"Legit" Route, How many followers?

[nim11]

Hey guys I recently made a Instagram and I'm planning to just steadily put up decent quality pictures every other day or so for a couple of niches I'm interested in. This is without a bot, shoutout, or anything of that sort. I'm just using hashtags and I should probably be adding more.

If there's anyone who went the "legit" route with Instagram, how long did it take to get a couple followers? I got a good amount of likes on my first photo but no followers which I totally understand.

What I REALLY want to know is, is it worth it going "legit"? I just wanna keep it authentic since I will be posting pics of myself as well. I know there's really no set number of how many followers one gets cause it all varies on the photo and whatnot but I want to know how long it took others who went down this road as well.

I appreciate it!

 

[vini]

It could get A LOT of time, just a couple hashtags won't do the job.

 

[nim11]

It could get A LOT of time, just a couple hashtags won't do the job.

Yeah, I'm aware that it'll take many months to year(s) to get a good following going. I'm going to be active and post pictures every other day or so and I know hashtags aren't everything but they'll definitely help, as there isn't any other way is there?

I've heard that it's best to just be active in the community itself by liking, commenting on other photos but is that really necessary lol

 

[tact89mark]

If your not using shoutouts or a bot (I don't use a bot) then yes being VERY active is neccessary.

Just posting a pic every other day will get you nowhere. Seriously. I've seen accounts with 2500 pics that have 100 followers.

Hashtags are a good idea but as you've seen it gets you mainly likes not followers. I'd recommend posting 3-6 times a day with hashtags revelevant to your niche. No #sfs #likesforlikes #followforfollow BS.

And it is going to be slow but yes you can do it legit. Although without shoutouts you need to be constantly liking and commenting on pics. Follow ppl if you want but just mostly like and comment A LOT.

Otherwise how will anyone know you exist? Using hashtags on a pic every other day isn't enough cause it will be lost in the feed after about an hour.

Great content is good but it's not everything like some people think...you still need to get people to see it so it's possible and lots of people have done it but it takes a lot if work and you gotta be engageibg constantly. And people are lazy or don't have the time which is why some use bots.

Just remember that the bigger you get the easier it gets. Good luck.

 

[Paper-Boy]

I've heard that it's best to just be active in the community itself by liking, commenting on other photos but is that really necessary lol

Of course it's necessary. How do you expect people to find or notice you if your account isn't active on IG?

All I do is comment and like and I get about 50-100 followers per day on slow settings.

Remember time = money. You'll have more competition by the time you reach your goal

 

[tompots]

Why not follow the users that liked your pics? there is nothing nolegit about that, and they will probably follow back.

 

[JohnDoesia]

yea hopefully they have the "follow me? ok I follow you" attitude.

 

[nim11]

Great posts guys. But no, I don't want to go down the "follow me", "I follow you" road. I don't see that any different from buying/botting followers.

You all mentioned how will anyone notice me if I'm not active, but I originally planned to be active by strictly posting up photos with many hashtags that are still related to the niche. But after all your opinions, it would make sense to comment and like other photos. I guess I'll go for good comments then for people to click on my profile. Oh, and I'm going to need a decent profile pic of course haha

 

[IGTWMaster]

It will take you a very long time mate

 

[Dante12]

If you will grow those accounts just for fun and your own pleasure - do what you do now and have fun. If you are planning on making money at some point automation is a must - get a good bot.

 

[tact89mark]

If you will grow those accounts just for fun and your own pleasure - do what you do now and have fun. If you are planning on making money at some point automation is a must - get a good bot.

Not true at all.

There are many many many people out there making very good money that use no automation tools whatsoever.

 

[Jobdollarr]

How do you make money with instagram? Following update your success

 

[onnelbro86]

not recomeded if u using a bot

 

[IslandCat]

what are you odds on getting banned using the bot?

 

[vbhsfi]

A guy has a journey here. He got to 1 million instagram followers without a bot all legit I think it took like 2 years but he bought alot of shoutouts

 

[Dudethatlights]

I have an account in the gaming niche, all legit I've got 5.7k followers and get about 300-600 likes per picture, I've found in this niche just going through hashtags related to the topic e.g "gaming" helps gain alot of likes. I don't really follow for follower either and I haven't experimented with commenting. I also use 30 hashtags which really does help get likes. I think it is possible to go down the legit route as you can get over 100 followers a day if you're active enough In the community as I did have a long time of being inactive. Also the posts where you encourage followers to interact like tagging friends or answering a question work very well. Anyway I wish you luck with your journey.

 

[nim11]

I have an account in the gaming niche, all legit I've got 5.7k followers and get about 300-600 likes per picture, I've found in this niche just going through hashtags related to the topic e.g "gaming" helps gain alot of likes. I don't really follow for follower either and I haven't experimented with commenting. I also use 30 hashtags which really does help get likes. I think it is possible to go down the legit route as you can get over 100 followers a day if you're active enough In the community as I did have a long time of being inactive. Also the posts where you encourage followers to interact like tagging friends or answering a question work very well. Anyway I wish you luck with your journey.

Mind letting me know approximately how long that took?

Also, 2 years, 1 million followers.. I'm not even expecting that much. I'd be happy with a 4th of that amount in 2 years to be honest with you. I'm still testing out a lot of things.. My pictures are mainly going to be in 3 different niches but I'm just commenting/liking pictures in every niche/random photos I see that catches my eye. Probably not the best way but yeah. I need to be much more active though which I plan on doing.. I didn't make this thread to be a "journey" type but I may update it every now and then and report how everything is going and share some tips I pick up along the way.

 

[reedhawk]

you have to be really active to get them legit and fast

 

[soniasim]

I have gone the legit way and by being very active only by liking tons of photos, I get around 1k per month, without following back. Adding hashtags usually only gets me a couple of likes for each photo, but rarely any follows, so yes, the only way to gain followers legitimately, is to be very active. I really like interacting with the community because I'm genuinely interested in the niche my profile refers to, so that's not a problem at all for me.

 

[soniasim]

If your not using shoutouts or a bot (I don't use a bot) then yes being VERY active is neccessary.

Just posting a pic every other day will get you nowhere. Seriously. I've seen accounts with 2500 pics that have 100 followers.

Hashtags are a good idea but as you've seen it gets you mainly likes not followers. I'd recommend posting 3-6 times a day with hashtags revelevant to your niche. No #sfs #likesforlikes #followforfollow BS.

And it is going to be slow but yes you can do it legit. Although without shoutouts you need to be constantly liking and commenting on pics. Follow ppl if you want but just mostly like and comment A LOT.

Otherwise how will anyone know you exist? Using hashtags on a pic every other day isn't enough cause it will be lost in the feed after about an hour.

Great content is good but it's not everything like some people think...you still need to get people to see it so it's possible and lots of people have done it but it takes a lot if work and you gotta be engageibg constantly. And people are lazy or don't have the time which is why some use bots.

Just remember that the bigger you get the easier it gets. Good luck.

I just wanted to add to this, that I do not believe that it's necessary to post many times a day to get noticed. I, myself, only post whenever I have taken a great shot that I know is worth sharing. Sometimes I don't post for a whole week or more and I don't lose any existing followers because of that. Instead, to get noticed to new people I just like hashtagged photos relevant to my niche, many times per day. I strongly believe that the great and unique content matters the most, as I've noticed many much older accounts, on the same niche as mine that are being super active by posting 3-4 times per day with tons of hashtags and by following others all the time, but their follower count is nowhere near mine that I'm on Instagram only for 2 and a half months.