Instagram is by far one of my favorite social media networks, probably only second to Pinterest. I love sharing photos and following my favorite people to see their photos, too. Instagram can be a great way to create more community around your blog or business, and to let people see “behind the scenes”. I’ve done some trial and error to learn the best ways to get more followers- and not just any followers, followers who want to see what you post! So, here are 5 Ways to Get More Instagram Followers!
1. Post GREAT Photos- Post your best photos.. think about what your followers would like to see in their feeds. Photos with human’s faces and animals have been proven to get more “likes” for example. While your dinner might be amazing, it may not be the best thing to share. Unless maybe your dinner is really special. Haha! Make sure that your “photography” is good. Check out these articles on taking better iPhone photos… these tips work for any smart phone, really.
How to Capture Memories While Being a Part of Them
5 Tips for Making the Most of Your iPhone Camera
Busy Budgeting Mama’s Favorite iPhone Apps
How to Take Better iPhone Photos
2. Use Hashtags- Use hashtags relevant to your photos- the more popular the hashtags, the better. Tip: If you don’t want to spend so much time every time you post to Instagram, create hashtag “clouds” for different categories of the photos you post and save them in the notes on your phone. For example- photos of kids could include #motherhood or #babies, then photos of pets could include #dogsofinstagram or #puppies. You can use up to 30, so make them count! Create clouds to save time and ensure that you are using hashtags each and every time you post a photo.
3. Don’t Spam- Some things you should NOT do on Instagram- don’t use irrelevant hashtags, that’s annoying. Don’t constantly post photos of your products. You SHOULD find creative ways to share your products, so that they don’t say sell, sell, sell or buy, buy, buy! Don’t post the same photos multiple times. I’ve never seen this, but I would imagine that this would irritate followers, too. You SHOULD be genuine. Show your followers a “behind the scenes” of your blog/business. Spamming or posting things your followers don’t like/care about could result in losing followers.
4. Engage- Like others’ photos and comment on them. Go through your feed and like the photos of those who you follow. Find popular hashtags relevant to the types of things you post and like other Instagrammers’ photos there. Comment if you see fit. Some popular hastags I like to use include #motherhood, #planners, #filofax, etc… Those are users that I would have things in common with, so those are the people I want to be interacting with. I use the website Iconosquare (formerly statigram) so that I don’t have to do all of this on my phone, and it makes engagement easier. You can also see how popular different hashtags are on this site, since it tells you how many posts their are using that certain hashtag whenever you search. It’s important to reach out to NEW people, so searching hashtags and “liking” is more effective, but you should still show the people that you follow some love, too. I get several new followers each day by searching hashtags & liking others’ photos. If they have interesting photos, I’ll follow back.
5. Follow new people- Use this sparingly- I try to only follow people that I KNOW I will enjoy looking at their photos. There’s not a way to filter those you follow on Instagram yet, so if you follow a ton of people, you’ll likely have to scroll through a lot of photos you don’t really care for in order to get to those that you really want to see. I follow my favorite bloggers and Etsy shop owners, especially those I look up to. Don’t forget to “clean up” your Instagram account occasionally and unfollow people who you are no longer interested in following.
What tips would you add to make the most of Instagram?? Are you following me on there? If not, click here! Leave a comment on IG & I’ll follow back!
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