10 Tips to Gain Instagram followers for Interior Design Blogs

Recently we launched our Home and Wedding Decor Brand REBEL VILLA and I set up all of the social marketing channels- you can tune in to all our updates by signing up here. I started our Instagram account in Nov 2019 and we now have 12K FOLLOWERS, it is Sept 2020!!! Check us out https://www.instagram.com/rebelvilla/

It’s been awhile since I had to do social media marketing so I researched the latest strategies on gaining an audience and followers on Instagram for Interior Design blogging. I figured it might be helpful to publish my findings in case it helps anyone else! If you enjoy this post and love interior design check out our feed

1. Be Consistent.

When it comes to Instagram, consistency is KEY. People scroll through Instagram for hours on end every day and if you don’t pop up on their screens, prepare to be forgotten. It’s important to figure out a posting schedule and STICK to it. Post at least once daily to make sure that people see your posts on a regular basis.

2. Go full force on engagement.

Engage with everyone in your brand niche and go beyond interacting with just your personal followers. Comment on posts of people within your community and industry and aim to make genuine connections. Leaving thoughtful comments on their posts can help you get noticed by them, and their followers!

3. Amp up your #hashtag game.

Everyone knows how to use hashtags, but the secret lies in using hashtags EFFECTIVELY. Hashtags aren’t just descriptor words. They can be the easiest way to attract a potential follower with specific interests, leading them towards finding you.

Instagram has three types of hashtags: community hashtags, hosted hashtags and branded hashtags.

Community hashtags are the hashtags we regularly come across. They’re much more common, say for example #bohodecor. Most people use these to categorize their posts so that users who are interested in that niche can find them easily. Branded hashtags, on the other hand, are tags specific to a certain company. Continuing our previous example, an example of a branded hashtag would be #RebelVillaDesign.

A really important type of hashtag for interior design is a hosted hashtag. Hosts are bloggers that create hashtags and ask those that use the hashtag to follow them as well as the hashtag and they will repost their favorite posts weekly along with any other hosts of that hashtag. Often there are 3-4 hosts of a hashtag and all of the hosts re-post their favorites which is great for those posting using that hashtag because even if they are not chosen their posts will still show up in the feed of various other bloggers that follow that hashtag.

Below are some examples of hosted hashtags I use for interior design. You can put in hashtags to this website and it tells you other similar options that are popular https://ingramer.com/instagram-hashtag/ as well as http://best-hashtags.com/

#peepmypad#myinterioroasis#inspiremeneutral#hunkerhome#ggathome#showoffyourdecorstyle#mybhghome#ispyraddesign#thatroomiseverything#mninteriordesign#interiordesignblogger#walltowallstyle#storyofmyhome#howihaven#makingmyhaven#mysmphome#homesohard#interiorstruly#darlinghome#mybohoabode#thedelightofdecor#thedecorsocial#lovetohome#mycovetedhome#mycuratedvibe#mycuratedaesthetic

A lot of people who are new to the Instagram game tend to make the mistake of fluffing up their posts with tons of hashtags that they use over and over for each of their posts, but that shouldn’t be the case. If you keep using the same hashtags you’ll face diminishing results, and we don’t want that! Make sure to regularly shake things up and only use hashtags that are relevant to each specific post. Use hashtags that your ideal client is searching for, use local specific hashtags like #SoCalBoho, there are tons of possibilities!

You can check out the hashtags I use regularly by checking out my account https://www.instagram.com/rebelvilla/

4. Develop your own style.

It can be in the way you curate your feed or the way you sign your comments and word your descriptions- make sure you stand out from the rest! If you want to be relevant and stay relevant, its important to develop your own style and voice. Branding is so so important on this social networking site.

credit: https://www.instagram.com/rebelvilla/

You should always make sure to create content that aligns with your brand’s philosophy and voice since this will give people an idea of what your brand is about. The way your social media looks, the color scheme you use, the way you interact, the kinds of words you use- these are your audience’s first look into who you are. Not everyone’s going to read that dedicated ‘about me’ page on your site right off the bat.

Don’t think too much about it though! Figuring out your unique style takes time and it doesn’t just happen overnight. It’s a long process of trial and error and figuring out what feels more you.

5. Engage with Engagement Groups.

Instagram Engagement Groups, or more commonly known as Engagement Pods, are groups wherein all of the members agree to engage with each others’ content and hype up each other’s posts. Members of an engagement pod will like and comment on each other’s Instagram posts, helping the post gain more traffic and alert the Instagram algorithm of its existence.

