Okay, that title was a little extra, right? The truth is … we all secretly wonder how influencers make it big so quickly. Is it natural or are they paying for followers? Unless you go viral or buy your followers, there really isn’t anyway of becoming an instagram influencer or insta-famous overnight (sorry guys). The best way is the honest way – you will have to put in a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, but I promise it will be worth it! I am sharing my secrets on how to become instagram famous organically so you can become an influencer, blogger, or successful business owner.
You may be the aspiring model building your portfolio, an amateur photographer starting a business, an experienced baker opening an online pastry shop, or a fashion influencer launching a blog. You want to know exactly how to become instagram famous organically. Maybe you’re one of those adorable humans that created an Instagram for your dog (no judgment, I follow plenty of poodles). Anyways, enough about cute poodles (and labradoodles, and other schnoodles out there).
Let’s jump right into the tools and methods I have found extremely useful … ones that helped me gain over 100,000 followers! And no, I did not become instagram famous overnight. It took me three years, but it was worth every step of the journey.
How to Become Instagram Famous Organically
Step 1: Select and Develop Your Niche
This is UBER important. In order to become instagram famous organically, you need to develop yourself on paper before you can jump into ‘the gram’. There’s nothing more confusing then seeing an awesome photo, jumping to the IG profile, and wondering who the f*ck the person is, what they do, and why you should follow them.
Are you a wedding photographer? Street style blogger? Birthday cake chef? Narrow down your niche to be as specific as you can. Super important. Like, super. Now stick to it like jelly on bread, honey!
Step 2: Know Your Audience
I’m serious when I say. You need to think like your audience in order to know how to become instagram famous organically. Eat like your audience. Breathe like them. Need I say more? Know what they eat for breakfast, what makes them tick, and what they look for online. This involves LOTS of research ya’ll. LOTS. But I promise you, it will be SOOO worth it. My followers LOVE fashion on a budget. So I spend most of my time looking at sales and designer dupes for cheap. This is one of my top tips!
How to Become Instagram Famous Organically
Step 3: Start Creating, Research Hashtags, etc!
Once you’ve narrowed down your niche, you need to begin creating content. Utilize this best physical instagram planner and workbook! Already on IG? Then you need to keep creating content. Plan on or continue posting between 4-7 times per week (this has been proven to be the optimum posting amount in order to gain more eyeballs – ie. more followers to your profile).
When creating content, think quality over quantity. I see so many instagrammers posting 1-2x a day (which is great), but their content doesn’t have a purpose. Their outfits aren’t desirable, the lighting is off, and the caption is so ‘BASIC, BETCH’. Every post should have a purpose and 100% effort in order to entice more people to follow or engage with you.
There are a few sites like top-hashtags.com that will tell you the trending hashtags for the day, in addition, to the ah-mazing Latergram (see tip #4). These can teach you how to become instagram famous organically.
Warning: Be sure that the hashtags you are using are not shadow-banned. What is shadowbanning? This is when IG blocks overused or spammy hashtags from being searched. You can go online to find out which hashtags are shadow-banned for the day. Also, switch up your hashtags every day (rotate them if you’d like).
Random tip: When posting, tag the city you are in. This helps boost you to more eyeballs! What if Italian tourists are searching San Francisco tags and see you? Gasp, an international follower is gained (and maybe a place to stay in Italy)!!! One that you wouldn’t have had before.
Step 4: Invest in Latergram and Plan Content!
Do you have multiple social accounts like Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram? Then definitely invest in latergram (it’s not even an investment, it’s $9 per month!). Scheduling and staying consistent is key to becoming instagram famous. Your followers want to ‘know’ when you are going to post. If you have a set schedule – they will have an unknown something to look forward to!
This system plans and schedules posts across all platforms of social media for you. Time, place, caption, all of it. This way, you can synchronize all of your social accounts to post images at the same time! Less manual labor, ya’ll! You can also see the week/month/year at a glance on an overview calendar. This is great when trying to see the general aesthetic of your IG over a span of time.
There are so many other great features, like hashtag recommendations! The system also suggests certain tags that are trending and go with your niche market. Less work, more time for wine. 😉
How to Become Instagram Famous Organically
Step 5: Follow & Study Influencers in Your Niche.
I can’t stress this enough. Follow similar influencers or people who generally interest you. Virtually stalk them. Learn their ways. DM them if you want and let them know you inspire them. Not only will you be able to see who their followers are, what works for their niche (and yours), but you may get some major inspo (and even a follow-back, gasp!).
Daily Tip: I try to follow 5 new accounts each day that are relevant to me and my business. I also try to engage on 10-20 new accounts each day as well.
Step 6: Stay Away From Fake Followers, Engagement, etc!
Fake friends, fake meat, fake everything. Stay away, yuck! Hundreds of celebrities got busted for this one (yes, I’m looking at you Katy Perry). They bought hundreds of thousands and even millions of ‘fake’ followers … aka bots that are not real people. So definitely stick with the real deal when it comes to how to become instagram famous organically, okay?
