Instagram has become a major hub for businesses to showcase images of their items or business. I’m more of a visual person, so Instagram has become one of my favorite social media outlets.

I love interacting with other people through Instagram and gaining motivation and inspiration from the page as well. It’s very easy to make friends on this site because photos can show a lot about a person, and from there you are following them and learning more about their life.

I use Instagram as a way to gain friends, but also followers as well because of my business.

1. Post real photos.

What I mean by real photos, is personable photos that someone can relate to. In your caption area, write what the photo is about, how your day was, what you are struggling with. People like being able to relate to others. Post photos of your children, workouts, etc. People will relate to these photos and want to see more, in return they will follow you.

2. Stick to a theme.

If you’re Instagram is all over the place, there’s a higher chance that you won’t gain followers and you might even lose them. There was a reason that person followed you, so stick to a theme. That doesn’t mean if your theme is working that you can’t post pictures of your dogs or kids. People will also relate to that and find interest in that as well.

3. If you’re going to post hashtags, post them after you posted your caption.

This allows your reader to read your caption, and they are more likely to do so without 30 hashtags behind it. It’s less distracting and doesn’t seem like you’re trying to get followers so much.

4. Sometimes a photo doesn’t have to have 10 different edits to it.

Sometimes people just want a basic photo to get a real idea of it. I have a hard time looking at photos with a bunch of different edits to it, as well as too many colors or words on the picture. It’s quite distracting and makes me want to quickly jump away from the photo.

5. Last but not least, interact with your audience.

If someone posts on one of your photos, make sure to comment back. Better yet, check their Instagram page and see what they have posted. Like some of their pictures, and even comment on one to get more interaction going.

If you want to see my Instagram and see photos of my travels and weightloss progress, head to Fitalexiss.

Do you have an Instagram page? If you care about gaining followers, what do you do to gain?