I have written a few posts already about how I have grown my following and what it is like to be an influencer. I am still soooooo small in the world of influencers and have a long..long way to go, but wanted to share with you what I have learned so far. As you are probably aware, Instagram is constantly changing and updating. This means how to stand out on the “gram” is slightly changing as well. Throughout this post I am going to be talking about what techniques I use and what things are big no-no’s in my book. Get ready for me to get on my soap box for a hot second. Also, as a reminder, these things work for me, but it’s different for everyone. You need to figure out what works for you and your page and do that! Another quick side-note, these are all my opinions and everyone is free to do as they please on the platform. With that being said let’s dive into the “no-no’s” so I can get them off my chest.
The BIG “no-no’s”
- Never ever….I mean ever….photoshop the shape/look of your body and face. I totally get it, we all have insecurities, but changing the way you look on Instagram, v.s real life, is only going to make things worse. Embrace who are and others will as well. Be confident in your own skin because everyone is beautiful. That is what is so amazing about every single person in the world being unique.
- Stay away from loop giveaways. I could write an entire blog post about this, but will keep it short and to the point. The first bad thing about these giveaways is that you have to pay to enter them and sometimes they are really expensive. I don’t think that this much different than buying your followers. The second is that they are taking the easy way out to growing their following. These people are following you because they want something for free, not because they are genuinely interested in your content. This is a huge problem because once the giveaway is over, your engagement will usually plummet!!!!! It creates a constant cycle of having to do giveaways over and over to maintain/grow your following. The last thing about these giveaways is that it looks bad to companies and brands when they go to these accounts and compare the number of followers to engagement on their photos. They want to work with influencers who have followers that are genuinely interested in what that person has to say and the content they create.
- Complaining about your engagement to your followers. Lately, I have been watching others stories and see them complaining about a drop in their engagement. This is weird to me because I feel like Instagram has always been a rollercoaster. Some weeks are great and others have lower engagement. The most important thing is to not worry so much about numbers and keep working hard to produce unique and high-quality content. The engagement usually goes back up. Keep your head up and don’t give up.
- Copying someone’s content makes me cringe. There is a difference between getting inspo from someone and copying them. The people that are copying are, unfortunately, not going to make it in the influencer world. People who succeed are creative and unique and that is what makes them stand out. The people that are copying will always be one, two………… or three steps behind.
- Don’t do comment pods or engagement groups. Yes, the people engaging with your content are real, but their comments and likes are not genuine. By being a part of the engagement group they are pretty much forced to engage with your content. Not to mention, it is such a time sucker!
- Don’t start your Instagram hoping to make money. You should be sharing your passion and it should be viewed as a hobby at first. The money doesn’t come for a long time. So don’t quit your day job.
- Don’t think you are better than anyone else because you have a following on Instagram. Whenever I see this it makes me sad. People are people whether or not they have a following on Instagram. No one person is above ANYONE else!
What I Do To Grow My Instagram
- Dare to be different! Be YOURSELF! Be AUTHENTIC! BE INSPIRATIONAL! You want people to tell their friends about your page. There is only one you! Tell/show people what makes you special and what your passion is.
- Post high-quality photos. This means finding good lighting! LIGHTING IS EVERYTHING. We take most of my photos with my iPhone and that makes finding good lighting extra important.
- Find your niche. This really important. Mine is daily outfit inspo and current trends. Once you find your niche, it will be so much easier for you to create content and for your followers to know what to expect from your content.
- Post EVERY SINGLE DAY. By posting consistently you will stay relevant and you won’t fall to the bottom of people’s explore/home feeds.
- Use Trial and Error with your content. If your engagement is down, try switching something up. Change your pose, the angle, the editing, or whatever else you can think of. Once you find a photo where the engagement is high, try repeating that thing that made that photo do well.
- DON’T Give up! Instagram can be an emotional rollercoaster and can swallow people whole. You have to have thick skin and determination to succeed on this platform. It will NOT be easy. There will be good days and there will be bad days. If it is a bad day, try to think about why you started doing this. Instead of comparing yourself to others think about all things that you are lucky to have. The people following you (even its only a few) are following you because they found value in your content, not because you get x number of likes/comments on a photo.
I know that these tips are vague, but like I have said before, the journey will be different for everyone and the things that will work will be different. You are the ONLY one that can make this work!
The big takeaways from this post are BE YOURSELF, BE AUTHENTIC, BE DETERMINED and please…please…please don’t take the tempting shortcuts. It will only hurt you in the grand scheme of things.
Now, go and explore your #chardonnaystyle.
Cheers,
Taylor
