Today I am sharing my top five tips that I would say have really helped me over the years in growing my own homemaking instagram account. If you are seriously thinking of starting a homemaking instagram or just interested in ways to grow your account organically and authentically (regardless of your niche) then I recommend you hang tight, and read it all. But most importantly put it to the test!
1.) Find your community
This is my first tip because it’s just so important. Before you even start trying to grow in numbers my best piece of advice is to grow in community. Perhaps this a given and something you have already done, but follow several homemaking instagram accounts that inspire you, are in your “niche”, post similar content, and have the similar–if not the same–kind of target audience. You can find more “likeminded” gals through hashtags or browsing the “following/followers” of the people you already know of.
Once you’ve found them, then you should immediately (and for the rest of your time on instagram whether you are actively trying to grow or not haha) FOLLOW MY NUMBER #2 Step. It’s actually vital.
2.) Show yourself friendly!
The whole point of community is to support one another and build friendships. You won’t get to know anyone and no one will get to feel connected to you either if all you do is scroll past your favorite accounts and post on your own.
It’s gonna take more than posting a pretty photo to build those relationships.
Engage in the community – “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” totally applies here haha. Support the accounts that you love, big and small, with no expectations or motives. Be genuine in your interactions. Reply to their stories and start conversations. Liking is nice but take the time to leave comments on their content–and often! (People notice this! I know my people who are always going to comment and support in that way! I’ve made the sweetest connections because they are always so genuinely kind!) Be the best follower you can be haha. This could not be more rewarding. The connections this creates, the sweet support system, your lil hype squad, your friends!
Engage with your audience – Use every possible avenue that you can to connect with those that follow you. That might look like story polls, asking questions in your story, Q&A’s, or asking questions in your post. Anything to start and cultivate conversation. This allows your followers to build a relationship with you, which in turn, builds a valuable trust! If you are starting out with only a few followers, I know this might feel silly and pointless–but keep on keepin’ on and don’t close those doors to engagement and interaction!
You don’t wait to deliver quality content once you have X amount of followers. Post it now. Give those that find your account a reason to stay. You know the saying “Dress for the job you want?” well, post for the audience you want! You want an engaging audience? Open the door for those engaging people.
Speaking of delivering quality content….
3.) Deliver quality content
What is quality content? Content that is of value to your audience. Is it encouraging? Is it helpful? Is it relatable? Is it a call to action? Is it something they can learn from? Will it make their life easier? What can they take away?
Of course every post does not have to answer all of those (or any!) of those questions. It’s okay to just post a photo for fun and I encourage you to do plenty of that. But when you’re talking about drawing people in and building an audience, you want them to feel they are invited and welcome. That this corner is for them too. So give to them and make sure you are incorporating those valuable posts into your feed and stories.
So what does “Quality Content” look like for a homemaking instagram?
Consider the content you are drawn to as a homemaker. What do you love about your favorite homemaking instagram accounts?
(Interrupting this program for an important side note: Please don’t ever copy. It’s totally rude and absolutely a form of stealing. Copying is not the same as taking inspiration. Sometimes you might accidentally do the same things and that’s okay–but make sure you are staying true to you and are genuine in whatever you are creating.)
*Alright now back to business*
Some examples of turning your everyday into “Quality Content” look like….
+ Your Hobbies/Interests – How to do them, resources for where they can get started/learn, your projects, your progress, your goals, your routine, what you love about what you do/make, where you get your materials for a good deal — the list could go on, again these are just ideas, but brainstorm for more!
+ Your Routines/Schedules – How do you plan your day? Do you have a special morning routine? And evening routine? What are your daily essentials? Do you have a cleaning routine that you follow? Also just sharing your everyday moments is sweet and special!
+ Your Food – How do you budget for groceries? How do you meal plan? Meal prep? How do you grocery shop for the best deals? Grocery hauls, weekly meals, what you eat in a day, what your children eat in a day, their favorite snacks, your favorite snacks, recipes for your go to meals or favorite bakes!
+ Your Thoughts – What are you learning? What are you experiencing? What’s a quote that inspires you? A mindset or perspective shift? Sharing your thoughts and musings is wonderful way for your audience to get to know your heart.
+ Your Home – Share your favorite spaces, share links for things, share your favorite tips/hacks for homemaking, decluttering/organization, how you make home inviting…
+ Your Family – Do you homeschool? What are your favorite learning resources? Favorite crafts? Favorite books? Date night ideas? Things you’ve found helpful in your marriage? Your family’s favorite rainy day activities? Share a day in the life, your favorite spots in a vacation town, what’s in your diaper bag…
+ You – Your favorite books, your favorite drinks, your OOTD’s, your favorite tv shows, your favorite music — anything where your audience can get to know as a friend!
You can share as much or as little as you want. You can even hone in one one (or more!) of these categories if you feel passionately about them. The possibilities are endless. But the important part is that you stay authentic and true to you, your family, and your everyday.
4.) Posting your content
Show up! Be in your follower’s feeds/story bar. It doesn’t have to be every day but it should be often enough that they can get to know you and don’t forget you exist.
Be consistent. If scheduling posts is what would work for you than go for it. But it doesn’t have to be scheduled, just predictable. That you’re going to show up this day or this week. It also totally helps push you up in the algorithm to post around the same time each day–so it’s a win, win!
Use hashtags! You can use up to 30 hashtags per post so utilize that! That’s 30 avenues where you can be found. But avoid using hashtags that are too generic like “red” or “livingroom” you want to use hashtags that are geared towards your target audience like “howihome” or “simplehomestyle” (these are just examples that are common homemaking instagram tags haha). Pay attention to what hashtags your favorite/larger accounts use (you’ll notice they use very specific ones) and maybe “collect them” by saving them in your phone’s note app for later!
5.) The most important thing outta this whole post…
This sounds discouraging but I just gotta be real and say it — You won’t be where you want to be overnight, no matter how good your content is. Building a relationship with your audience takes time. Finding your groove with posting takes time. Finding how you like to edit takes time (and this will change and evolve over that time for the better, by the way!), people finding your account takes time. It takes time to come up with content. It takes time to capture the content, to edit the content, to post the content. It all takes time. So enjoy the time that it takes.
Don’t sit around and wait to grow, actively grow. How can you improve your photos/editing? Learn more about hashtags and using story stickers. Listen to podcasts that are encouraging and give advice for growing your social media presence. Read pinterest posts on working with brands. Learn and always be learning. In whatever ways and areas that you can!
Also don’t wait to be perfect or for your content to be perfect. Because no one is perfect. No one’s home is perfect. No one’s life is perfect. And those accounts/ladies that may seem that way, have worked (and do work) hard behind the scenes to learn the art of content creating and how to present their work beautifully. Everyone starts somewhere, or they get nowhere. Don’t hold yourself back. Go for it, girl.
If it all sounds like work–that’s because it absolutely is! But it can be really, really, really, really fun too! So make sure that you don’t do it for the numbers. You’ll quite quickly burn yourself out and get discouraged. Do it because you enjoy it and have fun with it!
If you are truly enjoying what you do and what you are creating, then this, my friend, is the utmost success!
This is so helpful as someone aspiring to create a ministry on Instagram!