“How did you grow your following?” is probably my MOST ASKED question to date. I touched on this in previous blog posts, but I guess it wasn’t easy enough to find. Today I finally decided to just write a whole post about it! So Happy Saturday y’all and I hope this helps teach you How to Successfully Grow Your Following on Instagram!
Now this isn’t going to be that lie about how “if you have good content then the followers will come“ because how will they see your content unless you show up where they are (even if you DO have amazing content)? That is 100% the key to Growing Your Following on Instagram. That’s what I did and that’s what will work for you too!
How to Successfully Grow Your Following On Instagram
To begin, I just want to let you all know that I have solely used my iPhone 8 Plus to take pictures this last year when I’ve been able to curate this following on Instagram. I also have a post about how I take them with my phone (here). I don’t have a fancy camera (yet) and I didn’t even get presets until August! This is all about what you do to get your name out there and how you represent yourself online.
These are my tips on How to Successfully Grow Your Following On Instagram:
1. Decide if you want to seriously pursue growing a following:
Y’all this is not easy work. I have gotten super burnt out multiple times because I just felt like my face was in a phone the entire day. It takes a lot of work and effort! I probably spend at least 30 hours a week (on top of being a full-time student) doing blog related tasks. It’s hard work, but if you want to put in the effort it’s so worth it and very rewarding! I have a whole checklist that talks about how to decide if you really want to pursue blogging that is linked (here).
2. Join Blogging Groups on Facebook:
A lot of these groups have bloggers of all following sizes! It’s literally an awesome way to meet bloggers from all over the country and globe to support each other! I have loved it because any questions I have had being a newbie blogger have been answered. They also often do “Follow Fridays” where you follow 3-10 bloggers and they follow you back! I have met a lot of other bloggers this way and been able to gain followers this way too! There are often specific groups for each blogging platform so make sure to search for those too.
3. Work with Influencer Marketing Platforms:
I figured I would start small when I was around 3,000-5,000 followers and went with Heartbeat first. They’re great for bloggers who are just starting out because it might not be companies with a huge following, but if you take great photos you’re more likely to get reposted! My first campaign with them was with Better Skin Co. and I got reposted! They actually have a massive following so this was really helpful. I also have a whole post about how Heartbeat works linked (here).
4. USE HASHTAGS:
Hashtags are actually super important y’all. I know a fellow blogger who got over 6,000 impressions the other day JUST from their hashtag use! Impressions are awesome because it means more people are viewing your content and it’s more likely you’ll end up on the Explore Page. This is super important because that means more people can find your content. I have an entire post on different hashtags for each niche you can use and how best to use them! That link is (here).
5. Join Group Pinterest Boards & Share Your Content:
What I do is I share equal content from my blog, from my Instagram, and from my LIKEtoKNOW.it page to them! This is a great way to get exposure for all of your webpages! This has helped me to gain LIKEtoKNOW.it followers as well as new Instagram followers too! It’s a good idea because it’ll also help to grow your Pinterest account at the same time. If you want to see my Pinterest profile, click the link (here).
6. Join Comment/Like Pods:
A lot of bloggers do this on Instagram, but I’ve heard that Instagram can track this and they might flag your account for bots (which to me is literally so dumb). The way to avoid this is by using Telegram pods! Often times in blogger Facebook pages, they have people comment about how they’re starting a “group Telegram pod” and they’ll ask others from similar niches to be in them too. I’ve heard negative stigma about groups, but seriously this is such a great way to support other bloggers! I know personally I get distracted and might not have a lot of time, this is a great way for me to see my favorite people’s posts!
7. Do Group Giveaways:
Another thing people ask me is how I end up in group giveaways. The truth is people always come to me (LOL). I suck pretty bad at stuff like this because I feel awkward asking people for money like that. Bloggers will likely reach out to you once you establish a good following, but definitely don’t be afraid to start one yourself!
Most of the time all you have to do is reach out to bloggers with a pitch. For example: “Hey *insert blogger name*! I’m thinking of starting a giveaway on *insert date* with a *insert amount* buy-in. I’m thinking of doing a *insert amount* gift card giveaway to *insert company* with about *insert amount* other bloggers! Let me know if you’re interested or if you know anyone else that would be!”
The loop giveaways I’ve done have gotten me at least 200-300 followers (that have stayed) and the individual giveaways or giveaways with less people have gotten me 500-600 followers (that have stayed). Either is a good idea and honestly it just depends on how engaged all of you separate audiences are.
8. Engage. Engage. Engage!:
This is the most important tip in this post! Engaging with your audience is SUPER crucial. I have spent up to four hours before just ENGAGING with people who like and tag similar niches. This is what seriously burned me out but it got me serious results. I mostly just searched hashtags in my niche like “#atlantablogger” to do this! This summer I would work my 9-5 internship job and then come home, run, eat, and ENGAGE. It was exhausting and after I hit 10K followers I really took a step back to breathe.
I hope this post has answered some of the questions you guys have had about “How to Successfully Grow Your Following on Instagram“! These are the methods I have used that have been super successful for me and that I hope work for you too! If you have any other posts you’re interested in hearing about, be sure to let me know in the comments!
If you liked this post, be sure to subscribe to my blog by scrolling down (if on mobile) or head over to my home page (if on desktop)! Also be sure to follow me on Instagram at @sequinsandsales!
Leave a Reply