This month, I have been on Instagram 2 years. I look back and think.
The greatest lesson I learned.
Simple - Content.
Content drives engagement that drives up exposure that drives up followers.
It is not EG groups, DM groups or powerlikes. It is not 1,000,000 followers or hocus pocus. Simply said - the success of your account depends 90 percent on what you post. The other stuff just adds and does not replace.
Some say ‘I have HQ posts and killer contents’ why aren’t my likes high? Well, we look at it through the eyes of an account ‘owner’, not the follower. Translated it means the followers don’t give a rat’s ass what you like, they will like what they like. See the difference? Many don’t and there they fail. Just because you like it and think its the greatest does not mean it is.
Follower count - we want bigger numbers, hey we are human after all - the more the greater. I promise you if you post content your follower’s love, your count will go up ( organic growth ) - often at a pace that is fantastic.
You don’t need to f/u anymore. At what stage does this happen? Only you can know and it is your job to find out.
Shadow bans - often happen from using fucked up hashtags ( banned and semi banned) Also too many tags on a post. Check, check recheck. ( I don’t believe in hashtags anymore, I stopped using them on my big accounts. My smaller ones use 5 max a post if I use them).
Getting depressed over a drop of followers - be careful or it could ruin your life. Some already know what I am talking about, others will find out.
Many make a living here from Social Media, I do not - for me it is fun and in my blood. Understand you will not learn all in a few months… anyone that claims they did is simply lying to themselves and others. Learning takes real life examples from own accounts to internalize it…FYI. I am still learning and still growing as a account/s owner.
Thank you for this great post although I may go a little bit offtrack from you.
Truest thing I’ve read all day. Patience is key. Im almost at 365 days on mpsocial and I STILL almost went negative on my bank account AND savings this week. Granted i’m 20 and have no major responsibilities LUCKILY.
There are a million ways to make money with this, but know it isn’t instant. It takes time and a lot, let me put a little emphasis on this…
It takes A LOT of WORK and RESEARCH!
But keep that nose to the grindstone. Dont quit, Dont give up, and dont get spoonfed too hard or you will not know what to do when a problem that everyone has arrives and you are stuck with your thumb in your ass, you’ll want to know how to FIND your answer.
Work hard to start, then, when everything is all done and over, hopefully, you have a business/lifestyle in which you can sit on your ass for 2-3 hours a day and be making 2-10k a month maybe more if you got what it takes.
Im almost there, and so can you* (everyone here). You just need to put in the time and do what you can with every fiber of your being to push yourself to that goal or achievement you want.
see which is banned, delete them and post. usually goes back to normal after 2-3 weeks. Last week a friend used #romance as one of the hashtags and was shadowed. It was caught right after post. Deleted it and next day normal again. Seasoned page owners that the mental game is what separates the success from the ones we never hear about.
I would like to respectfully disagree on the point you made about how the success of an account depends on the content that it posts. I am no way a professional but I have been in the Instagram market for around two years as well. Instagram is in such a different state now than it was a couple years ago. With changes to the Instagram algorithm and the explore page features, it made it almost impossible for smaller accounts to grow. Many of the small accounts now depend heavily on DM groups and promotions as it is the only thing that has a possibility to rake in likes and follows. The content on Instagram is slowly declining as well. The number of accounts that don’t post original content is insane. Everywhere you look, there is never anything new on Instagram as far as content, of course, there are some original content creators but, the number of garbage that circulates around the explore page is absurd. And it is almost impossible to reach a level of perfection to which your post will go viral just by sitting. As a small account, one needs to go out of their way to do w.e it takes to grow whether it is from f/u, dm groups, hashtags, clickbaiting, etc.
*please dont take this TOO seriously again I am not a professional haha
if content stinks, nothing will help. simple as that. Instagram looks at engagement from followers first before promoting up the feed to more people. Small pages get big all the time, just look around. I base my view from 32 followers the first day to over 1.7 million now in a little over 2 years. Other items you mention as I said before add to it, not the main thrust. Content is.
