Instagram Journey

[BestDayEver]

I've seen many Instagram threads, with different types of people with different opinions on it.

I decided I'd try it out for myself.

My goal: Grow an Instagram account large enough to be able to direct the traffic to a website that I will make, if the Instagram account gets to where I want it to be.

My niche is evergreen. Millions of people love it, and there's not a lot of competition on it. This should make it easier to gain followers, and getting the content to post is EXTREMELY easy.

To grow the account, I'll be doing the manual follow/unfollow method, until it can start to grow by itself. My pictures will be using many tags related to the niche that many people use and I will also be using engaging captions.

I'll be updating this thread daily, and this thread is also for some accountability to myself. I'm not going to quit 3 weeks in because I'm not where I want to be. Although (of course) the quicker I grow, the better.

Again, my endgame here is to have my account large enough to where I can make a website, and from there I can make some sort of income based off of affiliate links. And, it would honestly be hard to run out of content to write about, because, like I said, this niche in humongous, and doesn't have a lot of competition.

A bonus is I absolutely LOVE this niche, so it won't get boring to me.

Note: I've verified the account using my personal phone number.

So now for the formatting I'll be using for updates:

Followers:
Following:
Follow back percentage:
Posts:
Likes:
Comments:
Additional Information:

Occasionally, stats won't be posted, and I'll just be posting updates that are semi-important.

I'm already 2 days in, so I'll post the 1st days progress here, and the second day's progress in a comment (updates will be in the comments)

Day 1:
Followers: 23
Following: 140
Follow back percentage: Rougly 16.4%
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
Comments: I knew the first day wouldn't have any kind of stats, so this is going as expected
Additional Information: None.

 

[BestDayEver]

Day 2:
Followers: 51
Following: 134
Follow back percentage: 21.25% (See "comments" for explanation)
Posts: Added 3 Total: 5
Likes (on all posts combined): 36'
Comments:

• I unfollowed a lot of accounts, at one point I was around 240, so I went ahead and calculated the follow back percentage based off of that, and got 21.25%. I want to be more precise with the follow back percentage, but sometimes I won't unfollow everyone in one day, and some will overflow into the next, so I'll be doing my best to keep the number as accurate as possible, but for now, sometimes it won't always be exact.
• Posts have niche related tags, making it easier to get them discovered.
• I need to fix my sleep schedule in order to be posting around 4-6 P.M in my timezone because that's usually when most people have free time. Keep in mind I could have more likes if I post around those times instead of at like 3 A.M (I'm a highschooler, usually my sleep schedules aren't the best during the summer haha).

Additional info: Nothing much, progress is going as expected, I hope to get my followers to 70 on Day 3, and keep slowly growing.

 

[bigg_capp]

Keep it up!!

 

[BestDayEver]

Small Update: Thought of a great domain name, sadly, because I'm a highschooler, of course I don't have money to buy it. It's an extremely good domain name that would be perfect for what I would be writing, on namecheap it's around $10. Going to have to wait for school to start so I can get my $10/week. School will be back up in about a month, so I'll have to wait till then, hopefully it doesn't get taken, honestly I'm surprised it isn't taken already, then again this niche does have a humongous audience, just not a lot of competition. As for now, the Instagram account is still growing, update will be up tomorrow.

 

[BestDayEver]

Keep it up!!

I will, thanks for the kind words!

 

[BestDayEver]

Day 3:

Followers: 61, 10 follower increase today.

Following: 90

Follow back percentage: N/A (See comments)

Posts: Added: 5 Total: 10

Likes: (on all posts combined) 92, that's a 56 increase

Comments:

• Today I was lazy as hell. I barely did any following, and unfollowing. But I noticed I got a 10 follower increase without following. Tomorrow I'm getting back to the follow/unfollow method though. But it's nice to know I grew even without doing it.

• Sleep schedule is on it's way to getting fixed, I did 24 hours, fell asleep at 4, woke up at 9, been up since then.

• I'm going to start using HostSuite and trying to post 5 pictures a day, this content is EXTREMELY easy to get, all that goes into it is a simple caption (this isn't memes btw). It sucks that it can't autopost and I have to actually confirm the post, but it's easier to have a set schedule to where all I have to do is click a button instead of looking for a picture, typing the caption and tags, and uploading on a tablet.

• My upload times are going to be 9 A.M, 1 P.M, 3 P.M, 6 P.M and 8 P.M, usually after then I'm awake and I can post more if I want to.

