Welcome to the Productivity Blog

By now, you’ve probably figured out how useful Instagram is for your blog. It’s no wonder that it’s still all the hype these days – this social platform is free, fun and addictive. You can showcase yourself in a natural and really personal way and today, it’s even got more monthly active users than Twitter.

But some people seem to struggle with Instagram and one question that people always ask is, how do I grow my following?

Over the past three months, I’ve grown my Instagram following by 50%.

I haven’t done this using any quick methods – I’ve done it organically. I’ve done it through putting in more effort and focusing on the things that work.

So if you feel stuck with your Instagram or you simply don’t know where to start when it comes to growing your community, this is for you. Today I'm going into the details and telling you about nine organic strategies that have made a big increase in my followers.

#1 | Take care when shooting photos

“Take good photos” as a piece of advice for Instagram is predictable. It’s a visual platform, so of course, the nicer your photos look, the more interest you’ll get. But I always used to struggle with this – what does “take good photos” even mean?

I used to just point and shoot whenever and wherever I wanted – and that really showed in my feed. You could tell my shots didn't have a lot of care put into them and really, I was quite careless.

Now, I'm much more selective with what I choose to post, because I know how much of a difference it makes. It’s the difference between taking a picture of my favourite mug on my desk, or holding it up against a white background. It’s about forcing yourself to think more creatively. Instead of thinking “I need to take a picture for Instagram” and getting an alright shot or something, why not wait? Why not think, “This would be really great as an Instagram photo” instead so you build up a backlog of images to use? That way you’re not putting as much pressure on yourself and you’re likely to get an even better photo.

I’ve found the best way to do this is to take inspiration from others and train your mind. It’s tricky at times, but once you start to think this way, you’ll never look back.

As for equipment, I’ll use my iPhone 5S most of the time, with some occasional shots thrown in from Tom’s Panasonic Lumix camera. These always see increase in engagement and help to make my feed look more professional. 

I’ve found that there are many hats we have to wear when it comes to being a blogger. Content creator, idea strategist, brand coach, social media marketer, photographer – the list goes on. I bet you’d all agree that it’s a full-time job in itself. 

But there’s one massive problem, isn't there? Finding the time to do it all.

I can guarantee that every week I’ll forget to do something. Even though everything is written down and my schedule is sorted, something always manages to slip away. Last week, it was my blog photos – I took them weeks ago and I’d just completely forgotten to edit them until the last minute.

I'm sure you can relate. It’s so hard juggling everything, keeping up with all your deadlines and trying to stay ahead of the game too. 

And one of the main things I see people say they've forgotten to do on a daily basis is schedule posts for social media.

Whether you love or hate it, social media is something so valuable to us as bloggers. But from what I can see, lots of you either think scheduling posts is boring or too difficult – and lots of you just don’t bother.

That’s what this post is for. I know you know how beneficial it is to schedule social media posts. How you do that might not be ground-breaking news (I'm looking at you, Buffer.) But I'm not here to tell you how to do it – I'm here to tell you how to remember. I'm here to tell you how to make it easier. 

So while this post might not solve all of your juggling problems, it’s certainly going to help you free up a lot of time so you’re focusing more on creating things that matter. Here’s how you can find the time to schedule your posts on social media.

Remember your purpose for each platform

I’ve talked about this in most of my social media posts, mainly because it’s so important. Knowing why you’re on each social platform will make scheduling posts a lot easier. 

I’ve discovered that knowing my purpose for each platform really quickens up the amount of time it takes to schedule my posts. It means you know exactly what you’re looking for.

For instance, I know that my purpose on Twitter is to get my name out there and build a community. This means I need to share links to my own posts as well as links to articles by other bloggers and interact a lot too.

My purpose for Instagram, on the other hand, is to share more about behind-the-scenes of my life and let people get to know the person behind the brand. This requires completely different content.