Most followed Instagram accounts:

1. Instagram 235 million
2. Selena Gomez 137 million
3. Cristiano Ronaldo 126 million.
4. Ariana Grande 119 million
5. Beyonce 115 million

(Wikipedia, 2018)

Have you ever been wondering those numbers mentioned above? They are remarkable in so many ways. It is strange some social media accounts can have so many millions of followers when Finland has only 5,5 million habitants. I know many of the most followed people on Instagram are very well known people worldwide such as singers or actors and they have had a big fan base in the beginning but that doesn’t mean their social media accounts wouldn’t be well planned. For example, the accounts have been planned carefully visually and content wise. Most likely even posting times, color themes and filters have been selected well beforehand.

As an example: Beyonce’s Instagram account is visually planned in a way three similar pictures are always posted in a row.

(Instagram @beyonce)

The question is; how can you make your own Instagram account shine? If you already have a solid account you need to start analyzing your followers so you will understand them and then you will know how to engage them. You should ask yourself questions such as how are you able to gain attention, how are you going to get traffic to your channel and how will all these people find your account?

Presentation is key. You need to grab the attention from the start no matter if you are doing a vlog, Instagram account or writing content. For example, as a vlogger you have some seconds in the beginning of the video to grab the audience’s attention. If not they will switch to another video. You should tell right from the beginning what the video is about and what your followers will get from watching the video. On Instagram, you could do the same. On top of the page there is a space where you can tell your audience who you are and what your account is about. The best scenario would obviously be the viewer knows right away by checking the content what it is about without reading anything about it. In my opinion, the content should tell it visually immediately. So make sure your content is always simple and easy to understand.

There are few simple things you can do to make it easier for people to find you. You can title case your website. For example, if your account’s name is The Most Amazing Flowers, your domain in Facebook could be: www.facebook.com/TheMostAmazingFlowers. That way your account name is not drowned inside the domain and since every first letter of a word is a capital letter the domain is also simple enough to read. Another thing you can do is add social media icons and your website on all printed and online material. Remember also add a link to your website on your social media accounts. All these small tricks give your company or account more visibility.

Providing quality content is what keeps your audience interested months and years to come. Once again you can ask yourself what benefit am I offering for my audience? Is it entertainment value or are you offering to teach a new skill. Benefit on Instagram can be giving baking tips, travelling tips or fashion tips. Vloggers might be teaching how to do a Prezi, a magic trick or how to do your own wedding make up.

Visually and content vise you should always offer high standard quality for you followers. Your audience will repay you back by supporting your new content and maybe even advertising your accounts further. Best thing to do is to use good cameras for videos and pictures. If you are a vlogger, remember to give detailed tutorials. It is important that everyone will be able to keep up with your tutorial whether they are experienced or not. Keep in mind this mentality while posting your content: Trade viewers/followers time for your benefit/entertainment value. If the follower doesn’t feel the trade-off is fair, he won’t revisit. (Galloway, 2017)

If you can, try to build a connection with your audience. For example, if you reveal something about yourself (I play golf) your viewers start feeling like they know you more. Audience will trust and be loyal when they feel like they know you rather than switching to an unknown channel. For some accounts this is not necessary but once again, ask yourself would your account benefit off building a relationship with your viewers.

When you want to grow your audience, there are many applications out there to help you.  These applications can give answers to questions like how have my followers grown this month, which post seems to perform best, which times make the most sense to post or who are my real followers. Analyzing your followers will give you more precise idea of what your viewers like and what they don’t like. If you don’t analyze your followers, you might be making just assumptions. The most popular social media formats like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and Linkedln have their own analytics. There really is a plenty to choose from. Multiple apps are also meant just for business use so you can get the most optimal results.

The main point to remember of analyzing followers: always track, measure and then act on the result.

Wikipedia. 2018. List of most-followed Instagram accounts.  Julkaistu 13.5.2018.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most-followed_Instagram_accounts

Galloway, P. 2017. How Peter McKinnon gained 1 million subscribers in under 1 year. Youtube. Katsottu 2.4.2018.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXLz42Kkd5g