Updated on March 16th, 2024
Hey Everyone!
If you have been here long enough, you may remember my very first “Monthly Blog reports”. In these reports, I would share which blogging tools were working for my new blog and which affiliate markets were generating income at the time. It was my way to help other beginners out while I was going through the same struggles and celebrations!
Lately, I’ve been getting a lot of requests to start these type of blog posts back up! I honestly just thought people casually stumbled onto my blog posts and moved on with their lives, so I LOVE hearing how these type of posts are actually helping you bloggers out there 🙂
In case you are curious…My first few months blogging reports:
- My First Month Blogging – What Worked & Didn’t Work
- Second Month Blogging + Income Report
- Blog Income Report Oct-Dec
This time, I’m sharing my success with Instagram! Basically, Instagram never made “my favorite blogging tools”. Never. It was so frustrating at first!
I put so much effort into my blog’s Instagram in the beginning only to receive a few followers. I’d be so excited to see 60 followers, then a day later it would be back to 40ish. Sound familiar?
I barely received any comments, I posted randomly and I really had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t have a strategy, so I ended up giving up.
In retrospect, I really think I was just super overwhelmed with the information overload as a new blogger. I am glad I took the year to focus on my blog and Pinterest as my main traffic source.
However, I wish I knew just how easy it was to grow my instagram with a good strategy in place! It only took me a little over a month to surpass 1k followers.
Best part of all of this: I didn’t have to purchase followers or use an Instagram robot!
Follow for follow? Follow and Unfollow? Engaging with others? Slow Motion Growth?
Keep reading to see how I grew my following to my first 1,000 Instagram followers 🙂 Oh…and feel free to follow me on instagram to stay posted on future helpful blog and social media posts.
Pin it:
Instagram Tips: How to Get your First 1,000 Followers
Before we get started, it is important that I note:
- I am not an industry leading professional when it comes to blogging or Instagram.
- This process was full of trial and error.
- While this process worked for me, it is not guaranteed to work for everyone.
- I consider my Instagram’s niche to be “lifestyle” and “affordable fashion”.
- I want to build my following to drive traffic to my blog. I see it as a business strategy.
- The majority of followers you will get in the beginning are other bloggers trying to grow their following. Be supportive and you will receive support!
- I accomplished this while working full time as a teacher and living on a strict financial budget. Anyone can do it 🙂
- It took me about a month and a half to accomplish this.
I am going to break this lengthy post into 3 different Phases.
Phase 1. Building Your Instagram Storefront – How to appeal to new followers.
Phase 2. Getting Social – How to build your credibility to get new followers.
Phase 3. Becoming Your Own Workhorse – How to ensure that you keep growing organically.
Phase 1. Building Your Instagram Storefront
Think of your Instagram as if it were the store window to your blog. People will pass by your “store” and be curious, but if there is nothing on display in the window, who is going to come inside? aka scroll through your feed, love what they see and then travel to your blog.
The following things should be on display on your instagram.
- Captivating Profile picture.
- Easy to read bio.
- High quality photos.
- A visual theme.
Profile Picture –
For the entire year that my Instagram failed, my profile picture was not an actual photo. For some reason, I felt that it was great to have a “branded” graphic as my profile picture so I used the & sign from my blog’s website banner.
Once I changed it to an actual photo of myself, I received a little more followers more consistently.
It just makes sense! I never click on Instagram profiles that have random logos, because I’m not interested in checking out random brands.
However, if it is a professional looking photo of a style blogger, I’ll click on it wanting to see what her feed looks like.
Hint: We were once consumers before we became bloggers. Ask yourself what YOU would like to see in a profile before following it. Chances are your followers and future followers think similar 🙂
You may also be interested in:
- Instagram Changes 2018 & How they will Affect Bloggers/Influencers
- My First Month Blogging – What Worked & Didn’t Work
- Affiliate Markets that Accept Small Blogs
Easy to Read Bio –
This is another basic part of Instagram that I FAILED at. I basically had a list of adjectives that I felt described me. Something along the lines of “style lover, dog lover, coffee lover, wanderlust, engaged…” Ok, cool. I basically described myself as your average millennial.
