4 Tips to Getting Started as an Instagram Influencer

I get asked almost daily for tips and advice from beginning bloggers and aspiring Instagram influencers. Thanks, ya'll! I'm honored ya'll would want to know my opinions on this topic and feel comfortable enough asking! I am more than happy to share all the knowledge I have gained over the past 15 months, but honestly putting it all into a DM would be next to impossible. So if you are reading this because I sent you this link through a DM, please know this isn't me trying to be impersonal. This is my way of giving you as much info as possible without sending you 700 messages! You're welcome.

I am still so much a student and learn new things daily. There are things I haven't even started to learn as well, aka keep putting off because just thinking about SEO makes me go crosseyed. This gig is fun, but Lordy there is a ton of learn! Just know you will be doing a ton of research for years after you get started. THERE IS SO JUST MUCH TO LEARN and it doesn't help that the social media world is constantly changing!

Chances are you will read 10 blogs similar to this one and each of us will have varying recommendations. That is one of the many cool parts about this career. A, B, C and D to me may look like C, A, D, B to you. We are all getting to the same place, just taking different methods to get there and all of this is done through A LOT of trial and error, a ton of patience, and doing your absolute best to not fall into the comparison game. Sounds a lot like regular life, huh??

Below are the first 4 things I did when I decided to enter into the Blogging/ Instagram Influencer space.

A little back story first, I had ZERO knowledge about how to be a blogger or an influencer when I started 15 months ago. I simply saw other people doing it and thought it looked fun so I wanted to give it a try. I didn't read a single blog on what to do, I just went off of what I saw influencers doing. This is classic Miranda on most creative things. If there isn't the loss of money attached to something, I pick it up and run away with it! Sometimes it works out great and then other times I ball it up and throw it away in the trash. No harm done. For whatever reason, creative failure isn't failure to me. That's how I've always viewed blogging and instagramming and that is how I suggest others entering into it as well. Not in a way where you don't care if you win or lose, cause you do have to care in order to win, but more so in a way where you understand it's just an app that is meant for fun!

1. Post Quality Photos. As a non-blogger I would post whatever photo I wanted regardless of lighting or blurriness. Everything got shared, ya'll! But as a blogger/influencer your Instagram feed is your resume especially if you have a desire to work with brands. Take a second and scroll through your feed and see what your eye is more drawn to. I can guarantee you are more likely to do a double tap on a photo that is well lit and not grainy than on one that is blurry and dark. I'm not saying you have to go out and buy a fancy camera. You can totally use your phone camera! (Side note: I've been blogging for 15 months and just last month bought a DSLR.) Start by paying attention to your lighting. Natural lighting is always best so if you can't be outside take shots during the time your house is the most well lit naturally. Think about angles and the distance at which you take your photos and play around with these. You don't have to be a professional photographer to take really great photos, but I do suggest taking some lessons from other bloggers (more on that below.)

2. Grow My Following. Chances are if you are wanting to be a blogger or influencer you want to work with brands. In order to do this you have to grow your following. Brands will look at how many people are following you and interacting with your photos, both likes and comments. There are many different ways to gain followers. --- follow/unfollow method, consistent engagement, giveaways, having larger accounts repost your photos, having other bloggers share about you. This may be the most difficult thing you will face because followers are important and it's something that doesn't stop becoming a priority. (Side note: you don't have to have 100,000 followers to work with brands. A lot of small shops or smaller companies love working with influencers under 10,000 followers, heck even under 3,000 followers) My suggestion is to try them all, find what works for you, and be willing to try other things when your number growth is stagnant. On the subject of buying followers... Here's the deal, buying followers WILL increase your following, but those followers will not engage on your post. So even though you have 25,000 followers, you will only get engagement from which ever one of those are real.

3. Watch, Listen, Read, Repeat. Become a student! As my Grandaddy used to say "Learn all you can, can all you learn, and then sit on the can!" As a blogger you are a writer, a photographer, a web designer, an editor, a videographer, a social media marketer, a negotiator, a CEO, a CFO, and the list goes ON, AND ON, AND ON. For the first few months I lived day and night on podcasts, blogs, articles, webinars, and really anything that had a smidgen to do with blogging and Instagram. I picked 4 successful bloggers to stalk, um... I mean follow, and I studied what they did on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. I would go back in their feed to years prior and see what they did then and what they do now. I would see if anything changed. Every so often I switched these ladies up to get a wider perspective. (PS I still do this!) This wasn't to copy any of these wonderful women, but rather to LEARN from them. They were my mentors even though they didn't know it! I gained so much knowledge and never had one single conversation with them. By far, this and podcasts are now my go to methods for blogging education.

4. Discovering Who I am through Trial and Error. You'll read over and over again that you need to determine your niche as a blogger. What's your thing? What do you identify with? If someone was to go to your Instagram and scroll your photos only, could they determine who you are? This is important because people want to know what to expect when they see your posts. When I entered this space I had no clue what my niche was. In fact, embarrassingly, it hasn't been until recently that I finally determined it for myself... that's a blog all on its own. Some of you may know your niche based on whatever you are passionate about. It's something you are naturally drawn to or maybe you are basically already doing it, just not posting photos about it. For others, like me you may need to take some time to figure this out. For example, I love fashion bloggers! I love to watch try on hauls and have them spill about the $150 bag that I know I will never buy, but I am NOT a fashion blogger. How do I know? I tried it, it wasn't me. I'm not someone who shops regularly or who cares about accessories. I don't know all the latest fashion trends. But through trying this I did discover that I love being in photos! Photo shoots is my favorite part about Instagram and blogging. (Side note: my husband takes all of my photos!) It isn't difficult for me to be in front of the camera. If I just lumped myself into the "mommy blogger" world because I have three kids, I wouldn't have found out something that I really love.

It takes time y'all. I tell myself this every single day. Slow growth is still growth. I've seen bloggers and influencers come and go because of the frustration that naturally comes with social media. Focus on creating a space you are proud of and comfortable with. And if you start to get overwhelmed take a couple days off to regroup.

If you have any other specific questions you'd like answered feel free to reach out to me!