we are not some IG experts, but we tried different way and we grew our instagram from scratch, so we thought on sharing our knowledge and our experiences with others to try and help you guys get to where you want to be with your instagram page.
We decided to divide the subject to several different parts - from the start to the end.
In this part we will talk about how to start an Instagram profile the BEST WAY, from the beginning.
Hope it can help you guys, so lets start :)
Build your brand
your instagram is your new brand. be professional.
be ready to put the time and effort to make it shine - just like a real business.
What is your goal? why do you want to open your instagram? what do you want people to know about you, and how are you planing to make others follow you and your journey?
Choose your niche. But choose something that really fits you, your lifestyle, your passions. Don't just choose a subject that is really popular but doesn't really reflect you, cause it will never fully work.
choose a name for your account that will be easy. catchy and on your subject.
The profile picture is super important, This little circle is your first impression on people.
Some accounts are choosing a logo for their ig page, if you planning to be some type of blogger or a traveler like us - use your own picture. don't use a logo. it's confusing, it looks like a travel company, and if it's not what you're selling - dont use a logo.
We know its hard - But be patient!
We know, you want fast, you want now, you think you have an awesome profile and you want to get it out there.
But sorry, there's no magic ways to grow your instagram fast.
and don't listen to people trying to sell you ways to grow instantly, it's just not possible.
you can always buy followers, but why?
How it can really help you with your goal?
The instagram is pretty simple, as bigger as you get - you get more exposure to other accounts. when your audience engage with your posts. their followers can see it too on their explore page.
So, if all your followers are fake, you will never be able to "use" their followers to grow yourself.
You know what it means? that you are the only one who see your posts, and all your hard work just go to waste.
Another thing - everyone can see that you bought followers. It's so obvious and it can only make people lose interest in your work, so just.. Don't.
Quality over Quantity
Don't post everything you have!
try to be as objective as possible - is it really that good? is it really my best?
Do your research. check other accounts from your niche that you inspired by, and see what type of content they're posting.
It's better to post less photos, if all the photos you're posting are high quality.
what is high quality? high resolution pics, well edited, good captions, and ON YOUR NICHE.
Choose a style of editing to your pics and stick to it. If you're not really good at editing yet, you can and need to buy some presets to starts getting your own style and look to your pics.
Again, try to be super objective about it, dont think its good cause its yours, make sure its good for the audience you want to attract.
Plan your feed ahead
We use an free app called "Garny" to arrange our feed before we're posting.
This app is for Android but there's so many apps like this for apple as well.
It's super important. Instagram is all about visuals, and you need your feed to look good and consistent. use an app to plan your posts and choose which photo to post next by the look of your feed.
A person can get to your feed and decide in a scroll of a few seconds if he likes it or not.
So make sure to have the right look to your feed, no matter what style you'll choose. just be consistent with it.
Use your insights
Instagram gives you a really good insights about your statistics and the performance of your posts. check it daily, and use this information to your advantage.
Use the statistics to learn what kind of posts work best so you know what kind of content your audience wants to see more.
Check when is the best time to post, the time of the day when most of your followers are logged in. Try to always post in the same hour to get the best results.
Use the right hashtags
Yeah, we know you know about hashtags, but do you know the best way to use them ?
it's pretty simple actually, there's a limit of 30.
use all 30, why not? every hashtag is thousands of potential followers.
choose hashtags that fits your niche best. try to always stay on topic, cause instagrm system can recognize when you use hashtag that isn't related to the pic, and it will make your photo disappear from the top pretty fast.
so how can we get to the top of the hashtags? there's several ways, but the first one - is use the right size of hashtags.
look at the amount of followers, likes and comments on you posts, and try to fit it the size of the hashtags you're using.
lets say the "love" hashtag. we personally think no one should use it. this hashtags is huge, there's 1.5 BILLION posts in this hashtag! so just think how many people using this hashtag every second. your post will definitely drown and disappear with all of those other posts. so why wasting a hashtag on this one?
you can mix big and smaller hashtags on your list - but make sure the big ones wont be too big for your size. and the small ones too - don't just use hashtags with 10k posts. try to mix a bunch of sizes that can fit your engagement level.
it really sounds more complicated than it really is. you just need to set yourself a few lists of different hashtags once - and rotate them during the week.
dont over use the same list time after time. it can only make you shadowbanned!
Engage with your followers
No matter how big you get at the end - don't forget to engage.
it's important to get new followers, but it's also important to keep your followers happy.
Comment and like they're pics, be interested in them and their lives, be nice and appreciate every one of them.
Try you answer the comments on your posts, it will benefit your post's engagement and it will give your followers a good feeling that you care about what they are saying and reading their comments.
(we read all of the comments! were not always having enough time to answer all, but we reading EVERY ONE OF THEM)
when building your IG - engage only with other accounts from your own niche
It's one of the most important tips we have for you.
Right from the start - remember. this IG has a purpose, your niche.
Only engage with other accounts from your niche - comment. like. save and follow other accounts that similar to yours. why?
You know this little arrow next to your name? when people click on it - its shows other accounts similar to yours - if your account will appear as a suggested account at this little arrow on other accounts from the same niche - BINGO.
You get a free promotion right to your target audience.
The way to do this is super simple - just keep engaging with the right accounts.
OK OK, but how to really grow??
So now you have your new name, unique style, good content and you ready to start promoting your feed, how to start?
engage, engage, engage!
like, comment. follow, just do it.
go to your target audience - the ones that follow other accounts from your niche, and engage with them, make them notice you.
You need to follow them, comment and like their pics - so they will get in to your page and check you out.
you can do it alone. or use a bot to make it faster and easier.
at the beginning - we used a program called "Follow Adder" its not free, but really not expensive. your can target different accounts to follow their followers, likers or comments, target different hashtags or locations and comment or like the posts that tagged there. it's ok, its have its downfalls, but it gets the work done.
there's more services and websites like this - we can recommend one that we working with if someone want to, we can give you the details.
you can choose the way you like best and try it :)
Love to hear your thoughts, and if you have any questions about it or you need more information - we love to help you with that.
The second part of this post will be about differents ways and methods we used and experimented with to grow our audience
are they really worked? is it worth the money?
what is the best way to grow?
we'll keep you updated! :)