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Something About That

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How I Grew My Instagram Following to 10k – What to Do (and what NOT to do)

in Blogging Tips on 03/31/17

How to be a better blogger | Canadian fashion and lifestyle blogger, Jackie of Something About That, shares tips for how to grow your Instagram following

Instagram is hands down, my favourite social media platform, both for personal use and for business. I love to create beautiful content to share on my feed. It’s also a lot of fun to share behind-the-scenes aspects of my life via Instagram Stories. Not only do I enjoy creating content for Instagram, but I’m an active user, too. I spend a lot of time browsing my feed, connecting with other users, and getting lost in stories.

As time goes on, the popularity of using Instagram as a platform for marketing efforts continues to rise. After all, Instagram has over 600 million active monthly users. Some of the biggest influencers, like Arielle of Something Navy or Aimee of Song of Style have grown their Instagram following to millions. It’s crazy! Of course, they’re just two of many, who’ve proven that having a larger Instagram following can lead to greater and greater success for their blogs and for business. It’s not easy to achieve that kind of success, but there are countless bloggers and brands (including myself), who are all trying to do the same thing. Some Instagram pages reach out to influencers through e-mail or even use lead generation to generate new business. Salesforce better explain all about these techniques.

Even though I’m nowhere close to 1 million Instagram followers, nor do I expect to hit that milestone anytime soon, I did recently pass that 10k milestone. I was very happy about that, especially considering I had about 4000 Instagram followers back in September. Are you wondering how to grow your Instagram followers too? When it comes to growth strategies, there are countless do’s and don’ts. I’ve shared tips for how to take flat lay photos before, but today, I’m sharing some of the key do’s and don’ts that I’ve been using to grow my Instagram following.

An example of a flat lay photo that was shared on Toronto Instagrammer Jackie - @jackmise An example of a flat lay photo that was shared on Toronto Instagrammer Jackie - @jackmise

How to Grow Your Instagram Followers:

The DO’s:

Be Social – Instagram is a form of social media, so it’s important to be social! Take the time to like and comment on other people’s photos. Make sure that if you do, it’s genuine and useful to that user. I get so annoyed when I receive generic comments like, “cute” or “lovely outfit babe”. That’s not going to make an impression, nor does it encourage conversation. Don’t forget to respond to as many comments as you can on your own photos. You could even use an growth service for instagram to help boost your instagram quickly!

Use Relevant Hashtags – Using hashtags is a great way to organically reach new audiences on Instagram. It helps other users discover and engage with your content, and hopefully, follow your account. Do your research and find specific hashtags that are relevant to your content.

Create a Unified Feed – Your Instagram feed is an extension of your brand, so it’s important to be consistent. Stick to certain types of colours, a specific editing style, subject matter, etc. Love + Color shares an amazing guide to creating a unified Instagram feed that you might want to read.

Don’t Post Too Many Photos At Once – Obviously, there aren’t any “rules” about how many posts are too many, but try to have some restraint if you’re a blogger or brand. Please, don’t share 10 photos within a span of 3 minutes. It’s annoying to anyone who has to scroll through that! Now, we have that amazing gallery feature, that allows you to share multiple images at once.

Use Instagram Stories – I love getting to know people through their Instagram stories. It’s a great way to build authenticity and trust with your audience. While my Instagram feed is pretty, bright and near perfect, my real life is not. That’s what I share in my stories.

Geotag Your Photos – Similar to using hashtags, this increases the organic reach of your posts. By targeting a specific location, you can reach an audience who is interested in similar content.

The DON’TS:

Try to avoid buying Likes or Followers – I’ve got news for you. It’s obvious when you do this. So please, just don’t do it. The other day, I was “gifted” 500 likes on my recent post. Um, I’m sorry…what?! That said, my friend did it and it really helped excel her page. If you need a helping hand, then buy likes on Instagram.

Don’t Do Loop Giveaways – I can’t stress enough how much I hate loop giveaways! These infuriate me for a number of reasons. The most obvious is that it’s the same as buying followers because you’re paying for something that will ultimately grow your Instagram followers. Would these people follow you organically? Eh, probably not. When all is said and done, the followers you gain don’t care about you or your content – they only care about entering a contest. How is that valuable? Heck, most of them unfollow shortly after anyways. Also, have you ever tried entering one of these giveaways? There are like, 30-50 accounts to follow! It’s incredibly time-consuming and frankly, I don’t have time for that.