I kid you not, the very same day that I changed my bio to something a bit more professional I got my first product offer. I basically created an easy to read list describing EXACTLY what my audience will see from me.
I am all about “affordable” style, I am married, own a dog and I’m also a teacher. Now future followers have something more specific to relate to.
Most importantly, I included my blog’s URL and BUSINESS EMAIL. A few hours later, I received an email from a product company with a collaboration inquiry. They stated that they found my Instagram and felt that I was a good fit for their company. They even cited a blog post of mine that they read and enjoyed. It really was that simple…
Hint: Most companies don’t use Instagram Direct Messaging because of company policies, you are limited on characters to type and you cannot attach many items such as PDF files. Email is just better for them! Do you have time to hunt down someone’s email address? Nope. Neither do businesses.
High Quality Photos –
When I first started my blog’s Instagram I knew the basics. You should post often, use hashtags, have nice photos and create a theme.
My photos were meh. I didn’t really know how to create a theme. I posted when I had time and even sprinkled in a few hashtags here and there. Then I cursed to the Instagram goddesses on why my Instagram profile wasn’t viral yet! Just kidding.
To be honest, I kind of knew I sucked at it and I just accepted it. The next step was me just giving up temporarily.
A year later, I decided to try Instagram the right way. I tried taking better photos with more interesting outfits and colors.
I love looking at flat lays on Insta, so I even worked on my own flat lay photos. Those definitely gain the most likes, earn me the most money and have even lead me to getting product collaborations.
Hint: Businesses love flat lays, because they can reuse the images on their own Instagram profile and in return promote your username.
Keep in mind:
- I don’t own a professional camera.
- I take ALL my photos by myself on my iPhone 8 using the self timer.
- I don’t currently own any professional lighting.
- I don’t spend hundreds of dollars on new clothes every week.
- I reuse outfits, clothing pieces and even reuse photos on my feed.
- If I can do it… YOU can do it. Seriously. 🙂
Visual Theme –
This was definitely the toughest for me. A theme shows consumers and brands that you are creative, you want to attract viewers and most importantly you care about your work.
What’s a visual theme? To me, an Instagram theme happens when 12+ photos have the same editing styles, lighting and even similar colors. It makes your profile look cohesive, neat and tidy.
To be honest, when I see unedited photos I sometimes can’t tell if it is a blogger or just a casual profile. There is just no magic. It’s like a muggle’s profile. (sorry, I had to!)
On the other hand, when I see a theme happening I am instantly engaged and I don’t even realize it. When it’s a really good theme I usually keep scrolling until I see their previous themes and all of a sudden I landed on a photo taken in 2014.
Why? because Instagram is addicting and the scroll is real.
Creating a Theme –
I have tried many free photo editing apps on my iPhone, but the only one I use now is LightroomCC. It is free and I believe it is everything you need.
Like I said, I just use my iPhone 8 and natural lighting. I used to use Snapseed a lot as well! They have a great tool to brighten shadows without over exposing the entire photo.
With Lightroom, I found a look that I felt represented myself. I saved the settings as my own preset and I use it everytime!
Basically, I use warm tones, bright lighting, high sharpness and I lower the saturation on harsh colors like yellow and I make the greens, blues and mauves a little more prominent. I find this creates a crisp, glowy and subtly rosy theme.
Non-visual Theme
What bout a non-visual theme? To me, this one is not as vital as a visual theme. However, a non-visual theme is something that audience members can expect.
Whether it is a quote/pun in the caption or even a weekly occurrence like “Friday Favorites”. Your audience will expect to see this and end up looking forward to it.
Don’t underestimate the caption! Most people actually read it! I believe it needs to be more than “here is my outfit of the day!”.
Tell a mini story that people can relate to, add an inspirational quote or create clever wit with a play on words. I have noticed that the more I interact via captions, the more comments I get with people responding to what I say. It kind of helps you become a real person behind the screen.
