In the 21st century social media is at the forefront of society as well as being a vital tool for businesses and professionals to connect with their audiences. One social media network which has seen a vast increase in popularity over recent years is Instagram.
First launched in October 2010, Instagram grew from humble beginnings with just one million users by December 2010. Fast forward to today and the social media platform has over 700 million users with on average 95 million images being posted every day.
Unlike many of the other social media platforms out there, the main functionality of the Instagram app is to share images, making it one of the best social media sites for photographers. But with its 700 million users and , how can you as a photographer make your account stand out from the crowd? That’s where I come in; I have compiled a list of top tips you can use to help get the most out of this rapidly growing social media platform.
Tip 1: Find your ‘Niche’ and stick to it
The first of my Instagram tips is all about finding your ‘niche’. Finding your niche is important to your growth as a photographer on Instagram as you’re defining your brand, who you are and what makes you different from everyone else. My favourite thing about Instagram is that it’s filled with people from across the world, from different backgrounds, all sharing their individual interests.
If you have a browse through some of the these popular the one thing all the accounts have in common is that they focus on a central theme. This in turn captures their audience’s attention and keeps it so they not only gain new followers but retain their existing ones.
Having a niche doesn’t mean you should restrict yourself to only posting one genre of images, but you need to try to be consistent with your posts with a common colour scheme or image crop.
When someone stumbles across your profile they’re most likely to give you a follow based on the images they see at the top. If your 9 most recent posts are a jumble of genres, colour tones or shapes then your feed will not be as appealing, and the potential new follower is likely to not hit that follow button.
Tip 2: Post regularly
Posting content on your feed should be done regularly. In order to be the most effective, find a regular posting schedule and stick to it. Whether you’re sharing images once a day, every other day or just 2-3 times a week make sure you stick to the pattern because as soon as you break this you’re likely to see your engagement stats begin to drop.
You might not think engagement stats are all that important but since the introduction of the infamous they are vital in growing your profile.
Tip 3: Interact
If you take only one of these Instagram tips on board, this third one should be it. A main reason Instagram is one of my favourite social media platforms is the sense of community it gives its users. It’s a space to share your work with and gain inspiration from like-minded individuals who support you and you them.
Along with liking and commenting on the posts of users you already follow, take some time to browse the app to find new people whose work you love and give them a follow, perhaps like a few of their images, and if there are one or two you really love leave a genuine comment.
You need to be careful with this, try not to go overboard with liking or commenting on too many images or leaving disingenuous comments. Leaving a comment which is just an emoji or ‘Great shot!’, as well as liking more than a few photos can come across spammy and will deter potential follows you could get back.
Tip 4: Hashtags
The world of hashtags is a minefield, there are millions out there but how do you choose the right one to use to get the best response for your post? Choosing well can give your post an extra boost; more likes, more genuine comments (all tick boxes to keep engagement up to beat the algorithm) and even some more followers. But choosing badly can fill your post and feed with more spam comments and likes from bots rather than real humans as well as the accounts who follow and unfollow a day or two later.
When it comes to choosing, you should avoid using common words like #photographer, #picoftheday or #love etc. because they are overloaded with millions, sometimes billions of images and your posts won’t be visible for long enough on the hashtag page for other users to see it.
I wouldn’t recommend using hashtags with more than around 200,000 entries unless it is one very specific to your image which has a lot of good quality imagery associated with it.
When you come to caption images you should place any hashtags at the end. Captions cut off in users’ feeds after three to four lines of text so you should place any important relevant text about the image at the start and leave hashtags till last. Not doing this can make your caption look messy and sometimes illegible. Try to stick to around 15–20 hashtags per image, the limit is 30 but again this can make for very messy non-professional looking captions.
Instagram and Stock Photography
So how can having an Instagram account benefit your stock collection?
When there is a new trend on the horizon you’re likely to hear about it first on social media platforms making them a great way to keep up to date and Instagram is no exception. The ‘explore’ tab on the Instagram app allows users to search for terms or hashtags to see what content is being shared at that moment so it’s a great way to see what is popular each day and spot any developing trends.
We’re also seeing a growing number of clients who are after ‘Instagram-esque’ images, so by building up a great feed with a good following you’ll be marketing your images to a whole new range of customers. You can get some inspiration of the kind of images customers are after by browsing this lightbox.
Above all else the most important thing you can do when building your Instagram profile is to have fun. Enjoy taking and sharing beautiful imagery within a friendly, creative community and don’t forget to let us know if you try out any of these Instagram tips in the comments below.