It’s ideal to start up an engagement pod with others that have a similar amount of followers then you or more. You want them to take the time to engage and share with their readers. The activity on your post will help make Instagram push it towards other Instagram users who are interested in the same content- making your audience scope widen like you never imagined.

The great thing about Instagram Pods is that they give you so much for such a little cost- since they’re usually free to join! All you have to give up is the time and effort to give back likes and comments to other pod members, which in exchange for tons of new audience and reach, is definitely worth it. Plus you’re sure to get organic followers that are actually part of your target audience.

6. Work your word magic.

Sure, Instagram is a visual social media platform that revolves around that 500px square photo but that shouldn’t discount the fact that captions make a big impact as well. Imagine uploading a photo of a gorgeous living room set-up you spent the whole week decorating and captioning it with something boring and generic like “love <3 #myhome”. Pretty sure you won’t get any engagement no matter how aesthetically pleasing your picture looks!

It’s important to take time to write out your captions with care and effort. Tell your followers about the process behind your work, talk to them about how you’re feeling, ask them questions- make them feel like you’re more than just a square photograph. Be a storyteller. Also use Emojis to break up your post and make it easier to read.

7. Mingle with the It-crowd

If you want to get noticed on Instagram, you gotta get in good with the people who gets things noticed on Instagram. Yep, you know it- the influencers.

Influencers are big accounts on Instagram that have an incredibly large amount of followers. Their accounts seem like ordinary personal accounts except that everyone else is tuned in to how they live their lives- what they eat, what they drink, where they travel, the things they use, EVERYTHING! You could say that their tribe of followers trust all of their choices and see them as that best friend who always has the best recommendations.

Getting yourself on an influencer’s radar could in effect influence their followers to check out your account. You could simply leave comments on their posts or offer to collaborate with them or go as far as offering them something for free. A mere tag or mention from the right influencer could go a long way.

8. Geotag like a boss.

A lot of people forget that Instagram has a location function and that you can add geotags to your posts which is a huge bummer since they’re missing out on a ton of traffic! Believe it or not, people look through geotags and can find you through them. People like to look through posts of accounts that are local to them since it makes them feel like you’re approachable and relatable! So make sure to geotag your posts with either where you took the photo, where you’re posting the photo, or where you strategically want your focus audience to be located.

9. Aim to build a brand.

Its incredibly important to create a holistic account that shows off more than just what you do or what you’re trying to sell. Diversifying your feed is a good way to set your account apart from the thousands of others in your niche. Aim to build a brand, not a business.

Its far more important to build a brand than to just settle for building a business since businesses just sell products or services but a brand has that power to connect and resonate with its audience. Businesses are replaceable and have no identity that will spark loyalty in the hearts of their consumers while brands can overcome and live through changes and growth because of the CONNECTION that it has with its tribe.

Don’t just post your stuff and call it a day. Talk about your beliefs, your conviction, the things you learnt as a child and still hold on to now, talk about what inspires you, or silly things about you that no one knows- talk about all that and more! And let it seep into your business, let it seep into your account and everything you post, and slowly build a brand that will make a lasting connection.

We even made a mailing list to make sure we ALWAYS stay connected with our little tribe. If you want to check it out or be part of it, you can sign up here!

10. Be raw. Be real. Be you.

With all the success stories on Instagram its easy to just want to replicate what everyone else is doing and hope for the best but see, there’s no clear-cut secret recipe to Instagram success. There’s no magic formula. People will tell you that its easy to grow your own tribe if you just follow steps one to infinity to a T but it just doesn’t work that way! No one wants to follow a copycat. No one wants to follow a fraud.

People appreciate authenticity and sincerity. If you’re just going to try and exude an aura of something or someone you’re not people will know. And it’ll get exhausting, really. Pretending to be someone or something else. It’s exhausting for people too, just seeing the same type of content on their feeds over and over like every person in the industry has some sort of template that they have to use. They’ll click ‘unfollow’ without thinking twice.

I know it can feel pretty awkward at first especially if you’re not used to baring everything out for the whole internet to see but this is how you’ll build your brand and how you’ll build an identity that’s so inherently you. You don’t have to be perfect. You don’t have to have it all figured out. In this era of perfectly curated squares and cookie-cutter feeds, showing up and representing yourself as you are will be a breath of fresh air and will surely attract the attention of people who matter.