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That isn’t to say that your Instagram can’t feature latte art. The idea here is to pick an overall theme or standpoint and try not to stray too far from it. If you love latte art, and have phenomenal latte art photos, by all means — make that your focus! But keep in mind that the bigger the genre, the more competition you will face, and if the topic is too small or unpopular, you’ll have trouble finding followers.
Another idea is to maintain a consistent visual voice. If you use certain filters or a type of photography, it is best to keep a general sense of this visual style. This helps your page look good as a coherent whole, and gives your followers a regular style to expect.
Interact with followers
In order to gain followers, you’ll need to engage with the Instagram world in a genuine way. Blindly adding users isn’t a great method, as it’s likely to lead to random accounts that will have nothing to do with your niche topic, and these users will not follow back. Though it is time consuming, actually finding users who are interested in your topic or brand is extremely rewarding.
Make sure to not only follow these individuals, but interact with them through meaningful comments, likes, and even by tagging them in posts that are related to their interests. The more actually invested you are in your followers, the more loyal and responsive they will be.
Hashtags are used to organize posts that are related to certain ideas or topics. It’s important to do your research and make sure that the hashtags you use are both trending (i.e. there are several million other posts that feature the hashtag), and relevant to your photo.
For example, if you post a photo at a craft brewery, using the hashtag #craftbeer is useful, whereas a photo advertising a play might use popular hashtags such as #actorlife or #datenight, which could encourage users who are looking for fun date night activities to check out the theatre company. In this way, it is important to think about your hashtags creatively.
What is your demographic? What kind of people might be interested in your subject, product, or event, and which hashtags could lead them to your Instagram page? It’s also useful to tag your location (e.g., #losangeles, #newyork, #NYC, etc.) and look up hashtags that are popular in that given city. For more, check out the website top-hashtags.com.
Post regularly
Make sure that you post on a regular schedule. If you don’t, your followers won’t know what to expect, and they may lose interest. If you’re consistent, your followers will look forward to seeing your posts at times that you generally upload content.
Generally, posting once a day or once every two days is good for strong Instagram influencers. There are a lot of other important social media statistics you should bear in mind when developing and implementing your social media strategy.
Use Only Quality Content
Even though posting regularly is important, make sure that you aren’t posting just to post; your quality must stand out, not just the quantity. If you have dull or sub-par content, don’t bother posting it, as it will detract other users. If your pictures are interesting and on a more professional level of photography, you will be more likely to attract and keep loyal followers, and have plenty of reposts.
Additionally, if users are genuinely interested in your content, they will be more likely to look you up on your other sites (website and other social media platforms), and potentially support your business by purchasing products (if you are selling something), or commissioning your talents (if you create art or practice photography). If you’re having trouble generating content, wait until you have something postable – while it is certainly good to keep your followers engaged with posts, you also don’t want to let them down.
Possible tools to use to make your photos stand out include Lightroom, VSCO, Snapseed, and Photoshop. It’s also useful to use an advanced digital camera and upload pictures to Instagram on your computer.
Use Instagram Analytics
Instagram analytics are useful because they can tell you the best times to post, what kind of posts attract the greatest amount of activity, and give you ideas of how to reach more followers. When you understand how Instagram users engage with the app and why, you’ll have a better idea of how to reach out.
Additionally, the Tagfire app is very useful, and will give you an idea of the best tags to use for each of your posts, depending on your location, topic, and popularity of currently trending hashtags in your area. Prime, another analytics app, will also give you great advice on the best times to post in order to get your pictures seen as much as possible. Prime also can send you alerts, letting you know when your audience is most active.
Other tools include Iconosquare, SimplyMeasured, and UnionMetrics, which are all part of the Instagram analytics family. While these apps have a small fee, keep in mind that if you’re dedicated to becoming an Instagram influencer, this is merely a small cost, as analytics can be infinitely helpful for you as you rise to Instagram fame.
In summary, to become an Instagram influencer, it is important to find a niche, a voice, and post regular, strong content within your chosen topic, using Instagram analytics and hashtags to help you post at the best times with the most useful tags.
