HOW TO INCREASE YOUR INSTAGRAM FOLLOWERS

Have you ever wondered how certain Instagram profiles have SO many followers, but you still have yet to see an increase in your own? You’ve might’ve spent time and energy engaging in conversations, creating the perfect posts, researching and using the best tags and still… nothing seems to stick!

Well, there are secrets to this Insta trade, BUT the most important of these secrets all come down to these six tips:

👯‍♀️ FINDING YOUR NICHE

First and foremost, finding your niche is what separates your from the rest. Believe it or not, posting on social media is a form of blogging. Find what makes you, you! Personally, I focus on images with nature, stylish clothing, yoga and mindfulness. I also have a “pink” touch to most of my photos, with a dash of greenery from my indoor plants. Find what you love and build on it.

👩‍💻 SET UP A BUSINESS ACCOUNT

This is super simple to do, and even though Instagram asks you for a Facebook business page, just dummy it up and then set it on private! The statistics you receive are super handy to see which of your content is working well (story or post!), so have a play with it and learn about the powerful tool.

📱 HASHTAG AWAY

Yes, we all know this one very well! Maybe hashtagging hasn’t worked well for you in the past, but honing in on your audience and building connects are what will create your Instagram to thrive! Release that fear of judgement, of feeling stupid, of feeling like a try-hard. I had to deal with it myself and I came to realize, how am I supposed to connect with like-minded accounts and potential brands if I’m not putting myself out there? You’re the one building your future with this account and you have the tools to have thousands of followers, reach and connect with like-minded people, receive payments and products for your posts and more! You can use up to 30 hashtags on a single post, so start thinking about some relevant words for each post. Tip: Also think about your captions—I’ve received so much more engagement when I write a few sentences (spaced out nicely) showing my passion for what my post is about. Open up to your audience and people will feel like they can relate to you!

📸 GET CREATIVE WITH YIUR CAMERA

You wouldn’t believe the amount of accounts with over 500K followers who get 90% of their pics just by setting up the camera themselves! Utilize that self-timer on your phone or camera. When you start, be sure to clean the lens. Try to shoot on cloudy days since the light spreads out, which makes it so much easier to edit your photos when you’re done. Tip: Keep an eye out for cool walls as backdrops!

🎨 EDIT LIKE A PRO

OK, here is where you can have fun and be creative. There’s a little secret about so many of those “insta-famous” accounts you are following or that pop-up in your newsfeed—they are all using special filters and effects to make their feed super attractive and stand out from your average account. Use VSCO, ColorStory and other apps with filters and stick with two or three certain filters. If you want to get a little more serious and really set your page alight, look into using Adobe Lightroom paired with presets. It’s the secret to all those amazing feeds out there. Take a look at these presets to start with—the before & afters are mesmerizing! You can use apps like UNUM to ensure a new post fits within your ‘theme’.

🙋 BE AN ACTIVE AND INTERACTIVE USER

Allow half an hour each day (c’mon, we both know you spend way more time than 30 minutes stalking the gram) to focus on increasing engagement. This includes responding to every comment on your posts (increasing the chances of getting on the Explore page because the post is more popular!), following back the people who follow you (as if you don’t want to make more friends—after all, that’s what us vinas are best at!), aim to like 50-100 posts on the Explore page and comment REAL COMMENTS on peoples’ photos. (Not just 🔥🔥).

There you have it! We wish you all of the insta-success possible on your insta-increase journey. And don’t forget about us when you become insta-famous. Give us a shout-out @vinazine.

VINA is the perfect place to build insta-connections and insta-friendships that will last you a lifetime! Download it now.