Thursday, March 17, 2016

Instagram for creatives: Interview with Norma Andreu from Cara Carmina


As part of the Instagram for creatives series, I made a little Q&A with 3 of my favourite Canadian Instagrammers. Last week was the turn of amazing Natacha Castonguay and this week, I'm honoured to present you the one and only Norma Andreu from Cara Carmina!

Norma is an illustrator and doll maker that, like me, is originally from Mexico and now lives and loves Montreal. I meet her a while ago when I found her gorgeous dolls on Etsy and we became friends, relating to each other's stories about our native country and finding our way in the creative community. 

Following Norma on Instagram is delightful and kind of comforting: she cover you in a blanket of familiarity and looking at her photos turns into a daily ritual for the soul. Her posts are a mix of her works in progress, current projects and peeks into her daily life and her cats, of course! One of the things I find more inspiring about Norma's IG story is her capacity to create content and post steadily, some of the most important aspects to grow a loyal following. So, come meet her!


Norma Andreu
Illustrator, doll maker from Cara Carmina


What do you love about IG?
I love the visual instant impact of it.  I'm a very visual person, I love illustration and photography, instagram is my favourite social network due to this, is so inspiring to see all this images of all over the world of so many different things!


How do you use IG, as a lifestyle or business account (or both!) and why?
I use it as both.  I love taking photos, I love the beauty contained on an instant.  During our daily life we have so many beautiful moments, memories that fade away and that we can capture with a photo.  Of course as an illustrator and designer my images and my work can be showed and shared in IG so easily and also my process and behind the scenes process plus my daily inspiration.  I love it for both!



For you, what are the basics to have a successful IG account?
Style, consistency, honesty and narrative.  You can talk about anything you want in IG, food, art, travel, DYI, books, ANYTHING! everything can become a successful IG account if you give it the right amount of the 4 things I mentioned.  Also tagging properly and interacting with other IG people you like, admire or follow, is a 2 road street here too, #sharingiscaring :)

What is the best advice you could give to an independent designer that wants to use IG to grow their business.
Work on a style and be creative.  Share with your followers part of yourself that are not ONLY part of your work, let them know your journey, is very inspiring and shows the person behind the work, gives the work a soul, a humanity that we all have but not all show to others, that's the HONESTY  I'm talking about!  :)





I particularly admire that you always find content and keep your account moving by posting often. What would you advice to an independent maker that struggles to find content or/and don't post often on their account?
I personally LOVE taking photos and don't discriminate, it is part of my day, taking photos, collecting moments, keeping memories, I love doing it! but if you are not like me try to make it a habit, start with 2 daily photos and keep doing it until you find yourself in this exercise, is a creative outlet! and of course a great marketing tool for you work, and is FOR FREE!!!! plus is easy, you just post a photo!  there are no rules, you make your own rules, some days I don't post and some days I post 8 photos, I try to do it daily but I don't have rules... you get your own style to do things and people will start liking your style as long as is honest.

Thank you Norma, for sharing your experience and advice!
Follow Cara Carmina at:
Instagram
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Or visit her Website!


Stay tuned for next and last part of these series + interviews! coming up on Instagram for Creatives: Key points to improve your Instagram account and reach a bigger audience.

Thanks for reading this!
Iveth



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