The way Alicia Souza digitally documents her life with George, Charlie and Henry-Oats is an excellent case study to understand the use of Instagram. Here are a few points from the Alicia Souza Instagram strategy, to help you create engagement.
If you are looking for feel-good illustrations to share with your partner on a bad day or hunting for a parting gift for your colleague who always had your back, it is likely that you have come across Alicia Souza. Feel-good was, of course, the key term. She is one of the most prominent names highlighted at the Comic Con festival and much of her brand's popularity can be attributed to her social media presence. And the Alicia Souza Instagram strategy has played an important role in this feat.
Alicia has 284k Instagram followers. If you were to look closely, her Instagram would appear to be a plethora of social media lessons.
Add personal to work
Anyone who follows Alicia Souza knows that she loves chips and has an obsession with coffee, especially when she has to get through heaps of pending work. Her love for George, her husband and kids, pet kids Charlie and Henry-Oats is also well documented. These narratives help create strong brand recall and drive online engagement. Her personal helps people relate and share, becoming brand custodians.
Create your own style
The line curves used by Souza are distinct and consistent in all her designs, irrespective of the medium. Most of the creatives have white in the background and the hues used to draw objects and people are soft and delicate. This consistency helps her being recognisable even when another curator page is sharing her work. She posts on Instagram on a daily basis, so there is always something to come back to for people that follow her.
Also Read: 5 Instagram lessons to learn from Le 15 Patisserie and team
Use merchandises for advocacy
One of the most common way to earn from illustrations is to create merchandises. However, it takes a lot of advocacy to reach that point. Today, Souza has a diverse range of products, from planners to mugs and photo frames that say 'Cute face here'. Since most of her merchandises are packaged as gifting options, it helps with her overall brand ethos of love and affection. This furthers the scope of advocacy, roping in more people.
Explore beyond digital
While creating webcomics and merchandises are the way to go for building a brand, it is essential to look at non-digital assets as well. To have a printed book of comics is one that has been tried out by Souza — her book, Dearest George is releasing a day after Valentine's this year. It adds a layer of credibility to her profile as well as increase the scope of her offerings.
Pick brands carefully
One of the most important things for an illustrator is to be very careful in choosing the brands they wish to collaborate with. For Alicia Souza on Instagram, an A to Z series on #RealBeauty for Dove turned out to be a good fit owing to how the content of these creatives was in perfect sync with the ones she puts up editorially. Had there been no logo or an explicit mention in the caption, it would probably not stand out at all.