How to Grow a Photography Account on Instagram

Would like to know how to grow a photography account on Instagram this year? We have collected the most relevant information that explains step by step the entire process of creating an account with thousands of followers. Here, you will find all the answers to decide how to choose a niche, create a service plan and attract subscribers.

1. Determine Your Niche

To determine where you should concentrate your efforts, it would be a good idea to consider the type of customers drawn to you, what works you’re most passionate about or proud of which received much positive feedback already.

Following the 80/20 rule, you fill the account mostly with the things related to that niche and devote only 20% of space for the more personal or simply different content.

When you follow this guideline, try to be stricter and publish all the work in the chosen niche. If you are doing food blogging, then photos of babies will be completely out of topic.

PRACTICAL TIP: To see high-quality examples in different genres of photos, we recommend using Pinterest and Flickr.

2. Create a Memorable Nickname

For greater recognition in the future, as well as for the convenience of users finding your account, you should pay attention to your login.

We recommend using the genre of photography in which you work, as well as your own first or last name to build your personal brand better.

Also it is important to remember that the login should be easily written and not cause confusion. Avoid unnecessary signs or symbols.  

PRACTICAL TIP: Today there are online services for choosing a name, such as Business Name Generator or Shopify.

3. Build a Community

An important element is to turn your followers into a friendly community, not just quiet viewers. Help them rely on each other, as well as on you, by encouraging interactions. You can share something personal, ask questions and otherwise help people become more vocal in your account.

You can even go as far as using the “Polls” feature and your stories to shape the content according to the response of your audience. Such interactions help people feel more connected.

Also, you can publish posts with tips for taking pictures, your own tips on how to make the photo better, as well as the process of preparing and the photo session itself.

PRACTICAL TIP: Check out the accounts of inspirational Instagram photographers for an example.

4. Create a Brand Hashtag

The hashtags are a great way to put your works in the view of a larger audience. It is very helpful that hashtags can be followed, and you should exploit that in your favor. For instance, make sure to have your own hashtag and encourage others to use it, thus promoting your brand for you.

PRACTICAL TIP: To select successful hashtags, you can use special online services, search for popular accounts in your niche and also read tips for writing photography hashtags. That will help you to get more coverage of posts and you can also check out the Ingramer or Sistrix online hashtag generator.

5. Post Strategically

An important step of promoting photography on Instagram is to ensure quality instead of quantity. When you put out relevant content, it gathers more reactions from the viewers and makes your account more attractive to the newcomers. It is also efficient to follow some sort of schedule with your posting.

The timing is really important, considering that many people have the longest browsing spree in the morning it makes sense to put out your content then. At any rate, mind the time zone of the area you’re targeting and the fact that morning and Sundays are the most responsive periods internationally.

PRACTICAL TIP: For regular posting, we advise you to use special sites like SMMPlanner where you can set up auto-posting and not worry that you will miss any posting day.

6. Pay Attention to the Text

It has been noted that an image receives more appreciation where an interesting caption accompanies it. Tell stories, share feelings, do something genuine that causes some mental activity and invokes feelings.

Photo content can be of the following types:

• Informational — news, useful tips and advice
• Entertaining — describes situations that photographers face
• Involving — contests and subscriber polls. You should not be shy about submitting reviews of your clients. The basic rule is to have reviews from real people.
• Selling — description of services. Advertising of new products and upcoming thematic photo sessions

To learn more about the different types of posts and get new ideas for content, we recommend that you study the information on how to have a successful Instagram. You will find 10 ideas that could potentially place you among the best photographers on Instagram. 

PRACTICAL TIP: Additionally, we recommend using programs such as Spacie to help you format your text and put the correct paragraphs for your posts.

7. Use Stories

If you are starting a photography Instagram page, Stories matter, especially if a photographer doesn’t have a loyal customer base. Here, you can post moments from your life. When choosing information for stories, each photographer can take an individual direction.

These can be video reviews of clients, and moments from the process of conducting a photo session. However, you must follow all the rules of social networks. This means no use of provocative materials or photos of clients who have not given their consent to the publication.

If you have 10 thousand subscribers or more, you can specify a link to your work profile in stories. Interesting moments from everyday life will also attract the audience. Anything that didn’t find a place in the feed can be safely published in stories.

PRACTICAL TIP: For more creative stories you can use a service like Canva.

8. Use External Sources for Promotion

If someone hasn’t come across your page yet, help them find you by redirecting your followers from other social media platforms. There is a lot you can do with such cross-advertising, and a whole separate article should be written about it.

In a nutshell, make it a rule to always mention your Instagram or whatever account you’re promoting under the posts in all the other places. This little step will help you when a post goes viral for the first time, bringing a large influx of subscribers.

PRACTICAL TIP: In relation to this, don’t agree with having your works used anywhere without a proper mentioning of your name or accounts.  Alternatively, you can use the online Watermark service and place your nickname on the photo yourself.

9. Use Collaborations and Influencers

The essence of the collaboration is to work together with well-known brands to advertise services. A photographer can offer free photo sessions with the right to post photos in his portfolio. Alternatively, on the images of famous brands, the name of the professional who took the photo and his contact details are indicated.

At the initial stage, you can contact the growing accounts of influencers and agree with them about photo shoots and mutual advertising. This way you can start attracting new subscribers without investing a lot of money in advertising.

PRACTICAL TIP: For a quick search for influencers, we recommend using the Socialbakers service.

10. Look for Instagram Hubs

A hub is an equivalent of a gallery but online, they share works of different artists that are united by a genre or some other thing. Try to find a few by researching genres, subjects, areas and other important elements and start interacting with them.

Some hubs notice those who use their hashtag and feature a related work in their account, exposing you to a much bigger audience that will willingly start subscribing.

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