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• Amanda Rutllant

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THE ULTIMATE

GUIDE TO NAIL INSTAGRAM We are sharing the DBMH secrets to growing your following on Instagram.

HEY FOLKS,

If you’ve been working away trying to grow your Instagram following, you’ll probably have realised by now that it’s kinda tough. We’ve been there, and we know just how tricky it can be to feel like you’re getting any returns on all the hard work you’re putting into the platform. Before you give up completely, don’t despair!  We’ve learnt so many things along the road of building DBMH (and make tons of mistakes), and in this guide we’ll be sharing our secret sauce.  In this guide, we’ll talk you through our top 5 dos and don’ts of IG, to make sure you’re putting good stuff in, and making great strides as a result. So, without any further ado… Let’s go! Merve & Nils The Photographer DUO behind Dirty Boots & Messy Hair Photographer Community

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO INSTAGRAM

1.

THE ALGORITHM: DON’T TRY TO BEAT IT, WORK WITH IT

“The Algorithm”: two words that make even the most accomplished Instagrammers shudder. Who actually knows how the algorithm works? Probably no one, other than Instagram. But that’s okay; you don’t need to understand it, to make the most of it. All you need to know is what it wants from users. It’s simple really, all Instagram’s algorithm wants people to do is stay logged into the app for as long as possible. That’s why — to much criticism — the app did away with chronological newsfeeds a few years ago (RIP!). These days, the algorithm notices which kinds of posts keep you in the app for longest — the ones you pause to view, click to read more, share with friends etc. — and promotes these up your news feed instead. So what does this mean for your business Instagram? Engagement is key. In fact, it’s more than key; your Instagram cannot live without it. How do you create engagement? Let’s see… ask your followers to engage with you

If you don’t ask, you don’t get. Right? And that is particularly true in the Insta-sphere; if you want your followers to engage with your posts, you’ve gotta ask them to do so. As a photographer, you’ll already be stunning imagery. And, certainly, uploading a photo that will stop scrollers in their tracks is the first step. But how engaging is an image alone?

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO INSTAGRAM

A great image may get a like. And likes are good, but likes aren’t everything; you won’t climb up the IG algorithm on likes alone. So what more do you need? An interesting, entertaining, thoughtprovoking caption is the perfect cherry on the cake. These kinds of captions encourage followers to spend time reading, clicking, commenting, tagging and sharing your content with others. Remember how we said that IG’s algorithm wants people to spend longer in the app? Well, pairing your photo upload with a caption users will want to read is a massive tick in that box. Nice! suffering writer’s block? that’s okay; it happens to the best of us.

If you’re drawing a blank on what to write in your caption, here’s a few examples: Let’s talk about sustainable traveling  I want to hear your experiences; share your story in the comments section below! Which are your most useful travel essentials? Hot tub or hot springs? Which would you prefer? Check out my recent Instagram Stories/Story Highlight to see the crazy travel planning week I’ve had! Double tap if you agree that dogs make the cutest travel buddies! Drop one of these into your latest upload, and we can — almost! — guarantee you’ll see greater engagement from your following. (And we’ve got further info about captions coming up, if you want to learn more!) But asking fans to engage with you is only half the picture. You’ve gotta pay back the favor, too.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO INSTAGRAM

2. ENGAGING WITH OTHERS IS JUST AS IMPORTANT Instagram is a social network; and even though it’s now used by brands and businesses the world over, users still go to it to connect with real people. So even when you’re using the platform to promote your photography work, if you’re only pushing content out there, and never engaging with other people, you’re missing a trick. Insta is a fab platform for personal brands; it allows us to share a little slice of our world, with hundreds, thousands or millions of people (or more, if you’re Kylie Jenner… but let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet!). rule #1 here is: be authentic.

Follow the accounts which you genuinely enjoy scrolling through; don’t just follow for the sake of getting your numbers up. Your follower count isn’t the be all and end all; it has no real bearing on the success of your business. It’s far more productive to dedicate your time to building the right IG network. And there’s an incredible world of inspiration out there on Instagram; both from other photographers, wedding planners, florist and all other types of profiles. If you’re ever stuck in a creative lull, a quick scroll through will have you pepped and picking up your camera in no time. Who do you follow on Instagram, who you REALLY admire? And why do you like their work so much? TELL them! Double tap to like their photos, leave a comment to explain why you’re following them, share their work with other people.

