How I got my followers on instagram

Hi guys,

Today a blogpost about how I got my 15,7K followers on instagram. I'll share with you all my tips and tricks and hopefully they'll work for you as well.

(I also made a video about this topic, you can watch it here)

First of all, I did NOT buy my followers. All my followers are genuine people... and all my likes are real. Okay, to be honest, I don't have much likes, mostly around 170 I think? And I have about 1300 views each day. This means that 1,3K people check my account daily. So this also means that all the rest doesn't. But does that have to bother me? I don't think so.

Tip1: Have good quality.

I took almost every picture with my Nikon D5100 camera... and if I don't have my big DSRL camera with my, I use my iPod.

Tip2: Post regularly.

I think it's best to post once a day, for every single day. If you have a lot of content to post, then you can try to post 2 times a day, but not more. Also, if you post less then daily, people won't be looking forward to looking at you pictures... and that's the most fun part of it all.

Tip3: Use the instastories.

Instastories is a tool like Snapchat, where you can post stories about what you're up to. I think this is a great tool! I love using it. It's fun to know that people are actually interested in what I'm doing during my days, next to all the braiding!

4: Hashtagging!

You have to be carefull with using hashtags. I'd recommend not to use more than 5 tags in your caption. If you want to use more of them, just put them in a comment below.

A great tip to get more followers is to try to get featured. Some pages have their own specific hashtag of the page, use their tag, and they'll be able to see your photo. If they liked your pic, they might share it on their page.

The hashtags that I use for my hairstyles are mostly: #hairstyle, #hairdo, #braids,... And for my travel-pictured I add: #travel, #wanderlust,...

What's also so fun about these hashtags, is that you can check other people who've used that tag too. Like, if you're a Belgian blogger, you can search for the tag #belgianblogger, and discover some other bloggers.

5: The instagram bigger picture.

Instagram is all about the overlay. If you go to a new page, you see directly a lot of picture there. It's a good thing when these pictures match with each other. I'd say, never use multiple filters. I use always the same filter. Another great tip: pictures with a lot of white and blue in them, tend to have more likes. It's all about the visuals, on instagram.

6: Use the instagram community.

Instagram is actually a big community of people interested in the same thing: to post pictures on the internet. Make sure that you're getting into this community. I myself, am a part of the braiding-community. I met a lot of cool people,who became my friends. You can get into this community by liking en commenting on people's posts. Another great tip on commenting: don't just post a <3 but post a small sentence or a couple of words. People will appreciate the fact that you took the time for this and might give it back to you. My second tip about commenting: turn on notifications of big pages. Let's say, Kim K's instagram. If she posts, and you got that notification, go to her page and be the first to comment. People will see this and check you out as well. For me, this one helped me the most!

7: Say thank you more.

On instagram you now can like comments... But I don't like this new feature. I think that it's pretty rude to just like a pic, when someone took the time to comment on your post. People can see this, and might think about it the same way. You want people to actually like you, right?

8: Use the # of feature pages.

I already told you guys about this, but it's really important. It might get you tons of followers in a small amount of time. I was once featured on the "Instabraid" 's page and it got me 200 new followers in one day. ONE DAY?!

9: Turn on the instagram for business.

This is so great, because people can contact you by a simple click. So if they want to collaborate with you, or post some advertising, they are able to contact you by just clicking on your e-mail.

It's also super great for myself because with this tool, I can check how many followers exactly that I have. I can also see my views, this is the amount of people who actually saw your post.

10: Do not EVER buy followers or likes.

Most of the times, it's just a virus or scam. When you buy followers, your page will send these awkward comments to other people's pages like: "Hey want more followers, I did it and it worked great blablabla". So people will see that you posted this, and that you bought followers... This is ofcourse a bit embarassing!

Also important to know, press agencies can witness it if you did this, and they might turn you down for it.

What also annoys me, is these people who follow a billion people, to unfollow them afterwards. I think that's a bit rude and pretty sad. If your page is good, people will come naturally.

11: Search for the best time to post.

I've tried a couple of hours a day, to see which of them was best for me. I tried to post at 7 a.m., around noon, 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. For me, it works the best around 7 in the morning CET. I think that this is becuse I have followers around the world, and people in the US are still awake then. My European followers will get u then, which means that they might be on their phones to check out what everyone posted during the night.

12: Make sure that the best pictures you have ready to post, that you post them on WEDNESDAYS and during the WEEKEND.

These are the days when most people have time to actually be on their phones. So this might get you most views. This is actually true for me, because I can see my views using instagram-business!

13: Make your caption interesting.

The caption is the small information that you post with your picture. Recently I changed my captions to attract more people. I used to put the info about the braids underneath the pic, but yeah... most people already knew the name of the braids so it's a bit boring for them. A caption can inspire people, so now I try to use inspiring quotes or life lessons that have helped me. I get a lot of positive feedback by doing this now so I think that it helps.

14: Have a good, CLEAR bio.

Your bio is the information that people will be able to see about your page. You can't use a lot of symbols in it, so it has to be short and clear. Another great tip is to refer to your other media. If someone saw that you have a blog, by example, they might go check it out. Also, put links in your bio. When I post something new on my blog or youtube, I put it in my bio so that my followers can directly go to that page as well.

16: Use geotagging.

The geotag is the tag of the place where you took or posted this picture. It's always nice to know where a photo was located, if you want to go visit that place someday as well. Also, what I do myself: when I'm travelling to a place, I search for the geotag of the place, to find out what people are doing or visiting there. Like for my Neuschwanstein trip, I found out about Neuschwanstein by pictures on instagram.

Also, if other people are also in that exact place, they might check the pictures out from other people who are there. This will get you more views, obviously.

17: Storytelling.

Try to tell your personal story through instagram. Be you-nique! On my page it's all about hairstyles and hairstyles that I wear while travelling. I try to make my page also a positive place, by using great captions.

A small example: f you're into fashion and you like to wear white clothes, then make your page THE number one page for white-clothes inspo.

18: Put links in your bio.

I already told you gyus about it, because it's so important. Each time i post something new on my media, I put thank link in my bio. People can click on that link and will be directed to the page and will see instantly what you' ve posted.

19: Collabs.

First of all, collabs are so much fun because you can meet new people who have the same interests. It's also great to collab, to get more views. It will help both pages actually. Followers of that page, will check you out and vice versa.

20: NEVER do it for the likes!

Never do it for the likes. Do it for yourself. I'm most of the times super excited about a certain pic, so I think that people will like it as well and it will get me a lot of likes. Most of the times, I end up getting really disappointed because I don't get the amount of likes I thought I'd get. Instagram is a lot more complicated. It's all about algorithms and analytic stuff. It's not your personal fault. So if you just post stuff because you actually want to post it, it'll make you a lot happier. And after all, social media should be a happy place. Not a place to compare yourself to others and feel less important.

Voila, these were my tips and tricks, hope you guys will try them out. And please stay happy :)

Steph x