Our top tips to kickstart your Instagram game

First, you should convert your Instagram account to a business or creator account. Learn about your audience. In your Instagram settings you can convert your profile to a creator profile. This gives you a lot more insights about the activity on your Instagram. With a creator account, you’re able to promote posts as well as you’re getting more useful functionality on your profile. Demographic tools and analytics will help you become an Instagram-master!

Make sure to have quality content, and put some effort into making visuals and text content.

Be careful with posting too much non-relevant and way-off-your-niche content. Your audience follows you for a reason. Most likely because they see you as an inspiration on a particular topic and love your content. So make sure to evaluate and plan your posts based on what your fans and followers are most likely to enjoy. Try not to switch your niche too often, and don’t post random stuff your audience doesn't want to see (random stuff is perfect for your Instagram stories as a daily insight to your life or short vlogs for your fans). Experiment with different techniques and content, but stay true to what you actually want to share.

Know your audience

With a creator profile you have added analytics and statistics to your account. It’s a powerful tool to find out more about your audience. Parameters like when your audience is most active, what age group is the biggest part of your audience, and where your audience is located will be available. At the same time, you can see more detailed statistics for your content, with demographics, views and engagement counter. You will learn fast how, what and when you should post to fully reach your potential and get new fans and followers.

Do hashtag-research, and make sure to use the most popular tags in your niche

Hashtags are a great shortcut to an increased reach on your posts, when used correctly. A lot of people don’t know how to use hashtags, and just scribble down what sounds cool. But with some research, you can take advantage of Instagram's most powerful feature! A quick search on Google will help you find the most trending tags in your niche, and there are plenty of websites that can generate hashtag lists for you and your audience. Adding some manual work on top of this will take you one step further. Aim for the popular tags that are used in a huge number of posts. But stay clear of #likeforlike, #followforfollow, and typical like-hunter tags. The engagement you get from these tags normally isn’t authentic and will make a false relation to you, which will last for only a short time. Popular quality hashtags are key! Also, Instagram only allows a maximum of 30 hashtags per post. Use them wisely and think about which ones will give you the most bang for the buck.

Discover, listen, and show your audience you exist. Like, comment, follow, and connect with interesting artists you come across. Leave breadcrumbs around the huge Instagram platform. Chances are they will follow back and start enjoying your content. But be careful, and do not fall into the follow-for-follow or like-for-like trap with continuous liking/following spam. You’ll most likely get shadowbanned (it means you’ll automatically get much lower reach and possibly not show up on other users' feed) if you abuse these features. A rule by thumb: Max 50-60 likes an hour, max 40-50 follows an hour, and don’t copy/paste your comments on other posts. Be authentic when engaging. It will help you grow your accounts!

Stay consistent

Haven’t posted in three weeks? We know, it’s hard to really commit to the Instagram game. But reality is… Staying consistent, and having a post-schedule makes Instagram favor your account. Try posting every second day for a start and quickly see the improvement of your reach and engagement. Your audience knows when they can expect you to post, so being consistent can be your best weapon on your journey to fame.

A big fanbase doesn’t come overnight

Hopefully the tips listed above can help you in the right direction, and give you a little kickstart on Instagram. We know that these strategies work, and have grown several Instagram accounts over the years with success. So get to it, stay positive and keep working to make things work!

Stay tuned for part II of this guide, coming later this summer.