Sarah
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Update January 2020: I initially released this post in September 2018. Since then, some things have changed – thus, I added and adapted the most recent tips on how to grow your Instagram account in 2020. This is already version 14 of this guide on how to become an Instagram model – and I’ll show you everything from setting up your account to working with brands!
When I first released my big article on how I got 15k Instagram followers within 6 months it gave me a gigantic traffic spike on my blog (because of Reddit mainly). There were generally two different ways, people reacted to the article though:
1) They contacted me and said how much it helped them. I still get two to three DMs EVERY DAY on Instagram from people saying they read my article and have further questions. That’s awesome! Please go on and shoot me questions! After all, this is why I decided to write “The Instagram Bible”. So those questions were also an input for the gigantic article you are ready right now! Only if I know which questions you have – only then can I answer them!
2) They wrote a single-line comment that it only worked because I am a pretty girl and I was sharing bikini pics as well. While this backlash was somewhat expected on Reddit, they couldn’t be more wrong!
Growing your Instagram followers is harder than it used to be. Point.
And it won’t become easier again in the future. There have been so many changes to the algorithm and the general functionality so far on Instagram that you need to adapt your overall Instagram strategy to it! Many of you are wondering about how to grow your Instagram followers under those conditions.
In July 2018 I shared my personal success story with you on how I got 15k followers on Instagram within 6 months. After this article went big on Reddit a lot of people asked me about details via DM on Instagram. Since then I added more and more Instagram content to this page in order to help you learn how to become an Instagram model yourself!
It took me ages to write down all that stuff but I really really hope it will help you succeed!
I will constantly update this article as new changes are soon to come for sure! We can make that work for you too!
Table of Contents
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What does it mean to become an “Instagram model” or and “Instagram influencer”?
First of all, I don’t really like the terms “Instagram model” OR “Instagram model”. As most people, I prefer to see myself as a “content creator” (and yes, that term is overused.)
But in order to avoid confusion, let’s stick with “Instagram model” and “Instagram influencer” when we talk about that stuff!
Basically, an Instagram model or an Instagram influencer is someone with a higher number of followers on Instagram that gets paid by brands to post content on Instagram (or at least free stuff)
And that’s the biggest reason why people wonder how to become an Instagram model in the first place: because of the amazing perks that come with it.
Yes, I got invited to entirely paid trips across the globe, I can eat for free in quite a lot of restaurants in my home town Berlin and my closet is overfloating (okay, actually, it was already before). And yes, I was paid hundreds of dollars for some Instagram posts I have created.
And I am not telling you this because I want to make you jealous. No, I am deeply grateful for “making it work” for me and I want to show you that you too can become an Instagram model!
What it takes to become “an Instagram model” and why you need a strategy
When I first talked about my personal Instagram success on Reddit, there were a few people telling me that I only “made it work” because I am a “pretty blonde girl in a bikini”. There are a bunch of things that are so wrong about this statement, but, cold hard truth:
Yes, being pretty definitely helps. Instagram is a visual platform and a lot of Instagram models are damn pretty.
But is it enough? For sure not! There are tons of accounts out there on Instagram with super hot girls that don’t grow well. And lots of them have a much better figure than me. Or, prettier hair. Or they are younger, Or… – I think you get the message. You don’t have to look like a “classic model” to become an Instagram model!
Also, this is 2020 and just sharing bikini pics will not give you a gigantic following. Actually, while some of my bikini pics did really well – my most successful posts are from cities such as Barcelona and London or from me in awesome landscapes around the world!
If you want to know how to become an Instagram model 2020 you need to understand how the platform works. And then you need to develop your Instagram strategy based on this knowledge!
[click_to_tweet tweet=”It’s not enough to be pretty to grow on Instagram in 2019 – you need a sophisticated social media strategy! Read this article from a travel blogger and Instagram influencer about Instagram growth strategies to find out more about how to grow your own Instagram account” quote=”It’s not enough to be pretty to grow on Instagram in 2019 – you need a sophisticated social media strategy!”]
How the Instagram algorithm works in 2020
So, in order to set up your successful Instagram growth strategy, I want you to understand a little bit more about how the Instagram algorithm works. So here’s what it is supposed to do and how this affects your strategy!
Let me first get one thing absolutely straight:
[click_to_tweet tweet=”The goal of the Instagram algorithm is NOT to help YOU grow. Everything is focused on giving the average Instagram user the best user experience possible. And to make Instagram’s owner rich.” quote=”The goal of the Instagram algorithm is NOT to help YOU grow. Everything is focused on giving the average Instagram user the best user experience possible. And to make Instagram’s owners rich.”]
I can’t stress enough how important it is for you to understand this! Every day I read comments from people that are trying to grow their Instagram followers wondering why Instagram is constantly changing their algorithms and how this makes it harder for them to grow.
It’s because Instagram doesn’t care about your growth! From their perspective it doesn’t matter – they already have big accounts that draw people into their network. And they want them to stay on the platform as long as possible because then they can make money selling Instagram ads. From a business perspective, there is absolutely no reason why they should help you. If you bring traffic to them – awesome. If you don’t – there are enough accounts that do.
