10k followers in 6 months: How I grew my Instagram fast
I started my bookstagram account stackedshelves in February
2019 and grew to 10k followers in just over 6 months. More than 50% of this
growth took place in the last 6 weeks, from the beginning of August. My posts
now get an average of 2-4k likes. I get
questions daily about how my account has grown so quickly, and even accusations
of buying likes and followers, which is hilarious. I’m far too broke for that.
All jokes aside, the Instagram algorithm can be a bit
tricky, so I’ve come up with 10 top tips for working your way around it to maximise
the reach of your individual posts and grow your following in a short space of
time. If they worked for me, there’s no reason why they can’t work for you too.
Find your niche
This has above all been the key to growing my account. When
I first made stackedshelves, I was posting the usual flat-lays/close-ups/side-ons
of books that you see all over bookstagram. The problem here is that the market
for this kind of content is completely oversaturated. It’s therefore important
to make yourself stand out somehow. I grew to around 2.5k followers posting flatlay
pictures, and then one day I randomly decided to take a picture of myself
holding a book, and it blew up far more than any of my other posts. That was
back in July, and since then I have made my brand out of pairing books with my
outfits.
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| An example of one of my old posts |
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| The first post of mine that really took off! |
Finding a niche is easier said than done. I found mine
entirely by accident, after 5 months of bookstagramming. But really, all it
takes is some experiment. Switch up your content, try out different styles, and
don’t just copy someone else’s feed – that goes entirely against the point of
making yourself stand out! There are so many ways you can carve out a niche for
yourself. Some great accounts that I know of have a certain colour that they
bring through in all of their posts, or distinctive props. Some are bright and
cheerful; others are dark and moody. Make
content that you enjoy creating, and don’t be afraid to try new things. Eventually,
you’ll figure out what kind of content you should focus on, and it’ll be
onwards and upwards.
Nail your editing
style
Along with developing certain types of photos for your feed,
you need to create a distinctive aesthetic to tie your posts together. This is determined
by the lighting and editing of your pictures. I’ll be publishing another post soon on the
exact details of how I take/edit my photos, which I get a lot of questions
about. But for now, my advice is to play around with many of the great free
editing apps out there – VSCO, Lightroom, Snapseed, etc., are all very popular.
I exclusively use VSCO for all my edits, and I don’t even pay for membership. Try
taking your pictures in the sun – if you don’t like this, take them when it’s
cloudy instead. Try out different filters; mess round with exposure and
contrast. Figure out if you prefer warm or cool toned pictures by changing the
white balance.
All of this is quite fun, making it relatively easy to find
your groove with the editing process. Apart from the first month or so of
bookstagramming, I haven’t really switched up my editing after finding the
aesthetic that I like.
Post everyday
Posting consistently is important for a) filling out your
feed/attracting new followers and b) delivering content for the followers you
already have. I very rarely follow new accounts which have only a handful of
posts; I can’t gauge their vibe/aesthetic from three or four pictures. My
recommendation is to fill out your feed quickly at the start, even posting
multiple times a day to get into your stride with bookstagram – this will also
help you with steps 1 and 2. After building a good number of posts (I’d say around
30), posting once a day is perfectly sufficient.
But NOT at the exact same time
Insights are a great feature of upgrading your account from
a Personal to a Business/Creator account (which you should definitely do when
you first start out). They tell you about the demographic of your audience,
including when your followers are most active. However, I fell into the trap of seeing that 6pm was my
best time for engagement and then posting at 6pm on the dot, every day, for
months.
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| Insights tell me that the window 3pm-9pm is my best time for posting |
I cannot stress enough how much my reach and engagement from
my followers improved when I started posting at different times every day.
Obviously, there’s no point posting at a time when your Insights show you have
the least engagement (for example, between 12am and 12pm the number of my
active followers is lowest). Now, I post from anywhere between 3:30 pm in the
afternoon to 9 pm at night, making sure to switch it up every day. I’m not sure
about the Instagram science behind this (and obviously very little about the
algorithm is actually confirmed by Instagram), but I have definitely found that
posting at the same time for days in a row reduces engagement and reach.
Use 30 hashtags on every post
I quite often see bookstagram accounts using only around 10
hashtags on their posts. Why?! Instagram allows you to use 30, so use them all.
On nearly all of my posts, my hashtags are the highest source of engagement, and
thus the primary route through which I gain new followers. If your post has a
good level of engagement, it’ll often be featured in the ‘Top’ section of some
of the individual hashtags you’ve used. This means that one post can keep
gaining you new likes and followers for days on end, because anyone who navigates
to that particular hashtag will see your post featured.
