I have a million reasons to be thankful, but waking up to 20k Instagram followers on Thanksgiving morning was definitely a highlight. I’ve been waiting close to 3 years to hit that milestone, so it was especially exciting that it happened on Thanksgiving. In honor of 20k, here are 20 ways to grow your own Instagram following.

1. Engage, engage, engage. The more you engage on other people’s pages, the more others will engage with yours.
2. Like and comment on photos of people currently following other bloggers or fashion pages that are similar to yours.
3. Comments are more effective than likes. Proven.
4. Put some thought into your comments. Try responding to captions or specific outfit details rather than simply leaving a heart emoji or something completely unoriginal like, “Cool.”
5. Start taking note of the best times to engage. I’ve found that I receive the most followers when I engage in the afternoon and late at night before bed.
6. Post consistently and often. The more you post, the more Instagram helps your photos be seen.
7. The better your photos, the more people will want to follow you.
8. In addition to the quality of your photos, the more cohesive your feed looks, the more followers you’ll get.
9. Use trending or more esoteric hashtags, like #thatsdarling and #pursuepretty. Hashtags like #fashion and #outfit are great too, but they’re so overused that your photo will get buried in seconds.
10. Geotag your photos. This gives people another way to find you.
11. Join a comment pod where you and some of your blogger friends notify each other every time you post a photo so everyone can go leave a like and comment.
12. Work with brands. A lot of times they’ll repost which will give you lots of exposure.
13. Tag brands even if you’re not working with them… yet. They may just repost which will give you exposure and could be the start of a very amazing working relationship.
14. Tag popular Instagram accounts that repost photos, like @ootdpage and @the_real_outfit.
15. Host giveaways. Either join a loop giveaway or have a brand sponsor a giveaway. Require anyone who enters to follow your profile and tag friends.
16. Promote your Instagram on your blog and other social media sites.
17. Do a photoshoot with other bloggers. When the other bloggers post the photos, you’ll be exposed to their followers who may very well end up following you too.
18. See what types of photos your followers respond best to and post more of that. Do they like #bts shots, outfit photos, flatlays? If you don’t know, ask them.
19. Promote your photos. Sometimes you have to put in money to see the growth.
20. Make friends with social media managers. Connections are everything, after all.

OUTFIT BREAKDOWN:
Navy Turtleneck: Banana Republic (c/o)
Navy Pleather Skirt: Zara
Navy Bag: The Cambridge Satchel Company (c/o)
Leopard Booties: Coach

Hair Credit: Olya Iudina
Photo Credit: Sophie Sahara

xx Esther