If there’s one thing that is super-important in the kids modelling and acting industry, it’s getting your face out there. This is why you sign up with kids modelling agencies and set up profiles on kids casting portals. But there are a few other ways that you can help your child promote their career and build a network. And one of those is, of course, getting active on Instagram.
Instagram is growing in popularity with child models in particular as it gives parents the opportunity to showcase any recent work that their child may have done. It’s also a great way to network and can even lead to work opportunities if the right people see your child’s images.
But how do you go about setting up an account? And can your child be in control of their profile?
Great questions, so let’s take a look.
Isn’t Instagram for over 13s only?
Yes, you’re absolutely right. Instagram users must be aged 13 or older. We’re not for a second suggesting that you break that rule. However, you can run an account on your child’s behalf once it is you as a parent or guardian who is in control of the account.
According to Instagram’s guidelines — Accounts that represent someone under the age of 13 must clearly state in the account’s bio that the account is managed by a parent or manager.
This means that your child’s account on Instagram will clearly be a business profile created for the sole purpose of sharing your child’s work in the industry and promoting their availability for roles.
How to set up your child’s Instagram account
As we just mentioned, it’s crucial that either a parent or guardian sets up this account. A manager could also do it, but let’s face it, when your little superstar is starting out, you are most certainly their manager, right?
Anyway, setting up the account is fairly straightforward in that you simply create a new profile, but you must use your own personal information as the account holder (once you’re over 13 that is!) The account username can be your child’s name or some variation of it that is still available as a username. Or you might want to take a slightly different approach
such as [child’s name]_the_model or something similar.
The most important thing you need to do, however, is state clearly in the Instagram bio section that this account is managed by a parent or guardian. For example, ‘This is Kayleigh’s modelling account managed by her mum’. The idea is to make it absolutely crystal clear that all posts, comments, and interactions are managed by the parent and not the child. This also makes it clear that any messages will also go directly to the parent or guardian in control of the account.
What about privacy?
As you can imagine, privacy is important especially when we’re talking about sharing your child’s images on social media. However, we have to bear in mind that this is not your child’s personal account but a business account managed by you. The idea here is to promote your child and get their images in front of the right people.
You can, by all means, set the account as a private account. This means that only people who have been approved by you can view the images and posts shared on the profile. This is a highly personal choice so we won’t tell you one way or the other, but we will say that private accounts understandably get less visibility.
Another privacy step you may want to take is to stop others from sharing the account’s stories in their own private messages. You can even set filters on comments that will block any comments that include certain words.
The ‘photos of you’ setting allows you to allow photos of you (your child) that are tagged to be uploaded to your profile automatically. A lot of parents choose to do this manually as they can choose whether a photo uploaded by someone else is worth adding to their child’s profile. After all, it may not be a very good image!
The @mentions privacy setting is one that many parents stress over but it’s actually quite simple. This allows or prevents others from mentioning your child’s profile username in comments etc. Allowing others to @mention your username can be a good thing as it may give those in your network the chance to recommend your child for roles/jobs they see on Instagram. You’ll also find that a lot of photographers like to share the odd image of kids they work with and an @mention on their feed could be worth its weight in gold!
Again, we’ll just say that this is a highly personal choice so we’ll let you make your own decision on all things privacy related.
What should you post?
This is the big question. Ideally, you’ll want to post a few professionally taken photos to get started. It’s also a good idea if the main profile image is a photo from your child’s portfolio. Remember, this is what casting directors want to see, so try to give it to them if you can.
Now, we understand that not every image you share will be a pro shot and that’s okay. Candid, behind the scenes photos or even some nice photos you take on days out are also perfectly acceptable. This is Instagram and everyone will expect to see some real-life, everyday photos. They can work in your favour too if it helps to create a following that engages with your content. It’s also important to remember that you may not be allowed to share images taken on-set or from a photo shoot without the permission of the photographer or the client. So tread carefully and always be respectful of their wishes.
Oh, and one final thing—remember to add a few hashtags to each image to give them a little more visibility. These can be simple hashtags such as #childmodel, #fashionkids, #childactor, or even #kidsphotography. Have a look at some other child model profiles and see what hashtags are most popular for your child’s type of modelling or acting and go with a few of those. But don’t overdo it. A slew of hashtags can look messy and a little over the top!
That’s all there is to it. Now all you need to do is start taking some great shots of your child or sharing some of your child’s shots from their portfolio. Happy gramming!
If your child is interested in becoming an actor or a model then we’d like to hear from you. You can get in touch with us today or go ahead and
apply now to join the Bubblegum family. We can’t wait to hear from you!
