One of the problems I'm finding about Instagram today is that the platform is really not well designed to build your own follower base. In particular what I'm noticing is:
- Instagram never shows my photos under the hashtags that I use (I tested this via another account that follows the hashtag -- IG seems to be hiding my photos from the hashtags)
- Instagram never shows my photos in Explore even if they get 1K+ likes
- People don't seem to actually look at hashtags, they tend to follow accounts instead
- There are all these annoying "feature accounts" that use your photos, credit you very non-prominently (e.g. "Congratulations / blank line / blank line / you have won the award / Follow @feature account / blank line / blank line / blank line / Photographer: @me") and guess what? People follow the feature account, not me. Even the better feature accounts that credit the photographer prominently in the top 2 lines, which I'm okay with, people tend to still follow the feature account, not the photographer, and it's the feature account that gets onto the Explore page with my photo, not me (ugh). It's literally like a "Congratulations-but-f-you-I'm-stealing-your-attention", they don't even pay you, and sometimes *they* want payment for prominent credits (wtf? you just used my content, you pay me for my hard work).
On top of that,
- People seem to only use Instagram these days and refuse to use Flickr or other platforms to view photography
So what's the best advice to build a following on Instagram? My current strategies are:
- Posting on Reddit, and listing my Instagram as a top-level comment with more information and story around the photo
- Posting on Facebook groups, although Facebook doesn't like posting too much
- Selling prints, and using the proceeds to fund Instagram ads
Photography is more of a hobby for me at the moment but if I can monetize it as a secondary income source without going into it full time, I would definitely like to. At the same time my objective in trying to build a follower base is so that I can have some measurable impact on humanity through photography (e.g. by combining science and art to get more people interested in STEM fields, or get more people to take interest in environmental conservation). At the moment my income from prints isn't high or meaningful compared to my day job, so I'm taking close to 100% of the proceeds from prints and putting them into ads in hope of a snowball effect of selling more prints, but are there better ways to approach this?
Would love any advice and pointers about how to play this "game" properly!
p.1 #2 · Advice on building a follower base on Instagram
My amateur perspective:
I don't have the patience for maintaining social media - I've read that in order to break the wall for Insta you have to basically treat it like a second job. Constantly posting, liking, commenting, etc. If you're getting pics with 1k+ likes and not seeing the followers I'm not sure what to say exactly.
Are you running any sort of analytics/datamining or just purely looking at your likes/follows?
Hashtags are also important, of course. Are you using any apps to assist with that? Since you seem to stick with one genre (night/astro) then you could probably get away with building a tag list on your own.
I don't really like Insta as a platform, but it is the current top spot for photos right now.
p.1 #3 · Advice on building a follower base on Instagram
I find clients that already know me follow me, so it's a good place to support my brand. Trying to create a brand on there as a photographer is probably quite difficult these days. I think instagram has gotten more like Facebook itself and isn't working the way it did 5 years ago. I really don't think my target demographic is looking at instagram for fine art. I do see quite a bit of sponsored travel shots, but mostly for selling tourism, not photography. Can't hurt to keep trying but social media marketing can be a full time effort. Just keep in mind Instagram, just like Facebook, only exists to use whatever you post to make money for themselves.
p.1 #4 · Advice on building a follower base on Instagram
beavens wrote:
building a tag list on your own
Yeah I tried that -- I had one post that got several tens of thousands of hashtag views.
I reused ~80% of the same taglist on another photo with exactly the same genre (so the hashtags made sense) but IG then punished me by never showing my photos to hashtags again, even if I changed them more around the next time around. Apparently reusing hashtags is violating the ToS? Or maybe not, because some accounts with 500K followers keep reusing hashtags without a problem? At least on my last several posts the insights show me that I don't get views from hashtags, or very, very few, and it only showed my photos to my existing followers.
The algorithm is very opaque, and it's frustrating, and the only reason I want to fight with it is because people don't seem to look anywhere but Instagram for photography these days. :-/ Otherwise, the lack of transparency around ranking, low resolution, no album feature, reposts give more visibility to the reposter than the creator -- I'm not a fan of it either deep down inside.
p.1 #5 · Advice on building a follower base on Instagram
wuxiekeji wrote:
Yeah I tried that -- I had one post that got several tens of thousands of hashtag views.
I reused ~80% of the same taglist on another photo with exactly the same genre (so the hashtags made sense) but IG then punished me by never showing my photos to hashtags again, even if I changed them more around the next time around. Apparently reusing hashtags is violating the ToS? Or maybe not, because some accounts with 500K followers keep reusing hashtags without a problem? At least on my last several posts the insights show me that I don't get views from hashtags, or very, very few, and it only showed my photos to my existing followers.