I think those are all valid points, it’s definitely much “harder” these days, with the way the social media platform works, in the traditional sense, to grow. However, this is still quite true:
But, one thing to keep in mind is that content “quality” is relative. Every niche has a threshold for acceptable quality, there are some 1m meme accounts posting pixelated garbage that isn’t funny, but that’s to me. To others, it’s high quality gold and that’s why they follow it. If your audience (or intended audience) sees/thinks that your work posted is great, then you will definitely have the edge over those who post arguably bad content. But, again, everybody has a different view as to what good vs bad is. Like so:
You can still grow without shady tactics and engagement groups, but it is more challenging for sure. “Instant” success is not the same these days. Hitting 20, 50, hell even 10k is tough going for many niches. On top of that, every platform has it’s heyday. IG’s is definitely over, much like YouTube’s viral days are no longer a thing, and that makes it even more challenging.
If you really want to succeed, equipped with “quality content” in hand, this is quite important:
Analyze, strategize and find what works and what doesn’t. Just looking for that instant gratification of notifications, follow or like numbers, does not mean you’re really building or gaining anything but account alerts.
We face hurdles not known a year or two years ago. Very true. We still manage to grow no matter what we face.
I have one account always like/follow/comment blocked. I was growing at an amazing rate of 32 followers a day. ( sucks big time)
I turned off ALL activities except reposting from my big pages a week ago. No f/u, no likes nor comments…nothing, just posting. Remember this is a red flagged account big time. Content alone was the reason for the numbers you see. That rise is because it hit explorer. No groups, nothing. Content will make or break you…IMHO.
EDIT, 5 hashtags on most posts. No tags and posted off peak hours 3:00 am and 11:00 am 2 times a day. Pacific time zone.
It’s not hard to see it from an outsiders perspective. Instagram is literally a platform of visuals. If your visuals aren’t interesting, what’s the point? Image is everything. It’s vain, arrogant and rude, but if an eye doesn’t catch what you’re sharing, there’s no value in your account.
Within reason of course. Value is not the same for everyone, and it would be totally ignorant to think that only shiny bright neon night light ball HDR portraits were “the best way to be famous” because to each his/her own.
I just remembered an article from another site. The person just posted what he saw on explorer feed. No niche really - a post whatever - explore posting. First week 1k of followers. That person did not f/u or did any groups. Read this the past 2 months, so it is current. I look at my accounts and don’t blame Instagram, I blame me for shitty content and work on that. When that is done, numbers go up in all areas.
First at all, thank you, Albert, for your time you put in that thread. Very nice one!
May I ask you what are your plans with these stunning no. of followers?!? You said you are not making a living from Social media… But are you already monetizing your acc.?
I love growing pages and it helps me grow my main poetry accounts. I don’t monetize ( yet ) nor make a living off it. My current plans hit 2 million in August ( my goal) and start making money soon from it. ( hope. )
How many times do you post a day? Do you post mostly stuff that’s not what you’re selling? I’m finding it hard to find content other than what I am selling so I only post once every two to three days which is bad because I hardly get likes so I have to do “unethical” ways to get them such as like for like from a app on my phone but I’m hearing IG soon won’t allow that anymore. I don’t use hashtags ether, I’ll start using 5 like you.
Remember that famous line by Bruce Lee when asked, what is the best thing to develop a super kick?
he said simply ‘Kicking more’ or something like that. People seek better sources, Buy likes and powerlikes, spend money to get them. Research the hell out of hashtags to find ‘just the right one’ to be viral or top 9. Some pray, some dance to the devil and others believe to spam or follow thousands per day. All that is good, but it is not the answer. Content will make or break you. All others are Gas, content is the vehicle. ALL other views to the contrary are account suicide. If I am wrong…just tell me.
You said you are not making a living from Social media… But are you already monetizing your acc.?