How to curate your social media feed so it inspires your art
Have you fallen into the curse of “doomscrolling”?
Do you spend hours and hours with your face buried in TikTok or Instagram, only to look up, blurry and confused, having gained nothing and lost time?
Is social media a much bigger part of your life than you want it to be?
If you’re a creator, it can be upsetting to see your projects lag behind, while you spend plenty of time jumping between newsfeeds and For You pages.
You don’t have to beat yourself up about it… You can USE your social media time to spur your creativity.
Inspiration can come from anywhere, and today, we’re going to show you how to curate your feed to make you a more creative and fulfilled artist.
How to Curate Your Social Media Feed for Inspiration
What does it mean to curate your feed? It means changing what you follow and like on social media so that you see more positive, inspiring content that matters to you (and less bickering and complaining from people you knew in high school).
Follow good hashtags and join groups
Start by answering these questions for yourself. Write down your answers:
What are your creative goals in the next five years?
What do you wish you knew more about?
What do you want to learn how to do?
What kind of people would you like to be involved with and work with?
Once you have your list, then you can follow keywords and join groups that fit with your goals.
For example, if you’re a singer-songwriter, follow #singersongwriter on Instagram. On Facebook, search for singer-songwriter groups in your area, so you can meet up with other creative musicians like you.
Find other people who are doing what you want to be doing, and follow their pages so they can inspire you on your feed.
Here are a few general hashtags to follow that are great on Instagram:
#createeveryday
#artistsupport (also good for Twitter)
#dailyart
If you’re not sure where to find your community on social media, comment below with what you do, and we’ll respond with hashtags and groups you’ll enjoy.
Remove unhelpful “likes and interests” from your profile
Go to your profile and get rid of everything you follow or have listed as an interest that isn’t helpful for your creativity. If it doesn’t leave you inspired, get rid of it.
On Facebook, you can even check out the secret “likes and interests” that Facebook assumes about you… Go to Settings > Ads > Your Interests. Press the ‘x’ to remove everything you don’t want to see in your feed.
A note about political likes and interests
Some people might tell you that you HAVE to get rid of political stuff on your feed to make it more inspiring. I don’t agree.
A lot of art is political. It’s entirely possible that you could get your best inspiration from political or social issues.
If it brings you joy OR makes you angry enough to take action and make something, it’s worth keeping.
Mute or unfollow complainers
You know these people. The ones who only ever post unhelpful, angry diatribes.
Whether it’s about their own unlucky life or an argument with an internet rando that they sought out on purpose, it’s not doing you any favors.
You don’t have to unfriend them. But you should mute them. Everyone who appears on your feed should be bringing you positivity or ideas.
Change what you “like”
Finding and following is only the first part of curating your feed. The next step is happens more organically over time: only like or comment on things that you want to see more of.
“Only like or comment on things you want to see more of in your news feed.”
Algorithms are smart. They show you the content you engage with.
If your feed is depressing you, STOP care-reacting to posts about people’s dead pets, and START liking posts where people share their art.
If you follow all of these steps outlined above, even your social media time will feel productive, because you’ll bring yourself positivity and inspiration, instead of feelings of doom!
Are you struggling to create? This will help.
It’s possible that something far bigger than your social media use is keeping you from creating at your full potential. But if you don’t know what it is that’s holding you back, it’s impossible to beat it.
Want to create more than ever before, and love doing it?
Download the 21 Creativity Killers Guide (and how to beat them).
It will diagnose your exact “creativity killer,” the one thing that’s holding you back from your creative dreams. Not only that, but it will give you the exact steps you need to conquer it.
Stop struggling. Start creating.
Get our 21 CREATIVITY KILLERS GUIDE (and how to beat them)!
