Instagram Ebook PDF

READ THIS
IF YOU
WANT TO
GROW YOUR
INSTAGRAM
FOLLOWING
PAGE TI TLE : description of page
C O N T E N TS :
I N T R O _ L E T M E T E L L YO U A B O U T M Y S E L F
S E C T I O N 1_ CO M M U N I T Y
S E C T I O N 2_ C R E AT E CO N T E N T YO U R CO M M U N I T Y
W I L L LO V E
S E C T I O N 3_ W H AT T H E H E L L D O I P O S T ?
S E C T I O N 4_ D R I V I N G G R O W T H
S E C T I O N 5_ M A K E YO U R F E E D B E AU T I F U L
S E C T I O N 6_ C R E AT I N F T H E P E R F E C T P O S T
S E C T I O N 7_ L E V E R A G I N G YO U R CO M M U N I T Y
S E C T I O N 8_ B U I L D I N G YO U R F O L LO W E R S
S E C T I O N 9_ G A I N I N G YO U R F I R S T 10,000 F O L LO W E R S
S E C T I O N 10_ E A R N M O N E Y O N I N S TA G R A M
S E C T I O N 11_ L I G H T S , C A M E R A A N D A C T I O N
O U T R O _ H E L LO I S I T M E YO U ’ R E LO O K I N G F O R ?
© 2017 Instagram Marketing Manual • www.growyourclicks.com © 2017 Instagram Marketing Manual • www.growyourclicks.com
I n t ro I ’ l l l e t yo u in o n a secret :
The great est wa y t o mast er Inst agram is t o It ’s t he community who love what you ’re
b uild a community. N o t a f ollowing. doing t hat dr ives t he success of your business.
So you would like to double your Instagram following? You can work your ass off to produce your best work, but
it doesn’t matter without the people that care about your
Why? vision, the people that you are helping and the people who
love your opinion.
Increase your sales? How do you make more sales? Open up new doors? Get your
Do you think it will increase traffic to your website? content in front of the right eyes.
So you can brag to your mates that you’re ‘instafamous’?
If this is your goal then please stop reading now as you will I know some of you reading this are doers. You just love
fail miserably. to get down and dirty and work on your designs. You’re
talented. You’re marvelous at what you do. And if I
Whatever your real reason is. Let me tell you from personal want to try and imitate your designs, I’ll probably fail
experience that Instagram can alter the entire trajectory of spectacularly.
your brand, business, or blog. And in most cases even your
life. So this little ebook is for you. It’s aimed at creatives but
can be used by anyone and applied towards whatever your
It may seem ridiculous that sharing a few images here and goals or niche may be.
there can have the potential to blow things out of the water
and change your life but let me tell you it 100% can and You’ve got a vision but now you need the community and
will. content strategy to guide you.
And there’s no better place to build your community than
Instagram.
B e fore we di ve i n to H ow I w e n t f ro m zero t o
the n it t y g r i t t y, le t me 6 0 0 k f o l l ow e r s in l i t t l e
te ll yo u abou t myself ove r a y e a r.
and how I came abou t I’m Dave the founder of a 600k creative network, a community
g row ing o n e of the of designers. My 600k network is split across multiple
biggest de si gn n et works
Instagram accounts all in the creative niche. It all started when
I created my first Instagram account UIdesignpatterns in late
o n Instag ra m. . . 2015 out of my parents home in Dublin, Ireland. All I had was
one Instagram account. No website. No business cards. No
logo. No nothing. I had an idea and a goal.
I started an amazing community. And to this day, even though

I’ve set up profitable websites, sold products and setup online
courses around business and growth – my business still
remains primarily a community of individuals...you guys.
Because UIdesignpatterns was never about me to start with. It

was always about the designers and showcasing their beautiful
UI designs. And that’s what I was passionate about – designers
and creatives using their skills to live out their passion.
What I love is people and design (I’m a designer and a digital
marketer by day).
© 2017 Instagram Marketing Manual • www.growyourclicks.com

I want people
to realise their
dreams and convert
their skills into a
sustainable living.
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Starting from zero followers, the UIdesignpatterns Instagram
community started to take a life of its own:
In 6 months I grew to 60k followers

In 16 months I had over 200k followers.
Each post averages between 2,000
likes to 12,000 likes alone.
Each video receives between 25,000
views to over 80,000 views
But you’ve got to remember that these are more than figures.
After all, these days you can buy 25,000 fake followers off the
internet for $50.
My following are real, genuine, engaging people part of a
community I built. I’ve made personal friendships from
Instagram and that is what is so amazing about Instagram.
For mul a
Once I f igured out t he magic f or mula t o
growing an Inst agram community I sim pl y
creat ed multiple accounts and t est ed it ou t.
Heres the thing..
It worked.
What took me 6 months to get to 60K followers now took

me 3 months and I was getting better and better with each
account.
The thing is, what I did with UIdesignpatterns was

nothing groundbreaking, I’ve replicated the formulae and
created other communities in Typography, Fashion, and
other creative niches. As you read on you’ll find out that
Instagram is truly just about finding your community and
connecting with them relentlessly through images and
your authentic voice. Easy peasy.