Once you understood that, it makes it easier to accept the previous and the upcoming algorithm changes.
So, what does this fancy algorithm do? Basically, the algorithm determines, which pictures are shown to users on the explore page and on their personal feed. Back in the early days (where I wasn’t even on Instagram) the feed simply showed all pictures in chronological order. Now, with the smart feed, Instagram tries to guess what you want to see.
The exact measures behind are super-secret and there is more speculation than truth out there on the internet about all the factors that have influence. Some factors that definitely have influence are…
- Your relationship with the account: Regular likes, comments or even DM (direct messages) are a sure-fire indicator for Instagram that you are interested in this content
- Follower count: Accounts with higher numbers of followers are more likely to show up high in your feed – Instagram assumes that they post awesome stuff that you want to see
- Post engagement: This is where it really gets interesting! The more engagement a post gets during the first minutes (and partly the first hour) shows Instagram that this is quality content and that you might want to see it
The post engagement topic is particularly important to understand as this is the basis for most of the current growth strategies and a lot of things I will explain to you in this article. Basically Instagram only shows your content to a limited amount of your followers in the beginning – and only if they like it, Instagram shows it to more users.
Also, there is not “one explore page” – Instagram has explained numerous times, that the “Explore page” is personalized as well. Only that on the “Explore page”, you don’t see the content of the accounts (or hashtags) you follow – but some stuff that Instagram thinks YOU (with your interests) want to see.
The same rule applies to “Top posts” for hashtags! The “top posts” that you see are not the same that your friends are seeing! It also has to do with which pictures you engaged with in the past! Sometimes I show up as Top1 in my own feed – and I am not even in the Top 9 for my own husband! (And he does definitely like my pics as he takes most of them!)
How to set up your Instagram account to become an Instagram model
Now that we have talked about the algorithm, let’s have a look at what that actually means for you on how to become an Instagram model!
Growing a decent following is definitely still possible if you follow the implications of the algorithm – but followers are not everything!
Decide on a consistent topic to post about
You need to see yourself as a brand to set your Instagram account up for success!
What is it that makes your account interesting for people that don’t know you? Are you a traveler with awesome advice on travel destinations? Or a foodie that knows all the secret restaurants and cooks/bakes fancy recipes? Or a fitness guru that can give tips for getting this perfect bikini figure?
Only if you have an answer to that question, Instagram will show your account to the right (aka, interested) people! Think – they want to show your content to people that would be interested in it. They know what the people are interested in – so Instagram also needs to understand what your account is about!
If you post your cat on day 1, your food on day 2 and a pic of you in front of Chichen Itza on day 3 – how is Instagram supposed to know to whom your content might be relevant?
So. you need to have a consistent topic you post about! It doesn’t mean you can’t throw in something else once in a while – but try to stay consistent in general!
In order to decide on this “consistent topic” for you, start to ask yourself those questions:
- What talents do I have?
- What am I passionate about?
- What do others see when they look at me / think about me?
- What makes me unique / sets me apart from the rest?
- Do I have a “mission” that I want to transport?
- Which value can I bring to other users on the platform?
For me, the answer was something like:
“I am a traveler. I love to travel to foreign destinations and explore the unknown. My mission is to motivate other people to travel more often because I think it makes them wiser. By giving them advice on cool places and showing them my personal experience I can help them enjoy their own journeys even more. When people look at me, they see a curvy blonde girl with self-esteem and a positive, cheerful mind. I am curvier than the usual Instagram travel girl – but that doesn’t define me. And it can also help other girls feel more confident in their bodies – so I won’t hide that!
Craft something like that – and you have your own Instagram content strategy!
Find a suiting “handle” (name) on Instagram
So, let’s start from the beginning: You just decided on your Instagram content strategy.
Now you need a name for your “brand”. Take your time to thoroughly think about your name as it will be very difficult to change later. We will set up quite a lot of things with this, so don’t rush this step!
[click_to_tweet tweet=”Your Instagram handle should transport what your content is about, be easy to read and personal enough for people to associate it with you long-term!” quote=”Your Instagram handle should transport what your content is about, be easy to read and personal enough for people to associate it with you long-term!”]
Once you think you found that perfect name, check if it is still available EVERYWHERE!
My personal checklist for finding a free Instagram handle:
- Instagram (obvious)
- Youtube
- Domain (.com) and possibly one for your country (in my case: .de)
- (Reddit)
- (Mix.com)
Also, google your handle and check what shows up (nothing specific is great!). If your handle is taken only on one platform I would rethink it and see if you find an alternative!
I started with “sarah.aroundtheworld” – but then dumped it because the .com domain was already taken. “Fernwehsarah” is perfect for me because it has a meaning that suits my content (Fernweh is a German word describing the feeling that you want to travel to a place far away – the opposite of “homesick”). It was also available everywhere, is easy to read (no dots or _ in it) – and since it contains my name, it’s personal!
