I am doing a lot of Instagram research these days, because this social channel is exploding! A lot of fashionbloggers grow like crazy, like AnoukYve from Creators of Desire and of course Negin Mirsalehi, one of the influencers in my Blogtoday network.

I collected some Instagram tips for you, to improve your Instagram feed and gain more followers. Whether you’re a brand or a person: select the tips you can use.

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• 200 million users on Instagram and 75 million daily makes it necessary you post between 6 and 8 pics a day, divided over the day
• Use hashtags, but don’t overuse! Be creative and come up with your own hashtag and create competitions or challenges. Check hashtags that are popular and match your pic on Webstagram (for example if you should use the word pants or trousers)
• Like on all other social channels: follow others and talk to them, thank them for a comment or compliment. BE SOCIAL.
• Try to network with Instagrammers that have large followings, take a pic with them IRL and ask them to mention you. This all in a relevant, nice way of course, no #follow4follow
• Make sure your photofeed looks gorgeous and consistent. For example: always use the same subject, filter or underground like many foodbloggers do.
• Join brand hashtags to get them to feature you, like #drmartens They select the best pics daily and feature them. Levis does as well. Join wel known hashtags challenges like #ootd (outfit of the day)
• Check out the latest Instagram stats and see what you learn from them, and then apply to your Instagram behavior
• Do you already use Iconosquare  (formerly known as Statigr.am)? Find out what your loverate is, if it’s less than 1% you have to work harder. Engage and talk to people. Follow more (active) Instagrammers. Post more pics.
• Promote your Instagram account on your blog, Facebook, twitter etc. Do it weekly. Do it permanently with a button.
• Do you follow all your real friends on Instagram? Check out if they are there!

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Beneath you find my Iconosquare love- and talkrate. Keep in mind: I bought 1500 followers, if I would loose those accounts my love rate would be almost 2 percent. I tell clients that a loverate beneath 1 percent can mean the account bought followers. But it can also mean they do not engage, which is a pity also.

Did you also notice the ‘popular page’ changed and became the ‘explore’ page? No more Instagram most populars pics anymore, but pics that are within your interest, like the Facebook feed. The pics have something to do with your friends (or friends from friends), your used hashtags and your location. For people who are not big yet on Instagram and just create good pics or have a interesting life this is good news because they can grow faster. For the already popular ones this means less followers daily because your popular pic won’t be on the popular page.