Naturally Growing Your Instagram Account Will Get you Real Followers the Fastest: Here are the 3 Reasons Why!

As photographers we are always looking for creative ways to expand our online presence and get our photos exposed to more people. Instagram is currently the powerhouse of social media photo sharing and is still growing at a ridiculous pace...which creates both a blessing and a curse. Tens of millions of photographers publish their work on Instagram every day creating an extremely saturated market.

With competition so high and the desire to grow ones network, many photographers find themselves looking for any sort of way to grow their following. There are all sorts of "tips" and "tricks" that one can use, with everything from following thousands of people in hopes that a handful of them will follow you back to  randomly liking and commenting on strangers photos. Some third party sites even allow you to purchase followers, though almost 100% of these followers are bots and not real people and will therefore never interact with your account. However, I will explain that these methods simply do not pay off in the long run.


So here are the 3 reasons why allowing your Instagram account following to grow naturally is the best way to do it...by far!

1. You Want Interaction, Not Numbers - Do you want real people or computers looking at your photos?

If very few people are liking and commenting on your photos, then there is no reason to have a bunch of followers. It is pointless. While it may be sexy to have "100k" or some other bloated number under the "Followers" area on your Instagram profile, social media success comes down to how people interact with their followers and vice versa. There are many options of gaining "trash" followers (accounts that will never ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, like, comment, or interact with your account in any way). I briefly touched on these earlier, and I stand by what I said. When you follow a bunch of people or like thousands of images or  - *facepalm* - buy followers, you are going to get trash followers over 95% of the time. What is the point of having a social media site if no real people see your content?

2. You Don't Look Desperate or Fake - Keep You "Following" Number in Check

Let's say that you visit a random Instagram account and see that this person followers some 5,000 and has around 1,800 followers. What does that look like to you? Does that add credibility to their account or does it take away from it? It obviously takes away. But why? Because it makes the account look cheap, lazy and desperate. Even if the gap was closer, say, following 5,000 and has 4,000 followers if would still look bad. Heck, if you have 5,400 followers but have to follow 5,000 other people to get to that point that probably means that your content isn't very good or that your connections aren't that strong. That is exactly what others will be thinking too when they see bloated "following" numbers when compared to your "followers" number.

3. You and Your Content Look Credible - Have your Current Followers want to Keep Following you!

Above all, you need to remember that people are smart and seeing an account with 75 active followers with 150 total followers will always be more attractive than 20 active followers with 3,000 total followers! Remember: its not the size of your following that matters, its about what you do with it (yes, I just said that). When you start gaining followers (yes, it will be slow at first) make sure to interact with them and make them feel appreciated. Comment on their photos, respond to EVERY SINGLE comment that is left on any of your photos and make sure to push yourself to create excellent content. You may be surprised at how much value these interactions have, especially when compared to the dull reality that "trash" followers are worthless.

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So unless you simply want a bunch of trash followers to make yourself feel good by having a big "Followers" number, stay patient and honestly interact with others. Engage with other users and your account will blossom with followers that actually care about you and your content. After all, isn't that what you want?

A Letter to Photographers Struggling to Gain Recognition: The 9 Things You Need to Know!

Hi there! If you are reading this then there is a good chance that we have some things in common. Maybe pizza is your favorite food or perhaps you are working towards being SCUBA Certified. But I would put money on a similarity between us being that we both like photography, due to the fact that you are visiting my photography blog. If you are a photographer yourself you will feel the desire - at one point or another - to get your photographs seen by others on a large scale. Even if it isn't for financial gain, the cold truth is that it is unbelievably difficult to get noticed because of the extremely high number of photographers whom are all also trying to get their work noticed.

With that said, if you are new to the realm of promoting your photography I am going to say a few things that will hopefully shed some light on this crowded situation that we face as photographers. Here we go...

1. Having great photos isn't enough.
 Even if you have some of the most beautiful photographs ever taken on the face of the planet, it will not matter if nobody knows who you are. This applies to all of you, whether you are passionately promoting your photography business or simply want more followers on your Instagram account. Getting your name out there is key.

2. It is not easy.
It takes hard work and heaps of dedication to get your photography publicly noticed at a significant level. No matter what platform or background, you need to remember that it will never be easy and will take a great deal of time and effort. That is not supposed to be disheartening, I am simply trying to keep things in perspective for you. But with that said....

3. Just because it is not easy to be recognized does not mean that it is impossible.
Time. That is honestly the second thing that you need to embrace (second only to taking good photos) if you want to be a recognized photographer. There is no such thing as a Justin Bieber or Odell Becham Jr. to the world of photography. What does that mean? In short, there are no overnight sensations. Its the painful truth, but there will never be a day where a photographer will achieve massive success overnight. Our market simply does not work like that.

4. Heavy competition is not always a bad thing.
Photography is one of the single most competitive professions on the face of the planet. But the good news is that it is not always a bad thing! Why? Because it makes us better photographers. The main thing that we have to focus on is producing quality work and having this much competition means that we have to have that if we are to find any sort of success. So even if you never become some renowned National Geographic photographer, you can thank the ridiculous amount of competition for making you a better photographer.

5. Publicly displaying your photos will make you a better photographer.
Once again, something to make you a better photographer. Even if you never reach a high level of recognition or financial gain from your photos, placing them in the public realm will make you a better photographer. After all, you are opening yourself up to critique and criticism when you do this and that will give you a better drive to improve your craft.

6. Always remember to ask yourself why you want to be recognized. 
That can be a tough question if we are honest with ourselves. When I talk to people it surprises me how many people are actively displaying their photos or working on large-scale social media marketing plans to promote their photos because they want to become famous. If you are seeking fame, than photography probably isn't a good place to look for it, as very, very few have achieved such things. For most of us it is probably for humbler reasons, such as promoting our photo business or to gain confidence in your ability as a photographer.



7. Keep things in perspective.
We would all love to have a following on social media the size of Trey Ratcliff's or a line of high-end clients as long as Chase Jarvis does. These two men are some of the heavyweights of the photography world and that level of success is incredibly rare. There is no harm in working towards goals as lofty as achieving what they have (keep in mind that I am only using them as examples), just remember that it took years and years for them to reach their current level of recognition. So stay patient and never forget that if you never a fraction as "popular" as some of the top photographers of our day does not mean that you aren't an excellent photographer.

8. Never lose sight of why you are a photographer in the first place.
If photography is something that you enjoy there is no reason how struggling to find success should take away from your enjoyment of taking photos. Never ever ever ever. It is completely natural to be frustrated and sometimes feel hopeless in your pursuit of getting recognized, however it should never take away from your personal enjoyment of photography. If it ever gets to that point, maybe you should take a step back and spend some time focusing exclusively on your art and abandoning your marketing plan for the time being.

9. Don't take it too seriously.
One final thought, trying to gain attention in the realm of photography can be emotionally draining, especially because it takes a long time. The single best piece of advice that I can give you is to not take it too seriously. Obviously work hard and find consistency in producing valuable content, but never make it more important than your photography. That part of the sentence is underlined and in bold for a reason! It may take much longer than you would like, but you may be surprised at at how genuinely wonderful it is to receive your fist few fans and slowly watch the number grow. It is a beautiful thing and trying to rush through it can simply take away from it.

Keep shooting and good luck!

-Wyatt