Write an awesome bio for your Instagram profile
The next step after finding your handle for Instagram is crafting the right bio!
Think of your “bio” as your business card – it tells your visitor in a second who you are and what your content is about. You should try to use the full number of characters that Instagram gives you – this first impression is soooooo important! Emojis help you save characters and make it more fun to look at.
The first bold line is where, according to Instagram, your name belongs. Most people use it more as a “subheading” to their handle – and so do I. Use it to emphasize your content!
One element that makes you look more professional is if you enter information about how potential partners can reach you – do you prefer DM or mail? I would suggest adding a professional-looking email address – this involves getting a domain as @gmail.com isn’t really professional.
Your bio is also the place where a link to your website belongs. It is in fact the only place on Instagram where you can put a clickable link!
Directly below your bio are your Instagram story highlights – you can also use them to tell your user more about what you are doing. Although I have to admit, that I personally don’t like overstyled story highlights under an account.
Get a business or creator account on Instagram
[click_to_tweet tweet=”If you are serious about your Instagram strategy, get a business account!” quote=”If you are serious about your Instagram strategy, get a business account!”]
You only need to get a Facebook page for your account and then you can do the switch. It’s easy and it’s completely for free – this simply needs to be part of your strategy to become an Instagram model!
The benefit is, that it offers you a lot of valuable data that will help you measure your success and thus improve your strategy over time. I explained the benefits on an Instagram business account a bit deeper in my article about my personal success story.
Click to read: How I got 15k followers on Instagram in 6 months in 2018
In theory, a business account also gives you the option to run Instagram Ads – but so far I have to say that those didn’t really seem to work for me!
The Instagram creator account is something very similar that Instagram has launched in 2019. The main benefit that comes with it is advanced analytics. Your creator’s insights show you your follower growth and loss as well as some additional trends. I converted my account to a creator’s account as soon as Instagram made it available for me and I love the additional insights I get!
Create high-quality photo content for Instagram (and video!)
Especially with likes being hidden in a lot of countries, one of the most important factors for brands to decide on who they want to work with is actually the content quality!
Followers on Instagram are NOT everything! If you create quality content, some brands might just want to work with you for the sake of getting awesome, original content for their own marketing channels!
Learn how to take better photos
One of the first steps in getting this high-quality content is learning how to take better pictures. This does not even depend too much on your camera. You can create awesome instaworthy pictures in a lot of places just with your smartphone! However, it is worth learning a bit more about how to actually take good pictures.
Some professional and amateur photographers have written easy to understand guides on the rule of thirds and how to capture photos that stand out “from the rest of the crowd”. Make sure to read a bunch of these to know how to capture pictures in the first place. Because some things (like, e.g., a bad photo composition), no editing in the world can fix!
Plan your shootings and poses
One of the things people criticizing Instagram influencers is how much it actually is to create an awesome Instagram post that will engage your audience!
First, you should plan your shooting and ask yourself a few questions:
- Where do you want to take a picture?
- What’s in the background, what’s in the foreground?
- How big will you be in the picture?
- Are you looking into the camera or away from it?
Then you can think about a few poses that could look great on Instagram. There are some that work really well for different types of content – travel influencer love the “Y pose facing away from the camera” for example)
Plan, what you are going to wear to your Instagram photo shooting and don’t forget to think of “Instagram props” and photo accessories!
Read: 5 Instagram Props that every Instagram travel girl has (or should have!)
When we went to Bali, Markus constantly made fun of me because I was lugging around that giant white swim ring with wings everywhere – but it just made some really great shots!
Invest in photography equipment
Obviously, you need to post quality content to grow followers on Instagram. And quality content requires quality pictures. Only celebrities can get away with simple smartphone selfies – the normal person has to be more sophisticated for that desired Instagram growth.
Nowadays, smartphones really have awesome cameras – so you definitely can start without a DSLR! In fact, we abandoned our DSLR and Markus now takes my own Instagram pictures with my Samsung S10!
In order to get more variety into your feed posts, think of getting a drone or a GoPro with a dome first!
Drones offer awesome aerial views that show you in the scenery from an unusual perspective. And nowadays, drones aren’t even very expensive or chunky anymore! Almost every travel Instagrammer that I know either uses a DJI Mavic Air or a DJI Spark. However, the “new kid on the block” is the DJI Mavic Mini and it has a superior price-value relation!
And if you ever wondered how to get those split-pics with half underwater and a half above: You need a GoPro and a Dome for that. We got the GoPro Hero 6 and this dome – both worked perfectly for us while traveling the world. The GoPro is also awesome for diving and all sorts of action videos – the newest one is currently the GoPro Hero 8!
Learn how to edit photos in Adobe Lightroom
Last but not least, taking photos is only half the work!
After taking the pictures, you will need to edit your photos to give them the real “Instagram-ready look”. After trying numerous free apps I now edit my pictures in Lightroom on the computer or the smartphone.
The desktop version is a paid subscription, but the Adobe Lightroom mobile app is actually completely free!
