Who are the truly great "Instagram makers"?

Speaking of IG, is there a way to create different feeds with different topics? I am not putting anything on there (at least for now) but it feels really cluttered really quick, car stuff, knife stuff, you end up following 10 dozen people and everything is a incoherent mix of various stuff. I wish you could group it somehow, check out the car feed on one page, the knife feed on another and so on. Instead of opening it and then have 6 stories and 20 new posts. (I'm captainsewerrat on IG and Youtube)
 
b00n said:
Speaking of IG, is there a way to create different feeds with different topics? I am not putting anything on there (at least for now) but it feels really cluttered really quick, car stuff, knife stuff, you end up following 10 dozen people and everything is a incoherent mix of various stuff. I wish you could group it somehow, check out the car feed on one page, the knife feed on another and so on. Instead of opening it and then have 6 stories and 20 new posts. (I'm captainsewerrat on IG and Youtube)
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You can search different hash tags. #knifesale for instance will show everything tagged with that. So you can search #cars and it will only show things tagged as cars. This will give you a grid view, but if you click any of the posts it will convert to the traditional column-scroll feed view.
 
b00n said:
Speaking of IG, is there a way to create different feeds with different topics? I am not putting anything on there (at least for now) but it feels really cluttered really quick, car stuff, knife stuff, you end up following 10 dozen people and everything is a incoherent mix of various stuff. I wish you could group it somehow, check out the car feed on one page, the knife feed on another and so on. Instead of opening it and then have 6 stories and 20 new posts. (I'm captainsewerrat on IG and Youtube)
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It got cluttered bad when they dumped cronology ...try the new follow hashtag function...not great by any stretch but sort of does that
 
I'll give both a try. I am not big on social media stuff, but in a way you get pushed towards it. I still prefer traditional forums. I can completely understand CM though in terms of being overwhelmed, especially as a maker where everybody might end up feeling almost entitled to get a response and if 8000+ people "like/follow" you, you're bound to get quite a few direct messages I imagine. It's nice to feel like your work, whatever that may be, is appreciated but at the same time being the center of attention isn't everybodies cup of tea.
 
b00n said:
I'll give both a try. I am not big on social media stuff, but in a way you get pushed towards it. I still prefer traditional forums. I can completely understand CM though in terms of being overwhelmed, especially as a maker where everybody might end up feeling almost entitled to get a response and if 8000+ people "like/follow" you, you're bound to get quite a few direct messages I imagine. It's nice to feel like your work, whatever that may be, is appreciated but at the same time being the center of attention isn't everybodies cup of tea.
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FYI follow hashtag will just mix the hashtag into your normal feed. It sucks.

The great thing I like about IG is if you're a visual person and recognize a knife you want for sale, it's a great way to quickly skim through and find it. But even that has its drawback as many users or even small time makers will use #knifesale to promote themselves and not to sell knives. Even outside of sales, JB Blount for example will post knives he makes but its literally only for views, he does not sell them and his books are closed. So that also sucks.

Overall it's a decent alternative if the pickins from the exchange aren't doing it for you. Better than reddit's knife exchange, I think.
 
Instagram really helped me to get going when I first started making knives.

Something I noticed though, there are some makers that are popular, but make a bad product and some that make an outstanding product but are not that popular. It is a strange platform sometimes to understand...
 
marthinus said:
Something I noticed though, there are some makers that are popular, but make a bad product and some that make an outstanding product but are not that popular. It is a strange platform sometimes to understand...
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Social media marketing (and related fields, like search engine optimization) are skills in their own right. As you say, there definitely are makers out there that seem to have more of an aptitude for the marketing side of the business than for the actual knifemaking bits.
 
Worst part is trying to carry on 4 separate conversations at the same time... Each individual thinking they have your full attention.
 
tyyreaun said:
Social media marketing (and related fields, like search engine optimization) are skills in their own right. As you say, there definitely are makers out there that seem to have more of an aptitude for the marketing side of the business than for the actual knifemaking bits.
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I will say, it's very telling when an Instagram maker posts knife pictures, gets hundreds of likes, lots of "OMG that's gorgeous" comments, etc., and then he posts it for sale and... crickets...
 
And the fact that you can purchase follows...
 