So wha t exac tly i s of followers, you can actually earn money from your
Instagram without needing to buy Instagram followers
th i s I nsta gram th i n g , anymore. Some people make their living traveling the
world, taking pictures and sharing their adventures with
anywa y? their followers. If you want to join them, download the
Instagram app, and keep reading.
Even if you’ve never used Instagram before, chances are
you’ve seen someone’s else’s feed, or been exposed to
Instagram images somewhere on the web. Instagram’s
ubiquitous square images are everywhere, usually layered
with various filters to really bring the photographs to life.
At its core, Instagram is a photo-taking and photo-

sharing app. You can take photographs from your phone
or tablet, add filters to create interesting effects, or create
collages of multiple images, then add a caption and share it
online.
You can follow other people’s “feeds” to see the images

they post, and your friends and family can follow your feed
to like and comment on all your images.
Most people just use Instagram to share their everyday

snaps with friends and family, but some people get
really savvy. If you create a great feed and gather lots
If you build it they will come.
SECTION .1
So how do you build a community of people from nothing
or double, even triple what you already have now?
Like anything else in life, you’ve got to chase after the things
COMMUNITY you badly want. Nobody will come knocking on your door
offering you money.
Don’t ever leave it to luck.

Don’t wait for your community to magically start following
you. It’s not a simple case of creating beautiful content and
waiting for your community to congregate around you.
Instagram is not a game of luck or being ‘discovered’. You
need to hook your community and reel them in.
But David I don’t know who the people in my community

are? But David where do I start? You’ve got to know exactly
who your community is to chase after them, right?
So many people lose time trying to craft the perfect idea of

who their audience is. But the simple truth is this:
You already have a community.
Think about it. Really think about it.
Who cares the most about your product, business, blog or
brand? Who wants to see you succeed more than anyone else? E s t a b l is hin g yo u r
Who will give up a portion of their money for your vision?
c o m m u nit y.
The answer is....YOU
So now you know who your community is, it’s time to
establish who they are. If you want to talk to them, you
You represent everything about the vision you are creating.
need to know where they spend their time on Instagram.
Have a look around you.

Ask yourself these questions:
Who are the people who encourage you?
Who are the types of people who have the same interests as you?
Who are my community following on Instagram?
Who has a similar personality and style?
When I started Uidesignpatterns, I was working as UI

This is where it gets fun. Because all these people you know are
designer and noticed that there were no decent UI design
part of your community. And these people know other people
accounts on Instagram. I love UI design and wanted to
just like you. And those people know even more people.
post other amazing designs that I found inspirational. In
Believe it or not, your community is enormous.
fact, I realised I was passionate about the people and the
designers who loved their designers so much that they
When you understand your community so well, it’s simple to
couldn’t help but share it with the world.
give them value with the content you create. This is how you
grow a community – by living, thriving and being so deeply
embedded in the minds of your community.
After all, you are your community.

A c t io n a b l e s t e p s :
S T E P 1 Find the community accounts your community follows
S T E P 2 Interact and engage with the people who follow these

accounts.
Exa mple:
When I first started UIdesignpatterns, I knew I wanted it to be Wha t # ha s h t a g s d o es
a community of UX/UI designers, graphic designers, creative
entrepreneurs, and makers. From here I could decide on the
my c o m m u n it y u s e ?
types of accounts that my community follows on Instagram.
Once you’ve found your people, don’t be afraid to do a little
primary research.
I would target the top accounts in that niche such as @dribbble
or @behance as I knew the people following those accounts
Find out what kind of content they post. The ones that get
would be more likely to follow me back and help me build my
the most likes and the types of unique hashtags they use.
community quicker.
S T E P 1 Explore content that people in your community are
uploading to their feeds. Take note of any unique
hashtags that commonly pop up.
S T E P 2 Now start planting the seeds. Interact and engage with

