One of the best ways to grow your social presence on Instagram is to create featured posts. That means that your Instagram posts are displayed on an Instagram featured account.
A featured account attracts a lot of Instagrammers by covering communities, unique photography styles, or specific topics that people find interesting.
These accounts are aggregators. They tend to have a lot of followers and when your posts become featured, you receive access to a large viewing audience and possibly gaining a bigger following of your own if your content is high-quality to reel them in.
- Search Popular Instagram Accounts
Search and discover popular Instagram accounts. Observe the posts and study the kind of images they post, what their photographic styles are, the themes and filters they use, and the subject matter they cover.
Posting for a field incorrectly won’t help you to succeed. You can’t make a post to an account featuring natural and realistic images if your posts are saturated and harsh in style.
A featured account will never choose one of your images if the image is not similar to what they would regularly post to their audience.
The style of posts on featured accounts is also important because the account has a pre-established following that already likes the style of the photos the account is posting. So you should be sticking with creating posts of the same style.
If you can stick with that, you increase your chances of getting featured, and with great images, your follower count will start to grow.
- Know the Guidelines and the Rules
Another important rule is that you must know and follow the guidelines. Ignoring a featured account’s rules and guidelines will only harm your quest to become featured.
When you submit an image to be featured, you have to use the account’s dedicated hashtag as a tag. Use dedicated hashtags correctly.
- Take Pictures with Brands’ Products and Tag Them
Any brand would love to see their product being advertised. So, if you have high quality, appealing images, and appropriate hashtags, then you can take a step further when it comes to your posts.
When you post a photo go ahead and tag your favorite brands or accounts in your post. For instance, if there is a photographer, an expert, that you enjoy seeing, you may want to recreate the style and tag them directly in the post.
They will most likely see it and think of you as being a fan.
Attention! Be smart with how and when you use tags. Being picky is a smart tip, especially when it comes to getting your work featured. Save tagging your favorite Instagram accounts for when you have an incredible image or jaw-dropping photos to post, make sure the tag is on something relevant.
Another reason why you should be careful when tagging your favorite accounts in too many posts is the fact that Instagram feeds can become very cluttered quickly, meaning all of the images tagging the account will appear on the accounts’ photo feed.
- Give and Receive Shoutouts
Giving and receiving shoutouts is another effective way to get featured on Instagram. By finding users that share a similar content style to you, you can talk with them about giving each other a shoutout.
A shoutout is simply posting an image and telling your followers to follow or check out the account you’re shouting out.
A shoutout is one of the quickest and most efficient ways to give your Instagram account a nice boost.
Try finding users that have more followers than you. Some users may only agree to do a shoutout if you have a similar follower count, but if you have great work and good looking posts on your account, some accounts with more followers will agree for a shoutout.
You need to make a strong connection and build rapport (relationships) before you ask for a shoutout.
- Find Influencers in Your Niche
A great option to increase your chances of becoming featured on Instagram is to find with other influencers in your field or niche. By teaming up with influencers you can produce great results and becoming featured.
Successful influences have the right followers. An account just having a large number of followers will not necessarily is effective for you.
Finding a good influencer with a strong and healthy following can not only expose you to a new audience but give you more chances to build up a strong audience of your own. It is not easy to build a healthy relationship with many influencers.
After identifying which influencers you would like to engage and build a relationship with, try starting conversations on Instagram. Again, show real interest in their content by liking and sharing before you dive head-on into building a personal rapport with them.
Attempt to offer shared promotions or even contests with any influencers you’re pairing up with. Take a great picture and add captions, tag the influencer, and inform people about the contest.
By having an image featured on the influencer’s account, your account is also promoted to his followers by proxy.
Try using hashtags such as #contest or #promotion when creating the post so that way people can easily find it.
Instagram can be a powerful advertising tool for any brand if used properly. Instagram provides more engagement and interactivity than other social networks do and is a perfect platform for a growing brand, whether that brand is a person, a community, or a business.