How To Create The Perfect Instagram Gallery & Get More Followers!

Instagram has always been my favorite social media channel, hands down. In the last few months I’ve decided to take my Instagram account more seriously and in just about 3 months, I have gotten over 10,000 new followers and over 150,000 LIKES, which I’m pretty proud of! Instagram is slowly becoming the top social media channel with over 400,000,000 users and with the right amount of followers you can become an INSTAceleb and INSTAfamous and if you’re lucky, you can also possibly make money from it or make your business more successful. So how do you get a successful Instagram account going? It all starts and ends with your gallery.

My history with Instagram
I’ve had my Instagram account @hofitkimcohen, since the beginning of 2012, back when I had absolutely no idea what I was even doing or what the point of Instagram was. I would randomly upload photos, not get many likes and get mad. Up until a point where I decided to delete the app altogether, out of frustration. Over 6 months had past and I decided to give it another try because I always loved photography and knew that there is something special about this INSTAworld.

Now I have over 13,000 Instagram followers and average about 100 new followers a day, which makes me INSTAhappy! 😉

No, I didn’t buy any of my followers, if you’re wondering. I think it’s pointless and a waste of money if you ask me. Instagram will eventually figure out that they are fake and delete them and plus, buying followers will never get you real likes or really get you recognized for your beautiful photos.

So how can you do the same? I’ll give you a few tricks and tips, that I’ve learned along this crazy and long path on Instagram.

So what’s the Secret? 

I always wanted to know the secret to a successful Instagram account.

The truth is, it all comes down to how your gallery looks unless you’re already famous.

I used to think it was all about hashtags and liking people’s photos (which is a part of it) and then slowly started realizing that there is so much more to it than that. There is an actual pattern going on in all the successful Instagram accounts.

STEP 1: Pick a Theme

If there is one thing that successful Instagram accounts have in common, it’s that they all have a theme or some sort of pattern. Check out some of your favorite and most popular accounts on Instagram and you will see that they all have a theme or a pattern and try to figure out what it is.

I have accounts that I’m completely addicted to because I’m obsessed with their theme and photos. They sell me an inspiration and a dream on a daily base and if you want a successful Instagram account, it’s just what you gotta do.

A good theme is just enjoyable and dreamy to look at.

If you take a look at some of the most successful Instagram accounts, for example, some of my favorite: @tuulavintage @worldwanderlust @iamgalla and @tashoakley, they all have a theme and a pattern. 

Figure out your theme and work around it.

For example, if your Instagram account is about traveling, you can’t have 4 photos in a row of food because you’re then confusing your followers. But you can, however, have one photo of food, the next of landscape and then one of yourself at an awesome location.

There are hundreds of themes you can pick from, for example, some of the most popular themes are: travel, fashion, lifestyle, do-it-yourself, cooking, art, even a color theme is a theme.

STEP 2: Profile Photo is Everything!

Your profile photo is probably the most important thing to get people’s attention.

I can’t stretch it enough, how important it is to have a good high-quality photo as your default picture. You can have a beautiful gallery full of amazing photos and no one is ever going to see it because perhaps, your profile photo makes it look like an amateur account. People like following accounts that inspire them and that are interesting.

The picture you choose to be your profile photo is what will draw people’s attention and will give them their first impression of you and as we all know, just like in the real world, first impressions are everything. It’s what can completely break or make your account successful, so make sure it’s a great photo.

Pick a photo that best represents your brand or your personality. This photo needs to grab people’s attention in a matter of a second. Before picking your final photo to ask yourself, if I saw this photo would I be curious about this person and want to click on their account to view more photos? If the answer is no, then pick a better photo.

Spend some time editing or using a filter to perfect this photo.

I personally noticed that many successful accounts use a colorful photo with bright colors. So this is your moment to get creative and show off your talent and personality.

You gotta WOW people with your profile photo.

STEP 3: To Edit or To Filter? That is the Question

So one of the questions I get asked the most on Instagram is what filter do I use, the answer to that is, I actually don’t use any filters on my photos, I like to edit my own photos on the Instagram tool options and sometimes through other photo apps.

The Pros & Cons on Editing Your Own Photos:

The Pro: I think that editing your own photos without using a filter gives your photo a special effect that sometimes can’t be found on filters. I used to spend a lot of time trying to find the perfect filter for photos until I decided to just edit the photos on my own. I think editing your own photos allows you to use your creativity and is a lot more fun. I’m always amazed at my before and after photos.

The Con: It’s definitely a lot more time consuming than just simply adding a filter and uploading your photo.

Before                                              After 

The Pros & Cons of Using a Filter:

The Pro: Using a filter like I said above, literally takes just a few seconds and you’re done and ready to upload.

The Con: Using filters many times takes away from the quality and colors of the photos and you can sometimes spend a lot of time trying to find the right filter.

Overall it all depends on what kind of an Instagram account you’re actually looking to build, what kind of an audience you’re looking to attract and what you think works for you.

STEP 4: High-Quality Photos

Regardless of whether you’re going to use a filter or edit your photos good high-quality photos are everything in the world of Instagram.

People come to Instagram for inspiration and if you’re looking to grow your Instagram account, your gonna need to inspire people. Accounts like @beautifuldestinations got many of their followers from uploading amazing good high-quality photos, in fact, any successful Instagram account has good high-quality photos. No one likes to see a blurry photo, it’s just not appealing to the eye.

So there is 2 ways of going about this, one, you take photos on an actual camera and then upload it to your Instagram account, which is a bit time consuming, but still doable. The other option I like to use which is a lot quicker is taking photos on my iPhone 6 and then using the Instagram option in the editing called ‘Sharpen’, which gives your photo an illusion of a good quality photo. It seriously makes a HUGE difference on your photo. So play around with it on your next upload.

You should never upload a photo without editing it or adding a filter to it.

STEP 5: Brighten up those photos

Let’s face it, just like blurry photos aren’t appealing to the eye, neither are dark photos, so edit your photos and brighten them up! All successful Instagram accounts have beautiful bright photos.

STEP 6: Figuring out a color 

A great way to attract attention to your Instagram account is by figuring out what your color theme is. I personally love bright colorful photos, so I try to incorporate all the colors of the rainbow in my gallery. I’ve also seen people using pastel colors as part of their theme, some like to us earth colors like browns, tans, white and black and some accounts like using the washed out style for their theme. Figure out a color scheme and your account will attract more followers.

IF You’re Lucky…

You’ll get featured by Instagram-like my girls from @travelwritedraw or @worldwanderlust and get thousands of new followers overnight. So keep up the good work!

Now Go Have Some INSTAfun! 

Once you start getting all these things rolling, you might even get featured on bigger accounts. A few months back I was featured on a big successful account @DeluxeFX, who have 1.8 million followers. Which then can get you, even more, followers.

Instagram is a place to show off your creativity, to inspire and get inspired, so enjoy it and have fun with it. The more creative you are with your gallery the more followers you will attract your way.

Hope this helped and don’t forget to follow me on Instagram @hofitkimcohen or search Vanilla Sky Dreaming!

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