Instagram is a community, and if you support other creatives, chances are you’ll receive the same in return. Speaking of which: as with all digital media, Instagram can be a double edged sword. You may see negativity in your feed, but do not rise to it. As the old saying goes, “if you haven’t got anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all." THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO INSTAGRAM

Remember, your Instagram account is a portal into your world. The way you conduct yourself on there will impact people’s impressions of you. Be a positive, authentic person on the gram, and followers will think of you as such. One final note on engagement: when people comment on your uploads (which they will, once you’ve asked them!) don’t forget to reply to their comments. Not only is this super important for respecting their time and effort, it helps keep the conversation going.. and who knows where it’ll go next! We’re all seeking that tasty dopamine hit, which we get from social media notifications. So by sending likes and comments out into the world, you’re doing good by your followers and for yourself. Okay, so you’re now uploading amazing photos, made even better with engaging captions. But that’s only great if your followers can actually see your posts. When, and how often, should you be active on Instagram?

3. POSTING REGULARLY IS A MUST! You really don’t want to waste time and effort on an uploading flurry, only to lose traction with followers because you took too long a hiatus between posts. To come back, once again, to what Insta’s algorithm does: it promotes content depending on engagement, not depending on time it was uploaded. Whilst this means you needn’t worry too much about the actual time of day you post, you should keep a consistent schedule so your engagement doesn’t lapse. But, we get it: you’re already busy enough, and now you’ve got to find time to post to several times to Instagram? Oh maaaaan, there just aren’t enough hours in the day! So, make it easier for yourself. Map out what will work for you. Maybe you need to schedule posts ahead of time — which is easily done with Instagram specific planning tools like Planoly or Latergram. THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO INSTAGRAM

Maybe you’d find it easier to block out just 30 minutes at the start and end of each day, maybe over a coffee, or whilst commuting to your studio. Stories are also a really valuable way of maintaining engagement, without having to add to your feed. If you haven’t got anything you want to make Insta-permanent, a 24 hour story is a great way of staying in touch with your followers. Whichever approach you take, try to stay at least a few days ahead of yourself. That way, you won’t struggle should inspiration fail to come a-callin’. Instead, you can use pre-prepared posts, which you’ve had time to review and perfect. There’s no “right” amount of times to post in a day, but if you’ve got enough content to post several times a day then you should (preferably not in one, big upload dump though). Basically, we can’t tell you exactly how to manage your Instagram account, but we can tell you this: getting into a routine is the most important thing. How you do that, is up to you. And, will largely depend on the type of content you’re sharing…

4. CURATING YOUR CONTENT: ALL KILLER, NO FILLER Instagram is a place to put your best self forward. The fastest way to do this? Have an aesthetic when it comes to your feed. As a professional photographer, you know how to make things look good. Right? You know how to frame, crop, color and juxtapose elements so they look their very, very best. So use this power to your benefit. Curate your content to make it shine. How? Firstly, it’s about the overall aesthetic of your feed, where you should try to balance cohesiveness with visual variety. Okaaaaaay, what does that mean exactly? THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO INSTAGRAM

Well you want to portray a certain look and feel, which is relevant to your photographic style. If you work solely in black and white, or favor desaturation or are more conceptual with longexposure shots: make this the focus of your feed. You’ll attract more followers this way, as they’ll be able to tell right away whether your style fits theirs. And there are plenty of apps — like Unum, Later or Planoly — to help you plan and uphold a cohesive visual style. That being said, you don’t want your Insta to come across too samey. Where you can, try to alternate your compositions — from wide to medium shots, and close-ups — to illustrate your ability to capture all the moments a photographer should. Narrowing down to each upload: the second thing you can do for a well-curated feed is photo formatting. Did you know that portrait uploads have a higher average engagement rate than landscape or square photos, outperforming other formats by 13%? - Why? It’s simple, really. Portrait, or vertical, posts literally take up more space on a follower’s screen; making them more eye-catching. Cool, huh? So, don’t forget to crop it like it’s hot. Then, you’re almost good to go… nailing those tricky insta captions