Jake_Lucas said:
Great topic imo, because for me IG took over 90% of my knife discussion over the past 5 years
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This is where I get confused, because it seems like there's not really discussion on IG, there's only — thumbs up, fist bump, that's amazing, etc. I wind up spending hours on IG and I have a lot of fun, but I don't really learn anything because it's all pure positivity. Following on:

marthinus said:
Something I noticed though, there are some makers that are popular, but make a bad product and some that make an outstanding product but are not that popular.
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This is also my impression. And how do you sort the good from the bad on IG when there's no critical discussion? It's tough to even find a place for it. You don't want to do it on the maker's own post, that's just not nice. And you don't want to do it on the post of someone who owns the knife and loves it. So we have those conversations here on Bladeforums, but it feels like bridging two worlds.
 
b00n said:
Speaking of IG, is there a way to create different feeds with different topics? I am not putting anything on there (at least for now) but it feels really cluttered really quick, car stuff, knife stuff, you end up following 10 dozen people and everything is a incoherent mix of various stuff. I wish you could group it somehow, check out the car feed on one page, the knife feed on another and so on. Instead of opening it and then have 6 stories and 20 new posts. (I'm captainsewerrat on IG and Youtube)
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I have not seen any way to make "lists" as you would on Twitter for Tweetdeck. I don't have a problem on IG yet b/c everyone I'm following are knife related.
 
vanadium said:
So that leads me to this thread. Who are the truly great "Instagram makers"? By this, I mean makers whose community and business largely revolves around Instagram, and whose knives are bought and sold primarily by the collectors and dealers who make IG their main home.
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I stick to the truly great "BladeForums makers," myself. I like them, I like the support they give this site, and I like that they attract members here, and the more members here, the better the ad revenue, and that keeps this site going.

I would suggest the same, rather than using this site to steer members to another site.

That's just me, I guess.
 
vanadium said:
This is where I get confused, because it seems like there's not really discussion on IG, there's only — thumbs up, fist bump, that's amazing, etc. I wind up spending hours on IG and I have a lot of fun, but I don't really learn anything because it's all pure positivity.
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Sounds like our experiences differ greatly here, perhaps based on who we follow and interact with. There is TONS of information and opinion being exchanged through IG, much like a forum where thread titles are simply replaced by a photo or video. The sterile “thumbs up only” stuff may happen in the comments of a maker/manufacturer’s original post, but the discussions that stem from sharing or messaging people or groups are abundant. From sharing my own visual feed I’ve forged seemingly countless relationships based on questions and comments about what I’m collecting, working on, selling, etc; these often become direct message “group texts” which in my experience grew the hobby for my friends and family far more efficiently than forums past. I’m certainly not trying to steer anyone away from Bladeforums! Each venue has its place, and IG happens to make this hobby much more fun for myself and the networks with whom I socialize (digitally and in real life)

Jake
 
Jake_Lucas said:
the discussions that stem from sharing or messaging people or groups are abundant. From sharing my own visual feed I’ve forged seemingly countless relationships based on questions and comments about what I’m collecting, working on, selling, etc; these often become direct message “group texts”
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This is why I'm not seeing it. I will never spend my time generating interesting conversations that exclude the public for no good reason. Half the pleasure of posting on Bladeforums is to share knowledge in a way that's visible and searchable to the public.
 
lieferung said:
He's not a knife maker but for you traditional folder guys 'azslipcraft' makes a nice leather slip sheath. He regularly posts about sharpening/other mods as well.
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I second this guy. Bought a slip to include with a Christmas gift of a GEC slipjoint. Through my own fault, it shipped to the wrong address. He insisted he was partly to blame but it was really my bad. He offered to refund me entirely or make a new slip ASAP and ship it to me free. This was all on a tight deadline. I ended up getting the original one he sent after a little ordeal. When the fit was tight, he again offered to make a new one and eventually walked me through properly working it in so it fit the knife. All of this was done over IG messaging and he was completely on top of everything. To boot, the slip was fantastic quality and made to my specification. Highly recommended.
 
If you're looking to drool over bushcraft knives definitely check out Jonathan Deering @ deeringknives. Good luck scoring one, though. Even secondary market they're scarce.
 
I joined IG because of all the makers on there. It's a great place for knife porn, news from makers you like, knife sales for new customs, and the occasional WIP photo/video, which are always fun and educational. It's very bad for getting broad, honest feedback about a maker and/or his/her product which is why this thread is a great idea.
 
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