Social media platforms are increasing in popularity every single day and could be one reason why having tattoos is no longer frowned upon by the majority. Social media platforms such as Instagram have really aided the tattoo industry in how popular it is in 2020 and I am here to tell you how!
Instagram is a very popular social media platform, according to Google, Instagram in 2019 had 1 billion active users and this figure is increasing day by day. This is insane! In June of 2018, Instagram had reached one billion monthly active users, up from the reported 800 million in September 2017. Instagram is reportedly one of the most popular social networks worldwide.
Instagram is primarily a network which allows it’s users to upload photos and videos, along with text. You can also upload “Stories” which only last for a certain amount of time, they are different to regular posts. It is a place where people feel comfortable uploading whatever they want, and that is exactly what you want in a business. The Instagram community, be it competitive, are also one of the nicest communities to have a social media profile on. This must have been considered when making the app – as it is an overall success.
One way Instagram has revolutionised the tattoo industry is by being a media based social network. Facebook could have never revolutionised the tattoo industry, as it’s primary function is to connect people. Whereas Instagram’s primary function is to be a place where people can share what they want, when they want. Therefore, tattoo industries took Instagram by storm more recently, when they discovered that it could be a place where they are allowed to share their work, including previous work and plans for future designs. The possibilities really are endless with Instagram.
The tattoo community started creating Instagram accounts for their business’ and expanding and advertising this way. They allowed themselves to be confident, by almost publishing anything they have ever done. I don’t know about you, but that sounds extremely daunting to me. However, they pursued with the posts and eventually it has paid off (for most businesses).
A good example of Instagram revolutionising the tattoo industry would be local (to Bournemouth) tattoo artist, Amy Billing. She runs a tattoo account on Instagram, and is insanely popular. She has 14.3K followers and her community is growing day by day. She has taken Instagram and made it her own business, showing off her artwork and designs through regular posts and advertising her work to gain more followers through competitions, in which the winner gets a space in her diary. Due to the popularity in her business, Billing is extremely busy and only opens her diary once every few months. She also does this through Instagram, showing the dates she has available and they are more than often snatched up within a couple hours. To get a space in her diary is extremely hard, she requests that you fill out a form, available through Instagram, which requires all the details about the tattoo you want. If this agrees with her, she will book you in.
Billing has made Instagram really work for her business, and I do believe that the popularity of Instagram itself has really helped her business. As through her success on the network, she has been able to open up her own tattoo shop, in the middle of Bournemouth. Although, that said, it’s not to take away from the amazing work she does, which you can see here, if you wish to.
In the past, tattoo artists had to have an already established business to be popular amongst society and featured in the newspaper, or on television shows. They would never have been able to land a celebrity client so they could catch their ‘big break’. The artists would have to start entirely from scratch. Spread the news of their tattoo business by mouth and hope that people were interested! They would have to hope someone walked into their shop and was confident enough to get a tattoo, as a lot of thought is generally behind the act of getting one.
Thanks to Instagram, this is no longer the case! Tattoo artists can easily set up an account on Instagram within minutes, and within weeks, should they post good content regularly, they would have a following. That’s the great thing about art on Instagram… it’s free! A follow to a page costs nothing, and in return the artist gets floods of followers due to the passion towards art itself. Art is a very easy thing to follow on Instagram. Everyone and their dog does it! However, this is hardly ever a hindrance. As one would think that too much of the same thing would be overwhelming? Well fear not. As Instagram has over 1 billion users, so it’s actually very unlikely we will see it all anyway! Which is yet another positive way Instagram has revolutionised the tattoo industry.
Tune in next week for another tattoo related post!