First of all, I’m by no means an expert instagrammer but I have been doing it for quite some time and have learned a few tips and tricks from my other ‘pro’ blogger friends that I’d like to share with you babes. I’ll also tell you some of the weird stuff I do myself to promote my instagram Hahah
I started my blog and instagram to promote an online store I was running a couple of years ago. Having a full-time job and running a business turned out to be really hard and I ended up taking it down. But I did keep the instagram account and it eventually turned into my personal style blog.
Growing followers and getting noticed is really a pain-in-the-you-know-where. There’s really no easy way. There are quite a few things you can do to put your account in front of the audience but the engagement depends on the content you are creating!
Who are you? From the first look of your profile, within seconds the viewer should be able to tell what it is about. Are you an influencer? Are you a travel blogger? Are you a business?
Pick a theme. There’s no “template” for instagram account. It’s all about the countless filters and apps. Some people stick to one color or play with the color themes. Take a look at Michelle Phan. She switches it up from time to time. Some people do retro vibes; or vintage; or bright colors; or soft tones. Whatever your vibe is - as long as it also vibes with your content/story - make sure it’s consistent.
Captions! It’s funny how a celebrity can post a picture of a plastic bag with no caption and get million likes when the rest of us have to come up with the perfect picture and perfect caption Haha it is what it is! If your content is more about information then go crazy! People love relatable/personal stories. If your content is more image-focused (like mine), I usually settle for funny/sassy short captions. I try to avoid motivational messages because it personally annoys me and I am pretty sure it does a lot of people :D Tips: if you see a caption you like, keep it in notes! That includes song lyrics, other people’s captions, random things you find.
#Hashtags the $hit out of it! You can add up to 30 hashtags per post. I usually like to add one major hashtag with my caption then the rest in a comment section. This way the viewer doesn’t get distracted with a gazillion hashtags on your pic LOL I saved my favorite hashtags in a note so I can just copy paste it. I have hashtags for travel posts and fashion posts. I also research what’s the trending hashtags on other bloggers or online. Best way to find your magical hashtags is to type one in on instagram search. It’ll then show you all the similar hashtags on the top. You copy them. Then click on one of the top posts. See what hashtags they are using. Copy those. Trust me. It makes a huge difference.
Tag Tag Tag! Tagging is important because it’ll get brand/people/account you are tagging to notice you and also THEIR audience. You are basically piggybacking on them! You can tag up to 20 accounts per single image. But if you are doing multiple images, you can only tag up to 12, I think. If you are doing a video, there’ll be no tagging. So keep that in mind! I have a bunch of photography feature accounts that I tag to all of my pictures because I know there are a lot of eyes on those accounts - photographers and brands. If you are not sure which accounts you should tag, just start with one. See who they are tagging, following, commenting, etc.
Engagement <3 I don’t mean getting married to your audience lol I meant you need to engage your audience. It means FOLLOW THEM BACK. Comment on their pictures. Comment on every pictures of every accounts you admire. LIKE pictures from your favorite accounts. Basically just have an online presence on instagram as often as you can. But don’t get blocked haha don’t over do it. Don’t copy-paste messages on different accounts. But just be genuine and friendly. “Love!” “Amazing!” “Colors!” and use a lot of emojis! People LOOOOVE emojis! Of all the comments, yours will get noticed if you use the right array of emojis hahaha I’ve had people following me just because of that!
Know what’s hot hot This is actually more for those image-heavy account. There are so many apps out there that it’s really hard to keep up but if you see something you like, just search around. I’ll write a different blog post about my favorite apps and how to use them later.
Stories are fun! When your content is the main thing, you still want to show your audience that you are REAL. You may think this is silly but people want to relate to you. When your content is picture-perfect, you may not be! They love to see the “behind the scene”. If you are at an event, pick one perfect pic and post it. Save the snaps of you chugging a beer for the stories! No one wants to see like 5 images of an event in one post. It gets boring. Also since Instagram changes the algorithm, now your new post won’t show up on their feed if they are not engaging you a lot. So if you post a story about your new post, they will then see it.
Highlights are stories that you don’t want them to go away. Usually stories last only 24 hours. If you add them to highlights they live forever! Everyone is categorizing them. Some very smart (Check out Alen Palander’s tips and tricks highlights - like WOH); some very creative with the “cover photo” - instead of using one of the stories, they post a “cover” image just so they can use it as a cover for a highlights for consistency (like my blogger babe Iblondee).
Promoting - You can use instagram promotion but the most effective one would be to be featured on an account with million followers or to get a “shout out” from one of your following accounts in their story. I do that with my photographers and I add it to a highlights so now everyone who follows me will be able to see those photographer accounts and follow them! Cross promotion always work too if your content is on multiple platforms. For example, I have a lookbook and a blog where I’d promote my instagram.
How often do you post? I’d say once a day is more than enough. One thing I’d recommend NOT doing is posting too often. You will annoy the crap outta your audience. No one wants to see 10 posts from you alone! But don’t go idle for days either. I do that sometimes especially when I’m traveling but at least I keep the engagement in my stories.
Quality over quantity - Don’t just post for the sake of posting. Pick a great topic or a great image. If you are not sure, don’t post it. Let them wait for your next post. Let them miss you!
Again like I said, there’s no “formula” on running a successful instagram account. It’s just a bunch of random things that sometimes work for you! It takes time and effort for sure. If you have any other tips that you have tried, I’d love to know!!! Good luck and happy instagramming!
