How to Build an Instagram Following

 While there’s no question that Facebook is an important social media tool to use when promoting your photography, Instagram continues to grow in importance and influence as well.  With over 100 million users registered, Instagram is becoming increasingly important as the photograph takes center stage.  It’s an excellent vehicle to use to explore your shooting skills, promote your work or simply connect with others who enjoy shooting similar subjects such as travel or architecture. And if you shoot photography as a side business, Instagram is an excellent platform to showcase your work.

Use Hashtags with Your Posts

 As with Twitter, hashtags are helpful in finding categories of images or certain topics that are of interest.  When posting an image, consider which hashtags would work best for that particular image.  There are countless hashtags to use – really any word can be set up as its own category – but it’s best to try and pair your images with the most popular hashtags so that they have a chance of being seen by more people. You can search for hashtag words to glean how many posts are already in that category.

Some of the most popular hashtags include:  #picoftheday, #instagood, #instacool, #bestoftheday, #follow, #iphoneonly, #instamood and #iphonesia.   There are also very active categories for travel such as #traveling, #travelgram, #vacation and #wunderlust.  Location specific hashtags – #NYC, #london, and #paris – also elicit great interest.

Create Conversations & Combine with Hashtags

 A picture may be worth a thousand words but that doesn’t mean the words aren’t important, too!  When posting an image, the photo is a great start but adding an important detail regarding the photo or asking a question, such as “Where is your favorite weekend getaway?” can encourage connection and conversations.  Coupling your photos with questions or fun facts will encourage others to respond, generating more attention for your posts.

Connect Your Facebook Account

 If you haven’t connected your business’ Facebook account to your Instagram account, now’s the time to do so!  Many of your family and friends also have Instagram accounts – about 20% according to recent data – so this makes it easy for your customers to find and follow you.

It can also give you the opportunity to return some support by liking and commenting on customer photos, which will reflect favorably on both your business and your brand.

Invite People to Contribute

 Collaborate with friends and give them center stage by inviting them to submit photos for you to share on your Instagram account.  For example, ask them to contribute their favorite vacation photo and ask what made it so special.  They will enjoy being featured on your account and you’ll continue to have fresh and interesting images to promote. They may also ask you to do the same.

Highlighting others’ images can also give you another way to cross-promote on Facebook, as you can give them props for their images and they can share your attention with their Facebook friends.  This strategy can then lead to their friends finding you as well – on both social media platforms.

Take Time to Comment

In the Instgram world, comments are preferred over likes.  Likes are great, and you should spend a bit of time finding other photos and liking them, but taking the time to comment can help bring more people to your account. 

Pick a few hashtag categories that fit with what you’re promoting on Instagram and add comments to your favorites.  A simple “nice shot!” or “love this view!” will encourage those accounts to look at your account and what you’re posting.  This is one of the most proven ways to earn more Instagram followers.  Yes, it takes a bit of time but creating an Instagram following is a combination of online science metrics and relationship building.