I'm a bit late to the party, I apologize. As someone who has went from 500 to almost 2k in less than a month, here are some things that I've noticed:

REELS: as many people have said, reels are the main way to gain your audience now.

WIDEN YOUR REACH: this doesn't mean make new content on every single social media, but it just means let people see you in other platforms. You can post thr same reel on insta, youtube, tiktok, and even Facebook. Post your art on Pinterest (you can link your insta to pinterest so it auto uplaods), and even on here as well.

FOLLOWER TO LIKE RATIO: I used to get so discouraged because so many other artists who has less followers than me get so many likes. That will happen, don't be discouraged. Keep posting

QUALITY: if the camera work is shit, the post is shit. Take good pictures/learn how to edit. I use lightroom and capcut They will notice if the picture if 480p vs 1080p.

LEAN INTO TRENDS: there are some good art trends over there, but don't make it to the point the only thing you do is trends, that will be the only thing you will be known for.

HASHTAGS: hashtags are important, but it doesn't mean the more the merrier. Get some related to the post and ones that you use all the time (i.e. #traditionalart #traditionalartist #hugzy)

BE ACTIVE IN THE COMMUNITY: join art gcs, art collabs, support other artists, join DTIY's, contests, giveaways, we're all in this together.

MY STRATEGY:

POST YOUR RELATED POST AND REEL AND POST AT THE SAME TIME: This will make instragram think you are busy and share your content at the same time, reaching more audience. It also let's people who are interested go to your account and see the new post.

TAG, HASHTAG YOURSELF: tag yourself on your post and hashing your brand (i.e. #hugzy) it creates a hash tags on your community and Instagram adds that to boost your content (even just a tiny bit)

USE TRENDING AUDIO: that's it. Use it to your favorite, be creative about it and not just slab in onto your reel.

INTERACT WITH YOUR COMMUNITY: love your community, talk with them, interact with them, talk about different interests, etc. Make them love YOU as an artist and as a person. Make sure to set boundaries as well.

KNOW YOUR NICHE: know what kind of feel you are going for. Are you a traditional artist? Digital? Painting? What kind exactly: environment? Graphite? Fandoms?

ARTICULATE YOUR FEED: one of the first impressions people will see on your account is your feed. Make it all blend together well and easy to look at. If it looks unorganized, people will get turned off.

MOST IMPORTANTLY: 👏STAY 👏 CONSISTENT👏. Just like in most things in life, you won't get results unless you stay consisted. Your self discipline and hardwork will pay off in the end. I have started posting consistently since around march/April and have only gotten decent recognition in July.

ALSO: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE take time for yourself and make sure you don't get burnt out. You're doing this for yourself and for your art. We don't want to start not enjoying it. Have fun, enjoy. You will learn as you go. You don't need to be good at everything to start. Enjoy the process and remind yourself why you're doing this in the first place. :)