• I want to buy a shoutout from a large account in my niche that has followers in the low millions (don't want to give out too much information). I feel like it'd bump me up tremedously from where I'm at, but we'll see. I messaged 2 accounts, hopefully they won't be too pricey as my funds are extremely limited, like $15 limited (yes I'm a highschool student, that means I'm broke).

• I was looking at domain names (for the future) and one that I thought of came up as premium, never even knew that existed, and was like $2,499. I was honestly surprised it wasn't taken, it's super brandable to.

• Tomorrow I'm hoping to get around 75-80 followers, hitting that 100 mark soon is definitely going to motivate me more. But for now I'm praying that I can get a decent price for a shoutout because I can't afford a $25 shoutout. I feel like that'd get me into the thousands because the account gets about 40-60k likes per upload.

Additional Info:

 

[BestDayEver]

Quick Mid-Day Update:

• I was watching a course on Udemy, called "How to make Money on Instagram", so I was just kind of passively learning, taking in tips, and generally understanding what it takes to earn money on it. Personally I think it's a great course and it kind of opened my eyes on how I want to monetize my IG when it's where it needs to be.

• From the course he mentioned messaging, although he didn't touch on it a lot, I took it upon myself to try it out, I messaged someone with about 30 followers (about 40 less than me) saying he had great content (he did). He responded with appreciation, I responded No problem, he then asked if I wanted to do a shoutout for shoutout, and I decided why not, so we went ahead and did it, although I'm not expecting any kind of results, I got a follow from him, I think I now see the power in personalized messaging on IG. And I'll be doing it more often.

• I asked large accounts in my niche if they do shoutouts, still no response, but in fairness it's only been about 10-11 hours. So I'll give it time, really hoping they do because this could be the kind of start I need for easier growth.

• Within the course I was watching, he mentioned buying about 2k followers just for a start, because he says having in the thousands range makes you seem more "quality", which I can't disagree with, so I'm thinking about buying 2k followers, from where, I don't know yet. If you have suggestions please let me know. (Something a bit on the cheaper side, funds are EXTREMELY limited for this project).

• The way he monetizes is by just setting up a simple website with amazon affiliate links, I think my eyes are more open to the truth now. There's no "secret" to making money, the easiest way is to make a website, bring traffic, and get clicks and buys from customers using your link. The secrets are within the process, not the process itself.

• As for now, I've been following about every hour, up to 20 people, and I got an app that lets me unfollow people automatically so I won't have to go through that myself, I think I'll unfollow about 9 or 10 people at a time every 30 minutes just to be on the safe side.

• Project is going as expected, but I have so many ideas on how I want to monetize, that just aren't executable right now because the account isn't large. Strongly considering buying 2k followers just to make myself look more "quality", and so my follower and following ratio is in favor of my followers. Thing is, I need a way to get the funds, all I have right now is $5 sitting around my room which I doubt anyone in my house is going to go to the bank to deposit it to my paypal for me. (Sucks being a highschooler, but that won't stop me)

• I'm more motivated than ever to grow this IG because now it's clear to me that making money online is extremely attainable, and that I just need to put in the work.

• On the Udemy course I also learned about automation, as far as following, unfollowing, posting, and scalability. When I see that, it just motivates me so much to build this IG and make some money from it so I can get a bot to start automating these processes, and I can move onto the next one, and just automate it again to the point where I'm consistently making money without doing too much work. But I'm willing to work to get there.

• As we speak, I'm at 70 followers, more than I expected, just goes to show you, if you put in the work, you'll see results. Aiming to finish the day with 90 followers, we're closing in on that 100 follower mark. Hoping to get to 100 by the end of the week, but I think we'll hit it before then.

 

[.:mAestro:.]

Small Update: Thought of a great domain name, sadly, because I'm a highschooler, of course I don't have money to buy it. It's an extremely good domain name that would be perfect for what I would be writing, on namecheap it's around $10. Going to have to wait for school to start so I can get my $10/week. School will be back up in about a month, so I'll have to wait till then, hopefully it doesn't get taken, honestly I'm surprised it isn't taken already, then again this niche does have a humongous audience, just not a lot of competition. As for now, the Instagram account is still growing, update will be up tomorrow.

Try this:
https://www.domcomp.com

 

[BestDayEver]

Try this:
https://www.domcomp.com

Thanks, I'll look into it.