The algorithm is very opaque, and it's frustrating, and the only reason I want to fight with it is because people don't seem to look anywhere but Instagram for photography these days. :-/ Otherwise, the lack of transparency around ranking, low resolution, no album feature, reposts give more visibility to the reposter than the creator -- I'm not a fan of it either deep down inside....Show more →
I wasn't aware of reusing hashtags being a violation. I think if that were the case then pretty much everyone would be banned lol. Back when I was using IG more regularly I never had any issues using similar sets numerous times. I'm not sure most people really pay attention to the accuracy of some hashtags (likes are likes, right? ). I found Instagram to be a frustrating experience as well, and couldn't imagine HAVING to use it in order to find clients. Kudos, pros!
p.1 #6 · Advice on building a follower base on Instagram
I use IG because it's kinda the only way to communicate these days.
I've read that the magic number is 10K followers and you're considered a minor influencer and you will start to get paid for posting ads or products. In your case it might be T-shirts or a lens here and there. You're 1/2 way there so you're doing something half right.
To get into the hundreds of thousands of followers you have to either marry a Kardashian or be REALLY cute, young and willing to show a little leg!! Do you fit either of those categories?! LoL
Maybe what might help is to start a You-Tube channel and make videos about the locations you shoot, how to shoot them and how to get there etc. Or actually lead photo expeditions/trips to the areas that you shoot. IG by itself doesn't provide a service unless you're selling pics through it or you're advertising a product for income, by being a brand ambassador or you have enough following to be paid to be a brand ambassador.
But that's as little as I know!
John
p.1 #8 · Advice on building a follower base on Instagram
This is a very interesting and also very unknown topic for me. I love/hate Instagram.
On one hand, I very much enjoy creating a sharing content from others. On the other hand, if you get "too" into it, Instagram can be a very...toxic...environment. I try to just sorta use it casually although as a photographer I would very much like to have quite the following.
@scruffynerfphotographer
I have nowhere near as many followers as you. It seems like anytime I figure out "how" to succeed somewhat it fails the next time. I've tried lots and lots of hashtags, I've tried just a few (ten, or so). At some point, I decided to "upgrade" to their business side (it's free). That of course gives you insights and the ability to do promotions.
I was gaining followers pretty steadily but now it seems that I've stalled and generally struggle to get even 100 likes per post and haven't really gained any substantial number of followers from any of my recent posts.
The frustrating part? I really, really feel like I'm stepping up my content in terms of photos. I refuse to make my Instagram political or sexual just to try and increase views/followers. All I really want is to share my work and maybe eventually be able to participate in some sponsored posts with companies I like.
I have heard not to use too many hashtags. As such, I tried to promote a post the other day and Instagram themselves told me "too many hashtags". I've also heard that reusing all the same hashtags can be detrimental to the "algorithm". I don't know if this is true. I've tried hashing (haha, pun intended) it up with all new hashtags as well as just reusing the same presets over and over. I'm not sure either made a difference for me.
I'm not going to give up though.
Sidenote, I really, really love "Planoly". It's free, but you can get more out of paying for it.
I don't use the autoposting features but love the way you can setup and schedule manual posts. In my opinion, being able to rearrange and preview your grid before posting is invaluable.
Sadly, I do think a lot of it comes down to time in = results out. A lot of "experts" say you should spend hours per day liking commenting, and following other people. That's probably what I'm failing to do the most.
Good luck. I'm not going to give-up. You've already done better than I.
p.1 #9 · Advice on building a follower base on Instagram
I think it's too late. If you aren't already doing well
on it, you probably won't going forward. Not because of your work, because of saturation and algo. That train has left. Photographers are using TikTok now for gaining attention. Even that is starting to get saturated. I think it's best to have a great site and always be ready for the next big thing. Exploit it and move on. You'll always have your site. I'd put my time and energy there.
p.1 #10 · Advice on building a follower base on Instagram
Need to post at least every other day. Find TOP models or subject matter. Keep posting. Get friends and family to share and spam your network. It will take several years, but you can get a good following up.
Now turning that following into income is the more tricky part. A lot of people want to try to use photography has a side income however with Covid and massive oversaturation and some normal market factors don't apply as well IMHO.
For example in a perfect world say you have a city with 100k people with you had 10k photographers, some would go out of business and the competition would be lowered say to 5k, however since most photographers I know treat this as a side income they don't go " out of business" nearly as much and when you a bid a job you still have a huge amount of price wars from that.
Also the invention of the cell phone and portrait mode and quick edits.