You’ve got the photo format right, and you’re happy with how it contributes to your overall feed esthetic, but there’s one piece of the puzzle missing… A caption! As photographers, you may find yourself shying away from caption writing. But you shouldn’t. Caption writing can be easy, with a little know-how, and can dramatically increase engagement with your followers. We’ve compiled a speedy, but comprehensive, caption checklist just for you:

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO INSTAGRAM

insta caption checklist WRITE CAPTIONS TO GET PEOPLE TALKING.

In social media, conversation is queen. Asking your followers questions, and encouraging them to answer back, is a great way to drum up a whoooole lot of engagement on your uploads. What could this look like? For one, you could ask followers to share a funny fail from their last holiday, alongside a blooper reel image from a recent travel. Or, run a poll about people’s favorite destination for each season. You could even encourage readers to tag their best friends, in a post about who gets the invite to travel the world with them (by tagging your feed, they are also sharing your profile with other people! Hello, new followers!). BE DIRECT AND TELL FOLLOWERS WHAT YOU WANT THEM TO DO

Using a call-to-action (or CTA) is a nifty copywriting trick to have up your sleeve. A gentle nudge is sometimes all it takes to get a reader engaged, and then convert them into a customer; 75% of scrollers will take action — like visiting a website — if they feel compelled to by a simple CTA. Play around with a variety of CTAs, from “tell me about…”, to “share your thoughts”, or “click here to view my website”. Drop a few of these direct commands (written in a casual and friendly tone of voice, of course!) in your captions, and watch the magic happen! SHOW AUTHENTICITY AND TREAT FOLLOWERS LIKE FRIENDS

Yes, Instagram can be a sales platform. But as we’ve already said; it’s also a place for real people, to connect with real people. And so followers really appreciate when you show who you are, as well as what your business is all about. Authenticity comes from ‘fessing up to, and laughing about, your mistakes. Not taking yourself, or your business, too seriously. And showing that you’re human, just like everyone else out there.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO INSTAGRAM

LEARN FROM THE COPYWRITING PROS

Copywriters use age-old writing techniques to keep their readers engaged. Here are some of the most effective tricks of the trade: 1. NARRATIVE URGENCY

Remember: every sentence you write serves a purpose. The first grabs a reader’s attention and persuades them to keep reading; the second leads a reader onto the third; and so on. If there’s a sentence in your caption that’s merely there as filler: chop. it. out! 2. DON’T WASTE YOUR READER’S TIME

Filler is a time waster. If your caption packs just as much punch boiled down to ten words, then write it in ten words. Dragging a caption out into ten sentences won’t do you, or your reader, any favors. 3. ADD PACE WITH PUNCTUATION

Commas, periods, question marks, dashes, colons… these all add dynamism and character to your captions. They can also disrupt a flow, to help emphasize an important point. 4. IT’S OKAY TO USE A THESAURUS

You don’t need to be a brainiac to write great captions, you’ve just gotta know how to use the resources available to you. Don’t be afraid to use a thesaurus, every now and then, to jazz up your content with more sophisticated phrasing. That being said, don’t go through all your captions and replace each word with a long, complicated synonym. That is not a good look!

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO INSTAGRAM

5. GET TAG HAPPY: THE PROPER USE OF HASHTAGS, GEOTAGS AND USER TAGS Cast your mind back to when you first launched your Instagram. How did you first get discovered? Chances are, you relied very heavily on hashtags and geotags to get yourself out there. Then, once you had work to share: if you started tagging user profiles in your photographs, you could extend your reach even further. And tags are still really valuable features to this day: so use them! hashtags

IG has set a limit of thirty hashtags per post.