This is just plain. old. dishonesty. I’ve come across a few accounts of influencers who I just want to slap the fake followers right out of. They have 100,0928348029834 followers, but receive less likes and comments than your neighbor’s dog.
Not only does this look obvious, and plain old desperate… you can get in big trouble for this when Instagram does its annual ‘fake follower’ sweep. While you won’t get in “trouble-trouble”, people will be shocked when your followers are cut in half. Brands are less likely to work with you, and the ones that do, will not be happy with the results (because they expect more from all of the “followers” you have). You want honest and genuine engagement – those are the people who will purchase from your affiliate links, share your content, and want to see more of you!
How to Become Instagram Famous Organically
Step 7: Join Groups or Pods!
I have gotten a lot of slack for this – BUT – I truly believe joining a few pods within your niche is NOT a bad thing – and certainly key to becoming instagram famous. Remember the IG algorithm (duh how could you forget, it’s terrifying)? Joining a few booster pods (groups of people on Telegram or IG DM), can up your chances of being boosted. Basically, whenever someone posts, they alert the group and all members must like and comment on the post within the hour. This is a LOT of work (I was once in sixteen groups with over 400 members). I. Almost. Died. And I’m pretty sure I have carpal tunnel. Anyways… This may seem inauthentic – but if these guys and gals actually are interested in your content and you’re interested in theirs, you are just engaging with someone you probably would have anyways if the darn instagram algorithm would show them to you!
Step 8: Educate Yourself on the Dreaded Instagram Algorithm
Speaking of the ever-changing algorithm… The rumors are true (GASP)! Instagram does have an algorithm and it is constantly changing. In order to become instagram famous, you need to learn the current algorithm. And here it is… The faster people comment and like on a recently posted image … BOOST. The more people that engage and like a recently posted image … BOOST. Comments that are five words or more have much more weight than those who are one generic “CUTE”! If you engage right after someone comments on your photo, BOOST! If you follow a bunch of people in the ‘suggested’ bar, BOOST. The more active you are, you guessed it … BOOST! So many rules, gah!
What do I mean by BOOST? Like rockets go off? Your jet pack turns on? Close. Basically, Instagram will push your posting and/or profile out to more people when you do certain things (see paragraph before). You may even end upon the search/discover feed of thousands of ‘grammers’. The rumor is that one hour after your most recent post is when you are most likely to be boosted to more people if you do certain actions. So if you are really serious about your IG game, block off one hour per day to focus on commenting/liking/responding right after you post. BOOST baby BOOST!
Daily Tip: Aren’t seeing the bloggers you want on your main feed? Like their last five images to alert the instagram algorithm that you want to see more of them. Remind your followers to do the same for you!
How to Become Instagram Famous Organically
Step 9: Partner with Brands & Influencers on Giveaways
This is one I have delved into recently, teaming up with 10 influencers on giving away a Gucci bag. I have also teamed up with other brands giving away store credit – it’s something my followers love. BUT, don’t over do it, because it can seem spammy. All parties post one image with the giveaway details and followers from both accounts must follow participating parties’ accounts. I gained over 500 followers in 12 hours with my latest giveaway. Depending on the collective follower count of all brands/influencers involved, more eyes with be tempted to follow you in order to enter! Another great opportunity when learning how to become instagram famous organically!
Step 10: Budget For Advertising
Ads can also play a role in becoming instagram famous organically. I actually am still researching this because I just got into it. Basically, if you are a business account, you have the option of paying for IG ads. This guarantees that a certain amount of people will see your posting and/or profile. You can direct them where to go and create a call-to-action button so that it is clearer what you want from viewers. I plan on dedicating another 1-pager to this IG ad section … so stay tuned. In the meantime, read the latest book on Facebook/Instagram Advertising, 2019. Mama is still learning!
What Now? Apply to Join Influencer Agencies
Ready to start making money once you get there? I will write future posts on how to monetize your blog BUT in the mean time… There are SO many of these platforms out there, so it can be hard to find the right ones to join. Basically, brands will put ‘ads’ out for what influencers and posts they are looking for. Influencers apply and if approved are paid or offered free product in exchange. A few of my favorites are AspireIQ, Social Fabric, TapFluence, Grapevine, Izea, Obviously, Influenster, BrandBacker, HashtagPaid, InstaBrand, Niche.co and Brand Snob.
Summary: How Do You Become Instagram Famous Organically? You Have to Give to Receive.
Learning how to become instagram famous organically isn’t easy. Just remember, becoming instafamous should not be the end goal. It should be about the journey. The whole point of Instagram is to share eachother’s lives, opinions, passions, puppies (aw, so cute), and more with one another. In order to receive likes or comments, you have got to give them. In my opinion, a good influencer ALWAYS gives more > than they take or ask for.
While I can’t guarantee that you’ll be instantly Instagram famous overnight from these tips, I can promise you that you will learn a lot AND gain some traction you didn’t have before. Let’s see what you got! XOXO
Disclosure: Please note that some of the links above are affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you decide to make a purchase after clicking through the link.