Like-Only Support Groups – Have you heard of these before? Someone reached out via email to invite me to join. Clearly, I did not, but I was shocked to learn what it was. Essentially, it’s a group of about 500 people, who agree to boost each other’s likes. How does it work? Apparently, every morning, the group will be notified of a very specific hashtag for the day. On that day, when you post any photos, you’re supposed to leave a separate comment with just that hashtag, so it can be deleted later. Then, throughout the day, you go through that hashtag and like all of the photos to guarantee an additional 500 likes on your photo. In my opinion, it’s a shady approach to grow your Instagram following and engagement.

And…the MAYBE:

Comment Pods – If you aren’t familiar with comment pods, they’re essentially a group of up to 15 other accounts that are involved in a Direct Messaging thread. Each time you post a photo, you share it with the group and everyone needs to like and comment on the photos. They exist to boost engagement and get more attention on your photos. As you can imagine, this is a controversial way to grow your Instagram followers because it’s faking your engagement. Lauren shared an insightful post on her blog, This Renegade Love, about why she disagrees with this approach.

While I agree with her in many ways, I do think there is some benefit to being involved in comment pods. And yes, I’m involved in a couple of these. I’m in groups with people that I already follow on Instagram. I want to see their content, but due to algorithm changes, I don’t always see their posts. It’s a way to stay connected and ensure that we’re not missing anything. That being said, I’m still on the fence about this approach to grow your Instagram following.

How to be a better blogger | Canadian fashion and lifestyle blogger, Jackie of Something About That, shares tips for how to grow your Instagram following

I hope you found these tips for how to grow your Instagram followers helpful. Let me know if you have any specific questions, or if you’d like me to elaborate on any of these points.

See Also: 10 Instagram Flat Lay Photography Tips and How to Improve Your Blog in 2017

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9 Comments

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Comments

  1. Adri says

    2017-03-31 at 1:44 PM

    Thanks for sharing your tips! You definitely should be proud of hitting 10K! I’m trying and slowing crawling my way to hit 5K. Do you use any tools to schedule your posts? I feel like I struggle with posting on a consistent basis.
    xo Adri
    http://www.adrilately.blogspot.com

    Reply
    • Jackie says

      2017-03-31 at 2:26 PM

      It’s a tough one, but you’ll get there soon!
      I don’t use any scheduling tools, but I do use an app to help me plan my feed.

      Reply
  2. Kassandra says

    2017-03-31 at 2:03 PM

    These are great tips Jackie! I’m totally with you on the whole loop giveaways and I think I received that same email with the hashtag specific likes – what is up with that?? Anyways! Thanks for sharing!!

    Reply
    • Jackie says

      2017-03-31 at 2:25 PM

      Isn’t that a crazy concept? There’s so many other “growth” methods that drive me insane…but I didn’t want to get TOO negative here 😉

      Reply
  3. Tracy says

    2017-03-31 at 9:31 PM

    Congrats on growing your Instagram following in such a short time!! Great tips, you always break it down perfectly! I’m happy that Loop giveaways aren’t as common as they once were, in the beginning, I kept getting asked to be part of one, I finally gave in to see how it worked and hated it, one and done for me. I struggle with a unified theme in my feed since I post random finds lol.

    Have a great weekend!
    Tracy
    http://www.TracysNotebookofStyle.com

    Reply
    • Jackie says

      2017-04-01 at 11:41 AM

      Thank you Tracy! I thought loop giveaways were dying off, but it seems like people continue to do them. A lot of the time, it’s really large accounts too! I’m like…whyyyyyyy

      Reply
  4. Kristin says

    2017-04-01 at 10:40 AM

    Thanks for sharing these tips!! I actually got the same “gift” of likes (not 500 but a couple hundred I think!) on a photo last week. I’m like, “ummmm didn’t ask for this???” Lol! Anyway, appreciate your authenticity, and congrats on surpassing 10K!!

    – Kristin
    http://www.thedelilahblog.com

    Reply
    • Jackie says

      2017-04-01 at 11:41 AM

      It seems like a lot people were “gifted” likes this week. I can’t believe that and it’s actually really creepy! The accounts looked real, too. UGH!

      Reply
  5. Sara S says

    2017-04-01 at 9:49 PM

    These are such fantastic tips!! I always try to leave authentic comments because I want people to do the same! I just joined my first comment pod and it’s great because it’s girls I didn’t follow previously, so now I have some new bookstagram friends and they’re so nice and supportive! I would love to join more!
    ~Sara

    Reply

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