As students we have all grown up in an age of social media and this doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. The dream of being a rich and famous influencer may have crossed your mind before realising that the idea may be a little bit out of reach. However, not everybody needs millions of followers to be successful on Instagram. Here are some top tips for growing your Instagram following and setting yourself up to become a successful nano or micro-influencer (and yes, you can start getting brand collaborations with as little as 1000 followers).
Pick A Niche
Picking a niche is the first thing you should really spend time thinking about when first setting up your Instagram account. This can focus on lifestyle, fashion, beauty or basically anything that interests you. But it’s important to choose a category that you will focus your content around. Being too broad will confuse followers, yet niching down will immediately help build a community of people with similar interests that know what to expect from you each time you post.
Remove Inactive Followers
Removing followers may seem really counter productive but it will actually do wonders in the long run. Having followers who just sit there and don’t engage with your posts (you must all have a few spam accounts following you) actually stops your posts from being pushed by the algorithm. If your followers don’t engage then Instagram won’t allow non-followers to see your posts, so it’s best to remove these inactive accounts so your engagement is boosted.
Engage With Your Community
Instagram works both ways! You can’t expect others to engage with you if you don’t do the same back. If somebody likes or comments on your posts, take time to reply back. This will help your personality shine through, making your account more likeable! You can also engage with posts that use similar hashtags to you to help gain attention and build connections with accounts that have similar interests.
Post Consistently
If you want to be successful on Instagram you must be prepared to work for it. Nothing in life comes easily, although influencers often make it seem that way. Taking and editing photos is hard work, so be prepared to create enough content for around five or six in-feed posts a week alongside daily stories and a couple of reels a week. This will increase your presence on the platform and help your followers get to know you better.
Make Use Of Reels
Nowadays posting to your main feed alone is not enough to give you Instagram success. Reels are the new and popular way of gaining traction to your account, so it’s foolish not to make use of this feature. You can either create reels directly on the platform itself or download your TikToks to use on Instagram (just make sure the TikTok watermark is removed first). Try to create reels that are related to your niche and make them attention grabbing and informative. That way viewers are more likely to want to see and hear more of your thoughts.
Email Brands
Emailing brands is a really great way of securing any brand collaborations or access to PR lists. Brands will really appreciate you recognising their brand and taking the time to message them. Nano and micro influencers are quickly becoming the new favourite way for brands to market their products, as these influencers often have stronger communities than that of larger influencers. I have started to gain opportunities from brands since reaching the 1000 follower mark so I would strongly advise anyone to start reaching out to brands. You have nothing to lose and should never let your follower count stop you from reaching your goals. If you have good quality content then brands will appreciate this.
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