My Journey From Zero to 17K Followers and +8M visualizations on Instagram

Introduction

In 2021, I created an Instagram account called @handlebarview to learn how Instagram's algorithm works. My mission? Find out the ins and outs of social media dynamics. With no prior experiences on growing an Instagram account, I decided to start posting bike ride pictures and videos to start engaging with other users. Within a year, I grew my account from 0 to 17k followers and +8M visualizations without spending any money on ads or buying followers.

As I mention, I had no prior using Instagram, I only had a few friends on my personal account, and I was never active on the app. One of the reasons that I decided to start this project was, because, many friends always asked me about what they should do to grow their instagram accounts, and I didn't know what to say.

I understood the basics of social media from my facebook experience, which I had build couple fan pages in the past, when I still used to have my account there. I stopped using facebook in 2016, so it was a long time ago.

Here's what I learned about growing an Instagram account organically:

Have a Purpose:

Have a clear niche and intention for your account. Understand your audience and their interests and needs.

Who is Your Audience?

What Do They Want to See?

How Do You Want to Communicate with Them?

Focus on who your audience is, what they want to see on your page, and how you want to communicate with them.

Creative Branding:

"Branding isn't just about logos, it's about creating a consistent, recognizable identity in every post. Use a consistent color palette, fonts, filters, and pictures styles, Imagine that your page is like an photo album, or a gallery, and you want to keep it organized with a pattern."

Connect with creators:

Engage with fellow Instagrammers. Don’t hesitate to reach out to pages you admire. Their insights can be invaluable.

People love to receive compliments and recognition. Like someone's content and leave a message or a comment. It's a great way to start a conversation and build a relationship.

Engage, Engage, Engage:

Interact consistently with your audience. Make sure to like, comment, reply to DMs, and engage with Stories. It's a great way to build a community and connect with more people.

Consistency is Key:

Post consistently high-quality content. Keeps your audience engaged it helps to beat the algorithm. It's challenging but crucial for sustained growth.

Trends and hashtags:

Use hashtag challenges, popular songs, holidays, news, etc. Use these trends to make your content more relevant and engaging.

Prioritize video:

Although photos have their place, videos often drive more engagement. Explore different formats to see what resonates with your audience.

Optimize hashtags and captions:

Using a mix of niche and generic hashtags to expand your reach. Crafting compelling captions kept people engaged.

Automate when possible:

Once you understand your audience's preferences, plan your content in advance. Use tools for automation like scheduled posts and saved replies to streamline your process.

Analyze:

Monitoring analytics like top-performing posts helps with content strategy.

Conclusion:

Growing on Instagram is a blend of art and science. With a mix of creativity, strategic planning, and genuine engagement, you can significantly enhance your Instagram presence.

Remember, understanding your audience and delivering consistent, high-quality content tailored to their interests is the key to going viral!

By the end of 2022, I decided to stop posting on Instagram, because, I wanted to focus on other projects. But I definitely learned a lot about social media dynamics, and made some friends along the way.

Let me know if you would like me to expand or clarify any parts of this post.Fell free to reach out