How to Gain & Maintain Instagram Followers
Image by @milkandhoney.yyc
There's no right and wrong way of gaining and keeping followers. I'm going to come right out and say it. There's also no glorious booklet that will magically make it happen and the biggest thing I stress is that it's going to take time. A shit ton of hard work, dedication and time. If you're coming here expecting to get thousands of followers in night/day/ month - please click that little X on the top of this tab and go about the rest of your day.
That being said here are a few tips that I have ingrained in myself to get to where I am. Do I want more? Heck yes - but I know I'll have to work for it.
1. Post Every. Single. Day.
The average attention span of an adult today is 7 seconds. That less than a goldfish! To make sure that you're being seen you need to stay top of mind - which means showing up in your followers feed at least once a day. You want to be the name that stands out and is remembered and not a wallflower because guess what? Wallflowers get cut. Chances are if they know your name and when that dreaded time (and you know we all do it) comes to shear off a few accounts to let in new ones, yours hopefully won't be on the chopping block. On the opposite spectrum I suggest that you don't post more than 3 times a day. Otherwise you can become overbearing.
2. Reply to every comment
It's the little things like this that make the difference. If someone has taken the time out to write words to you, do the decent thing and write back to them. It's a common courtesy that actually makes you a super appealing and personable person. Plus, this is the perfect way to make new friends. Not to mention it gives you great positive cred in which they will tell their pals about. I have fangirled many a time when one of my favourite accounts has responded to me.
3. Use dem' Hashtags. On your posts AND to interact
We chatted about this in my last blog post (but if you missed it click here) but really use hashtags to your advantage. In instagram you have a limit of 30 hashtags per post so use em' or loose em'. They are the perfect tool to have people find you, as well as for you to find your hopefully soon-to-be followers. Search some of the hashtags you use yourself and head down the rabbit hole. Comment truthfully on the posts you really like. That in turn may drum up a convo and in turn they look at your feed and follow back. Please again, for the the love of Todd (my husbands name is Todd) - don't be spammy though and add comments like the examples I'll be giving you below.
WHAT NOT TO DO ON INSTA
Please please please PLEASE do not use a bot. AKA pay for followers or pay for some app to comment dribble on other peoples posts. We've all seen the "Thumbs up" and "Great shot/post/picture" comments. These can be put on practically thousands of posts (which they essentially are) but actually have no weight or truth behind them because they're not coming from a human being. Why do people use bots? Because they are lazy. They are trying to get you to think they are interested in your feed to only bring you back to theirs in hopes you will follow their account. Sounds like a pretty shitty one sided relationship to me. Please don't be tempted. I know it's a "quick" way to get followers, but if you're actively trying to grow your followers it's all about quality over quantity. Instagram is about being personable and robots are not that. Plus you're bot may just happen to comment or like a porn page and there's nada you can do about it.
This concludes our Instagram segment stuff for the time being. Did you like it? Please comment below on what you would like to learn more about! I'll try my best.
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