Fashion and Lifestyle
Something that I was determined to do this summer whilst being off from uni was to grow my Instagram. I was firmly stuck at 3200 since August last year when I devoted some time to it. And let me tell you, not growing when you put so much effort in producing content is RUBBISH. So whilst it has been significantly increasing my screen time – I have managed to grow my Instagram account by 1000 followers just within a month. *Just a reference my screen time was down 30% from last week though (bonus!!)*
The app does get its fair share of bad rep – I know I have had more than just a moan… Example A. But people HATE its algorithms. I don’t want to say I have mastered it…. that would be going WAY too far, but whilst I have gained followers my likes have doubled, if not tripled!! For example, before I finished uni I was lucky if I hit 150 liked. YIKES. But now my latest beach pic hit just under 500 likes. Insert celebratory shuffle/dance. So want my tips on how to increase your followers and not feel like instagram is a pile of s**t? Keep on reading…
For me this is one of the most underrated points I will be making. Never have I felt this happy about my feed. I have talked so many times about my love/hate relationship with my feed. Often I flicker through themes and change the way my photos look but now I am making content I am SO PROUD OF. And when you are making content that you are more than happy with it helps. People can see when you believe in yourself and it shows. If you are making content you like, and if you believe in yourself then you are more likely to do well. If you post something you are 90% sure about then you have set yourself up for seeing the bad in it.
I swear down to you, before a month ago, I never looked through my Instagram feed. It was rare that I would have a scroll because I have other accounts. I have four other accounts that I manage (Instagram hoarder I swear) so. I found it impossible to keep up. But by managing my time just a little bit better I took some time to look at other peoples posts. By doing this and just being more active I saw a gain.
This is my pet HATE. This is one of the main reasons why you might be losing as many followers as you gain. People will spam follow and then unfollow in hope they gain followers. And I won’t lie, it can work. But it is SO unethical and I cannot stress that enough! I can always tell people who do it, because if I like my blog photo with my personal instagram account, I sometimes get bloggers requesting to follow my personal account. It is really disloyal and you will get much better engagement being followed by people who genuinely want to look at you photos.
I have saved this one for last but it is also THE MOST IMPORTANT ONE. I would never comment on other peoples posts, would rarely like and I would reply to my comments if I had time. Now I do it all the time. Bloggers and influencers tend to upload either first thing in the morning or in the evening. So I spend about an hour in the morning, and an hour in the evening engaging with other people. I will catch up on my feed, leaving thoughtful comments. But I will also have a little wonder onto hashtags and leave comments on people I don’t follow. By getting your name out there, being polite and supportive of other bloggers there is a chance they will follow back!
I know not everyone has that amount of time to devote to engaging but you can do it on your commute to work, whilst watching a bit of TV, on your lunch break etc… Its all about trying to manage your time. I would definitely say that this is the MAIN reason why I have gained that many followers. Just share the looooveeee!!
It always sounds so simple but can deffo be a struggle, totally agree that it’s important to engage with others! It’s all about finding the time, might try out your ‘hour in the morning and hour in the evening’ technique cos I hate being glued to my phone all day!! X
I agree Alice. I have read many posts before myself on how to grow and they always repeat tips that aren’t useful. But I do belief that the only way to organically grow is engaging. Other than that, there isn’t anything. The thing with engaging is that if you don’t how will people know you have a page? It is a good technique to try! Let me know if you see any results!
Yes of course! It can be effort to keep up but I’ve always found that the more i engage, the more engagement I get back so I totally agree! X
Ahh I am so glad!
Very very helpful! Thanks for sharing your tips!
Thats okay Bea!
Thank you so much! You commented on one of my posts a few days ago and you’re so genuine ♡
Awwh thank you Caitlin! I love your posts!
These are great tips! I definitely find commenting and engaging with more people helps with reach and followers!
Katy | http://www.therawrdrobe.com
Yes it does!
Thanks so much for coming to MY blog & leaving such a nice comment!
http://a-woman-of-a-certain-age.com/
Thats okay! I love your blog!
Great Post. In my opinion, Content is key. No matter how many tips you take on board, if you are not providing engaging, fresh and informative content to your audience, then you are not going to gain many new followers.
I totally agree that engagement helps in gaining more followers. It also helps in retaining your existing followers. Promotion on other social media sites (Facebook, Tumblr, and Google+) can also be very beneficial. Running a giveaway contest, joining groups and communities, reaching out to different bloggers, and asking them to include your content in their relevant posts are some other strategies that you can use to increase followers.
In addition to the above tips, you can try paid methods to get immediate results. You can buy Instagram followers, and when it comes to increasing followers, Instafamous.pro (https://instafamous.pro/) is the best company by far. They provide real, genuine Instagram followers, and also offer a money-back guarantee. I have had great experience with them.
You can also use paid campaigns like Facebook ads, Instagram ads, and Google Adword Campaigns. You can also pay for a sponsored post or product reviews.
I have never scrolled down Instagram feed. I think it is a good trick to try as you have gained some new followers by doing do. I must say, It is interesting to read how you gained followers and informative as well. Thanks.
Hi Constance, thanks for commenting. I really agree with you that making good content and engaging is really important, like I mentioned in my blog. You have to give your followers a reason to follow you. However I don’t agree with buying followers. I think its not very ethical and for me I would rather grow organically.