screen.

Sculptors

Public-art pages, galleries and design studios hold the commissioners and collectors who think in three dimensions.

Illustrators

Publishers, editorial pages and print shops gather art directors and the print-buying public in one scroll.

Ceramicists & potters

Craft markets, maker collectives and homeware brands hold buyers who collect pieces and follow firings.

Printmakers

Print fairs, studios and edition houses gather collectors who understand editions and buy repeatedly.

Digital & NFT artists

Digital-art platforms, collector communities and artists in your style reach the audience that collects onscreen work.

Textile & fibre artists

Fibre communities, craft councils and slow-design pages hold an audience that values hours and buys accordingly.

Tattoo artists

Studios and style-specific artists gather the clients who book months ahead and travel for the right hand.

What artists say

I'm an extremely busy artist, and beyond the time-consuming task of making, shooting and posting my artwork, I have zero time left over for marketing and "networking" on social media. Virallized has made that quite easy for me. I've read other reviews saying the likes and follows were random, but I haven't experienced that — the outreach on my behalf has been focused on all the areas of art I specified: ceramics, clay, wood, plaster, glass, resin and paint, with a focus on nature, water, the coast and the soil. The artists who follow me actually go back through my feed and find pieces that resonate with them and comment. I've connected with many, and it's been awesome.

Erika Givens, Artist, @erikagivens_art, 5.4K followers

I really like that this company gets back to me about my questions very quickly. I've just started and so far I'm quite impressed with the results.

Layla Brady, Painter, @layla_painting, 9.2K followers

I've worked with Virallized for 18 months and can honestly say they're incredibly good to communicate with, and that they manage to find followers very successfully. My number of followers has grown to 11,000 in that time and I'm very appreciative of their efforts.

Mela Cooke, Sculptor, @melacooke.sculpture, 13K followers

The plan that fits most artists

Most working artists run Standard ($99/mo), typically 150 to 500 real followers a month, and step up to Pro ($149/mo), typically 250 to 1,000 a month with a personal account manager, ahead of a show or launch. Results vary with medium and targets, and every plan carries a 7-day money-back guarantee.

Questions artists ask us

Will the followers be buyers or just other artists?

The targets decide. Name galleries, fairs, designers and publications and the audience fills with people who buy and place art. Name only peers and you build community instead. Most artists run a deliberate mix and adjust it from the dashboard as shows and launches come up.

Does this work for commission-based artists?

Yes. Commissions come from being seen by people with walls and budgets: designers, collectors, businesses. Those are targetable audiences, and a commission enquiry starts exactly the way a follow does, with the right person seeing the work.

I am a hobbyist becoming professional. Is it too early?

If you want an audience, it is the right time, because small accounts see the biggest proportional change. A few hundred real, art-interested followers transforms an account that started with sixty friends. What matters is a profile that shows the work clearly and says how to buy or commission it.

Will you interact with people as me?

We engage from your account to make your profile visible, and that is all. No comments, no messages, no posts, no likes on things you would not like. Nothing appears in your name that you did not write, which matters when the account is your artistic voice.

Can it grow print and merch sales, not just originals?

Yes, through the same mechanism with different targets: print shops, illustration feature pages and pop-culture accounts gather exactly the audience that buys prints. Erika sells work made from her art, and the audience we brought engages with precisely that.

How is this different from a giveaway or a feature page repost?

Features and giveaways bring a one-day spike of people who came for the prize or the single image. Growth from art-world targets arrives steadily and follows because of the work itself, which is why it keeps engaging months later instead of going quiet.

Do galleries care about Instagram followings?

Galleries look at whether an artist brings an audience, and a real, engaged following is the visible proof. We never promise representation, but several clients have had galleries and publications find them through the account's growth.

What does it cost for an artist?

Standard is $99 a month and suits most studio practices. Pro at $149 adds a personal account manager, worth it ahead of a show, a launch or an open-studio season. Month to month, no contract, 7-day money-back guarantee.

Worth reading before you start

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