Growing an authentic IG channel

[Bangaboom]

I need some advice on growing my IG account please.

I’m not a marketer and I need my channel to stay authentic as it represents my personal brand. So I can’t be doing some of the activities people talk about on these forums like using a bot to leave comments and the photos need to be my own with captions in my own "voice".

I also can’t do anything that would risk getting my channel shut down by IG.

I have a decent (but not huge) following in the fitness niche with verified channels on Facebook (25k) and Twitter (40k).

However, I can’t seem to get much love on IG. My account is about four years old and has 20k Instagram followers, but I’m only getting around 200-300 likes per post and my follower numbers are growing very slowly.

I’m very aware that quality content is essential. I make sure my images are high quality and I aim to provide valuable info in the captions.

I have some promo budget I could use for IG, but I’m not sure how best to use it to grow my account.

I’ve tried shoutouts and didn’t find them very effective.

I’ve tried promoting my posts in IG and that doesn’t seem to work well for me either – according to insights it seems to end up costing over $1 per click to visit my profile, which doesn’t seem good value to me…?

I’ve tried reaching out to influencers but it’s hard to get their attention when I don't have much I can use to entice them to work with me and my budget won’t stretch to paying an agency.

Of course, I do all the obvious things like promoting my IG on my other social channels, using hashtags, replying to comments quickly, etc.

One of the problems might be that as a 40+ female I’m obviously a bit older than the typical IG fitness influencer – but differences can sometimes be an advantage, right?

I'm not particularly interested in monetising it by doing sponsored posts for brands (I have done this a couple of times, but more for the exposure for my channel than the payment).

What I want is to grow the channel so I can reach more people and promote my own brand.

Thoughts?

 

[TheGreyMatter]

Reaching out to big influencers might not do much at the moment, try to contact people within your niche with similar number of followers.

Are you using any kind of automation? Not all kinds of automation ruins your account, some of it really helps you in speeding up your growth. You just need the right set of people with quality information and proper tools to achieve great results.

If you're not into automation, try changing the kind of hashtags you use, improve your captions further, try changing the kind of pictures you post, the other kind might attract more audience. Engaging with the people who respond to you in the comments helps a lot as well.

And if nothing works and you want to go completely whitehat with some money lying around, you can give Instagram ads a try.

 

[PLennart]

As @twitter.followers said, engage with your followers and people in your niche as much as possible!

Also, make people want to comment your posts! Ask questions in your caption and make people want to discuss topics, ask further questions and answer your questions.

The more you interact with others, the more people will interact with you.

And that is, what you can automate if you really want to do it! You can for example even just automate likes without comments and/or f/uf and so on.

I found that likes really do increase your engagement if it is used right!

 

[willyw]

Reaching out to big influencers might not do much at the moment, try to contact people within your niche with similar number of followers.

Are you using any kind of automation? Not all kinds of automation ruins your account, some of it really helps you in speeding up your growth. You just need the right set of people with quality information and proper tools to achieve great results.

If you're not into automation, try changing the kind of hashtags you use, improve your captions further, try changing the kind of pictures you post, the other kind might attract more audience. Engaging with the people who respond to you in the comments helps a lot as well.

And if nothing works and you want to go completely whitehat with some money lying around, you can give Instagram ads a try.

Hey Twitter.Followers,

Could you please give some examples of automation methods that won't ruin your IG account?

 

[Bangaboom]

Thanks @twitter.followers. I do post different types of photos but you're right, I could try out some different styles and see how people respond.

Right now I'm using a service to auto like and remove ghost followers, which is going OK, but I had so many ghost followers and not enough new followers coming in that my total follower count is currently falling. This is only because of blocking the ghosts and when that's done it'll rise again, but I'm not getting enough new followers for a decent increase, which is why I'm looking for ways to grow faster

I have tried promoting my posts in IG before, but got hardly any extra followers, maybe I didn't spend enough, it seems very expensive!

 

[Bangaboom]

Thanks @PLennart, good tips, I could ask more questions.

 

[PLennart]

@Bangaboom Youre welcome!

If you need more help, or if you have questions, feel free to ask!

 

[kantaenos]

I need some advice on growing my IG account please.

I’m not a marketer and I need my channel to stay authentic as it represents my personal brand. So I can’t be doing some of the activities people talk about on these forums like using a bot to leave comments and the photos need to be my own with captions in my own "voice".

I also can’t do anything that would risk getting my channel shut down by IG.

I have a decent (but not huge) following in the fitness niche with verified channels on Facebook (25k) and Twitter (40k).

However, I can’t seem to get much love on IG. My account is about four years old and has 20k Instagram followers, but I’m only getting around 200-300 likes per post and my follower numbers are growing very slowly.

I’m very aware that quality content is essential. I make sure my images are high quality and I aim to provide valuable info in the captions.

I have some promo budget I could use for IG, but I’m not sure how best to use it to grow my account.

I’ve tried shoutouts and didn’t find them very effective.

