How Jamie Beck Grew an Instagram Community Through the
PandemicAll Photos on this blog are property of Jamie Beck of Jamie Beck Co.
Background:
Jamie Beck is a photographer and a co-inventor
of the cinemagraph. She is currently residing in Provence, France with her
husband and daughter. When the pandemic struck she was isolated with her family
to her small French apartment and her job came to an immediate end for the
foreseeable future. Scared of what to come Jamie threw herself into her art
coining the term/hashtag #IsolationCreation that went viral during the Covid-19
lockdown. This lead to her having a massive spike in monthly following, and a
very profitable gallery at the end of the lockdown.
Jamie’s approach to dealing with the pandemic and how it
lead her to creating an engaged community on Instagram.
To keep her creativity flowing, and her mind at ease Jamie
made a commitment to herself that everyday she was isolated to her apartment
she would create one photo. Everyday she would post on her story her whole
process from start to finish and then save the story for each image in the
highlights of her Instagram account. She would share her struggle and just
daily happenings as well. She then invited fellow artists to join her in creating
#IsolationCreation. She would then share the UGC on her story to showcase some
artists. The daily sharing on stories made her followers feel a part of her
life, and connected to someone even through such an isolating time. It inspired
other artists to keep creating and see beauty in the small things. She made a
whole community feel not alone, and like they were with her.
Jamie was using her Instagram feed as a highlight and final
product of each day through the Covid-19 day showing and inspiring her audience
that beautiful things can come from hard times.
She used her stories of more of a personal daily diary of
her lived authentic experience through the pandemic, and her process of
creating art. This provided entertainment while everyone was bored during the
lockdown, created a intimate personal connection when the world needed it the
most, and created a space for other artists to come together as a community.
Measurable Results:
Results pulled from Social Blade
Jamie’s monthly following spiked from gaining 2,400 in
February, pre-lockdown to 24,000 at the height of the lockdown in April and
then post lockdown her monthly follower gain went back down to 1,400.
She launched poster prints of the collection of 60 works,
iphone cases, and at the end of the lockdown held a gallery featuring fine art
prints that brought in over $110,000 for the artist.
Conclusion:
During hard-times Instagram users are in need of authentic
human connections, and something to look forward to. Jamie Beck provided that
whether that was her original intention or not. She brought together and
inspired a wide audience of people.
By: Ava Rymer
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