How to grow on Instagram as a Photographer
Every single user on Instagram who gained thousands of followers have one thing in common: they all started at zero. There is no secret recipe to growing your Instagram following as a photographer, but I’ve learned several key factors that will help you grow your page into a community. This is a no-nonsense guide on how to grow your page using legitimate methods.
Step 1: The Profile
This is where you start.
Your profile is your first impression - if it isn’t up to speed, you’ll get lost in the shuffle. Take the time to fill it out properly. Have a profile picture, preferably of yourself or your business logo (I’ve found photos of yourself work better), and include the following information in your bio section:
Who you are.
What you do.
An interesting fact / notable achievement / title / status
A call to action / description of your additonal services / what to expect.
The links
Who you are
This first part is important. It can be your name, company name, or a title you use. My page is titled “Dom Gatto Wildlife Photography”, because it gives the person viewing my profile a simple explanation to what they are already thinking: my name is Dom Gatto and I am a wildlife photographer. Think of your first line as an introduction.
What you do
Even though my profile already started with “Dom Gatto Wildlife Photography”, my second line in the bio section is going to expand on the subject. I wrote in “Internationally Published” - which let’s people know 3 thngs: 1 - This is more than a hobby, it’s a business. 2 - I am open to contract work from companies. 3 - It’s an accolade that shows people I have been recognized for my work. This section describes exactly WHAT I DO. I take wildlife photographs, and I sell them.
An Interesting Fact
If someone has read the first two lines of your profile already, here is where you want to throw something interesting in the mix. In my case, it’s “Whiskey & Whitetails Executive Producer”, which solidifies the idea that I am a professional. My entire page is set up to ensure anyone looking at it thinks “This guy takes wildlife photographs on a professional level”. Think hard about what you want your profile to tell people. If you don’t have any job titles or you want your page to represent you in a different way, tell the world something generally interesting about yourself that relates to your work. If you’re a wedding photographer, something like “432 Marriages Photographed Since 2010” will let people know you are experienced. If you do portraits, “Capturing everyone’s good side” is funny and conveys a sense of lightheartedness while instilling that you take good photographs. Sell yourself with this line! It can be funny, self-awarding, or a simple description, but keep it relevant.
Call to Action
I hate that phrase, “Call to action”. It’s overused and makes me feel like I’m shouting at people over a megaphone to check out my website, however it is accurate. You’re going to want to direct people in your final line to look at more of your work. The hardest thing to do is to get someone to leave the Instagram app and enter the browser. They didn’t open Instagram to browse your photography website, and they won’t care to look at it unless you give good reason.
The Link
This can either be your personal website or a link-organizing service. I personally use Solo.to because it has the most features for free accounts, and more features for $5/mo than all of the other big linking websites. Using Solo.to is the best of all worlds - you get custom thumbnails, titles, subtitles, sections, and images. Basically everything is customizable, meaning it can be tailored to your specific needs without the limitations of the bigger competitors.
The page is set up to expand on what you’ve already built with your short profile bio. Now you can add social links, email, phone numbers, and a number of key links to your products and services.
Step 2: The Feed
Don’t have an empty feed. If it’s a new account, have at least 9 posts up there. Don’t worry about hashtags or all of that nonsense for your first 9 posts - don’t even space them out, just put them up there. The reasoning is that if someone views your profile, they are just going to click away if there is nothing there. You’ll fill it up over time, don’t worry, which leads us to:
Consistency
In order to maintain a following on Instagram, you’re going to have to be consistent. Start out by posting at least twice per week - that’s honestly not that much to do. If you spend a weekend creating content and keep 30 decent photographs, that’s a couple of months worth of content. I have had outings where I’ve captured multiple photographs of deer in various settings, and I ended up spacing that one day of shooting out into an entire season of content. Plan ahead and stick to your schedule. As you gain more content, you can ramp up the amount of times you post during the week.
Stay on Target
Although larger pages can get away with it because they already have an established following, don’t jump between too many subjects on your page at first. If your Instagram is going to be about street photography, you don’t have to post a cell phone picture of the eggs you ate for breakfast. Identify who you are providing content for. If your average follower enjoys seeing photographs of architecture and you suddenly start posting photographs of landscapes, chances are they may just unfollow you. You aren’t relevant to them at that point. I have seen some amazing street photographers on Instagram, but I don’t really follow any of them because it just isn’t that interesting to me. I can appreciate it in the moment, but I don’t have a desire to see it all the time. Think of the people who will potentially be viewing your work consistently. What do they want to see most? Once you figure that out, feed the beast.
I N T E R A C T W I T H P E O P L e
I made sure to butcher that title for a reason: to grab your attention. It’s probably the most important factor of your feed. If someone comments on your post, thank them. Start a conversation. Keep it simple, but not necessarily generic or short. Build relationships instead of building likes. That’s how you gain people’s trust, and eventually gain their loyalty as customers should you start selling your work.
Step 3: Interaction
Instead of going on a long, drawn out article about the necessity of interacting with people, I’ll break it down simply:
Always give more than you take.
You should be commenting and interacting with other people’s content a hundred times more than you do with your own. You should be discovering people who are either potential customers or of a like-mindedness to talk to. Send messages appreciating people’s work only if you actually appreciate it. Don’t make it about you. Don’t say “OMG amazing check out my page too” - that’s self-serving and people see right through it. If you see something you enjoy, tell the person what you enjoy about it.
Sharing is Caring
Your story is the most powerful way to get someone’s attention. The simple action of sharing someone’s post to your story while tagging them will guarantee they check out who you are. They will get a message stating that your shared their post to your story, which is much less threatening than a random hello from a stranger. Remember: the biggest key here is to get people viewing your profile. The more profile views you get, the more follows you will get. Share people’s work that is relevant to you and watch them flock. Not only that, they may even reshare your story to their followers thanking you, giving your page even more exposure.
Final Thoughts
This guide is short and to the point because I hate reading guides full of fluff. They are useless. I’m not going to fill your head with empty promises and then try to sell you a book on social media growth. There is no secret, there are no “gurus”. You get back what you put in. Make no mistake, this will take time. Years. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.
If you have any specific questions in relation to your Instagram page, send me a message on Instagram and I’ll help you out.
