I reached nineteen point, five thousand followers. How I did that is. I will show you in this article and I will show you as well how I lost 1,500 to 2,000 followers in the next year. So a bit of a big story on why I started posting interior content on Instagram.
I was just moved into a new city. I was hating my job I was born. I was creatively unfulfilled. I decided to pick a more creative hobby, something to more tickle my creative brain, and so, if I outlet outside of work, I wouldn’t buy the username talking spaces don’t go, it was also the URL to my blog and I posted my first picture. It was the last picture I snapped off my previous home engaged it. I will put it on the screen somewhere over here or here.
I kind of discovered this whole community of Interior related content on Instagram, and I started interacting with people that were inside that community. As well little by little, I started getting a few followers. I think it took me about a month to get 200 followers like good, a person with low self-esteem inside this eco sphere of likes and hearts and positive reinforcement. And so obviously I got addicted to it.
And I started to spend more and more time on it and I started to be more analyze: posts of butters and hashtags day used and which compositions they used, which colors they used, how they edited their photos. And here there I started to take tips and tricks from them, and this is where my first really great tip comes in because you can use, for example, hashtag interior design for pictures like I posted or home decor.
But it’s way more effective to go with more specific hashtags. So for me that was a small spaces squad. A studio apartment eclectic decor. This is why I have to try every day this one has grown. It loves right now so surely, but steadily. I started to create a few sets of hashtags for different kind of pictures that I would use with a lot of retailers and specific hashtags. Another thing that really accelerated my growth was using stories and there are a few ways to use stories and I think here consistency is key.
So, basically never should you have an empty stories that it’s not clickable and what you are going to share. It’s basically up to you, because it’s a more rough of the curve, something you just want to share something you just want to show and what really helped me back then was to share other people’s pictures tagging them in it and also not just throwing it out There also not saying it’s a shot-for-shot, because that can really feel canoing if someone comes to you like, please show me out, but really putting something in it like, for example, someone shares my picture and they say something really specific about it.
There’s more chance. I will share it in my stories again or I will check out your accounts to see what you’re sharing and what your aesthetic is like. What I also did was create my own hashtag, so my username was talking, spaces don’t go, and I created the hashtag talking spaces because every Friday I would use stories to shout out people that use that hashtag share the best of what they had to show.
So what that does it creates kind of a community community around you you’re, not only part of the community, if you’re doing it like that, because you’re also in the middle of it, so people started to use the hashtag and also make sure to follow me because, If they don’t follow me, they will think maybe he’s not going to share it. If I don’t follow him, another great tip – and I did this really early on and it really paid off – was interacting and following with Meghan and blogs and compilation accounts like comes.
Let’s share pictures from different accounts because that’s a really great way to get access to and greater audience every time it got shared there. It meant a great influx of new followers because they discovered me, so you really have to see what’s your niche and you have to interact with magazines in that area. It’s really good to see similar accounts to you and who they follow and who they are getting followed by and that’s a way to see what kind of niche you fit into and that’s a great way to see what kind of hashtags would work for you.
It’s great to see what kind of people will be interesting in following you as well, and it’s really a great idea to interact with those kind of accounts. Not only because it’s interesting to you this because clearly they have similar interest to you, but because the company they share and the huge person is shared, it has a kind of Overland. My memory was full and we’re cutting up and the framing is worse.
But, let’s get back so slowly but steady, I was reaching 500 followers and I was noticing there. It’s people that were just starting out with Instagram accounts we’re starting to follow me because they saw me as a bit more of an established name in the community and what’s really important here, is that those people they they want to be understood. They want to communicate. They want to be friendly to people, and what I saw a lot was account said were the were a bit more established.
There was not coming back on smaller accounts; they would not like back on smaller accounts and I think, that’s really stupid to do because we’re all human beings. Why would you not answer someone if they’re saying something nice to you on your picture, so I would suggest comments back everyone, that’s coming from your picture and if it’s something that you’re not really sure what to comment back just heart, the comments or just reply with An emoji something nice.
