I started trying to gain as many likes as I can by using
a lot of hashtags related to my photos. My photos are quiet decent and I am
confident I will have quiet a lot of followers.
I was not!
And along come an opportunity to test my theory. Because
as you might think that I sounds vain and wanted to have Ks or Ms followers; I
didn't! I wanted followers that appreciate what I've posted, I follow other ig
that follows me and I unfollow the ones that unfollowed me. It's all about
respect. At the end of the day, people just double tap and stare at your post
as a moment of admiration (moment being right that second) and the ones that
stares are actually looking for inspo--pinteresting your Instagram pictures.
Let’s face it, Instagram has about 410 million users and 4 billion likes per day. It is the fastest growing social media channel with the highest engagement rate, even greater than Facebook! And the age range is even wider then Facebook nowadays. We can have multiple accounts, and some people even have multiple email addresses –go figure!
Do you remember my post here about the new algorithm? A
ha! Test a like and see how you get engaged in your explore button.
Here are view tips that I actually learned along the way:
1) Make sure you are connected to your SLR, cause
honestly, the light meter in an SLR is more sensitive and can handle contrast
and low light conditions better than a smartphone.
2) With smartphone, it has wide angle and everything in
focus from foreground to back, but the lighting is very poor specially when it's low light time! So follow the light, I always face wherever light shines brighter!
3) Flat-lay is awesome with your phone, don’t be shy to
stage your food, a contrast background might help to make the picture more
interesting! If the background is distracting and it is not possible to have
the whole setting, no worries! Just zoom / close up the most interesting part! This
goes for accessories or any other flat-lay!
4) Now that Instagram is no longer limit you to a square
format; go crazy of the format of your image. A landscape is always nice to be
pictured as a landscape. Although if you have negative space, do cut them
square!
5) Don’t be shy to filter your picture! It all legit! You
can always hashtag #hellyeahfilter. The top filter used are Juno, Valencia and
Skyline. My fave is Lark –but I rarely.
6) No filter however, is the most popular! #nofilter
7) Do edit with the app editing for sharpen, brightness,
tilt shift (eliminate / blur annoying background)
8) Hashtags, okay.. so some people told me to just limit
to 5-10 max. I just can't constraint myself. Although I throw it here and there and
try to corporate them into the sentence that I composed for the caption.
9) I rarely use emoji on my caption, but you guys can! And guess what?
You can search with emoji's!
10) Last but not least .... do post on the best time!
Feel free to share your experience and let me know what
is your best trick! Mine is just doing it as authentic as I would live…