Here are my five easy everyday tips for success in helping your social media (Instagram) grow.

1. Follow Similar Accounts: Find other accounts that are similar to your own and follow them. I like to follow highly followed accounts along with accounts similar to mine. For instance, I like to follow huge accounts like Taylor Swift, Tasty, and Magnolia along with all the artist accounts that I like. Be sure to engage with these accounts. Like their posts, comment with them, and try to become their insta-friend. Sometimes, you might just make a buddy out of it. Follow many accounts like your own, but don’t follow too many. You don’t want to follow 5000 accounts just to unfollow 4000 later on. Plus, this looks way too over eager and you can’t possibly keep up with 5000 accounts. I like to follow 500-800. I also look through them every now and then to make sure they are active. If I notice I follow someone that hasn’t posted in almost a year, I’ll unfollow them and look for a new artist that I enjoy to follow.

2. Engage with Your Audience: Try responding to every comment. The followers that take the time writing comments are the ones that are truly inspired or invested in your account. So, you’ll want to reach out to them and make it known that you appreciate their comment. Be sincere with your response. Fake or weird responses can detract followers. A simple “Thank you very much” can go a long way. Respond to all your emails and direct messages. When a person takes the effort writing an email or direct message, it’s good to respond to all of these messages quickly. Just watch out for the weird ones.

3. Post Relevant Content Often: Try posting content every 1-3 days. It’s good to create content and keep it spaced out enough that you aren’t sharing too much at once. You don’t want to over share posts. For example, don’t share 5-10 photos in a day. This can turn off followers and you’ll find your numbers falling. Don’t post random photos that aren’t typical in your feed. If you’re an artist and post images of you art daily but one day post a random photo of an alligator in a pond, your followers with find themselves scratching their heads as to why they might be following you. If you plan on going on vacation, it’s always a good idea to create content beforehand so you’re continually active while you are on vacation.

4. Use Hashtags: Seek out relevant hashtags for your posts. If you’re an artist, you’ll find hashtags that work well in the category of art. I like to use hashtags like, #art, #artist, #artwork, #sketch, #drawing, #painting, etc. Don’t go overboard but you’ll want 10-20 hashtags that can hopefully be seen. Today, people can follow hashtags and your posts might have a good chance popping up in someones feed. Don’t use random hashtags that are irrelevant to what you’re posting. If you post a picture of an acrylic painting, don’t use a hashtag like #workout. This wastes a chance to be seen in a art relevant hashtag like #painting, and you won’t likely see any likes come from the people that are actually following #workout.

5. Use / Create a Separate Account: It’s good to make a business account for the IG that you wish to grow. You can link it to your facebook business page and Instagram will give you analytics that will help you along the way. This allows you to also retain a personal account where you can keep your random and personal photos to your personal account. I like posting pictures of my dog, beer, and family on my personal account. This keeps my business account on point with all my artistic pictures, so it won’t detract any followers with random pics.

I hope these tips help you. Good Luck on your Social Media journey!