Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and MyPortflio

I have all kinds of social media accounts, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat etc which are all my personal accounts. Using social media as a business and self-promotion platform is really important as its free to use and is easy to keep up to date and on top of. 

At the start of my first year, around November 2015, I started an Instagram for my illustrations, just posting things that I have been working on at the university. I followed a few people I found relevant and interesting but only posted a few times a month and didn't have much interest. in my page. But over the summer of 2016 it started to pick up a little and launching myself into second year with the various demands of work loads I had lots of content to post and keep the page updated regularly. The past few months I have been making a conscious effort to post 4 - 5 times a week and it has really made a difference to my follower count. Its important on Instagram to use appropriate hashtags so the right kinds of people see your work. I make sure to post work I am happy with and think will therefore define me as an illustrator. I try and keep my profile picture fresh and up to date making sure it looks like me in an illustrated form as well as keeping my bio up to date. If I've not posted anything for a while either I like to keep my followers up to date so they know I'm still active on social media. 

Figure 1 - Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/elizabethrosedownhill/

The most recent thing that I have created is a Facebook page. I thought by doing this I'm exposing my work to a wider audience of people and more people. My Facebook network is different to the one I have on Instagram so by advertising both social medias I should be able to get the same people on each media to follow me and look at my work on different sites. I selected the page to have the 'Send Message' option right on the home screen to make it easier for people to contact me directly if they have any questions. I also put myself out there by inviting my whole entire Facebook friends list to like my page instead on waiting for people to find the page. Someone people might not be interested but the best thing about asocial media is that you can so no and it doesn't matter. On this page I post the images that I feel could be commissioned or made personal if someone asked I could make personal request. 

Figure 2 - Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/lizziedownhillillustration/

After our lecture with Pauline Ashcroft, I thought it would be important to resist my LinkedIn profile and make sure it was up to date. LinkedIn is a great way of networking with people you know, friends, people from your workplace, University and is important to keep these connections growing. I recently went on and made a few more connections to make people aware of my presence on the social media platform. I also made sure my skills were up to date and some of my new connections kindly endorsed my skills for me. This will look good to employers as other people are in a sense 'confirming' the skills I have. LinkedIn is slightly confusing but I have joined some groups relating to illustration and have tried to be more active on there to raise my professional status on the platform.

Figure 3 - LinkedIn Profile - https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-downhill-944837112/

Social media is so important in just getting yourself out there. You would be silly not to as its free and is a good way to make connections with people from all over the world at the click of a button. Being up to date, typing positively and interacting with people through these social media accounts will help promote your work and you as a person on the platform. Now with means of technology keeping up to date is easier and staying up to date is easier. 

Using Instagram also gives my work a slight purpose. I feel like I have an audience to show it off too and somewhere to proudly post my work which boosts me and my working practice. 

Starting this module I had a portfolio on Adobe through https://lizziedownhill.myportfolio.com. Before this I didn't really have a portfolio but I found this through Adobe which is free if you have a membership. This was just a place for me to put all of my work. Before the module I had a really scruffy layout that didn't feel professional. Its hard with free software as the templates and layouts are really basic but when I revisited mine and gave it an update. I made it all look fresher and more clean cut and together. 

Figure 4 - https://lizziedownhill.myportfolio.com/projects

Now this is up to date and looking smart and I can post that on my social media platforms as a link to see some other  of my work in project collections. It also enables me to write about myself and about the project I have been working on a little bit too. My next step is to make a physical portfolio but with work I am happy with and all looks and fits a certain style. I want to take my time with developing my portfolio over the summer as I want it to be a true reflection of my visual language which is something that I havnt yet discovered.