How to Hit Your First 100 Followers on Instagram for Bloggers

Instagram. Home of cat videos, motivational quotes and fast-motion life hacks, right?

Wrong!

When used correctly, Instagram can be a lucrative tool for building a supportive community, attracting readers and the attention of brands who want to sponsor bloggers to promote products. It's a visual tool used by over 1 billion people!

Let's get over the first hurdle together - hitting your first 100 followers on Instagram.

• Decide on your niche and your style before you post any content. You'll want to start your feed how you mean to go on - it saves you from going back through your account and deleting photos once you've decided on your style later on.

• Fill out your bio. Use relevant hashtags sparingly, and aim for a quick and concise description of you and your blog, a couple of fun emojis and, of course, a link to your blog - that way, other users will know what your account is about when they follow you!

• Utilise hashtags to their full potential. Use roughly 10 on each post - several niche-related tags (for example, #lipstick, if you're a beauty blogger), a few bigger hashtags (try out #discoverunder1k, #discoverunder5k or #bloggers!) and a few smaller community hashtags... #contentcommunity, anyone?!

• Interaction is key. Examine your content and the hashtags you use, then put them into the search bar and find some similar accounts to follow and engage with. The more genuine comments you leave (no lines of emojis, please!), the more likely you are to build up a genuine community which in turn will help you grow your own account!

• Instagram doesn't allow you to post clickable links in photo captions, so make sure to update the link in your bio regularly to promote new content.

• Utilise Instagram Stories! Take quick behind-the-scenes snaps, share quotes, funny videos, short vlogs... Instagram Stories is the ideal place to post anything a little more personal for your audience.

• Captions are key. Use them as an opportunity to write mini blog-style posts. You could even draft out captions in the Notes app for iPhone to include paragraphs and line breaks - easier for your readers to engage with and comment on!

• Post consistently, but not excessively. Posting once a day at a similar time is great as your readers will slowly grow to expect new content from you, but posting sporadically three or four times a day, then disappearing for weeks at time is likely to flag your account as spam, leaving you less visible on the app.

If you follow these tips and experiment with your account for yourself, you're sure to hit 100 followers in no time. Now, onto the next 100...