12.3K Followers, Here’s What I Learned…

So first off, thank you for visiting my website. Without even getting into the actual blog post yet, I’ve learned they WE don’t say thank you enough and wanted to start by acknowledging YOU as a reader/follower and for being a part of my little community.

Now, 12.3K followers on my Instagram page SimplyShannah. I took the leap into the Influencer space in January of 2018. I don’t remember how many followers I had at the time. I wasn’t even sure I had a business account, but I went for it and here are 3 things I have learned thus far.

(1) Post consistently. This Instagram algorithm is real and you have to be in the game to even score. Posting consistently ensures that you stay in the top of the feeds of those that frequently interact with your account. Posting consistently means that you’re more visible to brands, potential collaborators and followers. If you’re trying to make this into a business then you need to show up to work EVERYDAY! That means getting content up every single day on Instagram. This is crucial especially in the beginning. If you’re under 10K followers, you should post at least once per day.

Dress and Blazer by Zara (old) and Boots by Nine West (also old).

(2) What do you post? Quality Content! From the beginning, I hired photographers. They weren’t professional photos, some just took the pictures while I edited them myself. I didn’t have friends to stand around and take pictures of me all day everyday day, so I had to invest in professional photography early. I think that’s the reason I grew so fast. However, now we have such amazing cameras right in the palm of our hands (our cell phones). You can prop your phone up against something and take a beautiful portrait mode picture OR you can direct someone to at least get a decent picture of you a few times a week.

But remember, quality content isn’t just a pretty photo. Quality content includes the caption. What are you saying underneath that beautiful photo? Quotes are great every once and a while, but we need some meat on that post. We want to know about you. Your caption doesn’t always have to coincide with your post. I’ll post a vacation photo and then get into what I learned from my ex in the caption. The algorithm moves posts that are doing well to the top of the feeds of your followers. It’s not always just about likes… how many people saved your photo or sent it to other people on IG? All of this data matters. If one post was saved 2 times and one was saved 10, analyze both to see the difference and give your followers what they want!

Jumpsuit by Modcloth, but no longer available.

(3) Engagement, engagement, engagement! When people comment on your photo do you comment back? When someone sends you a DM do you reply? If you’re under 10K you should be responding to every single valid DM and comment. Yup, continue to ignore the people that ain’t got nothing to say or nothing to do but say “what you doing”all day. Remember this is work - so try and behave accordingly at all times. Engagement isn’t just about responding to comments (I listed it 3 times for a reason). Engagement is the following:

(a) Responding to DMs/Comments.

(b) Leaving valuable comments on the posts/stories of accounts within your niché (not just yesssss and nice top). Valuable comments usually get the attention of the person who posted the picture as well as the people looking through the comments. How many times have you clicked on someone’s page just based on looking through the comments of someone else’s page. I call this - the Instagram hole lol...

(c) Attending networking/influencing events. When your favorite blogger/influencer says they’ll be speaking or hosting an event - SHOW UP and support as much as your schedule allows.

ALL of the above are forms of engagement. You have to get off the couch. You can only go so far posting pictures and responding to DMs. It’s important that you engage on the gram and then get off the gram and into some of these events to rub elbows with other influencers and brands!

Well there you have it folks! I’ll continue to share more tips because I have a lot. Incorporating these three tips into your everyday routine, should result in your account growing as mines did.

Thank you for reading and feel free to leave any questions in the comment section! 💙