Instagram seems to be the bane of existence for small business owners! It can feel really hard to “crack” the algorithm. After years of trying various techniques on the platform, we have figured out a few key tips that really help your engagement and growth on Instagram for photographers.
Check out guides for photographers!
1. Pre-plan your content
This is the single most effective tool we have found to work with Instagram for photographers. You have thousands of photos at your disposal and yet we see photographers go days and weeks without posting on the platform. This is the worst thing you can do for your engagement; you’re telling Instagram that your content is not relevant and you won’t be easily found in the explore tab or hashtags section by potential clients. When you wait until the day of to post your photo and write your caption, oftentimes life gets in the way and you can’t find the time. Or you just cannot think of a caption to write in the moment. We suggest setting aside a set day of the week where you plan your instagram content for the week. I sit down Sunday nights after my daughter goes to bed and I use Tailwind to choose the best photos to fit my grid, write engaging captions, and choose my hashtags for each image. (Get a free month HERE!) I then schedule every single post to go out automatically. It’s important to send the posts out at random times; this helps make you seem like a real person to Instagram with relevant content.
2. Respond to every single comment and DM
We know this feels tedious. And sometimes I’m guilty of not doing it. But when you respond to every single comment and DM you’re encouraging interaction which is the goal of social media and interaction. You look extremely engaged, relevant, and active to the algorithm and they’ll push your content even higher. You’ll find that your posts get liked days after you posted them because Instagram is pushing your content. We do this at the end of every day when we have down time. We never stop what we are doing with worth or with our family or friends to do this. We have specific times at the end of the day where we respond to everyone.
Related: 3 Proven Posing Tips
3. Be Intentional
It’s super easy to get sucked into mindless scrolling on Instagram but that’s NOT how we use the platform. We view it as a tool for our business and only use it for that purpose. While we also love connecting with others and engaging with them, we have a set time for that. Our goal is to spend our time on Instagram with intention. We try not to get sucked into hours of scrolling without an actual goal. A great idea here is to choose 3 people a day to genuinely engage with. Comment on their latest post, respond to their Instagram story, or tag them in something you think they’d love!
Related: How to Provide Exceptional Client Experience
Below you can see our growth since we started scheduling posts and using Instagram as a business tool.