I personally signed up for a yearly subscription to Lightroom CC with 1TB of data after using the free app for a while. The main reason is that now my photos are always synced between phone and computer when editing them. Especially as I do my blog post from my Laptop, this is saving me a ton of time. However, for Instagram alone, the free mobile app is totally fine!
However, if you don’t know anything about editing, learning to use Lightroom will take you quite a while. It is not super intuitive – but it certainly is super powerful!
Let’s be completely blunt: in order to become an Instagram model, you WILL HAVE to use Adobe Lightroom for editing. There’s really no way around – no other software is that powerful, certainly not on mobile.
However, there’s a way to speed up the process if you are just starting up and that’s Lightroom presets! Basically, these are predefined filters that you can use on your picture with just one click.
Read: What Lightroom Presets are – and what they are NOT
Don’t confuse those presets with the filters that come with Instagram. Lightroom Presets are so much more powerful and can really help you save a dark picture for example!
I have been working on creating with Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop for years now and I decided to create my own Lightroom presets for you! You can get them on Etsy or in my own Lightroom preset shop (where you’ll get the best price of course!)
All of my preset packs come with presets for the desktop version (.xmp files) as well as for the free mobile Lightroom app (.dng files). That means you can use my own Lightroom presets without a subscription for Adobe Lightroom too!
And if you want to try them first: I am also giving away some of my presets completely for free!
Post consistently on Instagram
Now that we have decided on your strategy, chosen a handle, written a kick-ass bio and produced some quality content, it is time to share your stuff on Instagram!
One of the things that I have seen to be super important is sharing your content consistently! Generally speaking, one picture a day is what works best for most people. You can experiment with twice daily or only once every two days – but I wouldn’t trust anyone that says you don’t need to post regularly.
Think again about user experience: If your followers know that you post daily they might be disappointed if you simply skip a week. And if you post 10 pics a day – that looks pretty spammy to most people. Plus, your engagement will be down as people don’t even have the time to notice your content. So have scheduling in mind with your Instagram strategy!
If you feel like posting daily takes too much of your time, a great way is to schedule your posts in advance! Instagram actually opened its API for automatic posting by third party providers in 2019 and it is now possible and completely okay to use services like Later.com and Tailwind for Instagram for that!
What is really awesome about Tailwind is, that it also helps you find the perfect time for posting at maximum engagement (we love Tailwind for Pinterest for that!!!) and also helps you figure out which hashtags to use! There is a free trial of 30 posts – so why not trying?
Read: Why Tailwind for Instagram is the best scheduler – meet Hashtag Finder 2.0
Later.com, on the other hand, is entirely for free for up to 30 posts a month – but with less functionality. If you think about using scheduling – just try both and then decide if Tailwind for Instagram is worth the monthly fee for you or if you prefer the free version of Later.com!
Monitor your success from the very beginning
[click_to_tweet tweet=”There isn’t a time where you are too early to measure your success – using analytics from the very beginning is key to a successful Instagram strategy!” quote=”There isn’t a time where you are too early to measure your success – using analytics from the very beginning is key to a successful Instagram strategy!”]
If you have just started your Instagram account you might think it’s too early to start measuring – you couldn’t be more wrong! No strategy without measuring its success!
Measuring what strategy worked for your specific account is key to improving your strategy! Let’s be realistic: Your strategy won’t be perfect from the first moment on! You need to try things and see the results – there is no “starting too early” when it comes to analytics!
So, where do you get those analytics from? Well, the first source is definitely the insights that your Instagram Business or Creator Account provides! I suggest you prepare a small excel spreadsheet with the numbers you want to track to see how your account develops over time. And then write down those numbers every week (I do it Monday morning)!
How to get your content in front of a new audience on Instagram
So by now, we have focused on how to blog your Instagram account for success and how to create awesome content. Now it’s time to have a look at how you can actually
Use the right hashtags to promote your post!
Hashtags were originally invented by Twitter and are now used on all kinds of social media platforms – even Pinterest introduced them in 2017!
Think of hashtags as a way to categorize your content into a glossary that makes it easy for users to find your content. (See, we are again getting to that thing with the user experience!)
Users on Instagram can also follow a hashtag directly – and if you use that hashtag on your picture, it might end up in their feed. If they like what they see, they might click on your account and even follow you. So hashtags are a great way to get some free advertising for your content!
Since Hashtags on Instagram a pretty complex topic, I wrote a separate article about it! And if you sign up for my newsletter, you will also get access to my personal hashtag list for world travelers!
Click to read my article on Hashtags: Hashtags on Instagram 101 – How to use them properly
I actually already created quite a bunch of different hashtag lists for Instagram for you – make sure to watch out for the ones that fit your niche!
- 220+ Love Hashtags and Couple Hashtags
- 110 Friendship Hashtags
- 250+ Fashion Hashtags
- 500+ Travel hashtags
- Best hashtags for European cities
- 120+ New Zealand Hashtags
- 150+ London Hashtags
Write an engaging caption!