 

[Duckula]

A simple instagram journey always gets me hyped for some reason. Good luck mate

 

[BestDayEver]

A simple instagram journey always gets me hyped for some reason. Good luck mate

Haha awesome, and thanks!

 

[BestDayEver]

Followers: 76
Following: 153
Posts: Total: 18 Added: 8
Likes (on all posts combined): 231 (thats 139 higher than yesterday)
Comments:

• Started automating my posts, using HootSuite, saves me some time.
• Started using an unfollow tool so I don't have to manually unfollow.
• Considering saving money to get a bot so it can follow for me, so that saves me time that I can be using for posting. The more posts, the more chance I have of people stumbling upon my page and following.
• Progress is coming along fine, I'm getting to where I want to be, I'm thinking that by the end of the week I'll be at 100+ followers. For now I'm going to stay consistent and keep posting.
• Have an amazing idea on how I want to monetize this page and it involves apparel. I honestly think even 1k followers would make me a GOOD amount of money from this.

Additional Information:

• Fixed my sleep schedule, yay! Been up about 26 hours, so decided I'd finish up some things I was doing on IG, make a update, and hit the sack! Although I'll probably watch a Udemy course as I fall asleep, hopefully I can stick to the sleep schedule.

 

[BestDayEver]

Followers: 90
Following: 95
Posts: Total: 25 Added: 7
Likes (on all posts combined): 446 (215 higher than yesterday)
Comments:

• I'M SO LAZY I BARELY DID ANYTHING TODAY!!
• Managed to get 7 posts up
• Gained 14 followers
• Unfollowed a lot
• I'm in the process of setting up a RedBubble account to start selling apparel related to my niche. All I need to do now is designs, which is basically going to have words. No apparel is like mine as far as the words that're going to be on the clothes in my niche. So I'm all good there.
• I set up a facebook account, to which I'm going to be autoposting there and on Instagram using HootSuite. I figured if I'm going to be selling apparel, might aswell have a Facebook also. It's just more possible traffic.
• Going to be researching how to grow a facebook account.
• I really want to get FollowLiker, just don't have funds, hopefully the apparel with RedBubble goes well so I can possibly be able to start automating my IG.

Additional Information:

• I fucked up my sleep schedule again because I had so many ideas racing through my mind that I wanted to do. Such as researching selling apparel, making a FB account, stuff like that.

 

[Raybanana]

In my opinion 7 post per day could be too much. On a spamming border.

 

[Nic00B]

Try to increase the following rate a little bit...
and for example follow 90 people a day ...wait till your following rates goes something to 300-500 and then unfollow all (use appstore apps)

 

[himthecool21]

Good luck bro! However I would stick with 2-3 posts a day. Also try and interact with as many accounts in your niche as possible this can help you tremendously.

 

[BestDayEver]

In my opinion 7 post per day could be too much. On a spamming border.

What's your opinion on going down to 5?

Try to increase the following rate a little bit...
and for example follow 90 people a day ...wait till your following rates goes something to 300-500 and then unfollow all (use appstore apps)

Going to do this now! I use follower assistant for unfollowing

Good luck bro! However I would stick with 2-3 posts a day. Also try and interact with as many accounts in your niche as possible this can help you tremendously.

Hey can you expend a bit on what you mean by interact with accounts in my niche?

 

[himthecool21]

What's your opinion on going down to 5?


Going to do this now! I use follower assistant for unfollowing


Hey can you expend a bit on what you mean by interact with accounts in my niche?

Yes Sure. Try liking their posts commenting on their posts but remember the comments should be something meaningful it is best to ask questions in your comments so that they will have to answer them and this can lead to a much more meaningful conversation.
Another way of interacting is by direct messaging people and maybe you can find accounts who are willing to shoutout your page.
Hope this makes things clearer!

 

[BestDayEver]

Yes Sure. Try liking their posts commenting on their posts but remember the comments should be something meaningful it is best to ask questions in your comments so that they will have to answer them and this can lead to a much more meaningful conversation.
Another way of interacting is by direct messaging people and maybe you can find accounts who are willing to shoutout your page.
Hope this makes things clearer!

Okay, thanks! I will definitely start doing this! Appreciate the advice.

 

[BestDayEver]

Update coming soon, used @himthecool21 advice, and it's worked GREAT!

Full update available tomorrow

Small Update:
Found accounts similar in size as mine that have agreed to do shoutout for shoutout
Started liking peoples comments, and engaging in conversation with them, the numbers speak for themselves.
Stopped being lazy and started following a lot more, numbers speak for themselves