The attraction of social media is such that people nowadays have become more comfortable with sharing their thoughts, lifestyle, likes and dislikes with the virtual world.
They aspire to become social media influencers to express themselves on public platforms. Instagram is one such platform that offers great opportunities for engagement via photos, texts, and video content. It has become one of the most engaging photos sharing apps for building connections and communities.
Instagram profiles with posts and captions that have been given some thought can be a great medium to become an influencer and improve online presence.
Here are some pointers to be kept in mind to start on the journey of becoming an influencer, as advised by some experts of influencer marketing.
– Aligning your interest with passion: Your interests are a doorway to your personality for the outside world. Therefore, the content should revolve something that defines your passion and you truly identify with. This will help you gain more followers because they always look for innovative and desirable content.
– Content is king: Instagram is one of the most popular visual mediums, because of its aesthetical aspects like photo, video, and text can play a crucial role in boosting your profile as an influencer. There is no fixed rule but always make sure that your posts should be engaging, entertaining and unique in terms of visual aesthetics.
– Mix of online and offline: Do not stay restricted to the digital medium. Develop your profile as a brand and connect with the right industry people and target audience via offline routes. Attending events, creating engaging activities and arranging fan meet-ups provide a great leverage in long terms.
– Bet big on quality: As an Instagrammer and aspiring influencer, it is imperative to maintain a constant flow of content; however you should not compromise on quality. You should always focus on posting aesthetic content for your viewers. Your content will only trend/influence amongst readers when it is consistent and engaging and generates the right kind of interest among the readers. Right hashtags, catchy captions, and subtle humour always score big.
– Engage with the viewers: A continuous engagement is one of most important aspects to be taken care of as an influencer. Followers are always interested to connect and curious to know more about their favourite Instagram personalities. Replying to their questions and responding to their comments, engaging with them using interactive Instagram features like stories and live streaming takes you closer to your audience.
How to get 1000+ followers on Instagram
One of the biggest signs of popularity on Instagram is the number of followers you have. For every aspiring influencer, reaching their first 1000 followers can be a very important milestone. If you have just opened your Instagram account or feel like your number of followers have plateaued, it can seem impossible to get your foot in the door and cross 1000 followers. But the biggest tools you can have on your side to reach this number is patience and perseverance. By spending time everyday implementing these useful tips, you can easily gain your first 1000 followers on Instagram!
1. Create an catchy bio on Instagram
Before you can start trying to get more followers, the first step is to focus on the quality of your own profile. People can follow you only when they visit your profile, so it needs to be able to capture their attention. Your description should let everyone know who you are and should be interesting enough to make you stand out. Your bio is one of the best ways to let your personality shine through, so try to avoid cookie-cutter descriptions. Instagram also allows you to add a link in your bio, so if you have a website or blog, this is your chance to promote it. Short links work best on Instagram, so try to use a service like Bitly to shorten your URL.
2. Make your feed interesting to look at
If a user visits your profile and finds no content on your feed, they will not want to follow you. Posting a good number of pictures before you try to get more followers will help people understand why they should follow your profile. It also assures them that you regularly post content which is engaging. 7-15 is usually the minimum number of posts you should have on your Instagram feed before you start publicizing your profile. This way, when a person visits your feed, they will see a full screen of images.
3. Create your visual aesthetic
Apart from the number of posts you have on your profile, the quality of these pictures matter too. Maintaining a theme throughout your profile makes the profile easy on the eye. Before you start posting, figure out what your Instagram identity is. Do you want to become a popular beauty influencer, top fitness influenceror something else entirely? Your posts should reflect the identity you want to portray. You can be minimalist or colourful, but look at your feed as a bigger picture, instead of individual posts.
4. Learn the art of taking beautiful photographs
Instagram is a visual medium, so unless your pictures are striking, no one is going to want to follow you. When you are posting pictures on Instagram, you need to put in a little more thought into them than just pressing the capture button. When you are taking pictures for Instagram through your phone, try to look at your subject from a new perspective. Bring uniqueness to the pictures. Even after you take a great photo, few pictures are Instagram-ready without some basic editing. You can try out a couple of photo editing apps on your phone to make your picture look more professional. The final step of your editing can be using Instagram filters. Or else, like the trend goes, post a ‘#nofilter’ photo to give an impression of authenticity.
5. Use trending but relevant hashtags to become more discoverable
One of the easiest ways to help people find your profile is by using hashtags. Instagram allows you to use up to 30 hashtags in every post. Studies have shown that the more number of hashtags there are in a post, the higher engagement it receives. 10-13 hashtags should be the minimum number you try to use on every post. However, using random hashtags for the sake of it can also backfire and prevent you from gaining new followers. Do your research on the popular hashtags related to your content which will help people find you. One of the easiest ways to do this is by using the ‘related hashtags’ which pop up when you search for your main hashtag in the ‘explore’ tab.
6. Engage with other Instagrammers
The principle of reciprocity can be your greatest tool when you are trying to gain Instagram followers. When you comment on someone else’s posts and follow them, they might visit your profile and follow you in return. The key togaining instagram followers through influencerssuccessfully, however, is engaging with other them in a meaningful way. When you comment on their post, talk about something you genuinely like about it, instead of leaving generic comments. Comments that are made just for the sake of publicising your own profile are very easy to spot and won’t help you gain any new followers.
Try to find Instagram profiles that have a similar number of followers as you do because these are the users who will appreciate your engagement. Very popular Instagram accounts do not require your support and aren’t likely to follow you in return. You should try leaving comments on posts that have less than 5 comments to ensure visibility. You can also join mutually beneficial ‘Instagram pods’ to find high-quality followers with the same goals as you.
7. Resist the urge to find shortcuts
There are many services that will help you grow your followers quickly, however, don’t be tempted to use them. While you can gain thousands of followers in a very short time with these, the quality of your followers will be very low. Firstly, you run the risk of being shadow banned by Instagram and secondly these bought followers will not really engage with your posts. It also makes your follower number very uncertain because Instagram routinely deletes fake bot accounts. Building your follower base organically does take more time, but it’s worth the effort and the wait.
