Currently my Instagram – @forthefeatures is sitting at a pretty healthy figure of 6000 followers. Something I didn’t expect to ever achieve by the end of 2020, let alone 2017.
In July of this year there were about 300 followers on my account- mostly friends and family who had added me from Facebook or wherever, leaving me with a very average amount of likes and comments on a daily basis.
It was in July, when on holiday with some friends, that I decided it was the time for me to have a go at getting more followers to keep me busy whilst sunbathing.
As you can see from my photographs before the holiday to Tenerife, they’re of an average standard + very mix and mashed when it comes to the subject. My bio is quite bare, but you can see I’ve at least attempted to make it look a bit different with the spacing. Here’s my top 10 tips on how to improve your page:
Tip #1- Choose your niche
If you’re posting pictures of wildlife next to one of your dinner and then the next thing a bath (like I did!) then people aren’t ever sure what you might post next, and they don’t like that. Don’t get me wrong, people want to be surprised, but in a fashion that they are expecting. There’s nothing worse than scrolling through your Instagram feed and finding a weird photograph posted because you’ve accidentally followed someone who you thought posted cute cat pictures, but ended up with a boring photograph of their Friday night takeaway. That’s just a fast track to being un-followed.
Tip #2- Make your Instagram into a Business Account
By going into your settings and changing your account to a business account, you unlock a bunch of new features- FOR FREE! You’ll need to create a Facebook Page first to be able to do this and then you can link the two together + hey presto you are able to see some new grey writing below your screen name, in mine you can see it below as ‘Personal Blog.’ You’ll also be able to view ‘Insights’ on each future post you make after changing it to a business account, which will show you how many people have seen your post vs engaged with it.
Tip #3- Improve the quality of your images
If you really want to get more followers then you have to step up your photography game. For myself, this started with a compact Sony camera, which took relatively good pictures- but nothing on par with the competition. I decided to upgrade and spent around £250 on a DSLR camera to get some better quality snaps. The difference this made in upping my followers was exponential.
Tip #4- Engage with people
One thing that really brings in the followers is being a part of the Instagram community. There is a term used to call people who do not engage with others known as “ghost followers” and there are even apps now that will search through your followers and see who is essentially not liking or commenting on your photos. Make sure that you don’t get so clouded by getting new followers that you forget to comment on people’s posts and like them to show your support. People are looking for followers who want to like their posts, not people who are just there for the sake of being there.
Also remember to reply to people who comment on your page- it’s only polite and it shows you’re a real human and not some robot running a page.
Telling a story in your caption will also prompt people to comment and engage back to you.
Tip #5- Follow like minded accounts
When you’re following new people, you are getting your name out there for other people to see, and also showing people what kind of thing you’re into. By following people who are into the same subject as you are, people are more likely to find you by accident when they’re looking at an account they like. Not only this, but your feed will at least be full of things you enjoy.
Tip #6- Post regularly
This is one thing I cannot stress enough! I didn’t think it would matter how often I posted- hey I’ve got 1000 followers, they’ll be loyal to me no matter what right? WRONG. I noticed that if I didn’t post for over 2 days then my following would completely haemorrhage! It was even worse when I didn’t post for a week. By posting daily, you’re exposing yourself to new people, so that even if you do lose a few followers, you would have gained the same amount back.
Tip #7- Be patient
Don’t expect the mass following to happen overnight. It’s taken me a good few months to get to where I am now, and that’s down to a lot of hours being put in. On the weeks where I haven’t really bothered to post or engage with people I have noticed the difference and have realised that, like everything else, you have to work hard to get results.
Tip #8- Use similar filters/ editing techniques
When posting, try not to over-filter your photographs. There’s nothing worse than seeing a perfectly good picture, ruined by an array of filters making it look fake. I tend to use the same filter (I started with Mayfair, but have now moved to Adobe Photoshop Express) and if not, then I at least try to finish my photographs on a similar looking style. I especially love making the colours ‘pop’ by increasing saturation.
Tip #9- Update your story with your REAL life
A lot of the time your day-to-day life isn’t all that interesting, or impressive enough to make it to the feed, however it’s still interesting enough for people to want to look. I find with my followers they seem to like to know what I’m up to generally. Sometimes to see who I actually am- the face behind the photographs- and others for an insight into what kind of photographs are to come. HINT- if you add a location to your story, you can sometimes be featured on a locations story + get more exposure, thus more followers.
Tip #10- Add locations + #HASHTAG
One thing I see all the time is people not using hashtags or locations! It completely flabbergasts me. Unless you have an account that already has thousands of followers, you should 100% be using hashtags to increase your exposure. When I’m browsing through Instagram trying to find new accounts to follow I always search for hashtags. These are normally things that interest me, like #nature, #photography, #wildlifephotography etc. It’s a simple way of getting your photographs out to the masses, along with using locations. Sometimes people will look for a specific place when browsing, so if you’re saying where your picture was taken, you’re increasing your chances of being seen.
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my tips on how to get more followers (from how I have!) and if you have any tips of your own, or want to share how this has helped you please write in the comments, or feel free to add to my Instagram page @forthefeatures or on Facebook!
D x
For the Features 
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