Instagram accounts: one for business, one for personal, or altogether?

[Briana]

Poll for the masses: what is your opinion/advice on having a *calligraphy only* IG account, a *personal only* account, or just one account for all?

Here's all my thoughts/questions in one big mess because I don't know how to sort them out (part of this IG problem!):

• I joined IG long before I got into calligraphy or created a "business" name (Pickles 'N Vodka), so my account (@texasroyalty) is named for goofy personal inside jokes.
• Once I started learning calligraphy, I started posting my attempts and projects on my account for friends and family to see. It's such an easy way to share photos without becoming annoying or getting lost in the mess of facebook.
• Once the Flourish Forum started and I found other calligraphers on IG, my feed and "following" quickly filled with calligraphy. I'd say the balance is now heavily more calligraphers than it is friends and family, only because there are so many of you out there!
• Recently I've started getting a nice number of random followers because hashtags and the FF are such a great way to put yourself out there and find other people.
• I worry that a) people who follow me to look at calligraphy might get tired of seeing pictures of my cat, my boyfriend, my vegetables, or whatever other random things I post (but those are things I want to share with friends and family), and I contemplate that b) because my IG name is not the same as my "business" name I'm missing a branding opportunity or something.

All that being said, I wonder if I should make a Pickles 'N Vodka account for calligraphy or if I should simply change my username (like Natascha recently did). That way I wouldn't lose any followers who found me for calligraphy, but I would "lose" all the personal photos currently on my account. Then I could make a personal account again, but would probably lose my current username.

Does this make any sense? I'm highly nostalgic and can't believe I'm struggling with it over a social media account, and hopefully there's someone out there who gets the dilemma.

All thoughts, advice, questions, comments, concerns, and opinions are welcome!

[Linda Y.]

Hi Briana,

I've been on IG for over 3 years, before I got into calligraphy, so I totally understand where you're coming from. I started my IG with personal/fun photos of daily life like everyone else, and also to share doll photos with my friends in the doll community. Ever since calligraphy became a big part of my life, it's pretty much become the main subject of my IG account. I also changed my IG account name. I post personal photos every so often, but I like to keep my "worlds" separate. Most of my non-calligraphy photos are now on Facebook where I have separate groups for dolls/friends/family/etc.

If you decide to go the multi-account routeI would keep the same account and just change the name, because you'd want to keep your current followers - and let friends/family know about your other account(s). I wish IG has the same functionality as the Twitter app where you can easily switch between accounts. Having to log in/out in the IG app all the timewould drive me NUTS.


>>I could make a personal account again, but would probably lose my current username.

I'm not sure about this - and of course the Instagram help isn't very helpful:
https://help.instagram.com/139886812848894/

[Lori M]

Right now, I use Facebook (a private account) for friends and family, and IG for calligraphy. It's a good separation for me because most older people (my friends  ) are on Facebook, not IG. I agree with Linda, it would drive me nuts to log in and out of IG all the time. But I probably would if most of my friends weren't on FB.

[Briana]

Thank you for your advice, Linda and Lori!

[SueL]

I created a separate account for my calligraphy journey because I didn't think people would appreciate seeing random pics of my food, dogs and travel photos along with the occasional calligraphy post It's a lot neater. I also use IG as a way to document my calligraphy progress.

[Alexiz]

Hey Briana,

I was in the same boat as you. I have had my IG account since it first came out. My instagram has always been private and I didn't want to change it to public, nor did I want to bombard my family and friends with my calligraphy journey. I like using Instagram as a way to track my progress and such and its nice to have a feed full of awesome lettering and art! I totally hear where Linda is coming from cause at first it was annoying/cumbersome to constantly have to log in and out. But I found this instagram client App called fotogramme. Its pretty awesome. You can view your feed, comment, everything as regular instagram, except you cant upload photos. Since I'm not a really avid poster on my personal account, I have that one logged into fotogramme. And I have my Calligraphy IG logged into regular Instagram. And what's great you can still get notifications from both app's and both your accounts

Here's the website about the App
http://www.emotionale.jp/fotogramme/?lang=en

[Briana]

Awesome, thank you Alexiz!

[ohsoillustrating]

On Instagram, I have the name set up for my business but do a mix of personal and business. Being a small business owner, I know that human nature is to be curious so I feel like by adding certain elements of my personal life lets people/potential clients know enough about me to. Feel a better connection with me.

On Facebook, I have a personal account and a business account. 

[AmyNeub]

On Instagram, I have the name set up for my business but do a mix of personal and business. Being a small business owner, I know that human nature is to be curious so I feel like by adding certain elements of my personal life lets people/potential clients know enough about me to. Feel a better connection with me.

On Facebook, I have a personal account and a business account. 

Whatever you decide is fine. I like to see everyone's calligraphy, but I also like to see your cute dog, or fun food (etc) once in awhile. We are people too and it's nice to see my Tri-F's (flourish forum family) life photos too. It's called life, let's live it.

I just posted my random yoga pic, so sorry calligraphers. It's to win a free yoga towel.

If they don't want to see your "stuff" they will unfollow you.

Also I like to see actual portrait photos of people. Name to face is nice. Some people only have their calligraphy and I have no idea who they are, or if they are male or female.

[Linda Y.]

I'm with Amy - I just posted a pic of my dinner and (sorry) making everyone hungry. Haha!

I love seeing everyone's calligraphy work but I also enjoy "getting to know" the person behind the work. Like I LOVE that fact that Amy does yoga. And that Joi has two adorable little ones. Bailey and Elsa both have home gardens (JEALOUS!). Nickki has the cutest black lab, etc, etc...

[schin]

Oh man I would love to open a personal account.. in fact I was thinking of renaming @schinloong to @openinkstand and then opening a new @schinloong as a personal account. But as Linda said, having to login and out all the time would make me crazy!!! Is there an app for that?

As Amy mentioned, yes it's always nice to see peoples faces and personal life things on instagram too! But I noticed some followers are very touchy against personal photos and will unfollow. It's so weird. I think it's really up to you Briana, but personally I feel if you're going to use your business name as your IG, it would be the 'face' of your business.. a few Life pics is fine but I think too many irrelevant pics would make it look 'unprofessional?' Just my opinion though. I like how Bailey did it, one account for Antiquaria and another for her personal stuff.

[Linda Y.]

I just did a quick search and found this article. Like Alexiz said there is fotogramme, but none of the 3rds party apps let you actually upload photos (due to API restriction).

[Briana]

I like to see everyone's calligraphy, but I also like to see your cute dog, or fun food (etc) once in awhile. We are people too and it's nice to see my Tri-F's (flourish forum family) life photos too. It's called life, let's live it.

I love seeing life photos too, which is one reason I'm hesitant to change just yet. It's great to see everyone's lives and interests! The only projects I do are for friends and family anyway. I've had one commission from Instagram, but everything else has been my sisters' friends or my mom's coworker, etc. Maybe for now striking a balance is best since this is still a hobby for me! When I decide to do as Schin mentioned and make my account a business face, then the change is needed. In the meantime, the rando's can deal or get lost

I *do* have a "business" page on Facebook, which my IG profile directs people to anyway.

[schin]

Hehe I understand Briana! As you may have noticed I have just changed my instagram names and opened a new personal one. Now I can post pics of my silly dog and I!

[Nickkih]

I do mostly post calligraphy on my IG although I do add some personal stuff too. But like Lori I have a personal FB that I post mostly personal stuff. I hate logging in and out of anything so I most likely will never have two IG accounts. If I lose followers because of personal photos from time to time than that's cool.