If one is on Instagram they have heard the notifications ding many a time. Or maybe they haven't. Maybe they have them turned off. Maybe they have their phone on mute. Maybe you don't even have Instagram. Let's pretend you do though. That way we can get on with some Instagram tips.
#1 Followers
Followers are easy. Genuine followers not as easy.
There are lots of follow loops, those follow4follow things, or dozens of other ways. But how many are genuine? Very few. Many will follow to unfollow. Many will simply block or ignore you. It is a real crap shoot what you end up with. Although you do usually end up with an increase.
Does it help? In some ways. You meet a few interesting people that way. It will up your numbers and allow you do to certain things. Like Swipe Up on stories once you hit 10K followers. Is it worth the hours of your life it takes to do it? Probably not. You could easily get 500K followers. But maybe 50 of them would interact. Not the greatest click through percentage for anyone.
Best to follow the below tips unless you are looking for Swipe Up and such.
#2 Content
Stick to familiar content. It is like everything else you do to brand yourself. Don't go off-brand unless you can work it in. The followers you do gain that interact will interact for a reason. If it is for book quotes or pretty tree pictures then stick to such things. You can ignore the rule if you gain an interactive following of a million though. That many people will give you enough to get tons of interactivity on anything.
Although there are other little tricks. If it is book quotes don't...
Post a random kitten picture.
Post a kitten picture with a book quote in the picture. That way you can double dip and even expand the interactive following you have.
#3 Hashtags
Do they work? Yes. Do they work as good as they used to? Probably not. But they are still a help and can be easily put in. Research which ones work best for your niche and compile them all. Next post them in the comment section of the picture. Not on the picture itself. Then copy them to the clipboard and now you'll always have them to simply paste in the comment section the next time through.
Why the comment section? Because then you can easily delete them later on. Plus, they don't overtake any caption that you write to go along with the picture. And another good reason is because sometimes people spam hashtags and they become blacklisted by Instagram. So if you use these hashtags your account will get flagged by their robot as spam.
#4 Return
This one is common knowledge to any blogger that has a successful following, but it is often overlooked. Return comments and likes. Newbie and Experienced alike overlook it. People aren't just going to magically come to you. If you make a movie that grosses a billion dollars you may easily get a following, but other than that the chances are slim. You have to put in the work if you want the return.
Of course never return anything that you don't approve of or the like. Hit the block button. Ignore. Do not engage with spammers or scammers or people looking for an argument. It's not worth it.
#5 Be Genuine
It goes a long way if you don't try to be something you're not. Yeah. You can get away with anything online. At least within reason. But people can tell. People will tell. You can only fake being a vet for so long before people realize you are a dog walker.
You can also add little touches of you in. Something many can relate to. For instance...
Holidays.
When holidays roll around you can put pictures up that reflect how you celebrate. Does this go against number one? Sorta. But you could easily make them both work with a book quote in there. Although it may not be needed. Your followers like inside looks sometimes too. There is a difference between random and something about you.
You with your cat thanking everyone for following you and/or telling you about yourself is about you.
A picture of a dead squirrel on the doorstep is rather random. Unless of course that is what your account is about.
The last thing I'd recommend is to have fun with your account. If you treat it as totally business followers can tell and may become bored. But if you have fun with it then they will have fun with it and hopefully stick around.
Enjoy your instagram voyage and hopefully these tips will bring you more dings. If your phone isn't on mute.
Do you have any instagram author tips? Do you have instagram? Anything you agree with or disagree with?
10 comments:
Oh man, I've always shunned any kind of social media, though I've scared myself recently by reconsidering. I have to say- this post does not help towards that end. Sounds like a lot of work & hassles. I'm far from lazy, but, wow...
I'd say a dead squirrel photo is never a good idea.
Follow and comment back - good advice for any platform!
I agree that following and commenting back are the ways to attrack genuine followers. Thanks for the tips.
pressfortime - yep. Very very time consuming.
Alex - dead squirrels should be a given lol
Natalie - best way indeed
It is a lot of work for those of us who didn’t grow up on social media. I find my daughter creates content easily where as it takes me a bit more time, especially since I am still not used to the world-wide exposure. You can get comments from people you will never meet, and I’m not so comfortable with that.
And I use my cats all the time. They have to earn their keep. Cat food and litter is not cheap. :-)
**quietly deletes squirrel photo**
I agree that #hashtags do work to have that post seen. Thanks for all the tips!
That is one adorable cat!
Tanya - true, there is the whole stranger danger of it. lol good to get rid of the dead squirrel
kjm - yeah, can help
Robyn - she sure thinks so.
Good social media tips. Guess I'll have to find a cat or borrow one from my neighbor. I've run out of those lovelies.
"Return" the compliment is so important. Thank you for mentioning that.
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