And, you know what, we’re kinda glad about that. If users were allowed many more, the hashtag quota would just totally swamp the content we’re actually interested in reading. Your challenge: to use these thirty hashtags wisely. To do so, you needn’t use all thirty. You might; or you might not. Some studies suggest that the sweet-spot lies somewhere in 9-12 hashtags per post; you get your find-ability, without overwhelming your post and drowning out your message. Wanna know the most important thing about hashtags, though? Quality. Quality far outweighs quantity, and you should check you’re using relevant hashtags in your feed. If you were a soon-to-be bride or groom, what would you be searching for? It might be related to: Their style: e.g. #travelphotography Your city: e.g. #losangelesphotographer Or even a particular niche: e.g. #cabinvibes Use the right hashtags, and you’ll attract the right clients. THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO INSTAGRAM

geotags

Another great way to increase your audience base, is by location… Crazy stat alert! Posts tagged with a location see 79% higher engagement than posts not tagged with a location. By adding a geotag to your upload, you help people in your local area get to know your photography service.Seems like a no-brainer, right? user tags

As with hashtags, Insta has set an upper limit for the amount of user profiles you can tag in each post. You’ve got up to twenty profiles to tag, so don’t waste them. Then, tagging fellow vendors – other creatives who helped you creating the image – also helps extend your reach. It also encourages them to return the favor, and tag you in their content. Before you know it, your business name will be out there for thousands of people to see! Now that’s the sort of results we’re after! And if you’re looking for other ways to supercharge your Insta reach, you can always dive into the world of feature tags…

6. TO FEATURE OR NOT TO FEATURE? Feature accounts like DBMH are becoming increasingly popular, as they curate the awesome pics of a certain niche or style. You can get featured by a dedicated account in a number ways; via targeted hashtags, or by tagging their account in your posts; or using their submission form. You may even come across Facebook groups or special competitions run by feature accounts, to attract new talent to their page. So what can getting featured do for your business? THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO INSTAGRAM

Well, any good feature account has a widespread audience, and so promoting your work through their channel will get your name out there to a big community of people. This can, for sure, help you achieve new followers. But only if you choose the right feature accounts to chase after. Before you look to get featured, you should ask yourself: Does the feature account fit your niche, style, or values as a photographer? To convert followers to clients, you want to be seen by the right people. Don’t hesitate to be picky. Is their account big enough to bring you the exposure you need? There are thousands of feature accounts on Instagram these days, many of which are too small to bring added value to your business. Choose wisely! How much engagement do they get? Often, the amount of likes you’ll see on feature accounts seems too good to be true; and it might be. The warning signs you should look for, are: if their posts get thousands of likes, but zero comments, or if most of the likes occur all at once, rather than over a continued period of time. If that’s the case, then it’s likely their likes are fraudulent, and therefore won’t bring you any further exposure. Got a funny feeling about a featured account? Maybe give it a miss. Do they give credit for the work they share? Promoting your photographs through a feature account is only going to increase your client base if followers can trace the work back to you. You should only approach feature accounts who give credit to the photographers they feature. If not, there’s nothing in it for you. Don’t be taken for a ride!

Remember: you’ve only got space for twenty tags per post. If you’re going to tag feature accounts in your Insta feed, make sure you’ve chosen the best ones for your business.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO INSTAGRAM

A WORD OF WARNING: 5 INSTA FAILS YOU WANT TO AVOID

By now, you’ve probably realized that you get out of Instagram what you put in. Yes, it can take a lot of work to build up a strong, engaged following. But it’ll be worth it, once you see your engagement start to soar. There are a few things you should avoid, though, whilst Instagramming: 1. don’t treat followers as a numbers game

In the early days, it can be super discouraging to see your followers go up and down, and up and down. One minute, you’re celebrating reaching a hundred, then only an hour later you’ve dropped back down to ninety-five. Boo! Unfortunately, too many people treat their follower count as a numbers game; following and unfollowing with ulterior motives – ditching you if they don’t get a follow back, for instance.  You don’t need to play that game! The right following won’t happen overnight, or even over a month. It takes time, dedication and patience. But you will get there. Plus, you want to enjoy your time on Instagram, right? So you don’t want to clog up your feed with accounts you’ve followed simply to get your numbers up.Follow the profiles which are relevant to you; which inspire you, who you can learn from, and whose content you really want to see.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO INSTAGRAM

