10 STEPS TO HELP YOU GROW YOUR INSTAGRAM

Saturday

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Over the last couple of months, I have been trying to up my Instagram game and it's been paying off so far so I thought I'd share my tips with you. If you have Instagram already, you might know how frustrating it can be but don't give up! Most of my brand collabs are actually on Instagram and my blog is secondary to that so it can be a really good way to score collabs if that's what you're after.


First of all, you will need to think of why you want to grow your Instagram. It could be because you want to attract more people to your website or business, or you might want to collaborate with brands.

 

Before anything else, I just want to emphasise that follower count is not the be all and end all, engagement is what's most important!


You can follow me on Instagram here.


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Image by Christian Dina on Pexels.

1. Take care in the images you upload


The main reason people will want to follow you or engage with you is because of the content you put out. You will be wanting to put out content that your followers will enjoy and content that says a lot about you. For example, if you love travelling then post some of your favourite travel snaps!

Related: 5 Steps to Taking Successful Instagram Pictures

2. Engage with people


If you are wanting people to engage with your content, you should engage with theirs too. Don't be scared to comment, reply to stories and even DM people sometimes. The more you connect with an account, the more likely Instagram is to show your post to those accounts.


Remember to support your favourite creators by engaging with them and seek out accounts you think would like your content and engage with them too. You should be engaging with people before and after you post too!


3. Follow relevant people


Similarly to my point about engaging, if you are expecting new followers, you are going to have to follow some people to. If I see an account with over 2000 followers but they are only following 200, that says to me they don't really want to engage with other accounts.


If you keep following relevant people (by relevant I mean people that post similar content to you) then you are getting your name out there and hopefully you will gain some engaging followers too.


4. Utilise story features


Now, posting on your Instagram story won't gain you any new followers, but it will keep the audience you do have engaged. I would recommend using the features on your story such as polls and questions regularly. Let your audience get to know you and post stories regularly!

Related: 3 Tips for Staying Creative

5. Post reels


As reels are a relatively new thing, Instagram seem to be pushing them and they have potential to get a really high reach. Sometimes when I have been scrolling Instagram, I have seen just reels and nothing else on my homepage so it's definitely worth getting onto them if you haven't yet.


6. Hashtag research


Using the right hashtags is the best way for your images to reach new people. Generally speaking you should be using hashtags relevant to your image. For example, if it's an outfit image you will want to be using fashion hashtags. You will also want to be using different size hashtags. Smaller ones have 10k or less images in it whereas larger ones will have over 100k. A lot of hashtags such as #fashion will have millions of images so it's unlikely your image will be seen with those ones.


There are a lot of blog posts out there with hashtags you should be using for your niche so just do some searching. Also, remember to use 30 hashtags on each post!


7. Set goals


I find when I set realistic goals, it helps me to achieve them and set new ones. If I set myself a certain follower goal in a week, it helps me to work towards it. Now, Instagram can be tricky at the best of times so don't feel disheartened if it takes a while for things to change.


Check out this Instagram Branding Pack.


8. Be consistent with posting


The more consistent you are with posting on your story and on your feed, the more engagement you will get. Also, you will look active to new people discovering your account and they will be more likely to follow you than if you haven't posted in weeks.


It can be hard to find the time sometimes, which is why it's best to plan your content ahead. I use an app called Feed Preview on my iPhone to plan all my feed content. I do try to plan out story content too but a lot of the time life gets in the way - which is OK too.


I try to post on my feed every other day and a few times a day on my story.


9. Use your analytics


Set your account to a business account, then you will be able to see your analytics. You will be able to see which posts have done well in terms of hashtags and you will be able to see when your audience is most active. Mine is most active around 6pm each evening so I will try to post around then where possible.


Also, once you have been posting for a while, pay attention to the posts that have had the most engagement and see if you can post something similar.


Check out this social media template bundle for Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.


10. Have fun with it 


This is the most important step! Remember, you are posting your content for YOU so make sure you are posting what you enjoy. There's no point posting things that you hate just to impress people or brands. If you're authentically you, it will pay off!


Do you have any Instagram tips?


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40 comments

  1. This is super useful, thanks! I need to start using and making reels but i wouldnt know what do for it!

    Ellie // www.thediaryofellie.com

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  2. These are all great tips! We are still trying to get Instagram right and it changes so often, sometimes it can be demoralising, but it's a great platform to connect with people, thank you for sharing x

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  3. These tips are great. I really struggle with Instagram so thanks for sharing.

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  4. Some great tips for Instagram here, it's so important to connect with followers and check your insights! x

    Lucy | www.lucymary.co.uk

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  5. Really great tips here! It's so important to engage and keep active. I really love Instagram but it is so hard so grow xx

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  6. This is great information. I am not very consistent with my Instagram, I definitely could make some improvements there!

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  7. Great list of tips! January was a really great month for my Insta account but then Feb stalled - not sure why. Originally I was posting 3 times a week but I think every other day might be better. Insta is a tough platform and doesn't provide very much blog traffic. I enjoy it tho :) x

    Caroline| https://envirolineblog.com/

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  8. That's very helpful post! Engagement with others is very important and of course as you said content that you post. Thank you for sharing!

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  9. I'm always in need of help when it comes to instagram. It's such a hard platform to grow on.

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  10. I feel like instagram is totally one of those platforms where the more time you put into it, the more you get back!

    Katie | katieemmabeauty.com

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  11. These are helpful tips and you explained each one clearly.

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  12. These tips are fab and really helpful! Thank you for sharing

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  13. Except for the reels, I'm doing the rest of your list to grow my instagram :) I'm not a fan of video so that's kinda 'not me' when sharing video haha thank you for sharing x

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  14. This is such a good post to help build an Instagram account, I struggle so much building content / engaging so I’m definitely going to try a few of these tips :)

    Courtney x

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  15. Great advice. One of these days I'll put more effort into it and hopefully my engagement will go up.

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  16. This was helpful. Specially the hashtag point. I will keep that in mind in every insta post.

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  17. This is so helpful! I have such a love-hate relationship with Instagram and I never like any of my pics so I don't post very often.

    Tash - A Girl with a View

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  18. These tips are great, Instagram seems to be a heard platform to grow on.

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  19. How valuable do you find insta compared to other social media platforms? I find, just with the difficulty in link sharing that it perhaps isn't as effective in channelling views towards the blog, but I suppose if it's successful in it's own right that's a positive. Currently, I cater it towards friends and family that might be interested, but I could try some of these to grow more!

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  20. Thanks for sharing these tips, they are useful :)

    Nic | Nic's Adventures & Bakes

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  21. How don't use Instagram a lot but am glad to learn more on how I can grow my audience there. Thanks

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  22. Being consistent is the key. I really like to try using the stories and reels more.Thank you for the great post.

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  23. Great tips! I'm trying to grow my instagram and consistency is definitely key and high quality photos. I need to up my engagement for sure! x

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  24. Fab tips. I definitely need help growing my Instagram. It's one of the hardest places to grow.

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  25. I have such a love/hate relationship with Insta. I both love it for the content and hate it for the lack of growth and results. I am getting there with Reels but it is very time consuming. Also, without analytics for Reels, I've found that timing is everything!

    Rosie

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  26. Thanks for sharing the tips! I am going to start using some of these ideas myself :)

    Giulia, tidibitsofcare.com

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