How I’ve Grown my Instagram in 2020

If there’s one part about blogging that has been the hardest for me and so many others out there, it’s definitely been growing my Instagram with Instagram’s constant algorithm changes and how hard it is nowadays to get found by more people on the app and really grow your brand. After 4 years now of blogging and being on Instagram, I have found the most success this year from the strategies I implemented into my own Instagram strategy that I’ll be sharing with you all today. Let’s get started!

At the end of 2019, I started to feel a little discouraged about my blog and Instagram and knew I needed to make some changes to my Instagram strategy to see more success in 2020. I took a couple Instagram classes at the beginning of the year, researched what others were doing, started making more time for my blog/Instagram and more consistently, and so much more to find out what would work to help me see more success in the new year. And from these new strategies, I’ve started to see more growth in 2020 + more opportunities that come along with that and really started to treat my blog/Instagram as more of a business in the new year.

1) Post Consistently at Your Best Engagement Hour

One thing that has helped so much in growing my Instagram is posting consistently at the same time each day. This is something that I always overlooked and never thought mattered too much – turns out it makes a HUGE difference! The key thing about posting consistently every day around the same time is that your followers then know when they can expect new content from you. Even from some of my favorite bloggers I follow on Instagram, I know what times they post their content each day and really notice when I don’t see it at that time, I always know when to expect it!

This will totally vary from person to person, but what has worked the best for me is posting in the morning before work as that is my best engagement hour for the day compared to others – remember to keep your time zone into consideration with that as well and where most of your audience lives to accommodate!

I also wanted to note here that while it is so important to post every day, don’t feel pressured if you can’t! I know how hard it can be to have high-quality content for every single day or even just a day where you want a social media break, that’s totally ok! Just make sure to post a couple times a week if you can’t every single day. I’d ideally love to post on the weekends as well, but sometimes that’s not always possible or just want a break from Instagram for the day too and there’s nothing wrong with that!

2) Post High-Quality Content

Since Instagram is an image-sharing platform and images are the main focus, having good quality content is so important in helping you grow your brand for so many reasons. It increases your credibility/trust among potential new followers, more aesthetically-pleasing to look at, and more. Think of it like your favorite store or retailer social media or website – would you want to look at poor quality photos or high quality? The same goes for blogging!

3) Engage With Others

Another thing that has helped a ton in boosting my engagement rates and attracting new followers to my page is really spending my time on Instagram wisely by engaging with my followers and even those who do not follow me as well. It costs $0 to support another blogger by engaging with their content, and 95% of the time, they usually reciprocate by liking or commenting back on your content as well, some even follow!

My best tips here are to:

Go through hashtags that you use on your own posts and like and comment on photos you see from the accounts under those hashtags
Find accounts in your same niche and like and comment on their posts
Scroll through the comment sections of people in your niche and engage with their followers content (if you see someone engaging with the content of someone in your niche – odds are they’ll like your content as well and will want to engage with your content or follow along too!)
Comment back to those that comment on your posts
Respond to DMs
Etc.!

4) Participate in Giveaways

If you’re looking for a quicker and easier way to gain more followers, giveaways are a great option! However, there is one important thing to note about this method in order to see the most success from it – make sure the giveaways you choose to participate in consist of other accounts in your niche. If you’re hosting a giveaway with accounts that post content completely different from you, a lot of those new followers most likely won’t stick around after the giveaway is over. Try to find giveaways consisting of accounts in your niche and including some accounts with around the same follower count as you. These typically perform better and you’ll find new followers who truly want to follow you for the content you share!

Another thing to note about this method is it can get expensive from buying into too many giveaways – make sure you budget yourself and how much you’re willing to spend on giveaway buy-ins per month! Also be mindful of how many giveaways you participate in – you don’t want to be known as the girl who’s just always sharing giveaways and no meaningful content. A lot of people may even unfollow for this very reason!

5) Promote Posts

Another thing that I have explored more of this year is promoting my Instagram posts. Of course, this takes some budgeting as well to not spend too much per month on sponsored posts. Whenever an image I post performs significantly better than others, I usually promote that post. If so many people are engaging with my content and are finding some sort of value out of it, I’ll choose to promote it to even more people and really helps boost engagement and reach new audiences.

I’m not entirely certain if it’s true, but I’ve heard that when you promote your posts, Instagram tends to be a little nicer to you since you’re paying them haha – I mean I guess this has worked for me since my engagement rates have increased this year from promoting a couple posts per month and more people seem to be finding me than before.

6) Post On Stories Throughout the Day + Engage Your Audience

Another great way to grow your Instagram and engage your followers more is posting on stories consistently daily throughout the day. People want to see and get to know that person behind that perfectly-curated Instagram in-feed photo! Utilize polls, Q+A’s, share behind the scens and into your daily life, get your audience talking!

While I’ve shared here all of the things that have helped me grow, the one thing I wanted to make note of to NOT do is asking people to follow you. Just don’t do it! It comes off the wrong way and, if anything, will make people not want to follow you even more. I’ve received a handful of DMs and comments on my posts asking this – just don’t do it.