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Why makers should post videos on Instagram

I resisted my fear of trying something new and shot a video with my cell phone for Instagram. It got around 5,000 views and I was hooked. Then I got really brave, cleaned up my studio a bit, and shot some videos of works in progress. 12,000 views. I got a bit delirious, and enrolled my biggest fan (aka, my husband, Ken) into shooting for me as I made a footrim on the bowl shown here. 27,000 views in 11 days! And 100 new followers per day for several consecutive days! 
Then I woke up to this announcement in my notifications:
All videos from your account are now eligible to be featured in the Ceramics Channel on Explore.
Which looks like:
This video has 35,000 views in 2 days, and my account has 200 new followers/day. Plus I got a $1400 order for dinnerware from a new viewer. 
Not bad for a free app, a little time, and that uncomfortable task of moving past the borders of the known, of my comfort zone. 
My videos are nowhere near professional! I use available light right now, but didn't like the gray quality of my earliest ones. My latest was improved with an app I purchased for around five bucks - Videograde . It's very simple. I like that. It adjusts contrast, color, saturation, sharpness- all the basics. I also purchased IMovie , because of the high recommendations. It can splice different clips together and add titles. But... you know... this is another learning experience, so I'm putting that off until I can find time to watch some YouTube vids. It will happen. But I do have that order to fill!
Some other tips:
Videos work well even for baby accounts (less than 500 followers) if you hashtag them properly. Look at your own Explore on Instagram (from that magnifying glass thingie). See what channels are recommended to you that fit your videos. Artisans and Makers is one. Then, for me Ceramics- for you, whatever you make. Then use those # when posting. Shoot, or edit to, 1 minute. That's all the time Instagram allows. Your Iphone shoots a vertical from which Instagram edits to a square. Shoot with what you want shown in the middle of the frame, as the top and bottom will get cut off. 
Follow me on Instagram! Who knows what fear I will take on next!

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