Hello there!
This is my MOST requested/the thing I get the most questions about! **My good friend Megan Megan/Meganraeoflight ( www.meganraeoflight.com ) Started Coastal Grammers an event that gives out sssooooo many good tips!! I would def look out for the next event if you’re looking to grow your influence!)** I certainly don’t have all the answers but I definitely have some tips and advice that have gotten me thus far!!
It starts with you! Who are you? What do you stand for and what do you want to project to the world?
It can be hard to take inventory of yourself, so maybe ask your friends or the people closest to you. Get them to tell you 3 things you are great at and 3 things you are bad at! You can’t get mad at them, though, and they need to be BRUTALLY honest!! You really need to have a strong sense of self and to be self aware of others if you want to do this and be successful!
Try and niche down as much as possible, honestly thats the fastest way to grow because it sort of sets you part, and people KNOW what they are going to be getting from you. This is something I struggle with because I feel like I’m pretty all over the place, but I’m pretty okay with it because thats who I am. ALL OVER THE PLACE hahaha! I have seen others who really picked a niche and stuck with it, and they have grown extremely fast!
Content is KING!
Good content is going to win over everything. You HAVE to put out good stuff that adds VALUE to people! Maybe your value is a laugh, outfit inspo, an aspirational picture, it could be sharing your struggle so others don’t feel alone, or maybe its sharing things that work for you! The list goes ONNNN I’m never going to put something out that I don’t feel others could benefit from in someway. This doesn’t mean that I don’t put stuff out there that is for me as well, but I will always tie it into how it could to benefit others, or bring something to others, because other than that it genuinely makes me happy to help others its what people need/want.
Instagram is saturated so you are going to need to have GOOD content, also if you are trying to work with brands, before you have the numbers to sell to brands, you will have your unique content. I HIGHLY recommend investing in yourself and getting a camera, and learning how to use it!! For me honing my photography became sssooo beneficial, my camera equipment is by far the best thing I’ve ever spend money on!! Teaching myself photography turned pretty lucrative for me! I have shot Weddings, Events, Family/engagement, and even real-estate/home decor photos! This is the path I have taken but you also DO NOT need a nice camera I have seen people who have built empires off of there cell phones! Your iPhone shots in 4K!! You can do sssoooo much with that!! You are still going to need to practice and put in the work though.
CONSISTANCY
CONSISTANCY CONSISTANCY CONSISTANCY… ONE MORE TIME FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK CONSISTANCYYYYY!! This is something that has actually held me back personally! I would try hard for like a month or two, then stop for a month sometimes longer. GAH! That is detrimental to your growth!! You have to give people something to hold on to or they will forget about you. Nothing personal but there are SO many people trying to be an influencer/blogger/youtuber/whatever the new thing is that you have to provide great content CONSISTENTLY. You have take this seriously, you MUST think of this as a job and you have to show up EVERYDAY!! You most definitely are allowed to take time off but you should be strategic and mindful! Take time off refresh yourself AND GET RIGHT BACK TO IT!!
Collaboration!
To grow you are going to need to collaborate!! Thats what Instagram is all about in the first place if you think about it, collaborating and connecting! In 2019 I think the best way to grow is to get brands to repost your content!! When you are first starting out, create quality content for the brands you LOVE and use!!! Tag them! Make content that looks like something that would be on there feed! Then comment and engage with the brand regularly, also once you’ve posted quality content post it tag them then DM them telling them how big of a fan you are!!
The next way you can collaborate is with your friends!! Find people who are interested in growing too and if you genuinely love them and ‘click’ then SUPPORT them! Tag them when appropriate, and help each other out! Cheer each other on! Take each others photos, It doesn’t have to be anything OFFICIAL but you will grow together. When you share you will all win. Discuss whats working, whats not, share contacts (if you feel comfortable) the best way to grow is together! Not only will your heart be full from friendships but you will feel good about helping people you care about and watching them succeed!
Engagement
To have an ACTIVE Instagram, you need to be active on Instagram. Comment like and engage with other profiles who have a similar vibe as you. Engage with the followers of profiles (who are similar to you) with larger followings because if they are a fan of them they will probably be a fan of yours too. I would spend an hour or two a day commenting and liking other peoples profiles. I know that sounds like work but I wouldn’t look at it like that, Look at it like you are engaging with people who could be your new friends! Instagram is about connecting and sharing at least for me!
#HASHTAGHASHTAGHASHTAG
Lets talk HASHTAGS personally I will sometimes forget hashtags and it makes me so mad because I ALWAYS have less engagement without them!! Gone are the days that you can put #girl and #cute hahah you need hashtags people are searching for, you also need hashtags that have under 100k I would say 30k is the sweet spot anything bigger and you get lost in the feed! You could do one or two bigger ones but thats it. So this is probably going to require a little more effort than you would like but they are totally worth it when it comes to your reach (aka how many eyeballs see your post!)
Okay these are my best tips on how to grow an influence on Instagram. If you are looking to grow I hope you got something out of this. This is mostly for people who are first starting out and looking to grow! If you have a little bit of a following I hope you got some tips out of this too! I didn’t really go into brand deals, media kits, and scheduling posting times and all that, or creating content that stands out but if you’d like more on this leave me a comment below!
LOVE YOU BBYYYEEE!!
I’m writing this to you now on the other side of darkness, I was a lonely sad adult for a few years. I know this isn’t the case for everyone, but for me, growing up I had a TON of friends, best friends, close friends, surface friends, and everything in between I was really lucky in that department. Currently I have a good amount of healthy deep, and in close proximity, friendships. As someone who associates part of their identity as having a lot of friends, the times I didn’t were humbling, heartbreaking, and not something I would wish on anyone; to feel that kind of lonely.
I honestly don’t know why I haven’t posted in forever, or what is my hold up, its been like, idk, its like, kind of hard to explain. To be honest I haven’t felt good enough to be giving advice, I almost for awhile felt like who am I to be telling people about trivial things they haven’t even asked me about. I used to be pretty confident in doing this sort of thing, but my life was sort of spiraling after I lost my job in Jan. I felt like I was running from everyone and everything. When I think about how far I’ve come since jan it sort of brings tears to my eyes. My old life feels sort of like a distant memory. My old job the people I used to see on a regular bases it was almost like poof they are gone. Almost like a life I imagined. After all that dust and emotion settled I was frozen in fear and paralyzed in self doubt. Instead of making the most of my time I sat in my fear in the black hole my mind created. I was so ashamed of myself, that I was literally doing NOTHING with my life, someone who tries there hardest to make the most out of things, I had no one to blame but myself. I’ve had a pretty privileged life. Ive had more opportunities than most and here I was doing NOTHING! It was crippling. I was completely STUCK in this cycle for no reason whatsoever. Somehow Ive been able to chip away at my dark space, and things got better, a lot better. I got a new job, grew closer to many friends, made new friends, and things slowly got better. everyday isn’t perfect, but things for the most part are good. I still have bad days but I’m not in that hole feeling hopeless anymore. I’m ready to start creating again with a little more clarity, and a lot more focus. I’m rebranding a little, a new layout is coming, new logo and graphics, color scheme and videossss! TorriSunshine is going to focus on FASHION, TRAVEL, BEAUTY, MENTAL HEALTH, AND MEDIA(MOVIES,MUSIC,BOOKS) I am so excited and cant wait to come back bigger and better!