Nine proven ways to grab more Instagram followers and build engagement with them.
We met with a veteran Etsy seller who built up a followership of 40,000 Instagram followers to ask her what kind of magic she was working. Heres what she told us:
Instagram is a relative newcomer to the social media landscape, so theres still big potential to leverage the platform, and get”Instagram Famous”—if you know what youre doing. Heres some advice we got from an Instagram guru here in Asheville, to get you started.
1. Keep your Instagram page brand consistent by always using the same filter on all your photos (our Instagram expert likes a 3rd party filter provided by Afterlight
2. Anchor your branding by taking photos of the same kinds of things repeatedly (e.g. always take a picture of your first cup of coffee in the morning, etc.) It should be relevant to your lifestyle and the”look & feel” of your brand, but the relevance doesnt have to be literal or direct.
3. Really curate your Instagram content. Keep it thoughtful and relevant to your brand. Think of Instagram as a platform for tastemaking, and dont post off-brand content.
4. Use all of your allotted hashtags, but keep them from cluttering up your image titles. Instead too many hashtags in the image titles (or any, for that matter). Add hashtags as a comment to the image. That way you get all the embedded metadata bang for your buck, without the visual distractions of hashtags (Our expert says overly aggressive hashtagging feels”desperate” to her.)
5. Take your time with staging and framing of images. Our expert spends an average of 30 minutes getting the staging and lighting just right for a single picture. Use consistent themes.
6. Engage with other influential Instagram accounts. Follow them, comment on what they post, build relationships with them.
7. Mix it up. Your Instagram doesnt have to be all-business, all-the-time. Consider a 5:1 ratio of things you consider to be interesting and beautiful, to things you want to promote and make money off of on Etsy.
8. Share your Instagram on other social media accounts you manage. If you have a great photo, post it to Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook.
9. Take advantage of the BeesWax Instagram Lightbox to really wow your site visitors. Check out BeesWax user Sarah Beckers gorgeous lightbox for some inspiration.