@Koah: You are my favorite kind of customer! Lol. I had one customer come through who honestly I follow her back because her photoshoots she does are so inspiring. I asked before if she'd let me use her photos as ref for some paintings and she loves it.
@MoodyBats: No, I don't do that. Even seeing that on a post bothers me. Typically, since I live in a college town, we have a lot of alums and staff coming through our DT and it's been super good for networking with the department heads, etc. And a lot of other art students also come through. I mainly just use our customer connection requirement to be like 'yeah, I have to do this then go home and work on a project for art class.' and it spark natural conversation, and they usually ask if they can see some and I give them my insta because I can't just whip out my phone at work. xD In a lot of situations they love it. And even with no follows it's nice to get out there.
@Keturah: No, I don't expect follows. But it's good for networking practice. Especially if I want to eventually market myself to potential clients. I'm not super confident in my skills but due to drawing class and keeping up with daily practice and sketching, I do see a LOT of improvment and it makes me so happy to document and share it on my insta. And some people just like to check out my page and not follow. I'm good with that. xD I am not follow thirsty. I do have plans on adding youtube to my social media to try and eventually draw in more people. (my mount for my phone comes in today. I am super excited.)
@Kreatura: I used to be super self conscious about my artwork. xD Now I plug it because I gotta sell myself. My great grandpa is actually my biggest supporter and he's always like "you need to tell more people. You need to market this." xD and now going to school and hearing my profs do the same, I know it's something you have to do eventually. I just sometimes hope it's more natural and not like a push to ask for followers.