How Photographers Can Become Instagram Famous In 3 Steps

Are you frustrated that you don’t have many Instagram followers? If you want to get Instagram famous, you need to focus on ways to get your photos noticed. When I first signed up to Instagram, I really struggled to get my first 30 followers. Even my best photos were getting only a few likes, and I wasn’t getting any feedback on my photos. That’s when I decided it was time to get popular on Instagram… and now I have well over 100,000 followers. In this tutorial, you’ll discover how to become Instagram famous in three easy steps.

My @iPhonePS Instagram Account

 

While it can take a lot of work to get thousands of followers, and your own goals might be different, I can tell you that Instagram gets a lot more fun when more people are following you!

 

So let’s take a look at the three steps you need to take in order to quickly become Instagram famous.

 

Step 1: Build A Stunning Instagram Feed

 

The first step is to make your Instagram profile look great. Nobody is going to follow an empty profile or one that has poor quality images.

 

If your goal is to showcase your photography, it’s absolutely essential that the photos you post look really good. It’s far better to post nothing than to post a bad photo.

 

The first thing you should do is upload about 15 – 20 of your best images. If you don’t have that many, keep working on it, and make sure you only post high quality eye-catching photos.

 

To start improving your photography, work on creating photos with excellent composition that will catch the viewer’s eye. And learn how to use light to create more stunning and dramatic photos. 

 

You should also learn how to use your camera’s settings so that you’re familiar with all of its shooting features. Editing your Instagram photos using a photo editor app is also useful to ensure they look their best before sharing.

 

If you take photos with your iPhone, you should definitely check out this free video revealing 7 little-known tricks for taking incredible iPhone photos that everyone adores.

 

Also, keep in mind that certain types of photos do particularly well on Instagram. From my experience beach photos, interesting reflection photos, silhouette photos and sunset photos tend to get the most likes on Instagram. Portrait photos generally get fewer likes.

 

To give you an example, this sunset reflection photo got more likes than a lot of my other photos that I’ve posted on Instagram.

 

If you want to get popular on Instagram, it’s important that you post the kind of photos your followers want to see, which is why I often share beach and sunset photos. If you want to get more followers on Instagram, it’s always a good idea to post the kind of photos that get more likes.

 

If you use Instagram to share what you eat for dinner and how you hang out with friends, don’t expect people who don’t know you to start following you. These aren’t the kind of photos any serious photographer would want to share.

 

Never post text images or jokes, no matter how cool you think the text is. Also avoid posting random screenshots as most people really don’t like them.

 

 

Now, before you go to the next step, make sure that your Instagram account is public. Go to your profile, tap the Settings icon at the top right of the screen, then make sure that the “Private Account” slider is turned off. If your Instagram photos aren’t public, you’ll have a much harder time attracting new followers.

 

And finally, take a moment to write a profile description that would motivate people to follow you. You don’t need to overcomplicate this step – just describe yourself in a meaningful way.

 

Something like “iPhone landscape photographer and surfer from California” is all you really need to attract the right kind of followers.

 

Step 2: Get Your Instagram Photos Noticed

 

You can use professional help from account managers at a service like Instamust. A lot of photographers prefer focusing entirely on their photography and tend to get someone else to do this part. If you wish to do it yourself, here is what you can do personally to grow your account!

 

Once you’ve uploaded some really good photos and made your profile look interesting, it’s time to attract everyone’s attention. Your aim is to get more Instagram followers, as well as more likes and comments on your photos.

 

There are several ways you can get your photos noticed and gain more followers, and I’m going to discuss all of them in this section.

 

 

If you have a large following on another social network such as Twitter or Facebook, you can cross-post your Instagram photos to these social networks. That way you’ll be building your Instagram following while sharing interesting photos with people who want to see them anyway.

 

To get your Instagram photos in front of more people, you should consider using hashtags. Adding hashtags when you post a photo means that your image will show up in the hashtag feeds.

 

 

To add a hashtag, use the caption box when you’re posting a photo to type the hashtag symbol # followed by an appropriate word to describe your image.

 

 

Ensure you only add relevant hashtags to your photos. There’s really no need to spam your posts with dozens of irrelevant hashtags – that will only make you look like a spammer.

 

So if you’re posting a beach photo with silhouetted figures taken at sunset, you could use the following hashtags in your photo description: #beach, #silhouette, #sunset. Or if you’ve used a particular app to edit your photo, you could use the app name as your hashtag, as shown in the example below.

 

 

Besides hashtags, one of the easiest ways to get your photos in front of other Instagramers is to simply start following a lot of people.

 

Just find someone with photos that are similar to yours, and start following the followers of that person. They’ll get a notification saying that you’re now following them, and many of them will check out your profile.

 

 

But following people isn’t enough. You also need to interact with people that you follow. If you just follow somebody and don’t like or comment on any of their photos, you’re considered to be a ghost follower. Instagram users generally don’t like ghost followers because scam artists use this strategy to promote their fake profiles.

 

You’ll get better results if you like or comment on the photos of the people you start following. That way they’ll know you’re a real person.

 

 

If following lots of people is too impractical, you can also get a lot of exposure by leaving meaningful comments on the photos of other people – even if you’re not following them.

 

When you leave a thoughtful and positive comment, there’s a good chance that the author of that photo will become curious to check out your profile. And if your profile is good, you’ll get a new follower.

 

Your comments should be targeted, meaning that you should only leave comments for people who have a high chance of becoming your followers.

 

So how do you find such people? It’s easy! All you need to do is use hashtags to search for people who do the same kind of photography as you. You can do this in the Tags section of Instagram’s search facility.

 

 

So if you’re a landscape photographer, you could search for hashtags such as #landscape, #landscapephotography, #mountains and #outdoors. The people posting photos with these hashtags are far more likely to enjoy your profile and thus become your followers.

 

Finally, your comments are far more likely to get noticed by people who don’t have hundreds of likes or thousands of followers (since they get less comments). You’ll also have more chance of getting noticed if the photo you’re commenting on has been posted recently.

 

Step 3: Engage With Your Instagram Followers

 

While everyone gets obsessed with the number of followers, keeping your followers happy and engaged is equally important if you want to build a relationship with them and get the most out of your Instagram experience.

 

First, you should post regularly so that people don’t forget who you are. That’s why I aim to share photos daily on my account where I’ve built a large and responsive community of people who look forward to seeing more photos from me.

 

 

But at the same time, you don’t want to post too often. There’s nothing worse than sharing multiple photos at once since they’ll take up a lot of space in the feed of your followers.

 

If somebody doesn’t like one of your photos, the chances are that they’ll still keep following you. But when you post three photos in a row, you’re far more likely to lose a follower.

 

For this reason I don’t recommend posting more than once every six hours. Remember that quality always beats quantity, and it’s far better to share only great photos, even if that means posting less often.

 

 

To make your photos more intriguing and valuable to your followers, try adding an interesting or helpful description. You could ask a question, tell the story of how you came to take this picture, or add a useful tip that relates to the image.

 

And finally, be nice to your followers. Respond to their comments and questions. Simple things like saying “Thanks”, or answering their questions about how you took the photo and which apps you used will really make you stand out.

 

 

Interacting with your followers is a great way to keep them happy and engaged. And there’s nothing more rewarding than building lasting relationships with your Instagram followers!

via Emil Pakarklis