*Updated* DO’s and DON’Ts for Running a Successful Instagram Page!
“I want to start an Instagram/Blog…
…where should I start?”
Hi friends, I can’t believe that it’s already been over a year since I last wrote my IG tips blog post! If you haven’t read my original post, check it out here! Since my last post, a lot of things have changed on IG! 1 year ago, I was at roughly 3,500 followers and getting the question “do you have any tips for growing your Instagram?” Fast forward one year, I am at 52,900+ and STILL getting this question! This blog post will be a little different than the original blog post I shared. While growing an Instagram is great and all, what’s more important is maintaining your growth and continuing to run the best page you can run! I’m sharing alllllll the DO’s and DON’Ts I’ve learned over the past year. I’m spilling all the tea about what has and hasn’t worked for me!
*DO’S*
Be unique and have a purpose. Have meaning behind your page. Show who you are. I started my page because I wanted to have a creative outlet to escape to. Everything on @tarjaymaxx is a reflection of what I love to do. My best advice would be to share aspects that are unique to YOU, not anyone else. If your page is like every single other page out there, you will be looked over. It’s harsh, but it’s true! A lot of people want to be bloggers now. Think of something that makes you different from every other fashion or lifestyle blogger out there. What makes you, you? Most importantly, have fun with it, I’ve had to remind myself of this a few times, especially as I continue to grow. If it stresses you out, you’re probably trying too hard.
Make your bio POP! Your bio is the front line of your page, make sure it is unique, not too long, and eye-catching. Most importantly, make sure it perfectly summarizes what your page is about. Utilize all 30 characters in your “name.” IG allows you to have up to 30 characters in your name. Utilize this feature to its full capacity! Add keywords about your account to your name. This is searchable, so people can find your account easier! I also think that “see more” in a bio looks messy. Get your point across in 4 lines so people don’t have to click “see more.”
Engage with similar accounts. This is HUGE when you are trying to grow your Instagram, honestly at any stage. Without other people, you can’t really get far (hence, SOCIAL media lol). Engage with accounts that are similar to yours. For me starting off, that was Target pages. But as I’ve grown, I’ve engaged with fashion bloggers, DIYers, YouTubers, TikTokers from Chicago, etc. When starting out it’s important to start interacting with like-accounts because they are going to get your engagement going. A tip that I’ve loved lately is getting a few accounts together and doing a “share week.” Not a giveaway, just an organic way to share accounts and gain some new followers. This is such a great way to get exposure. If 3 other girls share your account to their followers, imagine how many people your account is getting exposed to that may not even know your page exists. This gives people the option to choose to follow you if they like what they see. Don’t be shy! DM a similar account and ask if they want to share each other’s accounts in stories. It’s harmless and takes zero effort, plus you can get some amazing results!
Engage with your followers. Don’t be boujee. If 10 people DM you… DM them back! Whether you have 100 or 10,000 followers, respond to them. They are the reason you’re page is running and they are also going to be the reason you continue to grow. Be grateful for them.
Plan your photos & have inspiration. I made a separate Instagram account to pre-plan out my photos and make sure everything flows and looks neat together. #Extra. I also recently started using Later to plan out my posts! Tarjaymaxx has become a super hands-on hobby, almost like a second full-time job. Utilizing tools like Later has really helped me batch my content so I can put my focus on creating graphics, responding to DMs, linking items, etc. Work smarter, not harder. ;) Although it’s not necessary to plan out your posts, people like feeds that are aesthetically pleasing, and nice to look at. Would you want to follow a page that had cluttered photos or no eye-catching content? Probably not. It’s also important to have inspiration on how you want your feed to look! A common question I get is “how do you edit your pictures to fit the aesthetic of your Instagram page?” I made my own presets! Plus, I sell them! So if you are just starting off I totally recommend you start with a preset so your page is cute from the jump! Shop them all here.
Use popular/fitting hashtags. Instagram’s algorithm is constantly changing. There was a period of time hashtags were down and my pictures did better without them. From experience, I found that less is more. I used to use 30 hashtags per post, but now I use about half of that. If you are first starting out, I recommend you use hashtags, but maybe alternate every other post once you start to grow. Another tip is to pay attention to how many posts are in a hashtag. If there are 1.5M posts under ONE hashtag, skip using that one. If so many people are using the same hashtag, your post will get lost. Try to use hashtags that contain less than 100K posts when starting off. You want to use popular ones, but not too popular where your post will vanish in two seconds. Following popular hashtags you use is also a great way to engage with similar pages and brands!
Time out your posts and pay attention to what time your followers are most engaged. If you are just starting out, try not to post at weird times like 11PM or 1 AM because that will attract followers who are on at that time and it may throw things off in the long run. Try to focus on prime times such as 8 am, or 12 pm when most people are on their phone during lunch breaks, or out of class, out of work, etc. I try to stay within 9AM, 12PM, 3PM, 6PM, etc. Everyone’s engagement times are different, and after you start to post more frequently, Instagram will provide analytics on your audience and give you your most popular times to post. (Also if you use Later, it will give you your best times to post as well! Other apps like WhenToPost will also break down your best times to post.)
Know your audience & make sure your audience knows you. You’re going to want your audience to know you for something. For example, on my page, people can expect to find items from Target & TJ Maxx and things related to the products I buy, etc. You don’t want to start a food blog, then start posting about sales at Nordstrom Rack. Are you targeting foodies or people who love to shop at Nordstrom Rack? Get what I mean? Having a target audience in mind will help you attract the right people and keep your page on track.
