On November 2, 2024, I interviewed my expert, Ssktmmee or Sorn, a Thai illustrator. She graduated in communication design. She has been working on Instagram for 5 years, starting in 2019. Her character design is a dog. She has designed many products with her character and collaborated with many companies. https://www.ssktmmee.com/collaboration/ https://www.instagram.com/ssktmmee/
She is an expert because she knows her audience very well. She knows how to engage people and gain their interest. She is growing her audience very fast and is still growing. She also learned how to work on social media platforms very well, which helped her to get more audience in different ways.
I met with her online via Zoom. Here is the interview transcript of the questions that I asked her.
- How do you engage with your audience on Instagram?
- Sorn: I’m not posting work too much, but I post very often. For example, if I want to post a new product, I will post it only once and will not post about this product again (in case it is restocked), but I will have something to post every day because I want to keep in touch with my followers.
- What type of content tends to get the most engagement?
- Sorn: For me, most product posts get lots of engagement. A post with a video that provides all of the information that people want to know is the post that will gain engagement.
- Sorn: I think each social platform works differently. For example, Instagram is where people want to see a nice image of the final product, whereas on TikTok, people would like to hear your story or journey more than the final product.
- Sorn: I posted the process of making a doll keychain on TikTok, and I gained a lot of customers and followers from there. Because of the story I posted on TikTok, the keychain has become a popular item in my business.
- Do you think there is a trend in this community?
- Sorn: Yes, I do.
- If yes, are you doing work that follows the trend?
- Sorn: I need to follow the trend to keep customers. If customers love my art and my characters, they will buy it. And the trend is affecting the sales.
- Sorn: But sometimes, I follow the trend with my style, which becomes the new trend.
- Do you use storytelling or process-sharing as a part of your Instagram strategy?
- Sorn: Not really. I will post a short video of the final product instead of storytelling. If I want to post a storytelling video, I will post it on TikTok.
- I explained my project and intervention to her. And here is her feedback about it.
- Sorn: I think you should give complete information in one post. For example, a post about the final art toy should include final images and videos of your process because people see one post instead of the whole profile. If they are interested, they will go into your profile and explore the other work.
- Sorn: Since most people don’t know the artistic process, maybe posting the video on TikTok will help you gain more engagement.
The expert feedback pointed out some important ways to strengthen my project. She suggested focusing more on storytelling to help people feel connected to the work and see the effort behind each art toy. From her feedback, I will…
- Improve Storytelling: I’ll add more details about the inspiration and meaning behind each piece, explaining each stage of the creative process to make the story more engaging.
- Open TikTok: This could be a great move for my project, as it’s a platform that thrives on short, engaging videos and storytelling, and it’s perfect for showing the process and crafts behind my works.
One thing about TikTok is that I am scared of using a voice-over for the video. I have never done a voice-over before, so I am afraid of using my voice for a video. But think of the other ways if my target audience wants to hear someone of the same age and voice as them. Maybe it might be a good idea to try something new and increase my audience—to turn weakness into strength! And the opportunity to do something challenging. So, I will compare the two platforms to see which one will get more engagement.