So I missed last month…I’m sorry. It’s been a pretty chaotic month or two and I’ve had to let some stuff slide. But The Instagram and Instagrammers I love is back.
I’m still loving Instagram but like many of you I am getting a bit frustrated with the algorithm and also the follow/unfollow action that seems pretty rampant right now. Unfortunately I think those problems are here to stay so you just have to suck it up and get on with it. Some people use the follow/unfollow system as a growth method and whilst it’s not for everyone I can almost understand it as I know myself how frustrating it can be to see people seemingly get thousands of followers over night whilst you work hard for each new one. All I can say is look at the long game, Instagram are constantly deleting bot and spam accounts as well as many of the apps that have been used for this technique. More and more brands and PR’s that I speak to tell me they are looking at engagement and quality of followers these days rather than the actual follower number so focus on producing content you believe your audience will like and as always engage, engage, engage.
I don’t post an image every day but I use stories a lot of the time now, especially at press events and trips. I find people really engage with stories, in fact my Instagram stories whilst in Ireland reached 25,000 people. Which is kind of crazy as I only have a 5k following. If you are using stories, use them to your advantage by adding locations to videos to see your reach massively improved.
My growth is continuing steadily but slowly, I’m at 5300 now. Which although seems really slow to me is an actual 300 follower increase since May and they are all real followers, no bots ( I delete those ). I get an average of 300-400 likes on an image which works out at an engagement rate of about 6.5%.
My top 3 photos over the last month were:
This shot of me at The Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland, this was part of an incredible press trip with Tourism Ireland.
Wow love that photo of the Dorset coast! I don’t really manage to find time for IG right now as so busy with work and house extension. Hopefully I will get back to it after the kids summer hols!
Thanks for the lovely comments Becky – a great list and the beer glazed chicken looks the business!
You are right – there’s a lot of automation going behind the scenes of IG going on. I can’t help but wonder whether IG will go down the same route as Twitter, where bots reign nowadays. Great roundup!
Love your picture on the longboard! I’ve tried myself a few times but Im absolutely useless on it 🙂 Great Insta recommendations, following a few already but I’ll check out the rest!