Level up your Instagram I.Q.
by Aaron Tom Silvestre / September 15, 2017
Instagram is a platform for sharing beautiful photos and expressing love for travel, food, music and more. There are people who are considered Instagram celebs or “Insta-famous” for having a beautiful thematic feed and having a big following. Of course they didn’t just randomly get followers from out of nowhere. There are steps and formulas they religiously used and applied to their feed (whether intentional or not) to grow a good traction in the platform! We’ll share with you the best practices to gain more followers.
Have a theme and curate your feed
Instagram is all about the visuals so having a theme for your timeline is really important. Treat your account like a magazine that needs to look visually appealing and easy to navigate through for the readers. You can do this by setting a common color pattern and using a specific filter in all of your posts. The first thing to see when someone visits your profile is your feed and like what they say, first impression lasts!
Use Emojis
Use emojis! Doing so can stylize you content and can also help translate the emotions you want to convey better on every posts! Emojis are also searchable on Instagram, like a hashtag, adding an emoji or two can help you get your account in the explore feed and reach your chosen niche better. 
Use Geotags
Let everyone know that you’ve been to that coffee shop that everyone’s talking about! If the place is trending, chances are anyone who searches for that specific place might end up seeing your post as well!
Hashtags
Use hashtags in your posts! Adding the right hashtags can put you in the explore feed and let more people see your content.
How many hashtags you should input and how would you know if they’re the right ones use? You can post up to 30 hashtags in one posts, don’t be shy and maximize it! When determining which hashtag to use depends on the related topic of your hashtags for example you posted a photo of you lifting weights use hashtags like; #fitness, #sports, #gym. Instagram will also show how much that certain topic is being used by other users and the more it, the better. There are also websites dedicated to determining the hashtags that work!
Tips: Save the specific group of hashtags on a note app so you can just copy and paste them at ease whenever you post another photo or content.
Engage With Your Followers
Let everyone know you care by replying to comments. Let them know you’re excited to communicate and engage with them, doing so can encourage a person to follow you.
Like Similar Content From Other Users
Liking posts similar to your content or theme can help you be discovered by other users in the same niche. Doing so can also put you in the same explore feed of your liked post. Leaving comments and interacting with other users can help you gain more followers. Be authentic and human, you don’t want other users to think that you’re a bot or a spammer now, don’t you?
Promote Your Account In Other Platforms
If you have other social media accounts use them to amplify your Instagram account. Encourage your followers to follow you by showing exclusive content that’s only available in that particular platform.
Get Experimental With Your Content (video, gif, quotes etc)
Don’t limit yourself to posting pictures, get creative! Post videos, GIFS, or quotes, this way you can keep your content exciting for yourself and your followers!
Instagram Stories
Love it or hate it, Instagram Stories is here to stay! Yes, you may be a SnapChat fan but IG has more users compared to the latter. There are lot of things you can do with this feature, you can post easy to digest content, quirky fun boomerang posts, and there are many more things you can do with Instagram Stories explore and check it out! You can also use it to tag other users and interact in a unique way.
Posting Frequency
Post frequently! By posting regularly your followers will have something to look forward to in your account. Know when is the right time to post. You can do that by figuring out the behavior of your followers through Instagram analytical tools (check next bullet for tools). By doing so you can figure out what time you can post, how frequent you should post or what type of post works or not.
Use Instagram Tools
Find out who your audience is by using Instagram analytical tools. There are plenty of tools that can help you identify which hashtags are trending, and help you manage your content through scheduling features. Using tools can help you manage your account and get an insight on how you can grow the number of your followers.
Do you have other tips to share? Let us know on the comment section below!