Phase 1 Key Points:
- When you comment on a photo, your future followers will decide whether or not your profile picture interests them enough to click on your profile.
- Create a simple and straightfoward bio that allows future followers and companies to know what they need to know about you.
- Always include your blog URL and EMAIL address within your bio
- Post high quality photos consistently. At least daily!
- Edit those photos in a way that sets a theme to your feed.
- Consider a non-visual theme for your profile.
Phase 2. Getting Social
Now that your “storefront” is glowing with the goods, a few people are starting to naturally follow you. How did they find your profile and how can you ensure that more people are discovering you?
When I reached a couple hundred followers I wanted to figure out how they found me. Honestly, you could send them a DM, but I felt way to awkward flat out asking them, “Hey! How did you find my profile?” Instead, I looked at my most recent followers photos to see what I could find in common. I noticed:
- We used some of the same hashtags
- We follow most of the same people
- We both commented on the same photo
Hashtags –
So I think it’s safe to say that hashtags do work! You can use up to 30, so do it. I try and use all 30, because that’s 30 free and easy ways to instantly put yourself out there.
I mainly stick to hashtags that have between 100k and 1m photos. Feel free to check out and re-use my hashtags on any of my Instagram photos!
Hashtags are a great way to help a pin go viral. One morning, I woke up and noticed my blog traffic was at an all time high at only 7am, my Shopstyle Collective earnings tripled and I gained hundreds of followers over night. Miracle? At least I thought so haha!
Then I discovered that one of my flat lays went sort of viral. I checked all of the hashtags I used and I sat at the top of at least 4 of them.
Here is the photo: At the time, I typically got around 100-200 likes per photo, so seeing 1,500 likes on 1 photo was quite thrilling!
Follow Other Instagram Accounts with your Interests –
During my “research” I kept hearing, “Instagram is a social media platform, so get social”. As an introvert, that scared me. I am shy, a bit awkward and sometimes I never know what to say. Stranger danger.
However, following other similar accounts really boosted my own following! When I say similar I mean similar styles, age, appearance, etc.
Their audience follows them for these reasons, so you want to appeal to them as well. The more you interact with those similar accounts, the more their followers will see you and want to follow you too.
Hint: Remember Barbie? Ballet Barbie, Vet barbie, Astronaut Barbie… We always chose the Barbie that looked like us and represented our interests.
Your audience will collect “instagram barbies” based on whether or not they represent their style and interests. Now, start collecting your own Instagram Barbies, so you can share their following.
Comment on Photos –
This one may be a bit obvious to some, but I had no idea how important commenting was! I remember I used to like every photo on my feed and explore page and wonder why I’d only get maybe 5 followers.
Then of course, those 5 followers would unfollow me a week later.
Now, I believe that likes are almost worthless when trying to build a following. Always comment! Do you sift through every like you receive on a photo? Do you check out every profile of someone that liked one of your photos?
Maybe you did in the beginning, but once you start reaching 200+ likes on each photo, chances are you are really only reading the comments.
When growing my own Instagram, I kept reading on how people would “comment like a mad women” or “comment until Instagram blocks you from commenting”.
That was not my strategy at all. As a full-time teacher, I really only commented on photos for maybe an hour a day. This worked just fine for me! Don’t burn yourself out!
Always reply to as many comments as you can! If they are also a blogger, go and comment on one of their photos! It’s not just returning them a favor, because it is also benefiting you.
Once I began replying to comments and commenting on other photos, I noticed even more steady growth. Before I knew it, I had a group of 100+ accounts that were similar to mine, following me, and constantly commenting on my photos.
Hint: Remember, the majority of followers you will receive in the beginning are other bloggers. They are also trying to build their following. Be supportive! You will build friendships, receive consistent comments and your following will increase.
Phase 2 Key Points:
- Use hashtags mainly between 100k & 1 million tags.
- Follow accounts that are similar to you.
- Follow accounts that have similar follower numbers.
- Comment, Comment, Comment and repeat.
