As a content creator or social media manager, you know exactly how important it is that you’re able to have creative juices constantly running and thinking about different strategies to use to up your followers and engagement. But, it’s totally normal that ideas tend to sometimes run dry and you simply… Don’t know. You may feel like you tried it all already and cannot come up with a caption for your post after you’ve done so 500 times previously. So, if you find yourself here, then it’s definitely time to go out and look for inspiration. Especially if you’re trying to raise your amount of followers and create a more engaging community. We’ve rounded up a few accounts we’ve noticed that you can get inspired by and even learn a thing or two from, you can use to help you reach your goals on Instagram!


Speak to your Followers

We’ve talked about captions before, and for good reason. The Instagram caption is the main driver of engagement. Instagram’s algorithm tries to only show pictures and videos that it thinks users will be interested in. So if there’s a post that is getting tons of likes and comments, especially in a short period of time, it considers this as quality content that other people probably want to see as well. And this is exactly what you want since it means even more exposure for your posts! Your caption is the key to making this happen. What works best depends on what kind of account you have, but there are a few definite best practices we can learn about from other accounts.

One of our favorites is @father_of_daughters, a father of four who simply shares his dad chronicles with his followers. There are a few things we love about his captions; the first is the length of it. They are long. Some people think that our attention spans are shrinking and that we don’t like to read anymore. There may be some truth to this, but there are always exceptions to the rules. This account is a perfect example of that! If you stick to the subject matter that interests people, they are obviously willing to read what you have to say. They followed you for a reason, right? So don’t be so quick to dismiss writing longer captions. A longer caption can also work in your favor when it comes to trying to master the Instagram algorithm. If users are interested, they will take their time and read through the entire post, something the algorithm picks up on! Don’t ask us how this magic works, but length of time is one of the factors that influences the algorithm.

Other good practices we’ve noticed is how honest the stories are: he speaks to the followers that he has; about the good and the bad. This sort of authenticity resonates with people and is what keeps them coming back! So don’t be afraid to show who you or your brand really is online. Often, we can get caught up in portraying perfection on Instagram, but this isn’t the only route to go. Instagram is less formal than other platforms where a more professional front is required, so let your users see some of the real you.

Another good point to take away is that he asks for engagement in pretty interesting ways. If you ask someone to do something, give them a reason to do so and maybe add a ‘please’ at the end, they are likely to do it. So if you want your followers to comment or tag someone, ask them to. You’d be surprised by how much engagement you can get from that.


Use Simplicity and Consistency to Your Advantage

Simplicity works, that’s one of the things we can learn from UK menswear blogger @Cantimagineit. Like many other accounts on Instagram, his posts are solely related to his outfits and serves as inspiration for his 36.5k followers. The content is a consistent mix of flatlays and OOTD’s featuring him in it. The captions vary in length (though they tend to be short) and he names the brands of the clothing or asks followers what they think. Accounts like these aren’t always everyone’s cup of tea, but it works great for him. The takeaway here is that you cannot meet the needs or interests of everyone, so you shouldn’t even try to. Figure out your point of value, and craft your content towards the niche that appreciates what you have to offer. If you’re trying to reach all sorts of users, your content may get messy and will be all over the place, and this isn’t a good thing. You want to ensure your followers like all your posts, and this will only happen if you stick to what you are good at, and keep it simple.

Another account that pushes this idea is @Rumag. All this account does is post quotes. That’s it. And their posts get hundreds of comments and thousands of likes. Why? Because they are consistently minimal. The quotes aren’t in any way extraordinary, and there aren’t even any captions at all on the images. Every image only gets captioned by the branded hashtag #RUMAG, and all images are made using the same layout. Talk about consistency!

These two accounts are perfect examples of what happens when you discover your niche and develop the account in a way that speaks to them. Yes, it would be great to attract all sorts of people and raise your number of followers insanely, but are these really the people you want? They aren’t going to be engaging with your content. Instead, invest in the long-term strategy to develop quality followers over time by sticking to the goal of the account and being stable in the content and delivery. This is also a great help in trying to create brand awareness and makes it easier for people to have a solid picture in their minds about the brand.


Remember The Bigger Picture

Building upon the previous learning is always remembering the bigger picture. Your content should come together to form a complete whole. @Annalenaillustrations clearly gets this idea and uses her account to showcase her design skills. All of her pictures have elements in them that connect the previous photos to the next, all while still making sense individually. This strategy is obviously well thought up beforehand in order to make it work! And that’s something you need to always keep at the forefront of your mind: planning will take you much further than posting things on the fly will. The pay off is great, and you will end up leaving a good impression on new potential followers when they stumble upon your account for the first time.

 

 

Now, we know not everyone is an illustrator or designer, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t think about your overall Instagram feed when you post. This is important for all accounts, and one of the main reasons a feed preview feature was built into the Preppr application. The feed preview function lets you see exactly how each new post is going to change up your feed prior to posting, so you know what order to post in, and gives you a handy overview of your feed as a whole.

The last account we’d like to highlight is @Charitywater, a nonprofit organization supplying safe, clean drinking water to people in developing countries. When you take a look at their overall feed, it becomes clear that they are using only a select number of colors in all the imagery. Even though multiple colors are used in the images, the same tone in all the images brings harmony to the account. So whether you decide to be extra creative like @Annalenaillustrations or go for a strong color palette like @Charitywater, don’t forget to think it all out in advance, and plan it out. Your existing followers may see individual posts in isolation, but if your goal is to grow and to nudge new users to give your account a follow, your feed integrity should never be ignored!

There is something to learn about from every account you come across on Instagram, so when you find yourself in a rut, go out and research what’s out there. Check out what is working for others, and see if you can find a way to bring that take away from your own Instagram strategy. These are only a handful of ones we find interesting and hope you did too. 🙂

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Product dev | @itspreppr| @ink361 | growth | monetization | Africa | Wildlife

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