FILLER: online promotion
At the very beginning of my project development I created an Instagram for the publication, which became a mood board of inspiration, ideas, artists and my progress, creating a place to find collaborations, submissions, and improve reach and following. The development of my project’s concept, design and content is visible through the Instagram, as I used it to not only share inspiration and visual ideas I’d come across but also my own experimentation, and connecting with followers. This has proven to be a valuable platform for promotion as I received several enquiries via the Instagram account around submissions, event involvement and future opportunities. From my independent zine research at the beginning of this brief it is clear that many publications use Instagram to reach and connect with a young adult, creative audience and find collaborators and opportunities.
In order to create a ‘business’ Instagram account it must be linked to a Facebook page, therefore I created a Facebook page for FILLER in order to provide another social platform that potential readers can find out more from. Although I feel Facebook pages are not browsed as much as Instagram profiles, which are more about curated, aesthetic content, Facebook is still a valuable network to promote, allowing a broader range of content to be promoted and interacted with, for example creation and promotion of events (for potential launch events/parties in the future).
I wanted to keep the tone of FILLER’s online presence casual, friendly and personal rather than business-like, as it is after all a personal, independent project I am launching. Therefore I felt more comfortable addressing followers in a casual way as I would on my own social accounts, and sharing my own personal achievements, views and thoughts around the project – which also makes the publication/brand as a whole feel more approachable than other magazines.
In addition to this, in order to promote the zine as a personal endeavour I created a page for FILLER on my portfolio website (I was originally going to create a separate website for the publication, but financially it made more sense to integrate it as part of my existing website, until the publication has grown in the future). This page features a description of what FILLER is all about, including quick links to its social media accounts – in the future it will feature a link to an online shop (on Bigcartel) to purchase the zine, as well as a gallery archive of past issues/work featured. I think this page on my portfolio works well as it promotes the zine as a separate, stand alone project from my other creative work, and drives traffic to my portfolio as well as FILLER’s other pages.