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| This example shows how important hashtags are for making impressions and gaining new followers from every post. |
I know that some people think using 30 hashtags every day
can impact negatively on the performance of posts, but I have never found this
to be the case. Look at the hashtags other bookstagrammers use in their
bios/comment section, and create a list of 30 hashtags for your post. I would avoid
using basic hashtags like #bookstagram and #bookstagrammer because they each
have millions of posts – your post is going to be swallowed up by hundreds of
people using this hashtag every day. Use some smaller hashtags instead, like
#bookislife, which only has 168k posts. Your post will be more visible to
anyone perusing the hashtag, and is more likely to get featured.
SWITCH UP your hashtags
This one is very important, and something I only learned
very recently! Using the exact same hashtags every single day will reduce the
reach of your posts. I’ve done this myself – I had one post take off with a
certain set of hashtags, and then I copied and pasted the exact same hashtags
into every subsequent post. For the next few posts, I still had good reach, and
then I had ZERO reach from the same hashtags a few days later (screenshot evidencing this below). Again, I have no idea of the Instagram science behind this, but it’s probably to do with bots using the same hashtags over and over. I have a list of around 50 hashtags in the Notes on my phone, which I now keep in rotation to stop this from happening again.
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| I used the hashtags from the post above too many days in a row, and Instagram blocked this post from achieving any reach from hashtags. Keep your hashtags in rotation to prevent this from happening! |
| Engage! Engage! Engage! |
The next few points are all about engaging with other bookstagrammers. This is so important for embedding yourself into the community, and it’s also the nicest thing about being a part of bookstagram. Follow accounts you like, and be an ACTIVE follower. Like their posts, and leave meaningful comments. Not just ‘love this photo’ or a heart emoji, but a response to the question they’ve asked, or a line which shows you’ve really taken the time to engage with their content. I find new people to follow from the comments they leave on my pictures all the time, and if someone takes the time out of their day to leave an extended response to one of my posts, I’ll usually have a look at their profile at the very least.
Join/make Comment Pods
Comment Pods are a hotly debated topic on Instagram. Some
think there is evidence that Instagram see them as spam and that they therefore
have a negative impact upon engagement. Personally, I’ve never found this to be
the case. I’m in around five or six Comment Pods, which are groups of other
bookstagrammers. The idea is that you notify the group when you’ve posted, and
they like and comment on your new post to drive up engagement and beat the
algorithm. You in turn do the same for them. I’ve always found Comment Pods to
be a really good way to achieve a high level of engagement quickly, which is
important for promoting your post into the ‘Top’ section of certain hashtags,
or on the Explore page. Sure, the engagement Comment Pods provide is inorganic,
but they’ve always worked for me, and it’s so easy to message a few bookstagram
friends and set one up.
Participate in SFS sessions
SFS sessions are shout-out for shout-out sessions that are
usually hosted by a group of bookstagrammers. The idea is that an account gives
you a shout-out in their stories, and then you return the shout-out, and everyone
gains followers. They’re a really good way of achieving growth quickly, once
your feed and aesthetic are established. If you engage with other
bookstagrammers, you’ll often get asked to participate in these sessions, or
alternatively, you can message people and ask them to do one with you. I would
be careful to not do too many of these sessions as your account gets bigger – the
endless reams of shoutout returns in your story are annoying and can cause
people to unfollow you (I know this from personal experience!).
Utilise your stories
Speaking of which, utilising your stories is another great
way to keep your engagement levels high. Ask questions in your story, show your
followers what you’re doing/reading, and give them an insight into your life and
personality that they may not get from your posts. Why? Because it’s
interesting. When you follow someone, it’s natural to want to see ‘behind the
camera’ and know a bit more about them. I often do Q&A’s in my stories for
this reason.
On a more technical note, posting consistently on your
stories will also bring your icon back to the forefront of the list of stories
every user has at the top of their homepage. This will direct more of your
followers to your profile, and increase your engagement levels.
Some final parting points:
- The most important thing is to not give up. Social media is always up and down.
- Be patient! These things take time, so don’t expect to see results overnight.
- Enjoy it! There’s no point trying to grow your bookstagram if you don’t love what you’re doing. It’s only Instagram, after all.
I hope that these tips gave you an insight into how I have
grown my bookstagram at such a rate over the last few months. I’m no expert, and
this list is certainly not exhaustive, but I’m sure that if you follow these
tips you’ll see an improvement in your reach and growth in no time. It may seem
like a lot of effort, but it’s all great fun and will be worth it in the end.
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