Phase 3. Become Your Own Workhorse
I 100% believe that putting time, effort and hard work into your Instagram is the only way to truly help your brand/business grow. While doing my research, I kept reading how you can also:
- Buy followers
- Follow-unfollow
- Join Follow for follow trains/Giveaways
An instant following sounds super tempting, but I am glad I went the slower more organic route. Here’s why.
Buying Followers –
Did you know that companies use software that can see if a profile purchased followers or likes? In fact, during one of my very first product collaborations I had this exact conversation with my rep.
I was so grateful and surprised about this collab opportunity, that I wanted to see why she chose me as an influencer when my following was barely at 800. She mentioned that she liked my Instagram theme, enjoyed my blog writing style, saw my decent engagement stats AND saw that I did not purchase followers.
Trust me, I almost purchased followers. I thought, a few hundred or a thousand would make me look “followable”. I am so glad I didn’t! Your future opportunities are watching you right now!
Companies are putting their time and money into us, we shouldn’t con them into thinking we have a larger following than we actually have.
Important! Instagram Made these huge changes at the end of 2018: Read More Here!
Follow & Unfollow –
This one is a bit controversial. I do think there is a wrong and right way to use this strategy. Keep in mind, this is my personal opinion, so you may take what you like and leave what doesn’t work for you.
Personally, I think it is tasteless to follow tons of people, wait for them follow you back and then unfollow them so your follower to following ratio makes you look super popular.
To be honest, when an account follows me and I see that they have 10k+ followers and are only following 126 people, I know exactly what they are up to. I usually don’t follow them back simply because I am not a fan of their trickery hehe.
On the other hand, I don’t think it is appealing to companies when you have 10k followers and you’re also following 10k people. To me, that just looks like you are following people in hopes that they follow back. No one has time to interact with 10k people that they are following.
In order to keep my following to follower ratio “balanced”, I really only follow accounts that interact with me, follow me or that I simply just want to follow.
I will unfollow accounts that have unfollowed me or that serve me no purpose. In other words, their style doesn’t interest me, they don’t interact with my profile and I am basically just a follower number to them.
You shouldn’t feel obligated to support anyone that doesn’t return the support. Ain’t nobody got time for that!
However, if another blogger continues to comment and support my content I will always return the favor! Even if their style and brand is different from mine!
Time is precious for everyone and if they use their time on me then I want to return the gesture. (note: as I get more and more followers, this one becomes more difficult. I always try and comment back, but it takes longer these days.)
Hint: There are tons of apps that show your followers. I use Follow Track, because it’s free. I do a routine clean up once a month by going through the “users not following me back” list.
Follow for Follow Trains
There is some controversy with “follow for follow trains” Basically, some believe that Instagram can tell if you are asking for follows, likes and comments. To them, that is not genuine and worthy of rewarding.
I have no proof on whether or not Instagram “punished” me for joining a follow train. However, I can say that they definitely ended up being a pain to deal with!
Never again, folks! (Important note: I joined my first Follow Train once I already had around 1200 followers)
The “Follow Train” I joined was a photo. You basically commented on the photo and committed to following everyone else that commented on the photo. You had to keep checking back for new people to follow.
I remember thinking that this follow train would be a quick and easy way to gain a great following… until it was 10:45pm and I was fighting to stay awake so I could follow all the people I was supposed to follow to avoid being kicked out of the follow train.
My husband still makes fun of me for that moment haha. Trial and error, folks. Trial and error.
In the end, it just felt (and most likely was) counter productive having 200 new followers, 200 new people added to my following list and only a couple acounts that I actually would interact with.
Giveaways –
Some people believe giveaways are controversial as well. I am still torn on this one. I did participate in 1 group loop giveaway and here is my experience in a nutshell:
At around 800 followers, I got invited into my first giveaway via direct message on Instagram. All of the girls were similar to me, we had similar follower numbers and everyone was super sweet! We all pitched in $20 to buy a Nordstrom Gift Card and we planned the details of our contest.
We basically had our followers follow all 10 girls, like and comment on our giveaway photo. At the end of the giveaway, we all typed out every username that entered the giveaway via our own giveaway post and made a list for the drawing. One of the girls drew a name and we had a happy winner! Yes, she actually received the prize!
