I know number of followers are a superficial metric, and there’s all sorts of biases like fake followers and people who just temporarily follow and unfollow you later. And I also know that there are many more people with a ton more followers.
Regardless, to build a solid following on Instagram, you have to be able to show up consistently, create quality content, engage authentically – all of which doesn’t just happen “on accident.”
In any case, it’s been about a year of intentionally working on growing my Instagram account @kat.kuan to develop my brand and presence online. I even booked a session with a social media consultant to get feedback and advice on my profile. So these are 5 takeaways I wanted to share with you. First off, I want to start with why this matters.
WHY INSTAGRAM IS IMPORTANT
Sometimes I think Instagram is the fastest way to reach people. Once I post something, folks can “like” my post WITHIN SECONDS!!! I don’t think people check or respond to their email nearly as fast!
For anyone creating a business or having a job in a creative industry (such as art or cooking or fashion – something where you create something), I think it is vital to have an Instagram account to show your portfolio of work. The economy is rapidly changing and I like to think of an Instagram account as a quick-glance resume of what your work is like.
For example, my friend is a hairstylist and captures all the haircuts and hair coloring she’s done for clients on her Instagram @hairstyle_by_natalie. That way, future clients can also check out her Instagram and see her work on past clients within a quick glance.
For my profession of personal styling, my Instagram showcases outfits I’ve created so that people can decide if they like my aesthetic and want to work with me.
1. POST CONSISTENTLY
Content creation is hard. Some creators swear by posting multiple times a day. I tried that, and it’s a little too much for me. I feel like it floods the audience with too much of me, and it’s hard to come up with so much content.
So settle on something that feels right to you. For me, about 5 days a week (basically 1x per weekday) is a good target to aim for.
Your account will grow with time. Here’s the analytics for my account from the InsTrack app. You can see sometimes it goes up faster than others, and there are dips as well. Also, for the time periods where it grew the fastest, I was spending way too much time on there that I was in a bad state of mind. So growth at all costs is not worth it.
And go easy on yourself if you didn’t reach your target. I went through a rollercoaster of emotions trying to be consistent. I would get really motivated and post multiple times a day, and then get busy in my life, and not post for weeks. So I would be super active, then not active, and then super active, etc.. Now I try to be a more moderate amount of active and try to keep that steady.
Because our schedule can vary widely from day to day, the best way to make sure you have consistent content is to plan it out ahead of time. I’ve tried various tools but now I just use a Google Sheets spreadsheet that I call my “Content Calendar” and keep track of the date I want to post it, the name of the post, what format of content it is (social media post, YouTube video, blog, etc..), and any notes.
2. DON’T WORRY TOO MUCH ABOUT PERFECTION
Especially when you’re first starting off, I think there’s a desire to make everything look “Instagram worthy” and beautiful and editorial like the mega influencers, but sometimes it’s just better to get it out there and do it consistently. Then you can work on slowly raising the bar for the quality of content – better photography, better graphics, better photo editing, etc.. Just don’t try to aim for all those things at once in the beginning.
It took a while to develop the look-and-feel of my content. I really like clear and concise images. Clarity is super important, and I use Canva for any graphics that involve text. I wrote a tutorial for using Canva earlier, which can be found here.
Let your style and subject matter content naturally evolve over time.
For example, back in September 2017 (over a year ago), I posted random things – quotes, food, personal pictures, drawings, stuff about my children’s book.
Then I started to post more pictures of myself and book stuff – some lifestyle / food stuff sprinkled in here and there. Posting pictures of yourself (while it feels weird and self-centered in the beginning), it’s important because it helps people see and recognize you.
In the summer of 2018, I moved more boldly into posting fashion photos for my personal styling business and developing an aesthetic with the bold text, and using that consistently.
And these are my most recent posts – fall of 2018. It’s includes photos of me, fashion (photos taken by photographer friends), and a consistent font style.
3. SHOW THE PROCESS
Instagram is great for telling a story with visuals. A great image tells a story without any words, without even reading the caption. And over time, the all the images you post will tell another story – a broader story about yourself or your business.
To keep it interesting, I think it’s important to show how you evolve and show timely events and show a growing / transformation process. So if you’re working on creating a product that takes a long time, show the process.
That provides values to your followers and allows them to “follow” your journey.
Example: This is how I documented the journey of writing my children’s book Use Your Voice.
Sharing your story is SO important because it differentiates you from the other people/businesses out there. If you have a clothing line, it can be hard to differentiate from the many other clothing brands on Instagram. Glam shots with beautiful people modeling the clothes can only go far. BUT sharing how you designed / manufactured / and tested out the items can make people more invested in your business and want to be a part of your journey too.
4. BE AUTHENTIC, USE INSTAGRAM STORIES
People come on Instagram to be inspired and to connect as well – to relate to others. I know that the advice of “being authentic” is overused and vague. My tangible tip for that is to use Instagram stories.
This is where you can record short video clips or post images and use their creation tools to add text / emojis on top. The stories only last 24 hours. The stories content DOES NOT need to look perfect. In fact, the more rough-around-the-edges, the more real it feels.
On another topic of authenticity, create genuine connections with people by writing thoughtful comments on their posts and responding to comments on your posts. I think this is an area of improvement for me, sometimes I get carried away on the content part, that it’s easy to forget that the whole point of this platform is to bring people together. So connect and grow your community by encouraging others and cheering them on too!
5. HAVE BOUNDARIES WITH SOCIAL MEDIA
You could get addicted to social media and start scrolling / liking / commenting on stuff all day long, but that is incredible draining and I start to hate Instagram after a day like that.
The reason I stick to weekdays is because social media can be a sinkhole of your time. And too much social media can be unhealthy for mental health because you’re seeing all these other things and can feel FOMO (fear of missing out) or feel like you’re comparing yourself to others, or sometimes people get negative comments, etc.. So I think having limits with social media is good for having balance in life and also having time to focus on just living life, being present, and not worrying about having to capture it for the ‘gram.
To check out my profile, visit @kat.kuan.