A great Instagram post that drives engagement does not only have a nice photo! You will also need to write an interesting caption underneath to make your followers actually read and comment on your post.
And especially at times where Likes are hidden, comments become even more important on Instagram!
If you don’t feel creative one day, you can use some tricks to write a nice caption anyway. For these days, I have compiled some beautiful quotes that you can use as captions for Instagram too!
Types of content on Instagram
So, in order to understand how to become an Instagram model, you need to understand the different types of content that you can create on Instagram. Basically, most brands are interested in working with Instagram influencers who can create various forms of content for them.
Feed posts
Obviously, the feed posts are the first and most visible way to get your content to your audience! Feed posts are seen for at least a few days and are the main reason why people chose to follow you (or not follow you)!
In order to create a great Instagram post that resonates well with your audience, you need
- A great photo or video (see tips above)
- An engaging caption
- The right hashtags
A word about Instagram Feed consistency
One of the things that can’t be stressed enough is that your feed needs to look consistent! You need to use similar colors in most of your pics, adjust lighting, etc. so that the individual photos look great next to each other.
If you can’t do that because Lightroom because you struggle with Adobe Lightroom – then you really should get a preset pack. Good preset packs come with a set of different presets optimized for different light situations. Thus, you can always find one that adjusts the light in your picture so that it looks similar to the others
Read: Why you need a preset pack to easily edit the perfect Instagram picture
Instagram stories
Another type of content on Instagram are Instagram Stories.
Instagram stories are only visible for 24h (unless you turn them into a story highlight) – and they are vertical 16:9! The content for your Instagram stories doesn’t have to be as curated as your feed. In my opinion, this is the perfect place to add some other stuff that doesn’t fit your feed but that you care about. For example, I occasionally share my smoothie bowl recipes there – or some personal stories!
Instagram stories are also pretty complex and a lot of options are super-hidden! The most important option is restricted though – and this is the option to include a swipeable link in your story! In order to get this option, you either need to be a verified user (scroll down to see the update on Instagram verification) – or you need to have 10.000 followers to get swipeable links in your Instagram story!
There are rumors that engagement with Instagram stories also influences how much the algorithm shows your feed post to your followers – I am not sure if this is really true. But posting consistently on Instagram stories definitely helps to see the views go up there – and then you can inform about a news feed post in your story!
I really love Instagram stories for their authenticity – and all the cool options like polls and questions! Instagram stories can be pretty time-consuming though – this is why I prepared some help for you to fill your stories!
Click to get my free templates: Instagram Story Templates – Entertain your IG Followers
Instagram Live stories
Live stories are another feature that Instagram gave us to get into contact with our followers. As the name suggests – it’s like Instagram stories – but live!
The difference is, that you are not limited in time (yay, no 15 seconds cap anymore!!!) – you can stream as long as you want. While you are streaming live, a drop-down will indicate the stream to your followers – so it’s much more visible than an Instagram story post!
During your stream, you can see that people are joining and they can also comment – I think this is really cool because it is almost like a conversation with them!
After you finish streaming, you can decide to share it for another 24h – like a long Instagram story video. The difference is, that after 24h your live stream is definitely gone – it’s neither in an archive like story posts nor can you add it as a story highlight. If someone has a prerecorded live stream in their feed, this is indicated by a blueish ring around their profile picture.
I don’t use live stories often – but I probably should! A great way a friend of mine has used them was that she posted about the planned live stream before in her Instagram story and asked her followers to send her questions for the live stream! Maybe I will try this one day! 🙂
IGTV
IGTV is Instagrams newest addition of features – they try to tackle Youtube with it. Basically you can upload videos up to 15 minutes as an IGTV video – and your followers can watch it almost like a TV channel. It doesn’t disappear like a life story – and thus the expectations for quality are much higher!
So far, IGTV tends to be a niche product. When I asked my followers in an Instagram poll last month 91% said, they don’t use IGTV at all.
As you might notice, I am not a big fan of IGTV so far – but one has to see how it develops. Instagram is definitely interested in pushing it – so if you like to record long videos like on Youtube – IGTV might be interesting for you.
Why engagement matters and how to get it
I have already talked quite a lot about how important engagement is on Instagram nowadays. But now let’s go one step back and discuss what engagement actually means and what is considered a “good engagement” on Instagram before we look into strategies to boost your engagement!
“Engagement” is a measure that becomes more and more important as it has influence on how far your post is visible on Instagram. And this is important for brands that want to work with you as an influencer!
What is “Engagement” on Instagram?
Essentially, engagement is nothing else than the number of likes and comments on your posts divided by the number of your followers! If an account has 10,000 followers and 500 likes on average on each photo – that’s a 5% engagement rate! Logically, an account with 100,000 followers needs 5,000 likes for the same engagement rate.
Don’t take your most recent picture though to gauge your own engagement. This pic hasn’t lived to its “full potential” yet – take three pictures that are around one week old and add likes and comments to get an idea of your engagement. Or use a site like HypeAudit or InfluencerDB for it. Don’t be surprised if the numbers are slightly different – some use likes+comments, some only likes. And some use more recent pictures for measuring – but the range shouldn’t differ more than 1% between different platforms.