If you notice someone that’s commenting like on every picture. You post it’s nice to just check out Derek comments, and maybe it’s something you want to follow as well. So if coming back get to know the people behind defeats answer your PMS only the nice ones, not the dirty ones and the flirty ones and the kind of weird ones you get and be open and real with what you post, because I noticed we’re more diff.
The pictures that were, hopefully Photoshop kind of turned me off and also people deaf in their captions, were like really high and mighty and know-it-all about what they shared like. They knew everything about interior design. If someone was acting like that, it started to turn me off, and I really didn’t like this, so I should just be open and real, but just stay humble just you’re, just another Instagram account you’re, not some big shot because she reached a lot of followers.
Stay. Humble so I think this is where my account started to stand up, because I was sharing pictures in a really mundane way. I shared pictures where you saw the messiyah my home. I shared pictures with a trash bag on the background or a really messy bed, or something like that, and because the other side of, like the big community of Instagram, was basically, I saw people that took pictures and they photoshopped away plug outlets and they photoshopped away.
The line of the ceilings make it look bigger and because my pictures were more relatable and real. I think that did a lot of good for my former bassist well in the moment that I was shared by a lot of magazines and blogs and compilation accounts. It took me quickly into I think 6,000 followers, but quickly after that, I started to really get close to like the magical and amazing 10k like this might be a real tip or something you say, like obviously yeah, but be a nice person, because I saw a Lot of people just being assholes on the Instagram, and I saw a lot of people also feeling self-important that they, for example, commented on a few blogs or magazine accounts and that they were commenting.
When am I going to get shared or why are you not noticing me? Instagram is a big place. It’s not easy to get noticed, so it’s not that they personally have something against you. If they don’t notice you, but it’s just not happening yet, and people ask. Will get dismissed? Ok, let’s zoom out a second for all the tips. I’ve given so far, it’s a precursor to death. It’s important that your content is interesting.
It’s visually pleasing your captions are relatable or funny, or they give something to the people. A lot of people share like really complaining stuff like today, I had to go to the grocery store and someone cut me up and I felt so angry I’m not looking for negativity on my feet. So why would I follow it an account that dust is like on the regulator? Also, a good thing is that your content has to be recognizable.
People have to see a picture. You post, and you have to instantly know that. Oh this is this. In this person’s picture, but on the flip side of death, if you’re posting really the same picture on and on and on again like it doesn’t matter if you’ve taken a different picture. But if the content of the picture is basically the same, people will get bored and I see a lot of accounts right now. That kind of got big because they had like a really pretty dining room and they kind of latch on together.
And they hang on to death right now, they’re still sharing the same picture or the same setup and they’re not getting the likes anymore, because people have seen it like all the people that want to see it have discovered it by now, and it’s not news anymore. Above all, the other tips like interacting with people sharing interesting content being open, honest and relatable and don’t or captions using stories.
I think the main thing that plays into your growth on Instagram is consistency and it’s consistency in posting and it’s consistency in how much you interact with the app if you’re, finding a sustainable amount of time. You can do, for example, you post every day and you spend an X amount of time every day on the app interacting with content. That’s the main way to really get growth, because Instagram will see that you are pumping out interesting content on a consistent basis and it will take you seriously and besides that people will know if they see a picture of you and they see exactly one day later.
Another picture of you and exactly a day later another picture of you. They will know that they’re getting their fix on a daily basis and it will go check for you. So, even if the algorithm isn’t in your favor, they will know today there will be a new picture or a new article or something only is instagram page and i’m going to check it out. Another great tip is to know your niche and you have to play into it and that’s both in how you share your content and how you use your hashtags, but also to me as an interior Instagrammer.
It meant. I changed that my interior, more not only for my followers, also because I like to, but it kind of showed me what my people liked, and that was a reflection of what I like and all like minded people. I saw their trends coming on and I changed my interior to reflect that. So I was noticing my accountant was mainly interesting to people who are looking for tiny living things, drifting and vintage interior and our big-city living.
And I was noticing that a bit of an overlap to that where it was the urban jungle trend or how you would call, and that’s why I started to play more into dance. I had a lot of plants in my home already. I was just not using the hashtag — jungle and house pens make me happy and all the more specific hashtags for that niche. So I started to branch out from one age to another, not letting the first one guy out but just building upon it and that’s also really important.
