I started off as a vlogger/YouTuber. But somewhere along the way, I also became an Instagrammer. Much like on YouTube, I started with a personal Instagram account. Eventually I saw that theme park photos got more engagement than photos of my family and artwork, so I created a separate MCM IG account.
I discovered truly how much I enjoyed the app when I was contributing to the Hard Rock Orlando Instagram page. Building an audience and being able to follow trends of when to post and what hashtags to use was a great experience. Having a big name like the Hard Rock to help build that audience didn’t hurt either. Magic City Mayhem was a whole other challenge.
Instagram is an every day “hustle”. An average person won’t be able to just “mess with it” here and there and expect big results. Here’s a couple tips for helping to build your Instagram following which in turn will get your likes up:
- Use hashtags. Unless somehow you already have a huge following, nobody is going to be able to find your photo unless you hashtag it. I think you’re allowed 30 per photo. Be sensible with your hashtags. Use tags people will actually search for. Tags like #instagood #instawow are examples of good generic tags you can use on all your photos. See what other people are using, and use the relevant ones on your photos.
- Like, follow, and comment on other people’s photos. For the most part, seasoned Instagrammers will most always reciprocate. It may take some work to prove to some people you’re not a robot. But stick with it and you’ll get results.
- Meet up with other Instagrammers who post similar photos. Take photos together. Tag each other in your photos that you shot together. It will help get your followers up.
- Tag businesses/locations of things in your photo or where you’re shooting. Using a promoted hashtag or mentioning a brand may help in getting your photo shared or getting mentioned yourself by the brand.
- Less is more. I found in my stage of the game, the less I post, the better. With the algorithms applied to the timeline, a new photo kind of makes your last one virtually “disappear”. Unless you’re really going “post-al” and posting 5-8 photos at a time, then your photos might still show up in some people’s TLs in order. But at that point, wouldn’t a gallery on Facebook or blog post be better?
- I have noticed a definite growth in followship when I started using an actual camera as opposed to my phone. But after awhile, it wouldn’t matter which I’d use to take the photo, it’d still spark the same engagement from my followers. I suggest taking photos that everyone else isn’t taking. People really don’t want to see the same photo over and over again. Try to get original angles. Or use filters/colors people haven’t used before.
There’s so much more to mention when discussing Instagram, but I think this is a good start. If you have any questions, feel free to drop me an email at [email protected] and maybe we can get together and shoot sometime! But until then,
Catchy catchphrase! –Mikey
