How to Network and Grow Your Instagram Following
It all begins with an idea.
In this blog, we will cover:
Building a community
How to find models and photographers in your area
Proper steps to achieving professionalism
Importance of Communication
Community: The Cure
Imposter Syndrome: We all experience this at some point in our career. It’s a feeling of not belonging, being incompetent, undeserving etc. Unfortunately this feeling can be hard to cure and happens to anyone.
A great way to combat this feeling is building a community that gives you reassurance, a feeling of belonging and motivation to keep going. It also helps to surround yourself with people who you can relate to or have similar experiences.
It’s difficult to achieve anything on your own, trust me I've been there. I always thought of myself as a self-starter, which is true to a degree. But in order to grow and learn at a faster speed, I needed to surround myself with people that are valuable to me.
It’s okay to be selfish
What you don’t expect when growing your community is that you need to be selfish. Meaning that you can be picky about who you connect with. It is all about who you see value in and if you think you can learn from them.
In my experience I have reduced the amount of people I follow based on what they offer me. It seems harsh but it is my following, I want to follow others who motivate me and who I connect best with. I don’t treat my following as people who are just fans of my work. But people who would want to work with me. People who can offer you experience are more valuable than people who only click the follow button.
How do I grow my Instagram following?
Now I’m not an expert on growing a following but I know how you can do it intentionally. If you're wanting to grow your following you must follow a significant amount of people. The average follow back rate is 10%-30% depending on the account. So per 100 followings you can expect 10 followers back. You don’t need to follow everyone and anyone. To get that increase of numbers there are five things you need to consider:
Follow people that makes sense
Look for people who share common interest
Following vs Follower count matters
Pay attention to who others are following
Have substance to your feed, give them a reason to follow you.
Follow people who makes sense
Depending on the creative you are, the people you follow need to make sense. Take the time to examine someone's instagram and what they're all about. Remember, this is your following so you shouldn’t waste your time on someone who doesn't excite you. Pay attention to how often the person posts, make sure that they stay relevant and you’re not following someone who may have abandoned their account.
Do not follow people who have a large following, unless you truly want to follow their work. You will most likely not get a follow back. These accounts are very active and your follow will be lost in their notifications.
2. Look for common interest
The most effective way that I find people to follow is being specific. My number one common interest I look for is location. I love to find creatives in my area because it increases the likelihood of them following me back and potentially working with me in the future. By simply searching “Seattle Photographer” or “Seattle Model”, you will get a huge list of creatives that will follow you back. Having a common interest is huge.
Write down five keywords that describe you and your craft, then search it on instagram. Here are my top five:
Seattle
Portrait Photographer
Editorial
Seattle Model
Model
These keywords can be used alone or together to narrow down the search.
3. Following vs Followers
Your following will be larger than your followers at the start and that's okay. However, you need to pay attention to that count with other people that you follow. If you find someone and their following is half the size of their followers, then you can tell right away that they only follow 50% of their follower requests. Seeing that ratio will determine their likelihood of following you. This is just something to consider if you are left wondering why people are not following you back.
4. Who is following who?
A technique that I have learned throughout my career is paying attention to who is following who. I have found photographers who have the same photography style as me and looked at who is following them. I thoroughly go through that list and follow people who interest me. Chances are they will follow me back since they are following someone whose work is similar to mine.
5. Give them a reason to follow you
Show off you and your work. Having substance to your feed is key, you want to give them a reason to follow you. I cannot stress this enough, you will need to make at least one post of yourself. A quick portrait with a full description of who you are makes it more enticing. Whenever I post a photo of myself, it is one of my most liked photos. It's a nice personal touch to show who is behind the work. I know it’s silly to say but show that you're a person and not just a robot behind the account. Take advantage of Instagrams feature of pinning post to your profile. These three posts should consist of your most favorite work and a post about you. As shown below I have pinned my proudest work and a photo of myself. Think of these post as a first impression.
Finding models & photographers
After gaining a following, it is time to reach out to people who you want to work with. Those five key words you came up with should be kept in mind but there are ways you can dig deeper.
Hashtags: Be specific by using hashtags. You can follow them and whenever someone uses it then that post will show up on your feed. I follow the hashtags that are specific to my location and interest:
#SeattleModel
#SeattleModels
#SeattleTalent
#SeattlePhotographer
#Heffnermanagement
The last hashtag is a local modeling agency that has their own hashtags for recruitment. This is a great way to find signed and aspiring models.
Photographers: Any photographers that you follow, pay attention to their feed. Who they have worked with? This ties back to who's following who, this time who is working with who? It's just another way to easily find people in your area.
Agencies: Follow your local modeling agencies. Their feed consists of so many models that you can reach out to and do a test shoot with. A test shoot is basically like a TFP shoot but it helps the model out by showing how experienced they are. That way it increases their likelihood of getting paid gigs. Signed models are always looking for test shoot opportunities because their agency requires it. It's a great way to work with models that have experience which can make the shoot go smoothly. They build your network and spreads your name amongst the industry at a higher level.
Professionalism at its best
Time to to Engage: Don’t message them out of the blue. Engage in their content: like and comment on post, check out stories and highlights and check out their portfolio if linked in bio. Most importantly, follow them! You should become a familiar face first and show your appreciation. Then you can reach out to them. But pay attention to how they handle their communication. If they specify by email or direct message, respect that.
What to include in your message
Photographers:
1.Who you are: give background info
2. Ask if they are accepting TFP work or their rate.
3. What your intentions are: type of shoot
4. Send an inspiration board
5. Timeframe: when you want these photos done by.
Models:
1. Who you are: give background
2. Are they accepting TFP or their rate
3. What you are needing for portfolio
4. Send your current portfolio
5.Timeframe
Compliment their work and why you are wanting to work with them!
Communication
It can make or break you
A big reason why I have been successful with booking photoshoots is because of my communication. Not only is it polite but also shows how serious you are about working with the person. I respond to others within 24 hours of receiving a message and I expect that in return. If I don't then I move onto the next. I don't want to waste my time on someone that isn't eager enough to respond back to me in a timely fashion. When we all know were on our phones many times a day.
Big mistake!
Dont Assume.
What I had assumed is that everyone lives by this standard. But that is false! I’ve had people ghost me for weeks and even not responding back till a day before the intended shoot date. They thought the shoot was still happening and ended up getting angry with me when I had already moved on. I’ve had people tell me how I should run my business when they were the ones that demonstrated unprofessionalism. It's almost comical but what I didn't realize is that I needed to communicate my standards to them. Strong communication is what I stand by. I have to be as clear as possible with others and communicate my standards up front. Strong communication is what I stand by. I have to be as clear as possible and communicate my standards up front.