1) Comment on 10 followers post per day
Set aside 5 minutes per day to randomly choose 10 followers to comment something genuine on their profiles. In a week that adds up to 70 comments, and in a month 300! It adds up fast and makes a huge difference. Most of those you engage with will be so excited and appreciative that they'll become long-term engaged followers.
2) Ask Questions In All Your Posts
By asking questions in your captions you can significantly increase your engagement and relationship rating in the algorithm (explained later). So, every single post you create should ask a question.
It's always best to think of a question related to the what you're doing in the video or picture. For example, if your hiking, ask your followers what their favorite way to exercise is, or favorite place to hike. If it's at a coffee shop, ask where they've had the best coffee or what they like doing in their spare time.
There are some questions that work for any post. Sometimes it's hard to think of a question. In those cases, you can ask anything and get to know your followers! Here are some examples of questions you could ask for any post:
"I need music suggestions! What do you guys recommend?",
"I'm feeling the travel bug! Where's your favorite place to go?",
"So stressed lately! how do u guys like to relax?",
"have u guys seen *movie*, what did you think of it?",
"whats your favorite Disney movie?".
Reply to as many answers as possible, this rewards engagement and can double it if they reply to your reply.
3) One Post Every 2 Days
1 post every 2 days at should be your goal.
Test what types of content works best for you audience. Content should include professional photoshoots and candids in everyday scenarios. Non-professional photoshoot content usually goes viral and performs better than professional photoshoot content. This can, for example, be posts of you hiking, doing your favorite exercise or hobby, at a dinner or coffee, traveling -- anything as long as it's high quality. Outdoor and active content performs better on average, but you should test this.
Whether you're low or content or not, connect with local models and photographers. We highly recommend connecting with local models and photographers. Everyone needs content, so connect with others and ask if they'd like to go on a collaborative content shoot. The benefit of shooting content with other models is that when they post they'll tag you, helping you to grow and giving you more exposure. Likewise, they'll grow when you post and tag them. Additionally, you should both make a pact to post 1 content piece per month which includes you both that has a caption similar to: "omg miss @othermodel so much!!". This is a great way of doing post-for-post promotion with other models that looks organic. Use our Connect Collab app to find influencers near you for content collaboration.
For models who are not near you and can't do content collabs ... you can still use this strategy! Here you would ask the other model for a picture of her and post a caption like: "missing @othermodel, can't wait to see you!". In return the other model would do the same and you'd both mutually grow. Or, you'd use a #wcw style caption like "wow @othermodel is flawless! #wcw everyday". You can then agree to delete these 24 hours after (if you want to). Find models and other influencers interested in cross-promo on our Connect Collab app here.
Do varied activities to stockpile content for future posting. When doing collaborative content shoots try and do as many activities as possible that day so you get the most content you can. For example: start the day at a coffee shop shooting candid content, then go hiking, then a dinner and more after. It should be fun! You can also connect with local photographers who will also need content.
4) Use Story's To Increase Your Relevancy Rating
The algorithm looks at your relationships with other pages. As a user, you're shown more content from the pages you have a stronger 'relationship' with, rather than others pages you don't engage with much.
This 'Relationship Rating' is made up of a lot of things. Some of these include any time you:
Like, comment or save on each other's posts,
Visit each others profile,
View each other Stories,
DM each other,
Answer a poll on each other's Stories
Because of this we automatically view your follower's Stories and like your follower's posts for you. By doing this we not only re-engage them but additionally strengthen your relationship rating with them in the algorithm.
A quick, easy way to improve your relationship rating is via Instagram Story polls. If you're struggling to think of a poll, ask anything. Here are the steps:
1) First, upload a picture of you for the Story. This will act as the backdrop/background for the poll. 2) Add a poll that your followers would find interesting. Ideally, ask questions that they'd be interested in enough answer to see what other peoples results were, for example:
"Which do you like more", with the poll options being: Dogs or Cats
"If you had to choose a superpower", with the poll options being: Invisibility or Flying
Every time they answer a poll it's registered by the algorithm and improves your relationship rating with that follower. You should aim to upload 3 story polls back to back like this at least once per week. The more often you do this the better.
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Want to learn more, discover our other articles here.