Oh, and an equivalent to likes and comments for Instagram stories is the number of story views.
What is a “good engagement rate” on Instagram?
[click_to_tweet tweet=”What is considered good in terms of Instagram engagement hugely depends on the amount of followers you have!” quote=”What is considered good in terms of Instagram engagement hugely depends on the amount of followers you have!”]
When I first posted my story about my personal Instagram growth on Reddit, there was a user that claimed my followers weren’t worth anything as my engagement was around 7% at that time and he would have 20%. Well, I checked his account and he had a little over 1,000 followers. Which is perfectly okay – you simply can’t compare it an account that organically grew to 16,000 followers at that time. 😉
The older your account gets, the more or your followers might have stopped using Instagram – those followers won’t engage with your content anymore – they are called “ghost followers”!
One thing that is for sure is that your engagement will go down as you grow on Instagram. When I was at 1,000 followers I had an engagement of around 30%! Now, as I am moving towards 25,000 followers, my engagement is more around 5% – both is completely normal. In fact, it’s actually good numbers – so don’t worry if this happens to you as well!
Luckily, there are some really good statistics available on this topic!
According to Statista, average engagement rates (based on account size) on Instagram are:
- 1,000-5,000 followers: 6,8%
- 5,000-10,000 followers: 4%
- 10,000-50,000 followers: 3,1%
- 50,000-100,000 followers: 2,3%
- >100,000 followers: 2,2%
How can you drive engagement on Instagram?
But what if you still want to work on your engagement (and I believe you want that!)? Well, there are tons of guides out there that give you “the perfect strategy for engagement”. The fact is, there is no “perfect strategy” for this. But for sure, there are a few things that will help you drive your engagement!
In my previous article on Instagram growth I already explained a lot about it – please also read this article for advice!
Click to read: How I got 15k Instagram followers within 6 months in 2018
Aside from posting high-quality content in a consistent way, engaging with your audience and other influencers and using Instagram stories, there is one big topic you can tackle: Get rid of ghost followers!
It might be counter-intuitive to get rid of followers in order to grow – but this is definitely key! Ghost followers bring down your engagement – this limits the reach of your posts. And when fewer new people can see your content, you will get fewer and fewer new followers.
[click_to_tweet tweet=”Ghost followers are like weights that pull you down. You absolutely don’t need them for a swim – so get rid of them!” quote=”Ghost followers are like weights that pull you down. You absolutely don’t need them for a swim – so get rid of them!”]
If you know someone isn’t active anymore you can click on his/her account and choose to “remove follower”. If you can’t find the option, you can also block/unblock the user to get rid of that follower – but how do you figure out, which accounts to remove?
Getting rid of ghost followers is actually pretty difficult. In order to find out which followers don’t engage with you anymore, you need the help of third-party providers. Unfortunately using them is usually against Instagram’s terms and services so you could potentially get blocked for it!
If you want to take the risk, an app that a lot of people use is called “Cleaner App” (Play Store Link) – you need to decide for yourself if the burden of your ghost followers is high enough to justify using it. Hopefully, Instagram will give us a “legal” solution someday!
Instagram Verification and how to get it (as of January 2020)
You know, I am talking about that little blue checkmark you can find next to some Instagram user accounts! It stands for a verified account – and people have been craving to get verified by Instagram for ages! A blue checkmark definitely brings you credibility with brands – and more followers!
Some people have been so desperate to get verified that they paid thousands of dollars to shady PR agents that claimed to get them verified. For some it has worked – for most it didn’t and they lost their money.
So no wonder people were freaking out when Instagram announced to open verification request for everybody! They first piloted this in Australia and then opened it to all countries end of August 2018! In your settings, below “language”, is now an option to request a verification! You need to send a picture of your ID and that’s it!
Update January 2020: However, so far almost no one got verified by Instagram this way. It remains to wait if this will change any time in the future…
[click_to_tweet tweet=”You can now request verification by Instagram in your settings – but for a successful application you need a number of mentions in press and media!” quote=”You can now request verification by Instagram in your settings – but for a successful application you need a number of mentions in press and media!”]
The Good and the Bad – Growth Strategies you will find on the web (and what I think of them)
Follow Pods (mainly Facebook Groups)
Follow Pods mostly run on Facebook Groups and work more or less the same: You drop your Instagram link and you follow all the other accounts that dropped their link. They are supposed to do the same – it’s basically follow-for-follow.
I think this is not a great idea because you will get followers that might not even be in your niche. They might not be interested in your content at all and you might not be interested in theirs. Thus, you will both not engage with each other and you are essentially creating ghost followers.
The only way this could really work is if you find a group of accounts that is in your niche and has a similar account size. If you are really interested in their accounts it might work and you could find “your tribe” there – and also exchange valuable tips!
Engagement Pods on Instagram/ Telegram/ Facebook
Engagement Pods are a bit a more sophisticated variant of the follow pods. Usually, you also need to follow the members of the pod. But what’s more important: You will need to engage with their content – most of the time like and comment every time they post.