You don’t go from one thing to one thing completely different: you have to stay in your own lane. Basically, but you are allowed to branch out a bit so back, then I don’t know if it’s still a trend, but back then it was really popular to participate in common spots, and this is basically a group chat with people on Instagram, where, as soon as you’re Posting you will notify the group chat and they will all go to your picture and they will like and comment on it, and this is basically to kind of fully augur if M that you’re getting a lot of interaction on your picture from the get-go, I was Offered to participate loads of times – and I never get this which later on, I think, is a good thing, because Instagram has really statements about comment balls and how they are cracking down on it.
But to me it just felt like it felt inauthentic, and it’s really also. I didn’t have the time to every time. Someone commented in a group chat to directly go to the photo and directly comment something. So I didn’t do that and I think it’s for the better, because there are some accounts. I know that have participated in comment. Boats. That’s right now are falling off big time. They still have great interaction in comments, but there are apps to see what your authentic engagement and it’s really awful for those people, because it’s really easy to see what comes from a common boss or you have those apps that you can copy-paste the same reaction to Different photos and it’s really obvious to see the same comments from the same people on every photo in the same kind of community community.
So I was doing amazing. It was November of 2018 and I think I was around 18 and a half thousand followers. And in November I started to really step up my game and I was posting a blog post every day I called it La Femme, but this also was great for my growth because more content, it was interesting content. If I say so myself, it meant more followers and at the end of November, are somewhere in mid December.
I think I reached 19 thousand followers and that’s when stuff started to go down, because I picked something that was not sustainable because consistency is key on Instagram and I was posting so much which I couldn’t keep up, because I literally I was working a full-time job. I was posting every day on Instagram I was posting a blog post. Every day I tried to have a social life sighs that it was way too much to do so after November.
I stopped it obviously, and I started to post list on Instagram, because basically it was just burned out. This instantly led to a decrease in new followers. I was not losing yet, but my growth was fluttering quickly. Another thing that greatly influenced my drop in followers. I think is that my interior changed and it changed quite drastically. All of a sudden, because in December I painted my wall black and until then my niche was the more lies wide with vintage accents plain bluffing, vintage laughing home in an old house.
And if you see that you throw in a black wall, it doesn’t mesh well and also later on. I was moving and I was moving to a new bill tome and that’s the opposite of what people like about my account. Because people start following me, because I had like a really nice old home, with beautiful ceilings and beautiful large windows and high ceilings. And I moved to a place that was way more healthy for me to live in and I loved it so much more, but visually it’s less interesting.
It’s really a basic flat that I’m living in right now. Also, I changed up my interior style, then again, because I started to have more modern furniture that wasn’t up pretty thrifted or something I don’t know why? Because right now, I’m back back to basics again with only thrifted furniture, but I changed it up and two followers that follow you, because of one reason that means that they are not interested in your content anymore, so this ring had started dropping quite rapidly.
I think, basically, I put myself so deep into my niche that, as my interests were changing and my style was changing and I myself was changing. It felt inauthentic to the people following me because they never saw me sharing something about it, because I was just only sharing what I thought people wanted see. People were uninterested in the things I shared, and so they smash to death and full of button.
No hard feelings, I do exactly the same if I follow someone and they are changing up their content big-time and it’s not interesting to me. Why would I follow along? Another thing I suspect, influenced my drop in followers were poorly designed unrelated sir posts, and on top of that I was disclosing that stuff was gifted or paid promotion or PR product or it was a PR offence, but other people in the mainly Dutch interior community they’re, Not disclosing anything about sponsorship and if they do, they really hide it deep into their hashtag.
So people will not see it so it looked like I was doing all of these sponsored posts and they were doing nothing and I really stood out because of it, and I was also taking and that’s really stupid, because I didn’t really get money for it or I didn’t really get something I wanted, but it’s just if people reach out to me and they wanted to work with me, I was really excited to most of them in the beginning.
