Heyylloo Blogger World! Like most people I have done my fair share of digging on the Instagram Algorithm. If your a normal person like me and you are not famous, popular, and don't want to be an idiot online to gain viral fame, then this post is for you. Over the years Instagram has gotten excruciatingly tough. in my opinion, it is one of the toughest platforms out there, simply because people unfollow and follow like the wind on that app. Thats why there are Unfollow apps to keep track of the traitors. I am not super famous Instagram, but I did gain a loyal following. Here is how you can too! The real way!
L O N G E V I T Y
First off, you want to pick a theme/topic for your IG that has longevity, something that you can see lasting for years. Pages that post Fashion, Arts, Music, Photography, or Quotes tend to outlive pages that post about other topics. I run a Doll Photography/Art account, and while it is a very niche topic I made it work. Pick a topic you can commit to, make a cohesive theme off of, and has a community around it whether it is niche or mainstream. If you have an IG where you just post anything, you will most likely flop because you will have no identity and will be easy to forget. Whatever you post, make sure they all fall under the same umbrella.
F O C U S
For the longest, I was stuck between many topics I like. So, I had many IG pages. If you have more than two IG accounts, chances are you will fail the IG game. Just one account requires so much work. Producing the content, marketing your page, building a community, and spreading yourself out there. You can not possibly do many accounts with quality content and still live your life. For example, I used to have a separate account for Doll photography and a separate one for art. But after the constant going back and forth, I was tired of it. So, I threaded those two topics together and formed a community around it. You have to find other users like you and get them to engage with your content. That takes time, that's why it is better to have one amazing account rather than many low ranking accounts.
T H E M E
Your theme matters. IG is a very visual place, many people will click that follow just for a pretty theme. Make your theme neat, organized, and pretty. Its superficial but it works. Many of the top accounts have a theme. You can even do a "messy" theme, but it is still a theme in a way. Choose a theme you can actually handle! Don't pick a theme with color schemes that are hard to keep reproducing for each photo. Assess your content and see what theme fits best.
H A S H T A G S
Hashtags on your posts and highlight stories are soooo important. IG even offers options to follow hashtags. There are people out there following all types of hashtags! If you hashtag it up, you will end up in the feed of many people who do not follow you. This is potential traffic. Just do it! And change up your hashtags per post! I noticed that if the majority of your hashtags are the same on every post your page will not do as well and your progress will stall.
S T O R Y G A M E S
Post polls, quizzes, and mini games in your highlight stories. People instinctively interact with those things while clicking through stories. Put in some hashtags and you've got new traffic! I started doing those very recently and I am shocked by how effective they are.
T HE C O M M E N T HACK
Now that your page is all set up and pretty. I will reveal the biggest tip to you. The comment hack! Make a comment with a compliment and also include to "check out my page" in a kind way! Copy that comment and paste it on similar pages like yours. For example, if you run a Fashion Account, go to a very large Fashion page and search through their followers. Pick out the active ones that you see liking/commenting often and go engage with them. Like their posts and comment nicely, then ask them to check out your page. Chances are they will agree and you will easily gain a new follower. If you do this everyday for a few users, you will grow fast like wildfire!
C O L L A B O R A T E
Now lets say you have made some friends within your niche/topic. Now ask one of them kindly if they would like to do a Collab Post. This is basically a post where both of your post a similar photo of something you have worked on. For example, if you are both Art pages, then you both can post a drawing of a similar topic. Mention in the caption that it is a collab and tag each other. This way their followers notice you and yours notice them. It is an easy way to gain more traffic or users interested in your type of content.
T E A S I N G
Use your story highlights to give sneak peeks of an upcoming post. This creates a hype around your page and makes people check back later to see if you posted said post yet. It also gains interest and increases engagement. When I work on drawings, I'll post a picture to my story of an unfinished product teasing what is yet to come. It works out nicely.
W R A P UP!
These are basically the tips I have for today! Try all of these, you will get some traffic. Its easy to just buy followers or gain infamous viral attention. Building up your page organically will take time but it will promise a prospering future and real, engaged, followers. Quality over Quantity.
-ISBAH xoxo
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