Engagement Pods can run on Instagram or Telegram (kind of a weird Whatsapp) or on Facebook. Basically you inform the group about your new post (with a link or on IG with your handle only) and before you need to comment and like everyone else’s post in the pod.
Almost everyone with a bigger following has tried pods at least for a while although most won’t admit it. They used to be super effective, but Instagram is constantly developing its algorithm and pods can be pretty time-consuming. And they aren’t really very genuine – that’s also why brands don’t like you to use them.
I am a bit indecisive about pods. If you are in a really good one, they actually help you form genuine bonds with other influencers. I have even bought products myself that I only saw because another influencer in a pod that I used (yes, I just admitted that I have tried pods as well!) has marketed it. And I know they definitely helped me in growing as well. So if it’s a really niched down pod it isn’t actually as unauthentic as most people claim.
However, when I stopped using Instagram pods the comments on my pictures actually went UP – I think the main reason was, that I had more time to engage with new people!
Bots
When people are talking about “Bots” they can mean two things: Either they are talking about “Bot followers” (Followers you can buy, see below) – or they are talking about a software/service that automates your Instagram tasks.
They both have one thing in common: they are against Instagram’s Terms and Services and could get you blocked / your account deleted. But this part of my post is about the software type.
Bots are pretty sophisticated nowadays – they can follow, like, comment and even unfollow in your name. There are some pretty sophisticated ones out there – it’s really crazy!
It might sound tempting, but you need to consider the risks and problems you could face. Do you really want your account to post “Oh great, I love this!” under a post where someone wrote in the caption that they had to go to the hospital or something like this? Bots aren’t humans and there are numerous known occasions where something like this has happened.
I personally do not use any bots anymore. And yes, that means I admit that I have tried. Did it work? Yes, partially. But in the end, it’s a fraud.
And that’s why I stopped using any bots on Instagram. Every comment or message that you will see with my name on Instagram was written by me personally – from the beach, the hotel room – or my sofa in Berlin! 🙂
The only reason why I am telling you that I have done it too (few people will admit it!) – so you don’t think I simply don’t know how to do it. I can. I can perfectly set you up with Jarvee and multiple fully automated Instagram accounts using residential or mobile proxies. They will post pictures, comment, like, follow, unfollow, watch stories, write messages,…
But I won’t. I think it is dead wrong to do. You simply have to trust me that I know what I am talking about – especially because I have learned how to do it all (mainly on blackhat world…!)
(Loop) Giveaways on Instagram
Update January 2020: I haven’t done any giveaways anymore for over a year. My growth has significantly slowed down but I feel that the followers that come now are really much more interested in my content than before. This way, I was able to drive my engagement up a lot again and I feel like the best time for giveaways might have passed!
It works like this: a group of people decides to host a giveaway and agree to pay a certain price each of them to buy the prize of the giveaway (like a hotel stay or a camera). They all post the same picture and the same caption on the same day with the rules of the giveaway. In order to participate in the random draw, users usually have to like the post and follow all organizers of the giveaway and comment with tagging a friend. Since every one of the organizers posts the content, giveaways have a huge reach and a well-organized travel giveaway (3-5 nights in a cool hotel + some cash) can give you 2-5k followers!
Unfortunately, there is downright a mafia out there with shady operators and bad organizers. Prizes that are not given out are sadly pretty common. Whenever there is money involved, there are people trying to get rich on the backs of others. I myself busted a giveaway organizer for letting some of their friends win those five nights in the Maledives. (Let’s say, they weren’t pleased with me busting them…).
I also covered the topic of giveaways in my previous post about my Instagram growth. (Obviously, there is a bit of an overlay between these two articles…)
[click_to_tweet tweet=”How to tell if a giveaway is genuine? Rule of thumb: if THEY contact YOU unsolicited, they are not…” quote=”How to tell if a giveaway is genuine? Rule of thumb: if THEY contact YOU unsolicited, they are not…”]
Services that let you buy Instagram followers
Yes, you can go online and buy followers. They can be as low as 30$ for 1,000 followers. While it might look tempting to easily boost your stats like this, I CAN NOT RECOMMEND DOING IT!
I never used those services and I think you shouldn’t either. The main reasons for that are:
- It’s against Instagram’s Terms and Services and theoretically, your account could be shut down for violating those terms (likely not gonna happen – but would you really want to take the risk?)
- Those accounts will never ever engage with your pictures, they are “dead” followers – this drives down your engagement and results in your pictures being shown to less of your REAL followers. So again, your engagement goes down – it’s a downward spiral!
- More and more companies are looking into the quality of your followers – and bought followers are pretty easy to recognize. You can check accounts stats on influencerdb.com for example – or HypeAudit (Influencermarketinghub) – I check mine regularly as well!
How to become an Instagram model – brand building!
Yes, your Instagram strategy doesn’t stop on Instagram! If you really want to know how to become an Instagram model, you shouldn’t put everything on one card!
