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Instagram Tips To Help You Grow Your Following + My First Loop Giveaway Results

Good news, the loop giveaway ended on June 29th, and I have the results along with some Instagram tips to help you grow your following.

Instagram Tips To Help You Grow Your Following + My First Loop Giveaway Results

Instagram Tips To Help You Grow Your Following

Instagram Tips

1. Use relevant and popular hashtags

You either like hashtag, or you don’t. I personally love using hashtags. When I don’t use hashtags, I can get maybe 20-30 likes on a photo. When I use hashtags, I can get 50 to 100 likes (sometimes more). If you want more likes (view on your photos), then I suggest hashtags.

My photos are either my family, Scentsy related, food or something I’m reviewing. My favorite hashtags are:

#instabest #instagood #documentlife #motherhoodthroughinstagram #canadianblogger #mommyblogger #cutestuff #canada #livethelittlethings #blogger #vscocam #family #foodie #waxmama #review

Fun facts: Did you know there is a 30 hashtag limit on Instagram? 

2. Take Pretty Pictures

You don’t need to be an expert to take nice pictures. You can start by avoiding blurry and dark photos. Don’t get me wrong; I’ve taken dark photos before (usually of my kids lol). The key is to avoid doing it all the time. Unless of course, dark and blurry is part of your “brand.” I’m currently taking an online course to help me take better photos. Will be sure to let you guys know all about it when I’m done.

Update: Now that Instagram has stories, why not get some tips on how to create eye-catching stories for your readers? Check out this useful guide HERE.

3. Engage with others (like and comment)

One of the sure ways to get followers is by liking and commenting on other pictures. You can post till you are blue in the face, but if you are not interacting with others, Instagram becomes tedious.

4. Host A Loop Giveaway

Loop giveaways are an excellent way to grow your following on Instagram.

What’s A Loop Giveaway?

From what I understand, a loop giveaway is when a few IG accounts get together (5-30), offer a prize in exchange of like and follows. My first loop giveaway cost me 10$, and the giveaway winner gets either a 100$ Amazon gift card or Paypal Cash. To win, they have to follow everyone that’s in “loop.” Simple enough, right? Last month I joined my very first Instagram loop giveaway. I wanted to share the results with you guys and at the same time give you all some Instagram tips!

My results

As you can see from the picture below, I started the loop giveaway with 6079 and ended with 6306. That’s about 227 new followers (give or take).

Instagram Tips To Grow Your Following

How would I describe my first loop giveaway in one word? Pleasant. I believe our hostess being on top of things made it so.  I ended up joining with a group of lovely ladies.  I will link their Instagram for you to check them out.

@joannegreco777  Our lovely hostess.
@savvymomnyc
@donnachaffins
@therobinsnestdesigns
@genofsavings
@suburban_simplicity
@sdenise

Bonus: Join the Bodacious Bloggers Facebook group to join future Loop Giveaways!

Instagram is one of my favorite social media channels. If you guys remember, I made some blogging goals back in January. One of the goals that I made was to get 6000 followers on my Instagram account. Just a few days before my loop giveaway, I was able to reach that goal. I’m so happy about that. My next goal is 10,000. I think by implementing my tips, I will be able to achieve that goal.

A Few things to keep in mind;

  1. Instagram and social media channels are supposed to be fun. When it’s no longer fun, it’s ok to step away.
  2. You don’t need a million followers and likes. I’ve seen people with thousands of followers and little to no engagement at all.  I’d rather slowly build my following with people that want to see what I post.
  3. Have fun!!

Hope these tips will help you grow your Instagram following. Do you have some other Instagram tips you can share with us?

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Toughcookiemommy says

    Taking pretty pictures is a must. I’ve noticed that the accounts with the loveliest photos have the most followers. People love appealing images.

  2. Janelle says

    How do I find loop giveaways? And how do I participate in one? I have no clue on where to start in order to participate in one. Thanks for sharing these were some awesome tips.

  3. Liz Mays says

    I’ve done the giveaways on there before, but for Instagram, that’s not really the kind of follower I want so I stopped doing them. I guess it’s just a personal preference, but I agree with your overall philosophy!
    Liz Mays recently posted…Strawberry Cream Cheese Jello PieMy Profile

  7. Neely Moldovan says

    I agree about it being fun. The days I don’t feel its fun I need to step back.

  12. Kendall says

    Such great tips! Engagement and loop giveaways – my favs! I’m participating in my first loop giveaway this weekend! I try and engage with new followers as much as possible too!

  13. maggie branch says

    I definitely agree that using relevant hashtags is so important. It is easy to hashtag everything, but only good hashtags really grab attention of viewers.

  14. Kathy says

    I’ve been trying to grow my numbers for Instagram and it hasn’t been easy. I think having one of those giveaways is a good idea. I’ve been thinking of doing that too. I think I’m going to give it a try.

  20. Elizabeth O says

    Instagram is all about photography so why upload crappy photos? I agree with you that the pictures must offer more than blur. Other Social Media sites might tolerate bad photos but they don’t thrive on Instagram. I’m with Liz on the loop giveaways. 🙂

  21. Ashleigh Walls says

    Valuable pictures and captions that give your followers a reason to comment with more than an emoji are important.I’m not one to recommend loop giveaways because it hurts your engagement rate. Making sure your engagement rate (likes/comments vs. how many followers you have) is important and something brands are paying more attention to.

  23. rika says

    I agree with you! I think its very important to showcase pretty pictures. I am still growing my followers on instagram

  26. Elizabeth O. says

    Although twitter popularized the hashtags, instagram taught us all how to use it to our advantage and it pays off when you use the right ones too. I like these tips, they are tried and tested! It’s awesome to be able to host a giveaway as well.

  29. tp keane says

    Because instagram is only for mobile devices, I’ve never really gotten into it. Looks fantastic though and well done on gaining so many followers.

  30. Robin Rue says

    Thanks for sharing your results from the first loop giveaway you did. I have been wondering if this would be good for me or not, but apparently it is!

  31. Krystle Cook says

    Thanks so much for sharing your favorite hashtags. I have a hard time with this.

  32. Jay Simms says

    Pretty and eye catching pictures are definitely a must. I have been working harder on my photography to be able to say that I have it down!

  35. Kathy Kenny Ngo says

    I am working out on how to have more followers on instagram and I saw this. Maybe I should try your tips. Thanks for the advice!

  39. Rosey says

    Instagram is one of my faves. 🙂 I am happy to read your tips. I’d like to maybe get involved in a loop giveaway one day. We’ll see… 🙂

  40. Karlyn Cruz says

    I like these tips! I will share this with my friends so our IG followers will grow in numbers.

  42. Nicole Escat says

    I use Instagram for my business. This article is very informative and very helpful!

  43. Lisa Rios says

    I have started using Instagram aggressively only in the past few weeks & it is such a wonderful social media platform to interact with friends & family members. These are some great tips that will be so much helpful for me to get more followers & make the best use of it.

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