How to attract followers on Instagram?

23 / 11 / 2019 Alexander Ledovskih

In the last article, we talked about the fact that you should not make all bets on only one social media, since in the era of “smart” algorithms, even your best post may go unnoticed. Therefore, in a series of articles we will try to talk about complex things as simply as possible.

And the first on our list is of course everyone's favorite Instagram. This social network suits tattoo artists in the best way, because it is based on the visual component of the content. And if earlier high-quality photos of high-quality tattoos were enough to gather an entire community of fans around you, today you need to fight for a place in the rays of glory.

So, how do you get into people's news feeds? And how to motivate them to follow your Instagram?

Conventionally, all methods of promotion on Instagram can be divided into three groups:
1. Paid;
2. Free;
3. Gray.

Despite the fact that we identified the gray methods in third place, they are still quite common among novice tattoo artists. These include mass following, mass sharing, purchase of subscribers, likes, comments and views.

A lot of words have already been said about these methods, but we will repeat once again: DO NOT USE THEM.

Firstly, it will not bring you customers, money or fame, since all these subscribers are bots. Bots don't buy anything, don't go anywhere, don't get tattoos and don't exist in reality.

Secondly, even with one such impulsive purchase, you can permanently send your account to the ban.

Do you need it? I don't think so. Then read on.

Paid ways.

Paid methods include:
- targeted advertising;
- collaboration with bloggers, media;
- giveaways.

Targeted advertising - suitable for every tattoo artist. This is an automated tool. Having spent enough time setting it up only once, you can receive clients in the future by collecting only analytics and adjusting some options. It has a fairly low cost.

Targeted advertising allows you to not only find new customers, but also increases the overall reach of your publications, as it brings you people who are most involved in what you are doing, which means that they are likely to subscribe, like your new sketch or tattoo, or write a comment. All these indicators are taken into account by Instagram algorithms and for accounts with good follower activity, coverage is gradually increasing.

BUT, all this splendor is available to you if, firstly, you know your customers, and secondly, you know how to set up targeted advertising correctly.

Currently, Instagram uses a limited set of targeting settings, and finer settings are now available in Facebook’s ADS Manager, but we’ll cover this in more detail with examples of settings in the next article.

Collaboration with bloggers and the media.

This part of the development of the Instagram account can be attributed to both paid and free. It all depends on your personal arrangements with a particular Instagram account owner.

As representatives of the creative field, tattooists can safely offer collaborations, barter cooperation to bloggers and the media. Most media are eager to support the bold ideas of tattoo artists, and iNKPPL is the first among these media. We are pleased to help tattooists in the implementation of interesting ideas. One of these was the idea of tattoo artist Sasha Kot to set a new (and the first for the Russian tattoo community) world record for the duration of a tattoo session, which was realized at Tattoo United 5 in Moscow (Russia). How everything went - you can see in our materials.

Giveaways mean activities involving your products: T-shirts, exclusive artworks, free tattoos or discounts on sessions, and again, cooperation with well-known brands to create something unique and common.

Contests should not be held too often, especially for discounts on tattoos, as you can therefore lower your own value in the eyes of the audience. People quickly get used to discounts. Literally after 2-3 draws, the usual price of your tattoo will seem incredibly high to them.

Free methods.

Free methods include:
- the above activities with bloggers and the media;
- mutual PR with manufacturers of equipment and other companies;
- viral content;
- commenting on posts of your target audience;
- thematic hashtags.

If the activity with bloggers and the media is more or less clear, then mutual PR with tattoo equipment manufacturers is associated with ProTeam for everyone. Actually, this is not about that. Bartering cooperation with manufacturing companies is very similar to communicating with bloggers and the media, only in this specific case you need to understand what benefits you can bring to a particular brand. You can be a tester of equipment, a reviewer of new products on the market, and so on, it all depends on you. But remember that you should NOT engage in mass spam mailing, but rather thoughtfully evaluate the strengths of your personal brand and make an offer to those who are interested in it.

Of course, this method is not suitable for beginners with a small audience, but it is definitely suitable for those who have reached a certain level of recognition and are ready to move on.

Viral content - is what most Instagram people dream about, but you - tattoo artists have a much higher chance of creating a viral post. Tattoo is on the rise, people are open to experimenting - so experiment. Create unique, interesting works, spectacularly present them to your subscribers and your efforts will be rewarded.

The example of viral content on @inkpplcom

It's no secret that international media of tattoo field often helps quality content become viral by reposting it to itself in a feed or stories.

Do not be closed and inaccessible. People love interesting and talented people. Communicate with your audience, write meaningful comments in the accounts of your colleagues, be open. Commenting on the posts of your subscribers increases their loyalty to you. This allows you to create a community of dedicated penpals around you.

Hashtags are powerful but require proper use. First, don't mindlessly copy the same set of hashtags from post to post. This is most often perceived by algorithms as a manifestation of spam activity. Secondly, you should not use hashtags with a popularity of more than 100,000 publications. For example, one of the most popular hashtags of the theme #tattoo has over 123 million posts.

Believe me, no matter how wonderful your work may be, nobody will be able to get to you from this hashtag - publications too quickly replace each other.