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Instagram Hacks

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Instagram is THE social media platform to be a part of.  As of September 2017, the staggering figures were released to show this. An astounding 800 MILLION monthly active users. This was up by an unbelievable 200 million from December 2016.

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Not on ‘gram? Why not?

Business. Traveller. Old Lady who loves cats. Who ever you are, the figures don’t lie.

‘There’s too many people on it?’ ‘What’s the point?’.  ‘I could never get many followers anyway. Who wants to look at my stuff?’ ‘How can someone have THAT many people follow them?’

These are all questions I was asking myself and other people when encouraged to use my dormant account of 3 years.

But as an avid traveller and just getting into photography my next question is ‘what do I do with my pictures?’.

Since December 24th 2016 I have grown my account to over 8700 followers. Granted, I am not in the realms of that sort after ‘K’ after my numbered followers but still… not bad for less than a year right?

Especially when I have done it organically. Anyone can buy followers. But with Instagram’s new algorithm system it HAS to be organic! With Instagram cracking down on such accounts with ‘fake followers’ and ‘bot’ accounts its all too easy to be drawn in with a ‘Grow Your Account Fast’ scheme. And what’s the point when you have X number of followers but your content has no likes or comments?

In real terms…you cant do such a thing. But using some of these tips that I have over the past 12 months, there is no reason as to why you cant reach for the stars too!

The whole point in Instagram is to INSPIRE! Whether your a gym nut; traveller or stay at home mom, the whole idea is to inspire like minded people. If you’ve done something amazing, inspire others to do the same!

After all…whats the point in life if you don’t live and share experiences?

So follow these hacks and let me know in the comments your story of growth!

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 Tips To Find Your Followers

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Decide Your Niche´

 

You will notice that the top ‘Igers’ (instagrammers) all have a subject or theme. Whether it be; travel, food, fitness or any other topic they generally try to stick to one. This is because you want to gain a loyal fan base. Personally I’m not a fan of pictures of food. When I see people in a restaurant snapping their pizza or what ever before eating I’m like, ‘just eat the damn thing!’ 😂 But thats just me!

If you focus on one area, that way a person who follows you is likely to enjoy and interact with all of your posts. You don’t want to put things up that are going to put people off your page. For instance, a person looking at your page for travel pics might not be too pleased with a picture of your dinner.

Keep to your niche´ and build your base of followers. This way you are less likely to lost followers. Again, when people look through your page, they may also be put off by the randomness should it be a miss mash. People may hesitate on clicking that all important ‘follow’ button.

People are impatient and fussy. You have around 2 seconds for a person to be drawn in. So, in the Instagram game, first impressions really do count!

This brings me on to my next Instagram hack…

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Bling Your Bio

When a person clicks onto your profile your bio is right there in front of them. You want to attract attention to keep people on your page as long as possible. With the new recent update in Instagram’s algorithms, the time spent on your post or profile goes forward to the amount of people you reach out to. If people spend longer on your page the algorithm thinks your page is worth looking at. Subsequently it will be pushed to more of you followers pages. Gone are the days when posts were chronological. The longer someone spends on a post or your profile the better.

Bling up your bio. Be interesting. Be Bold. Outline your likes and your page’s niche´. Add emojis to break up the monotony of text. Or even better make you text interesting.

I downloaded an app which allows funky fonts to be downloaded. Think outside the box… make your first impression count before you get lost in the hundreds of millions of pages.

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Captivate With Your Caption.

 

Unlike Twitter, the world is your oyster when it comes to character count on your Instagram post caption. However I wouldn’t write a novel either. ‘Captivate with your caption’ doesn’t mean bore your viewer with ‘War and Peace’ on your post.

Ths can be done in a few different ways. Without repeating myself, you want people on your post/profile as long as possible as the algorithm no longer favours just likes and comments. It is on time spent on your post.

We all know how easy it is to fly through your feed double clicking. Everyone does it.

What you want is to ‘captivate’ your audience. Writing an obvious statement isn’t really going to excite.

‘Bondi Beach’

‘🏖 From my incredible day at Bondi Beach❣️ Who else has visited this amazing place⁉️ What’s your favourite beach destination❓ 🏖’

See the difference? Which one are you more likely to stop by while scrolling?

Try including a quote about the topic from someone famous if possible. Add information on where it was taken. What you did, and most importantly ask your audience a question. Asking something that would entice engagement is what you want to do. You want people to comment and take that extra time to interact with you and your page.

Emojis would also make it more aesthetically pleasing so don’t be afraid to pop a few in to add some colour!

‼️STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD‼️

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Hashtags

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Hashtags are a huge part of being seen on Instagram. One thing I have noticed when people have messaged me directly regarding how I have managed to grow so much. These people generally have great content but DON’T use many # or any at all! #Hashtags are the key to finding or being found. You are allowed 30 per post. My advise would be use them all, but make sure they are relevant to the actual image. It’s no good using #dog when you image has a sunset in. Ok, I know thats an extreme example but you get the idea.

30 is a lot and in my opinion can look messy if you have your image caption and then 30 hashtags. It looks unprofessional and may lure the eye away from your actual post. This being the exact opposite of what you want!

I use 3 or 4 #hashtags after my caption. I then post the remaining allotted hashtags (already copied and just need to paste) in my comments immediately after posting. This allows your post to look clean but hiding the hashtags out of immediate sight. But be sure to do it right away and not to wait too long. Otherwise the hashtags will be picked up as spam by the Instagram algorithm. I aim within 20 seconds latest.

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🎯 Target Other’s Followers 🎯

 

Hashtags also work in other ways. Try searching for some bigger pages through hashtags in the search bar. Hashtags that you also use for that particular niche´. That way you will find pages of the same type of content…but bigger. And what do bigger pages have? That’s it, more followers. All of which are following a niche´you also have.

Click on their followers. Work through a few of them, liking and adding the odd comment. ‘Flood liking’ is when you like a number of a certain page’s posts all at once. That way, again, you will stand out from the crowd when that person checks their notifications. All these likes and they are more than likely going to check you out. This is when these all important points above about first impressions really count!

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When To Post

 

Yep! This is a thing! Putting on a post when your engagement is at a quiet point isn’t going to get you the followers, likes or comments your targeting.

If your profile is set to ‘business’, Instagram has a great analytics section. You can track everything from; where your followers are from to what time you have more followers on Instagram.

These can work hand in hand. For instance if the majority of your followers are from the USA, you don’t want to post in the middle of the night over there. Even though it would be daytime where you live.

There are also apps you can download which help with this too. I personally find that ‘Best Time’ is great for best times to post. I also use ‘Ig Analyzer’. This one, if you pay to upgrade (only couple of $) allows you to track everything from who actually looked at your profile, to who you are following but they are not following back. If this is the case, think about unfollowing those who don’t follow you back.

There are many different ways of growing your account but I hope these fundamentals have helped.

No matter what you Instagram page is for; your business, personal, your sports team or a place to portfolio your pictures, these rules apply to everything!

However, bare in mind doing all the above is great, but if your actual images need to be up to scratch. What use is it going through all the above when your pictures need vast improvement?

Feel free to read my blog on photography tips and put it all to use!

I really hope this has helped and would love you to share this with friends. Drop me a comment below letting me know what you think!

Thanks for your support! You are Awesome!