After the last blog post, I had a lot of, “What’s next?” kind of questions. You like your IG name, you don’t have a lot of personal photos up…basically, you look like a home decor account, but you aren’t gaining many new followers.

You can do all of those things I listed and still not grow your following. People have to be able to come in contact with your page. They can’t follow you if they never see you.

But let’s pause for just a second. Don’t become obsessed with followers. You’ll become discouraged, overwhelmed, and forget about how fun IG can be. There will be times that your account is hot and you gain followers so fast you can’t keep count. But there will also be times where you are doing the exact same things and your engagement drops. It’s the beast of IG. They decide who sees your stuff.

On the other hand, it’s silly to pretend that followers don’t matter. Obviously, if you love decorating your home and are taking the time to take good pics, edit them, and write witty clever posts…you want people to be around to see it! Every like and follow is a compliment that someone out there likes what you are doing. And who doesn’t like being liked? Not to mention, the awesome, fabulous friendships you can make on IG!

Whew. Okay, let’s get to some things that I’ve found that have helped.

1. Giveaways. I’ve listed this one first for a reason. It’s the fastest and easiest way to gain followers. But it costs money. You can gather up a group and chip in for a gift card. You can buy in to a loop giveaway. Honestly, giveaways could take up a blog post all on their own. The drawback to giveaways is that you can lose followers after the giveaway is over
2. Go COMMENT!! Seriously, I can not stress enough how important this is! This is the only free way to have people see your name. Search through a hashtag relevant to your style and comment on people’s stuff. Follow them if you like their style. If you host a hashtag, go through and comment on the posts. Yes, this takes time from your day. But if you don’t want to pay for a giveaway, this is your only option. But you know what’s the best part about going out there and commenting?? You start to build friendships and that’s the best part about IG.
3. Quality Pictures. So, someone sees that you commented on their post and they want to check you out. What do they see? Do you have attractive pictures that people want to follow along with and see? Let’s be honest, IG is a visual platform. So the stuff you share needs to be visually pleasing. Go take a look at your favorite account’s page. What is it about their page that you love? Bright, clear pics? The vintage items they share? Take this logic back to your page. What will people see when they click on your name?
4. Host a Hashtag. Gather up some accounts and start a hashtag. Hosting a hashtag is a great way to get involved on IG. People follow you to play along, you go and comment on their pictures, your name is being seen, you make friends…win/win.

Really, it all boils down to participating and getting involved…and giveaways.