these photos. Like, comment, compliment and spread
© 2017 Instagram Marketing Manual • www.growyourclicks.com the love!
Exa mple: When you engage with your
For UIdesignpatterns, as I began exploring my community, community on Instagram,
I stumbled upon related design accounts and designers in
the creative niche. The design community is quite a large all your efforts should
community and made up of a lot of different areas such as
graphic design, typography, animation, crafts, art, illsutaration be genuine. So only like
etc. So to get starting point I searched for the #uidesign. I then
chose one of the most popular photos in that # and looked at
someone’s photo because
what other #’s this user was adding to their content. It turns
outs that along with #uidesign this account was using the
following:
you really do like it. Try and
#ui #dribbble #ux #design #webdesign #graphic #uidesign
#userinterface #minimal #graphicdesignui #inspiration #interface
bring valuable feedback to
#appdesign #digital #graphicdesignuiweb #app #graphicdesign
#creative #webdesigner #userexperience #uxdesign
peoples posts and not just
#designinspiration #dribbblers #uxigers #dailyinspiration
#uitrends #graphicdesignui.
the generic “Great post”
people see through that
This gave me more than enough to work with going forward.
I find that the more you engage, the more people want to give
back to you. You’ll gain new followers, see a spike in likes and and only follow someone
comments. Because when you engage with others, they want to
know more about you in return. because you genuinely want
to follow their work.
C O M M O N I N S TAG R A M Travel: Some of the most popular Instagram feeds follow
NICHES ARE: travel adventures.

Business: A feed showcasing the different products or
services of a particular business. You can also repost
Fitness: Fitness ladies and gents will take daily selfies to images from others.
showcase their fitness workouts and food choices.
Food: Posting beautifully-style food images, whether

Fashion: Fashionable ladies and gents will take daily selfies they’re from a restaurant or your own kitchen.
to showcase their styling skills, and might also post close-
ups of jewelry or makeup looks. Business: Use your Instagram to promote an existing
business, by posting pictures relating to your products
Makeup: Similar to fashion (and often done in tandem), a and services. You can mix this up with fun memes that
makeup Instagram showcases makeup hauls, new looks, appeal to your customers, reposting customers pics, and
tutorials, and color swatches. competitions.
Decor / Design: An interior design feed could be a mix time City guides: What’s happening in your city? Many
of your own room makeovers, DIY tutorials, products, and instagrammers snap away while they’re out and about in
inspirational images. their own backyards.
Niche: Create a feed focused around a simple theme, and There are Instagram communities for all kinds of interests
pull together a mix of your own images and reposts of and subjects. Have a look around at other big-name
images on other feeds and websites. Instagrammers and see how they approach your theme.
Don’t be afraid to borrow ideas (but don’t copy them) to
Pets: If your pet has a particularly crazy personality, you create your own insta-success plan.
could set them up with their ownInstagramm feed and
chronicle their adventures. As your theme informs all your decisions moving forward,
from the name of your account to what you post about,
When I first started my Instagram @UIdesignpatterns I
had goals. I wanted to hit 10,000 followers and then when I
SECTION .2
hit that I wanted 100,000 followers and then 200,000. Now
my goal is 500,000.
What I leanred along the way is make it about the numbers.
CREATE Make it about the value you can offer. I’ve seen accounts
with over a million followers who are only getting 1%
engagament on their posts while I see accounts with
CONTENT
50,000 followers receiving 25% engagement. What was
this account doing differently? It was creating contnetn
and offering VALUE to its community.
YOUR
Each time you put up a photo or image on Instagram ask
yourself “Will this post bring value to my community?”
Would I engage with this content?
COMMUNITY What one person perceives to be valuable and useful, can

be absolutely redundant to another. That’s why you’ve got
to know your community so well.
WILL LOVE You need to know what they value and more importantly
how you can help your community.
The best business ideas solve a problem. They make our

lives easier. Or it simply alleviates a di culty in our lives.
It doesn’t matter how big or small, the best way to speak to your It finally clicked, I can use UIdesignpatterns to
community is to seek out their problems and nd a way to solve help with them grow their exposure.
it.
Before you post on Instagram, ask yourself this one
How can I help my question:
community? Am I helping my community grow their own following and

gain exposure?
First, identify what problem you need to solve.
If the answer is a no then don’t post.
Let’s go back to UIdesignpatterns. When I thought about
my community, freelance designers, creatives, artists, and Creating value doesn’t always have to come from a video
entrepreneurs – what was a problem or a need that I could use or an image. The thing about Instagram is that it’s a social
visual media to solve? platform. You can use your unique captions to talk to your
community. You can create a #hashtag or repost pictures
Freelance designers and creatives are great at creating and from your community. You can start a discussion or a
doing. But more often than not it’s a lonely journey. These meetup.
passion designers are doing everything themselves. Not only are
they designers, but they need to become salespeople, marketers, Everything has a function.
logistics handlers and admin monkeys all in one.
And this is where it all clicked. My community uses Instagram to

generate more exposure and to grow their own community.
S T E P 1 Write down who your community is 140 characters and
My community needs more exposure. what are their problems.
S T E P 2 What is one way you can help your community, even

