When I first started my main Instagram account back in late October of 2017, I set a goal to reach 1,000 followers within a year.
In no way, shape or form, did I EVER think that I would make that mark within a year. Much less 6 months. After all, I’ve had an IG account before, and when I tried to transition it from a friend to a more business account, it went no where.
So when I opened this second account, I felt like pretty much the same thing would happen. But I followed some sound taticts that I’ve read about, and boy, were they useful!
Especially for fellow SAHM, who want to use their IG accounts for partnerships and product testing, having a larger, engaged following on social media can be helpful. So I wanted to share these with you in hopes that they help you too.
By no means are these methods sure fire. Ultimately, you’ll have to figure out what works best for you. Understand that for most people, growing your following organically can take a lot of time and effort (a lot of effort). Unless you’re paying for followers, you typically don’t grow your account over night. But if you follow these steps, it will get you a long ways in getting that following you’re after!
- Quality images–This seems like it would go without saying, but it’s important to remember. Instagram is a visually based platform, so the quality of your images is key. You don’t necessarily need to have a fancy camera to achieve this, but you will want to make sure that you have good lighting and that your photos are well composed and not overly filtered (unless thats the theme you’re going for).
- Research Hashtags–IG has billions of photos. With so much content, if you want to grow, you have to approximately tag your images so that people can find you. So here something keep in mind: Limit your use of hashtags that are overly/under saturated. It’s nearly impossible to have your post seen with highly saturated tags, but tags that are only searched a few times aren’t particularly helpful either. A good rule of thumb is to use hashtags with between 30,000 and 500,000 _______.
- Find and define your niche–This tip by far has been the most useful for me. For most people, they use IG to stay connected with friends, keep up with celebs and to scroll through their interest. If your account focuses on a wide swath of things, then it becomes much harder to target and gain the attention of people who interested in only one thing. Defining my niche was hard, but the moment I focused my account and content, I saw my numbers go way up. Sure, my mommy focused Insta isn’t appealing to everyone, but it is appealing to a group of people who are likely to follow me and engage with me
- Post consistently–This advice is hashed out everywhere but is worth repeating. The more consistently you post, the more likely, people will see your content. IG can be a very fickle place, and I’ve noticed that when I go long gaps without posting, I’ll actually loose followers .
- Build community–This is another tip that has help me out a lot but something that isn’t always talked about. Being community focused on Instagram will help to drive your numbers up. Don’t be afraid to ❤️ and comment on others post. Don’t be afraid to follow others either. The more people you make connections with, the greater the likelihood that they’ll follow you back (plus you get some exposure to their following too). A great way to get start with this is to join an Instagram pod, or a follow loop.
- Be authentic– Social media is filled with a lot of glitz, glamour and fantasy and there is nothing wrong with that. Most of us enjoy that. But people appreciate honesty and authenticity too. Authentic post make people feel like they can connect with you and a start up conversation amongst your followers (thus boosting you engagement). My most popular posts on IG and on Youtube are generally me just speaking honestly about marriage and being a new mom.
Again, these tips aren’t guaranteed to get you 1,000 followers, there are plenty of other factors to consider. But these are the tips that worked out best for me. Which one’s are you going to give a try? Be sure to let me know below!