You really need to be building a brand around your Instagram account to be a successful Instagram influencer! And here’s the good news – any of these techniques for brand building can actually help you gain more followers on Instagram as well!
Get a website/blog
Yes, there are Influencers out there that say blogging is dead. Obviously, as you are currently reading my blog entry, this is not the case and I think it is super stupid to assume that!
For me, blogging is more than an Add-On to Instagram – in fact, I now spend much more time on my blog than on Instagram! I love blogging and sharing all that stuff with you!
Anyway, even if you are more into Instagram, you should get a blog at one point. With a blog, you get a professional way to inform brands about you and your philosophy. It’s a little bit like a CV for social media! And if you use the MiloTree Plugin (you have seen it on my site already) – your blog definitely helps you gain followers on your social media channels as well!
So, go get your domain and build your blog! It isn’t as difficult as you might think! And in order to make this step easier for you, I wrote a whole new article about how to start a blog in 10 simple steps – it contains all the information you need to quickly get it going!
Read: How To Start A Blog In 10 Simple Steps – Blogging For Beginners
After you got your blog set up it’s time to head over to Fiverr.com and let someone design your logo – they come as cheap as 5$!
Set up a Twitter account and tweet your Instagram pictures
You should definitely also share your Instagram pictures to Twitter! It’s simply free promotion and you can actually get people to follow you on Instagram because they saw you on Twitter!
While you could technically use the built-in function from Instagram – I advise you not to do that on my Twitter account @fernwehsarah!
Why? Because it will only post a link to your picture to twitter – and also on Twitter, tweets with pictures get more engagement. So you want to post it as a picture to Twitter! However, you don’t want extra work, so posting it manually as a picture every time isn’t an option. Luckily, there is a workaround and it’s called IFTTT (If This Than That)!
You simply sign up, connect your Twitter and your Instagram account and activate the right “applet”. It’s perfectly in line with the guidelines of Twitter and Instagram (it’s even programmed by Instagram) and saves you work. Did I already mention that I love smart automation? 🙂
Get a Pinterest account and pin your Instagram pictures
Let’s directly get to the next automation you can set up with IFTTT: Pinterest! It works exactly the same way – you push your new Instagram picture to a specific Pinterest board you set up for that purpose!
This is the applet I use: Sync your new Instagrams to a Pinterest board – this is actually programmed by Instagram! You can also find other applets that sync your pictures to boards depending on a specific hashtag used – but I only use the simple one.
This way you can make sure your Pinterest followers also know you are on Instagram. And since I advise you to start a blog – you will need Pinterest as well anyway! Pinterest is the most powerful visual search engine – and your content IS visual.
Youtube, Facebook, and other social media channels
Depending on where you already have some following and where your “strengths” are, you can also focus on Facebook and Youtube.
But even if you plan not to use them a lot in the beginning – create the accounts to make sure your “Brand name” isn’t taken already. Just sign up for all of them and then decide later what you want to focus on.
I currently also have accounts on:
- TripAdvisor
- Youtube
- Facebook Page (you need it for Instagram anyway)
- Mix.com
How to work with brands as an Instagram model
I know, this has been an incredibly long article! So now let’s finally have a look at how you can work with brands as an Instagram model!
Basically, there are two types of “collaborations” between Instagram influencers and brands on Instagram:
- “Product for post” – brands will give you stuff for free and expect you to post about it
- Paid promotions – brands will pay you to post about their stuff.
One thing that is extremely important when working with brands on Instagram is that you always disclose sponsored content as such. Otherwise, you are breaking the law in most countries (and certainly you are doing it in the US and in most of Europe!)
In order to start working with brands as an Instagram model (and get paid!), you need to reach out to brands via email or Instagram. Once your following reaches a certain number, brands will also start contacting you too.
One of the biggest misconceptions about working with brands on Instagram as an Instagram model is that you do have to have a huge number of followers in order to work with brands! If you post quality content and your audience is engaged with it, you can start working with brands with only relatively small numbers of followers! I actually got my first collaboration with around 7,000 followers – and I didn’t even reach out to them!
What’s really important here is that you show the brand what they can get from you and that you work professionally (deliver on time and as discussed!). And please only promote stuff to your followers that you truly believe in – you owe that to your followers! 🙂
So, is it still possible to become an Instagram model in 2020?
I have said it before and I will keep saying this: YES!
It might sometimes feel as if it is too late – but that’s not true! It has become much more complicated than it used to be, but with the right strategy, some investment and some patience, this is nowhere close to “Mission Impossible”! This is the reason why I wrote “The Instagram Bible” – to motivate you to give it a shot!
So, start your “Mission Instagram” NOW!
And now I simply HAVE to do some self-promotion: start with signing up for my newsletter! Once you join my tribe (of course totally for free!), you will have access to all the helpful tools that I already created for you – including some free presets for Lightroom and my ultimate list of hashtags for Instagram! And I already have a ton of future blog posts with in-depth guides and explanations on Instagram in my head – you don’t want to miss them, believe me!