I received hundreds of new followers during the giveaway… and then lost almost half once the giveaway was over. Worth it? Not really.
I’m glad I got the experience and it was fun working with the other girls! I just don’t think I will participate in another group giveaway until I am a bit more established.
Be Your Own Workhorse –
All I can say is, the hustle is real. There is no easy button! The trick is to stay consistent with posting high quality photos, hashtags, and commenting on other accounts’ photos.
I promise you will grow! Sometimes slowly, but organic following is way better than a superficial and purchased following!
Phase 3 Key Points:
- Companies can see if you have purchased your followers.
- Follow then Unfollow is trickery and people don’t like it.
- Follower to Following ratio should be considered
- Don’t be afraid to do routine clean ups with whomever you are following.
- Always comment back!
- Follow Trains are waste of your time.
- Giveaways do bring new followers to your accounts, just be prepared for most to unfollow you once the giveaway is over.
- Consistency and Effort is key. Seriously.
Closing Thoughts & Did Instagram Help my Blog?
Like I have stated earlier, this strategy was all about trial and error. Had I started off with all of this in place, I may have reached more than 1k in the same ammount of time.
However, the learning process was fun and exciting! Instagram kind of feels like a game in that sense.
It took me a little over a month to reach my first 1,000 followers. Since then, I have been growing at a much faster pace. It’s been about a month since 1k, and I am almost at 3k!
I kept reading that “it gets easier after 1k” and it definitely seems to be mostly true. This could be because my profile looks more established, there are more photos to scroll through, my networking has expanded or simply because I have grown used to the hustle, so it just feels easier.
Whatever the case, I am glad I kept patient and consistent with everything.
In fact, Instagram has definitely proved its worth in terms of blog traffic and affiliate income! As you can see in my wordpress insights below, traffic began to increase drastically by September.
I re-activated my instagram late July 2018 and reached 1k followers by the second week of September 2018.
Likewise, my monthly income has increased as well with thanks to my “Shop My Instagram” page that is linked from my Instagram profile. My shop page uses Shopstyle Collective as the affiliate market.
I naively applied for Reward Style back in 2017 and was denied since I didn’t have a following. I have yet to re-apply for Reward Style, mainly because Shopstyle Collective has been SUPER successful for me!
I will get into those details in a later blog post…
Shopstyle Collective pays me per click. So, if some wants to see where my sweater is from they go to my “Shop My Instagram page”, click the image with the sweater and then click on the sweater.
I then receive commission for every item they click on. I see it as a “thanks for referring people to our brand” commission. I put my personal time and effort into advertising their brands, so I see it as being a fair way to profit.
As you can see from the image below, 1,730 people were referred to my blog from instagram! 1,798 people shopped via my “Shop My Instagram” Luckily, most people will shop more than one item via my shop page and all those clicks add up!
So is it worth it to give instagram a try?! YES!
It really is all about patience, consistence, honesty and hustling. However, if I can do it as a full-time teacher with no professional equipment… then YOU can do it. 🙂
I hope you found this post helpful! If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me through comments, email or even on my instagram 🙂 I love to help!
Best wishes!
Lori
Just read this top to bottom and I have to thank you!! As someone just getting started this can be a frustrating game. But I agree with basically all of your thoughts. It feels affirming that you don’t recommend all the “trickery” that goes on out there and totally want to grow organically with people who genuinely want to engage. I really appreciate your feed and your generous advice! ❤️
Hello Laura! Yay!!! I am so happy this helped! It was quite long winded, so thank you so much for reading and reaching out 🙂
I have to admit I was so scared and confused with Instagram. While I am not in the same niche as you, this post was so very helpful and easy to digest. As a mommy blogger who just made a year with her blog and slowly trying to figure this Instagram thang out, I love the tips and reading about your experiences. I especially loved the whole follow train, gift thang. I almost joined one of the trains and my gut feeling told me not too. Thanks for the awesome advice.