HOW TO GROW ON INSTAGRAM AS A BOUDOIR PHOTOGRAPHER
Growing your Instagram following can be a challenge but with a little time and effort you can gain a cult following that will grow your boudoir photography business.
Your Instagram Bio
First of all pimp up your bio and use it to your benefit. Your bio on Instagram should mention what you do. This helps people find you. Your user name and description name can be different. My user name is @CoutureBoudoir but my description name is “LuxuryBoudoir Photographer”. I have it this way because potential clients may search for this as a key phrase. Some photographers put their city first Example “Lake Park Boudoir Photographer”. You can also switch this and make your user name the key phrase you want to be found for.
Post every day
Post daily and be consistent: there are many apps to schedule posts, if you can’t log on every day at least use an app to post once a day. The best time to post is early in the morning or after 6 pm. Sundays are prime days and Friday and Saturday are the least productive. There are also apps that can help you find the best time to post per your demographic.
Create content
As a boudoir photographer, I know the struggle to find content to post because so many clients want to keep their images private. A tip for this is every time you have a client shoot take detailed photos of their lingerie and shoes to use to post. When I do have permission to use a client’s photos I will spread them out over time and may use a similar pose from their shoot but weeks or months later. If you get down to not having anything to post you can always regram a lingerie brand or similar brand to your own. Just be sure to give proper credit. Have an assistant shoot behind-the-scenes footage of you shooting to use on your reels. These can be multipurpose and used on other social platforms such as TikTok.
Use hashtags
Use hashtags that fit your brand or post. Keep your hashtags simple and try to create unique hashtags. Broad hashtags are okay but won’t get you the target market you want to reach. Specifically targeted hashtags are better for attracting your ideal follower. Popular hashtags such as “love” and “happiness” are used so much that posts move quickly down the feed and are rarely seen. Specific hashtags are more likely to be searched by your target client. Use hashtags specific to your brand and your ideal client so they can find you.
Create unique hashtags
Create a hashtag specific to your brand or business name and ask people to use it when posting your images. Try to create a hashtag that has not been used yet and make it your own.
Like and comment
Like other people’s posts and leave comments on their posts as well, this is a good and fast way to gain and keep followers.
No Ghosts Allowed
I would recommend not doing “paid for” followers or ghost followers, they will eventually be deleted and then you will lose them. It just doesn’t look good to lose all your followers or at least a good chunk of them. Plus savvy IG’ers can tell when you have an abundance of fake followers by your likes and comments. There should be at least a ten percent ratio per follower count. Anyhow, the point is to have followers that may become clients or at least can help you get clients. Fake followers won’t get you far.
Tag brands/people when possible
Tag related brands and/or clients when posting. Say you are posting a photo of a client wearing a bra from @forloveandlemons be sure to tag them and maybe give them a mention. Some brands will regram or return the favor. Not all clients will want to be tagged, be sure to find out before you tag them. Ask clients to tag you anytime they share their images and to use your unique brand hashtag. Ask for shout-outs in return for shout-outs from similar brands. This is a great way to grow followers with the same interests as your brand.
Share your posts on other platforms
Share your posts to Facebook and Twitter and other social media. I actually have received a significant amount of following on FB and Twitter just by sharing from IG. It also helps to keep all my social media more active. I also get more retweets by sharing than posting directly to Twitter.
Include a “call to action” in your post
Every now and then include a “call to action”: something like “tag a friend” or “check out our blog”. Every Tuesday I do #tushytuesday and ask people to tag a friend that has a great Tushy. These are some of my most popular posts. Many of my clients say these are their favorite posts. Create a post you can do every week that you know your clients will love with a correlating hashtag. If you write a great blog post and want to direct people there do a “call to action” and be sure to direct them to your link in the bio and don’t forget to change the link to go straight to your blog post. Don’t self-promote every single post, it gets old and honestly, would you want to follow someone who self promotes all the time?
Spam comments
If you get a lot of spam comments from your hashtags you can block them by going to the settings on Instagram and under comments click hide inappropriate comments, then type in the custom keywords that you want to hide/block. This saves time for deleting these unwanted comments.
Just a few more tips:
- Think about the people you love to follow and why. Emulate what they are doing right. Not copy per se but follow their lead. There are many great Instagram accounts out there to follow by example and they do not need to be a boudoir or even a photographer’s IG to be good for inspiration.
- Be sure to follow Instagram’s rules for what you post. No nipple, and no private parts. You don’t want to do all the work to get a stellar following and then get deleted without even a warning. Yes, it has happened to some pretty amazing photographers that had huge followings. Just be careful what you post and you should be fine.
- Contests and model calls are also a great way to build your following and maybe even some additional bookings. Keep a lookout for this topic as a separate post coming soon.
- Use dropbox or a similar app to easily get boudoir photos on your phone or mobile device so you can post regularly (if you are not using a scheduling app). I do both and sometimes schedule and sometimes post manually. Dropbox makes it super convenient to post from my phone or iPad. I also have different accounts for personal and business – wedding and boudoir photography. I have folders in dropbox for each IG account and I delete the photo after I post so I do not by mistake post the same photo again.
Here are a few of the most popular scheduling apps:
Extras:
- Create an IGTV feed.
- Post Instagram stories every day.
- Post Reels every day.
- Get featured on other accounts.
- Use the @ to the person when commenting on people’s posts.
- Thank people for commenting on your photos.
- Reach out to influencers to get promoted.
Thanks for taking the time to check out this post! Hope you will come to follow my journey on Instagram @coutureboudoir
If there is anything I forgot and you want to add please do so in the comments. If you have any additional questions post in the comments and I will happily answer. Thanks!