Smaller markets are even harder, most of the time smaller markets have less jobs that are upper middle class.
p.1 #11 · Advice on building a follower base on Instagram
wuxiekeji wrote:
Photography is more of a hobby for me at the moment but if I can monetize it as a secondary income source without going into it full time, I would definitely like to. At the same time my objective in trying to build a follower base is so that I can have some measurable impact on humanity through photography (e.g. by combining science and art to get more people interested in STEM fields, or get more people to take interest in environmental conservation). At the moment my income from prints isn't high or meaningful compared to my day job, so I'm taking close to 100% of the proceeds from prints and putting them into ads in hope of a snowball effect of selling more prints, but are there better ways to approach this?...Show more →
I honestly don't think a "measured impact on humanity through photography (e.g. by combining science and art to get more people interested in STEM fields, or get more people to take interest in environmental conservation)" is going to come through an Instagram following.
That's the wrong platform for that much cerebral activity. I think what you're looking for is a YouTube channel backed up by content on your own website (because you always want a place for your content to call your own).
Use other social media to point to where your real content can be found.
p.1 #12 · Advice on building a follower base on Instagram
Instagram and the other leading social media platforms do their best to prevent users from organically building a following. They want to be paid to allow you to grow your following.
p.1 #13 · Advice on building a follower base on Instagram
RDKirk wrote:
I honestly don't think a "measured impact on humanity through photography (e.g. by combining science and art to get more people interested in STEM fields, or get more people to take interest in environmental conservation)" is going to come through an Instagram following.
That's the wrong platform for that much cerebral activity. I think what you're looking for is a YouTube channel backed up by content on your own website (because you always want a place for your content to call your own).
Use other social media to point to where your real content can be found.
I agree and suggest you work with conservation groups by offering free use of your work.
p.1 #14 · Advice on building a follower base on Instagram
Instagram is the new Facebook, owned by Facebook and utilized by Facebook to generate revenue. When it started, IG was a great place to share images and connect with people. Since FB bought it, the feed has been blown up and those people that you follow have been drowned out by other accounts and ads. I noticed two major changes over the past year so I go back less and less these days. It used to be that you could share images, start a conversation and slowly build a base of followers but those days are long gone. The days of the "Influencer" has past and I see a revolt brewing that real people do not like the money changing hands behind the scenes. On the surface, IG was great but as the Social Media documentary stated, "If it's free, you are the product".
p.1 #15 · Advice on building a follower base on Instagram
I mean, you've already got around 10k followers. To my eyes, that's a lot for a photography account. I think that maybe the time has come and gone for you to grow your followers organically as Instagram is already oversaturated with high quality imagery.
Unfortunately a lot about becoming an influencer is pure luck and innate characteristics -- this is to say that attractive people usually do well on Instagram, because for some reason we trust attractive people more than people who aren't as attractive.
At this point, since you're not making a lot of money you might want to ask yourself if you really want to make money on Instagram or if you want to grow followers. If the latter, then ask yourself how much better your life will be if you double your followers. What about triple them? Part of the platform is instilling in you the belief that you never have enough followers and that having lots of followers will make you happy and valued by friends, family and society as a whole, in addition to making you money.
As a social media user from the very beginning I'm starting to think that we're putting way too much stock in social media and if the goal is to make money from photography then that is probably best achieved by word of mouth and a strong portfolio. Having a strong social media presence is part of the game nowadays but it's not something to pin your hopes on unless you're willing to spend countless hours on it.
p.1 #17 · Advice on building a follower base on Instagram
In my limited knowledge, Instagram is pushing and heavily rewarding anyone who are using Reels over hashtags. In the last year to two years Instagram was seeing a mass exodus to TikTok because of their video 'Reels' (TikTok has their own name for this feature). To help stem this Instagram added their version of video posts calling them 'Reals' to try to help stem the tide. To accomplish this they are heavily favoring video posts or Reels in their algorithms.
p.1 #19 · Advice on building a follower base on Instagram
wuxiekeji wrote:
- Posting on Reddit, and listing my Instagram as a top-level comment with more information and story around the photo
- Posting on Facebook groups, although Facebook doesn't like posting too much
Might want to save some time/energy there and focus on other areas.
It is obvious that there are more bots than real humans on both Reddit and FBs nowadays ("reading", "liking" and posting), the only question being do the bots account for 90% or 99.9% of the visible activities.
But maybe you can also take a page from their books to have an automated cohort of IG followers.
I'm sure you can find some "dealers" for that if you aren't comfortable with DIY, be wary of getting your main account banned though.
btw. Agreed with some posts that this isn't a "game" worth playing at this point. In case that you really want 10k followers, ask yourself: do you have the time to "follow" 10k people, all photographers, day by day? If so, congratulations on finding more than 25 hours a day to "work" on IG. If not, think carefully about how does the platform balance itself between the follow and the followed
). I found Instagram to be a frustrating experience as well, and couldn't imagine HAVING to use it in order to find clients. Kudos, pros!