I’ve tried promoting my posts in IG and that doesn’t seem to work well for me either – according to insights it seems to end up costing over $1 per click to visit my profile, which doesn’t seem good value to me…?

I’ve tried reaching out to influencers but it’s hard to get their attention when I don't have much I can use to entice them to work with me and my budget won’t stretch to paying an agency.

Of course, I do all the obvious things like promoting my IG on my other social channels, using hashtags, replying to comments quickly, etc.

One of the problems might be that as a 40+ female I’m obviously a bit older than the typical IG fitness influencer – but differences can sometimes be an advantage, right?

I'm not particularly interested in monetising it by doing sponsored posts for brands (I have done this a couple of times, but more for the exposure for my channel than the payment).

What I want is to grow the channel so I can reach more people and promote my own brand.

Thoughts?

Show your ass more. Do squats. Wear 8 training bras at a time. Post alot of pics of you doing hot poses while your hot from working out on hot machines.

 

[PLennart]

Show your ass more. Do squats. Wear 8 training bras at a time. Post alot of pics of you doing hot poses while your hot from working out on hot machines.

I mean...

He said it

Do it and you will see an increase in followers!

I have one client and she is also in the fitness niche (19yrs old though) and whenever she posts fitness pics with her butt, she gets some spikes with sometimes 300-400 followers a day growth (with a 10k account) and if she posts normal pics of her, she does not.

Just think of, what does your audience want to see, what would they interact with the most and what makes them like you and makes them want to follow you!

You have to give them a reason!

Nice but, nice form, nice (.)(.), nice face, super athletic, weird workouts, freebies, tips and tricks,... the list is so long.

You have to give, give, give and not expect anything in return and one day it will come to you and you had no idea from where it came and how.

I could list some stories, where that happened to me, but thats another story and would get waaaaay too long.

 

[LosPollos]

Firstly I think the idea that you’re a 40+ fitness influencer is a big advantage rather than disadvantage.

It seems like the types of posts that are very clickbaity for fitness on instagram are transformation, self love, or do this not that posts. You need to start trying to copy the most popular posts of parallel influencers, then put a 40+ spin on them. You can use this angle to your advantage.

You can also try supertargeting women in the 40+ niche. Find pages with mommy stuff, etc etc and target the followers.

 

[Bangaboom]

@PLennart and @kantaenos - I just keep laughing at that post. But you are right, IG does love booty!

I've always worked on the idea that there are younger women who can do that better than me so maybe I should bring something different to the party. But it does get attention, so maybe I could do a bit more of it... IG is a crazy world :-D

I'm very intrigued by what you said about your stories of IG @PLennart - I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd like to read them if you do feel like sharing.

Thanks for the advice guys. I know a lot of this probably seems obvious, but it can be hard when it's you in the picture, if you know what I mean. Starting to get some clearer ideas of how to move forward now.

 

[Bangaboom]

@LosPollos You know, I've kind of alternated between thinking being older can be an advantage and then, seeing how many women in their 30's and 40's seem to prefer to follow fitness trainers in their 20's on IG, I end up wondering if I should stay quiet about my age.

From a personal POV I don't mind talking about my age a lot at all, but I'll avoid it if it's going to be off-putting to some...

All that said though, I am coming to the conclusion that, you're right, I should use it more as a differatiator. Maybe I've been trying to target the wrong people - maybe those using mommy tags etc might be better for me.

Great advice - really useful. Thank you!

 

[LosPollos]

@LosPollos You know, I've kind of alternated between thinking being older can be an advantage and then, seeing how many women in their 30's and 40's seem to prefer to follow fitness trainers in their 20's on IG, I end up wondering if I should stay quiet about my age.

From a personal POV I don't mind talking about my age a lot at all, but I'll avoid it if it's going to be off-putting to some...

All that said though, I am coming to the conclusion that, you're right, I should use it more as a differatiator. Maybe I've been trying to target the wrong people - maybe those using mommy tags etc might be better for me.

Great advice - really useful. Thank you!

Thanks and good luck! IMO the trick to IG as a woman is to be aspirational - you need to be a slightly better reflection of the user you're targeting. Keep it in mind and target people who will be ravenous to copy your success in fitness/wellness/lifestyle/beauty/whatever.

 

[Alicia Chum]

Hi, I think promoting the fact that you are a 40+ woman is a great idea, it can make a difference. Usually older people think they can't be fit and get stuck to that idea, there's plenty of people like that.. An account like yours can target that audience.

 

[PanAcorn]

However, I can’t seem to get much love on IG. My account is about four years old and has 20k Instagram followers, but I’m only getting around 200-300 likes per post and my follower numbers are growing very slowly.

1) It's very difficult to answer this and other questions without analyzing your account: target audience, photos, texts, titles, tricks to involve people into liking and commenting, hashtags, and so on
2) IG shows your posts only to active followers who likes, comments, sends DMs. Involve people into discussions, stimulate liking, intrigue them by your titles and well-designed pictures, attract them by your bright titles on pics and in the first 70-80 symbols of texts.
3) Entertain them - create competitions, quizzes, Q and A sessions, funny stories and live videos