Instagram has been the most powerful platform I have used to build up my blog views, secure brand partnerships, and generate a solid side income. I get questions all the time asking how I grew my account from 3,000 to 6,000 followers in just under four months and today I am going to be sharing that information with you!
Quick backstory: I knew I wanted to be a travel blogger for a long time and I had no idea how to grow my Instagram. I knew it was such a great place to engage with potential readers and establish a large following but everything I seemed to be doing wasn’t working. Since then, I have read so many blog posts, watched countless YouTube videos and even taken other bloggers classes to learn how they grew their following. After spending time doing what they suggested worked for them, I finally figured out an organic way to naturally grow your following.
Below I will be sharing all of my tips with you!
Have an Eye Catching Profile Picture
Your profile photo is one of the first things people see about your profile and you want it to be appealing! Choose a picture that is of you and is close enough that people can see what you look like. You want a photo that is memorable so that when people click on what stories to watch, they recognize your picture first. By having a great, high quality profile picture, people will also click on your account and want to see what your profile is all about.
Update Your Bio
If you have a business profile, make sure and choose a category that best describes who you are and what you do. I chose “personal blog” since I am a travel blogger and that is my main focus. Many Instagram influencers use emojis in their bio because it draws in more attention. I think emojis help break up the text and help personalize your page.
If you want your bio to have line breaks, type your bio into your notes on your phone and then copy and paste it into the bio. I like to include where I am from, where I am traveling to next, and what my page is all about.
Post Quality Content
This definitely is the make it or break it part of growing your followers and having good engagement. When you look at large accounts, they always have high quality pictures with pretty editing and you want to do that too. In your feed, you want to stick to a theme instead of posting random photos. It will be much more appealing and your audience will know what types of pictures you post and will love that. Another important thing I have noticed is that filler pictures do not get near as much engagement as pictures that include yourself in them. Filler pictures are basically pictures that are just of items or quotes with a solid background. I personally never post filler pictures but if that is part of your theme, stick to it if it works for you. What I recommend: Going through your current feed and deleting pictures that have really low engagement and are not part of your theme. Focus on being consistent with your photos and try editing your pictures in Adobe Lightroom. Try to use a camera instead of a phone to improve the quality of your images.
Post Once a Day
Being consistent is key! Posting once a day or every two days is the perfect way to post just enough so that people won’t get annoyed by seeing too many posts, or question if you’re still active on Instagram.
Be Yourself
This is so important to help let your followers get to know you. You really want to be yourself and let people know the real you. This will let them connect with you more on your journey. Posting your favorite quote, something you learned, your biggest fear, asking a question, what makes you happy, and your favorite things, are some great ways to let people get to know you.
Search and Use Relevant Hashtags
Before you post a picture on Instagram, search for hashtags that are relevant to your post. Instagram lets you post up to 30 hashtags per post, and you want to use all of them you can. The ideal hashtags you want to use are ones with 200,000 posts or less so that you have a chance to trend in them so people that search these hashtags can see you. A lot of accounts can discover you this way so it is important to use them on every post.
Tag Large Accounts that Feature Posts
There are so many accounts that will feature you if you tag them, and I always tag these accounts in my pictures! One way to get a lot of exposure is to be featured on an account with thousands of followers. Research the ones in your niche and definitely start tagging them!
Side note: Whenever I find accounts that feature posts similar to mine, I post their username into my notes so I can go back and tag them later!
Engage With Everyone
If you want your engagement to improve also, you need to be engaging with your current followers as well as potential followers. By engaging with other accounts it shows that you care and are noticing their posts, and chances are they will go to your account and comment on your posts too!
Join Facebook Groups
I am currently in a Facebook group that has around 10,000 Instagram users. Everyone in this group is in it to either increase their followers, likes, saves, host giveaways, or all of the above and it is a great way to discover similar accounts and help really boost your followers and engagement. You can find these groups by going to the “groups” section on Facebook and typing in “Instagram” and a number of groups will come up! Find the one that is best for you and see your account really take off.