2. think twice about joining a pod

Joining a what?? Don’t worry, Instagram pods are a relatively new phenomenon, so it’s no big deal if this is the first you’ve heard of them! Put simply: a pod is a group of around 15-20 people, who are in a similar industry as each other. The deal is: every time someone in the pod uploads a post, all other members will like and comment, thus increasing engagement and — yes, you guessed it! — tricking the Instagram algorithm into promoting that content. So, being part of a pod can be beneficial; you’re getting guaranteed engagement, and the helpful nudge you need to appear at the start of your followers’ IG feeds.It’s also cool to build up a little micro community of like-minded creatives! However… There’s a flip side: if you’re in a pod with fifteen other people, and they’re all posting two or three times a day… that’s well over 30 posts you’ve agreed to support, alongside managing your own social media strategy. Jeez. That’s going to take a lot of time. Will it be worth it? Maybe. Maybe not. There’s another drawback too, and it’s related to inspiration.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO INSTAGRAM

We’ve already talked about how inspiring Instagram can be for creatives, but by interacting really intensely with your pod, the algorithm is going to think that type of content is all you’re interested in. The result? An overly filtered feed, focused on the sort of posts your pod produces. The same goes for the content you put out there; Instagram may only push your posts into the ‘explore’ pages of your pod, and similar accounts. This risks you not being exposed to potential clients, who are likely to have a much less niche search history. In a nutshell? You should absolutely support people from your industry on Instagram, but we’d recommend doing this organically; without the obligation a pod demands. 3. try not to post just for the sake of it

Eek! You’ve lost track of time, it’s already 4pm and you’ve not posted a single thing on IG today. Quick: post something. Anything! Right? Wrong. If you’ve genuinely not got a worthwhile post to share, then skip a day. Come back to it tomorrow, with new inspiration and incentive.

4. automating your activity isn’t a smart move

When you’ve only got so many hours in the day, you may be looking for nifty ways to automate your Insta activity. But again, it all comes down to authenticity.Is it authentic to use bots to post en masse and spam comments on people’s posts? No.Is it really annoying to be at the receiving end of these bot attacks? Yes.We’ve even noticed how certain photography accounts have had to be closed down, as their use of automated bots has done such damage to their engagement, they’ve had to start again from scratch.Don’t be one of those people! THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO INSTAGRAM

5. lease don’t buy followers

Spending real money to get fake followers? That sounds like a bad deal, if you ask us. Not only is buying followers a waste of money, but it also makes you look inauthentic when real followers notice what you did (which, trust us, they will!) All it takes is a little assessment of your profile with socialblade, or a similar tool, and all will be revealed! What’s more, fake followers will never convert into sales… or even real engagement. You can’t converse with fake profiles, and they certainly can’t book you! The best case scenario? You get a few more followers, because your account looks popular.  The worst? You’ll see a drop in real engagement and follower count, the algorithm will declassify your account and your IG will fade into nothingness. The very worst? Buying fake followers is against Instagram’s Ts&Cs… so you do actually risk deletion and being kicked out off the entire platform, if you’re caught. It’s simply not worth it.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO INSTAGRAM

As you can see, creating a powerful Insta account which helps drive sales doesn’t come down to just one thing. Instead, it builds up over time and is the sum of a whole bunch of different activities. It won’t happen in the blink of an eye, but if you put in the hard work day by day, your IG will become a marketing tool that delivers results. So, what are you waiting for? Close down this guide, and open your Instagram! Have fun, guys!

let's insta

If you liked this GUIDE, be sure to share your thoughts in a story and tag @dirtybootsandmessyhair. We would love to share it with our followers!

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO INSTAGRAM

BONUS WORKSHEET Your follower count isn’t the be all and end all; it has no real bearing on the success of your business. It’s far more productive to dedicate your time to building the right IG network.

WHO DO I WANT TO ATTRACT?

HOW DO I WANT TO ATTRACT?

MY TO-DO LIST: