I just made a new Instagram account so I could pursue my astrophotography (and other random photos) hobby. I already posted 5 very nice photos within the first hour of seeing up my new account.
That was yesterday and I’ve noticed that despite the photos and the hashtags I’ve only gotten 2 likes on 2 of the 5 images I posted and I’ve had no profile views so far.
If I had posted on tiktok I would gotten alot of views and likes within minutes of posting. But to have nearly no likes and no views at all after hours later.
It gets really discouraging. Is there something I’m not doing? I try to use hashtags that are really active and use as many a I can but I find that no matter how many hashtags I use it won’t make a difference.
Any one have advice how I can increase my chances of actually getting decent views/likes quickly and start growing my following?
serious responses only please
Idk this is still working or not but. I’ve got under 1k followers but i got lot of engagement from my photos and video back then. The key is consistent with your tone and the content of photo. For rising ur like try using hastag and follow some photograper like their photos. If you have more than 2 photo just use photo slide. (FYI)I’m not using instagram since 2018. So idk how the algorithm work now but of its still same u can try it.
I just said it on another recent post but Imma say it again
Instagram is not photographer friendly unless that photographer does a bazillion of Reels of “how to get this photo” every week.
Literally 🙌
Tagging, consistency, as well as just networking in general. I got a lot of work simply by just mentioning it whenever I was out and about anywhere. From there I just slowly grew my account as word of mouth spread, and my work got shared more. Stay consistent, and learn social skills in order to be able to market yourselves to others.
Collaborations
Stills and insta are dead. The only thing people watch are shit videos taken on a dji gimble and don’t stop watching idiotic vertical video. Sorry for the rant. But these fucking assholes ruined proper photo and video. If it wasn’t for the software they wouldn’t even know how to frame a shot
Whoever came up with the idea of vertical video (particularly with large crop bars) was an idiot. Humans have two eyes side by side horizontally, not vertically.
Vertical video surpassed horizontal in hours watched back in like 2016.
By 2019 only a fraction of mobile users were still rotating their phones.
Square and unconventional aspect ratios have been used in cinema for years now as well.
Vertical video wasn’t created by an idiot, it was inevitable.
I feel your pain. I’m a photographer and I’m always on the lookout for young models who want to try some photoshoots. I’ve met some interesting models in the past this way, but IG these days is just shit everywhere. Influencers, Digital Content Creators, Instagrammers, for me they can all go into the same trash can. Shitloads of followers only drolling for her bodies, this is actually competing with OnlyFans…
I used to post some photography, and I had some belly dance videography projects with the collaboration of many belly dancers (some international known names), and yet, my Instagram is somewhat dead.
Amen man! The whole point of the platform used to be for photos and now still photography is dead. I’m looking for somewhere else to post, not found anything yet. Genuinely quite gutted about it because I might not have a lot of followers but I felt like it was a consistent “community” of likes and interactions etc. constantly seeing the same names and profiles on my photos and other mutual followers and now it’s harder to even see their posts in my feed. Really frustrating!
Same. I make more money shooting for Only fans people that actual real art, portraits etc. I mean everyone says you start by shooting porn. But I’ve been at this for years and tik tok and the other vertical bullshit media companies killed us. The viewers don’t even care about quality etc. they just watch lazy ass apartment sellers try to be all cute on tik tok. Or dogs. Or whatever else you find there ha. I will have to tilt soon. I figured since I’ve been literally accused of one of my painting being ai that I just time lapsed the whole thing. And if they want it in vertical cool. Personally I makes me want to throw up more than Christopher Nolan
Before there was mass exodus of post reach due to how instagram inorganically show posts to people using algorithm. I get less then 1% of views per post that i had prior.
I shamelessly exploit my cute cat and put his antics on Reels to draw in followers; sometimes they end up interacting with my photos
Turn your photos into reels, like 10 Best at a time, make a little jazzy video….it gets pumped to so many random feeds. If it’s good you’ll get some followers. But also make sure you have tons of stuff already on your profile. If I see a cool pic or video I always check the profile to see the rest of their work before I follow
I started paying ads. That’s what social media is for, IG is unfortunately not a photographic platform anymore.
How effective are they?
Not particularly but better than organic.
I’ve used Instagram for photography for just over a year now and I still have around 160 followers. It takes time I guess
Someone reply to my comment so I can come back to this thread at work in the morning 😂
Hey
Thank you haha
Growing on instagram currently means you need to make reels. There’s a few trends for photo editing you could do. You need to use trending audio. You need to post often. post reel and photo at the same time, interact with other peoples posts, and post stories daily. Bonus points for interactive story posts.
Insta is also constantly changing what is needed. Right now, I believe posting reels to your followers is a bad move, but posting reels to the discover page is really good. (but your followers wont see it.)
Reels under 10 seconds do the best.When you are posting photos, make it a carousel post always.
a year or two ago I heard when posting photos, include a filter on it every time. You can put it down to 1%. Instagram won’t show it if you don’t/
I think getting into the flow of posting as much as you can is a first. Then trying to play the algorithm comes next. It may be too overwhelming to do everything if you’re just starting out.
Any alternatives to Instagram? I do like a lot of street stuff on there. If i use flickr or most sites I’ll never proper street stuff, it will always be generic, more cityscape landscape stuff.
I didn’t know Instagram was such a dead place. I don’t comment much, like a bit.
Threads is the best I’ve found, since the last update it’s been doing an amazing job at putting my photos and posts in front of other ppl. I also do a lot of street/documentary work and the bonus benefit of engaging with ppl who will then also click over to insta and follow you on both platforms. Most of my growth the past week has been organic growth from just commenting and interacting with posts on threads. I use it more as a place to post whatever I want, and more behind the scenes type content. Since its more a community of peers and not potential customers its perfect for what I as a hobbiest am looking for.
i’ve seen a roll today on instagram, it was a video where a guy said “im a photographer and i took this photo” then some music and his photo shows up. it’s crazy. it’s essentially a photo in a form of a video. others are right, instagram promotes videos.
Find a community outside of Instagram. I think 90% of the attention my work gets on Instagram is from friends, family, acquaintances and fellow artists I’ve connected with. I don’t expect much outside of that circle. But I’m also not trying to game the algorithm. I’m not interested in that.