Stay consistent & be active in your stories. It’s important to keep your followers engaged otherwise they may lose interest and unfollow. Make sure you are always posting, don’t take long breaks and disappear for days then come back. Staying consistent and posting often will keep you higher up on your follower’s feeds, especially when starting out. Another form of engagement I personally LOVE is stories. Stories have evolved since the beginning of Instagram. I post on my story every single day. Whether I’m just chatting, asking for opinions, sharing sales, doing “shop with me’s”, etc. If people are watching your story, they’re more likely to stay following you because you’re constantly interacting and sharing, plus it’s super personable, and people like feeling like they can relate to the content you share.
TAG BRANDS, TAG BRANDS, TAG BRANDS!!! Within the first month of having my page, WhoWhatWear shared one of my photos and tagged me in the caption. I got about 300+ followers from one shoutout. As I continued to grow throughout the year, I started working with some amazing brands who have shared my content on their feeds and stories! I’ve worked with some big brands like Liquid IV, Redbull, R+Co, & more! Building good brand relationships is super important. The more you tag, the more exposure you’ll get which could potentially lead up to something big in the future! If you’re interested in a post about collabs and paid collabs, be sure to like this one!
Always hop on whatever new trend IG is launching. Instagram is always coming out with new features, make sure you are utilizing them even if you think they are lame. A controversial launch was the launch of reels over the summer of last year. Did IG copy TikTok? Most definitely lol. But a lot of reels got so many views super quick when they first started off. Most of mine have gotten over 10K views. One of mine even went viral and I got 1.2 million views on a DIY. I love using reels for quick snippets, or recycling story content into a reel that stays on my page. Reels give you an opportunity to share a wide range of things, so definitely use this feature to its full capacity! Another new feature I recently starting using was IG guides. I turned a lot of my frequently asked questions into a guide that are easily accessible so I don’t have to answer the same question over and over. I always get asked “what stores I shop at in Chicago”, so I made it a guide. I get asked “where to eat in Chicago” when people visit, so I made it a guide. You can make a guide out of POSTS, PLACES, or PRODUCTS on IG. It’s a great feature to utilize.
*DON’TS*
Don’t start a page because you want to make money or be Instagram famous. That’s just lame. I’ve been there, and I failed tremendously. You’ll end up putting way too much pressure on yourself and trust me, it shows.
DO NOT absolutely DO NOT focus on your follower count. (GUILTY! IT’S NOT FUN, and its hard to do, so I get it.) You ultimately want ENGAGED followers, not just a ton of people who could literally care less about your content. The amount of followers you have does NOT measure your worth. 300 engaged followers is waaaay better than 300,000 not-engaged followers, ESPECIALLY if you are running a business or trying to promote yourself for work. Another thing that should go without saying is DO NOT buy your likes, or followers. Seriously such a waste of money. Don’t do it. It won’t do you any good.
Don’t compare yourself to other accounts, I have done this and it’s the killer of all joy! Everyone is on their own journey, take it day by day. I’ve had to remind myself of this numerous times, especially as I continue to grow. Not to have a Kim Kardashian crying-over-a-diamond-earing-moment, but it gets really hard putting yourself in front of thousands of people! Sometimes it feels like a lot of pressure! It can be super easy to slip into the “why can’t I be like…” “so and so is better at…” “my page isn’t good enough,” type of mentality. That rabbit hole isn’t fun. Don’t do it.
Don’t let the trolls get to you. Man, it’s sooooooooooooooo easy to focus on ONE bad comment over the 150 good ones! I can always tell when my posts/reels go viral because the TROLLS start to come in. Which in a way is a good thing because that means I am on the explore page somewhere. The way I look at it is like this: they are helping with engagement, PERIOD. If some Karen wants to leave her two cents on your post and say how she “would never do something like that,” let her. She’s opening the door for potentially hundreds of other people to see your post.
Don’t do giveaway after giveaway just to grow. I get it, you want to give back, but this may end up hurting you in the long run. Engaging in daily giveaways or loop giveaways with 10-50+ other pages is only going to attract followers who may not actually want to be there. They want to follow you because they want to win. I know some people do it and love it! I personally haven’t seen the best results from it, so I choose to stay away. I have seen some of my lowest engagement from some group giveaways I’ve done in the past. I’d gain a lot of followers, but then rapidly lose them after the giveaway ended. My stories weren’t being viewed, photos were not getting liked, it was just a mess. This has led me to turn down almost 80% of the giveaways I’ve been asked to take part in or “sponsor.” I try not to do group giveaways, especially with the “giveaway pages” out there.
Helpful apps to utilize while running an IG:
Canva (Graphics)
RewardStyle / LikeToKnow.it (Influencer platform)
InShot (Video editing: Stories/Reels/TikToks)
Layout (Photo collages)
mojo (for stories/ads)
Heartbeat (Paid campaigns)
AspireIQ (Paid campaigns)
Planoly (Plan your feed)
Later (Plan your feed)
Milkshake (Link in bio)
linkt.ree (Link in bio)
I hope that you find these tips helpful! Like I said at the beginning these are the tips that I found have worked for me. Don’t forget that everyone starts somewhere, so don’t be discouraged or embarrassed to start from scratch– you never know what will come out of taking the initial step! If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out! START THAT PAGE GIRL.
Have a great weekend, xo.
