OMG – Be as Popular as a Teenage Girl on #instagram

Here’s the big unveiling of the newest Instagram strategy – act like a teenage girl by doing the following:

1 Be attractive so you get lots of boys hollering at ya and girls saying “you’re so pretty” in comments

2 Take pictures of your fingernails painted up all pretty; it’s an easy 1000 likes for the good ones.

3 Dress in scantily clad outfits or bikinis so you can get horny old men worked up, you’ll make the popular page

4 Be rude, don’t reply to most other commenters, and fill your feed with annoying shout outs of other “cool” people.

Follow this advice and you’ll be a Instagram super user in no time!

Wait, what? You can’t implement any of these foolproof strategies?

Oh gosh, I forgot, those tactics only work for teenage girls and there aren’t too many of those in the So Genius audience. People might laugh at us if we tried any of that crap… although I know we have plenty of attractive readers here! It’s ok, you don’t have to flaunt it because I’ve got a few other tips and ideas on how to build an engaging instagram fan base.

Tools of the Trade

Vincent Van Gogh only had a paintbrush and a canvas. Let’s face it, we’re not VVG! I’m by no means a professional photographer, but with the help of editing apps, I’ve been able to create some wicked awesome scenes. I highly suggest dropping $3-$4 on a “pro” app because you’ll get effects and editing power not found in most freebies. My two favorite Android apps are Pic Say Pro and Pics Play Pro (eerily similar names, I know). Look at some before and after shots, I was amazed at what could be done.

If you’re not willing to skip your Starbucks Latte, there are a few adequate free ones, as well. Little Photo, Pics Art, and Be Funky can all add some pizzazz to your photos. Since I’m not a cool kid with an iPhone, we’re asking the apple readers to help by adding suggestions in the comments below.

Tag, You’re it

The first thing you’ll notice on Instagram is that it’s more tag happy than even Twitter… and some of them are even awkward! Did you think you’d ever tag #skyporn or #cloudporn to anything, ever? I didn’t either, but if some people get their jollies from sky shots, I’m happy to help provide material for them. The one group and tag(s) I’d most recommend revolve around the #gang_family. For a full breakdown, visit their website here. The concept is really cool. There are a number of different tags to suit your style, some more popular than others, but a great way to get exposure when you’re starting out. My favorites are #skystyles_gf #landscapestyles_df and #floralstyles_gf. Also, there are contests and daily themes run through #gf_daily and the other affiliated groups. Oh, and btw, the actual member photos will blow you away.

Attract Followers

Once you’ve got the hang of tweaking your photo’s and feel their “like-worthy,” you’ll want to develop a follower base that appreciates this. While I can’t say this is an original strategy, any variation of it is rather effective. It stems from a post I read on Paul Steinbrueck’s blog about the plan Steve Bretzke implemented with his IG. You can read the post here for FULL breakdown, but here are the cliff notes. Steve goes to the popular page, finds similar themed photos to his own, and then follows 50-100 of the igers(Instagramers) who have just like those particular photos. It’s a sound idea, because you know they’re active and online. Then I spoke with a spectacular photographer in his own right, Ryan J. Zeigler, who altered it just a bit. Ryan targets commenters on the popular pics because he’d rather have engaging followers – makes sense to me! You’ll get some riff-raff and you’ll probably end up unfollowing quite a few annoying accounts. But when it’s all said and done, you need as large of a follower base as you can get if you want to get noticed.

Cue the LMFAO Music

Everyday I’m Instagrammin! Forget the shuffling… I love IG. It’s probably not for everyone, especially if you don’t appreciate art or you’re not a teenage girl (j/k). DON’T FORGET iPhone’rs; please add your favorite editing apps for apple devices. Now it’s your turn. Are you Instagrammin daily? Is it as cool as I make it out to be or overhyped? What other ideas can we add for Instagram Success?