I said yes – and I said yes without really looking into the brands that wanted to work with me and I think that’s really bad, because a sponsorship is not a two-way street you’re, not working with only the company and the influencer. Followers are really a big part of it, and I didn’t look into this and that’s really bad. I think I think that really influenced my dropping followers, the most in the end, so I was kind of lost with what I wanted to share on Instagram and I made the conscious decision to just stop caring about followers and just start posting.
Whatever I felt like – and I think that really did a lot to me in a positive way, because I started to see what I like to post and also by trying out stuff, I noticed that it wasn’t for me. So, on top of that, I changed my username from talking spaces co2, just my first name with a lot more art in it to make it more personal and to really share that image of the content creator. I was at first and through really sharing whatever I felt like, and I think it was mainly the period between February and basically tail two months ago, like November of 2019, I just shared whatever I like, and I still most followers logically, but it really showed me What I like to share so flashback to now I’m right now, as I think seventeen point, four thousand followers which is growth again, I think at my lowest point.
I was at seventeen points, one that wasn’t forest and I really want to share how gets happening because it’s a three full explanation. First of all, I started to get more interested again in what I share it. Second of all, I refrain my consistency because right now I’m posting at twice a week instead of every day, and I think Instagram is getting the hang of it now. Obviously, my growth is less than when I posted every day, but it’s better than when I posted every day, while hating my content and while not interacting with anyone, and I also reframed my expectations, because in the heyday of my like Instagram journey, if a picture didn’t Get to thousands likes, it was a field picture.
It was not doing great and right now, if my picture has above 200 likes that’s great to me. That means 200 people looked at it and they were interested enough to like it, and I think it’s as well. If everyone on the platform gets less interaction right now, and I’m not sure how that happens, but it’s great to know because that reframes your expectation from it and it reframes what success means. Instagram is basically mirroring what you do.
So if you put a lot of time and effort into it and your content is obvious – obviously interesting fish easing if you’ve put a lot of effort into it, you get more out of it. So that’s how you reach 19,000 followers in one year and then losing 2,000 followers in the next year. I hope this was interesting to you and I hope you got something out of it if you’re looking to grow an Instagram audience or if you struggle with an existing Instagram accounts that doesn’t really like go as good as it did.
It’s not that much that it’s! I think really life hacks to grow on Instagram. It’s just really insight on how to my knowledge into my experience, the Instagram platform works. Also. I want to add that in no way, I’m claiming to really know a lot about the algorithm or that I’m really knowledgeable about social media marketing or SEO, or something like that, because if people say that it annoys me a lot and that’s also why I kind Of debate it’s about filming this article, I don’t want to sound like an oil or something like this.
I just wanted to share my story because people that say they know a lot about the algorithm or give tips and tricks about it. Not even to people at Instagram headquarters know how the algorithm works. It’s a self learning machine, it’s way more complex than if you do X, then you get Y. So I think it’s really insane that a lot of people do. I have this business about how to trick the algorithm or something it doesn’t work like that.
So I hope this doesn’t come up as know-it-all or preachy or patronizing. I just hope my story, maybe was fun to listen to or give some insights into how your Instagram experience is. Also, something I want to add is that, above all the tips that I shared or all the things that I did, that I shared there’s a lot of luck into it, a lot of times, it’s being at the right place at the right time. I had no influence is over whether or not an accountant was checking me out or whether or not one of those magazines was going to share my home.
It was all up to luck, but you can kind of play into luck by being there and by trying to go after things you want to have so basically, it’s mostly about luck and all the earth tips are just supporting it’s too dead. So thank you for reading and thank you for following along also here on YouTube. I had a lot of fun working on this article and now I have a lot of fun getting into the editing and the filming site of making YouTube articles.
So if you have tips and tricks on that, let me know down below and also if you have tips and tricks about growing your Instagram audience, leave them also down below for me and for others to read. Also, my Instagram is linked down below. If you want to check out that I’m not just talking out of my ass about all of this, it’s real! I really did that. It’s not that interesting! Basically, but you can check it out down below.
I swear is a good time over there. So I’ll see you next week and till then stay cool. I don’t have a sign-off, so it’s basically see you next week. Bye
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