Ever wondered how businesses, bloggers and everyday people seem to have 1000’s of followers on Instagram and wonder what their secrets are?
Persistence, time and amazing images or quotes that interest people to follow with a whole sequence of #hashtags.
Okay, but how do you go from a small number of followers to over 1000?
I had been stuck on 500 followers for well over a year and couldn’t seem to gain any additional traction, so I started to try doing things a little differently.
My follower count stagnated at 500 followers
Step 1 Find something worthwhile to share
I made the decision to appeal to small business owners and entrepreneurs, but where to begin?
I googled “success quotes” and found a link called 101 Motivating Success Quotes which were fantastic quotes from success people all over the world.
Excellent, I had found quotes that would appeal to my target audience.
Step 2 Branding is important
Never underestimate the power of branding, which is more than just your company logo.
You want to ensure that when your quote, image or cover article pops up in people’s Instagram streams that they know who you are, particularly once your Instagram account becomes popular. You can ensure this by choosing your brand colors, font, image style (using black & white or a particular “filter) and including your “logo” if you wish as a watermark on the image / quote.
Step 3 Follow back, Like and comment
When someone likes your Instagram update, or better still comments on it ALWAYS reciprocate!
If you do not have the time to do this 30 minutes a day, get a VA for US$5 to do it for you each week. (I use Fiverr.com)
Step 4 Post Daily
I have found that by posting just once daily, my follower number started to build very quickly.
When I fail to post daily, I will loose a small number of followers each and every time.
Consistency is Number 1 on Instagram.
Step 5 Download an app on your phone to unfollow people who unfollow you
As your number of followers grow on Instagram, you will also find so to will the number of people who unfollow you back.
Many users will use the process of following 100’s of people, wait 24 hours for you to follow back and then unfollow you.
Then repeat the process.
I call this process “purging”.
Download a smartphone app to unfollow all your unfollowers so that you do not allow these social media vampires hijack your Instagram feed with advertising or simply use you as a follower statistic.
Step 6 Experiment
I found my follower count started to stagnate and not quite hit 1000 followers.
So I took a look at some my my more successful followers with 1000’s of followers.
I saw that they alternated amazing images of their day to day lives with a great business or personal quote. I copied this process with my own images and quotes and within a week successfully achieved over 1000 followers and maintained this level easily.
My Instagram account @myofficebooks is now 1059 followers and growing
What’s next?
Now it’s time to bring in a VA on a weekly basis and get them to do what I do not have the time to do myself. Follow, Like and comment for me.
I am going to begin this process shortly, to grow my followers in preparation of releasing a NEW business podcast in my own name, interviewing successful Bloggers, Business Owners and Social Media Users. I will use my Instagram feed to encourage my listener numbers and a subscription list.
Will follow this up with a new article once I have some images / data to share with you!
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