better if you can think of more than one?
Wo r k in p ro g re s s
There’s something strangely gratifying about seeing how
SECTION .3
something came to be. Don’t be worried about letting your
community into your world every now and then. Give them
insights into your workspace, maybe something new you’re
working on or the tools you’re using to make the magic happen.
WHAT
Sharing is caring.
THE HELL
SHOULD
I POST
What insp i res you ? : S t a r t a # c ha l l e ng e
What inspires YOU to work? Tink outside the box. It could just A great way to get your community engaged is by creating a
be something refreshing you saw on your Instagram feed and #challenge. @ welovewebdesign does a great job of this (see below)
you just want to reshare it. It could be something that you
snapped on your way to the coffee shop. What was the last piece
of content you saw that inspired you or got your creative juices
flowing?
Co ntests. S ha r in g is c a r ing ( Repo st s)
Giveaways or contests are amazing. Give stuff away, not because For me, the most significant way to give value back to your
you want a bunch of followers in return but because you want community is by sharing or reposting their content. So make a
to give value back to your community. Because when you give, fuss about them! Repost something of theirs or repost photos
people will start talking about you, spreading the word and that your customers or followers have taken of your work. Tag
helping you grow your community in return. Double win. them and tell them how much you love their stuff in the caption.
Trust me a simple share will make their day. Imagine how happy
@juho.co was when he was tagged in @logoinspirations post.
S how o f f you r work
Every now and then share what you’ve done. Allow your
community a way to give back to you.
Think back to when you had a great conversation with
a friend. Chances are that the conversation wasn’t one-
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sided. It’s a verbal ping-pong of questions, answers
and mutual stimulation. It always results in a deeper
understanding of the other persons involved.
DRIVING Everything we’ve discussed on Instagram is still very much

you directing the conversation.
GROWTH
But the best directors are the ones that can make the
most anxious person feel at ease to speak. Because when
someone feels relaxed enough to speak, they feel valued.
They feel as if their opinions and voice matters.
When you can get your community engaging back with

you, they feel like they are a part of something bigger.
They feel part of a community.
Cre ate yo u r own hash ta g A s k Q u e s t io ns
You can create your own unique hashtag and convince your My favourite way of engaging with my community is to simply
followers to use it. It doesn’t have to be directly related to ask a question. Make sure the question you’re asking is relevant
your brand either. Some of the best hashtags I have seen to your community otherwise they won’t engage. You will find
on Instagram focus on bringing content together using a that by doing so your community will engage with each other as
movement hashtag like @goodtype #goodtypetuesday below. a result.
Encourage discussion
among your followers
Presuming you are only one person, the truth is you just can’t
reply to all of your comments, mentions or follow back all the
people who have followed you.
Here’s the greatest difference between a community and a

following:
For a following, you will always be driving the pack. It is you

who will be starting conversations and communicating with
your audience. The truth is they only engage when you engage.
On the flip side, a community is a shared property. Everybody
owns the stage. Everybody can be part the community and start
a conversation.
So if you want your community to feel like they are actually part
of something, you need to get them talking between themselves.
Take a peek at the following examples to see how you can start a
discussion instead of a simple conversation.
9 engaging questions # 1 : G e t P e r s o na l
to ask your Instagram Ask your followers to share how, where, or when they use or
represent your brand within their Instagram posts. This is an
community opportunity for your followers to combine their goals of self-
expression with brand-specific passion, and delivers you with
some awesome UGC that you can repurpose in the future. Make
People engage with one another on Instagram over shared sure to provide a hashtag for people to use, so that the posts are
experiences. They want to drive responses on their own posts, all collected in one place.
and to respond in turn to the posts on their feed that delight
them the most.
#2: Q & A
In order to harness this same type of engagement around
branded posts, the incorporation of actionable captions and Ask your followers if they have any questions about your brand,
commentary will drive the high-quality engagement that a product, or industry. Providing a well-executed Q&A forum
simple visual stops just short of achieving. gives your followers a sense of importance and the opportunity
to learn more about your brand; it also allows them to indirectly
It’s time to go beyond the ‘double tap’. There are 10 types divulge ways in which they’d like it to improve, and provides
of questions you can ask your community to drive max you with insight into what areas you should focus on providing
engagement with your Instagram posts. informational content around.
# 3 : Tr iv ia o r G a m e s
Sometimes the easiest way to engage with your customers is
with a simple trivia question or action-driven quiz to complete
for fun. For example, ask followers to comment with their guess
on what year your account was created.
# 4 Ta g a Fri e n d # 7: R e q u e s t f o r Tips/Input
People go on social networks to connect with friends, so why not Asking your followers for help, advice, or feedback reinforces
have them connect over your post? Asking a user to tag a friend their loyalty to your account and drives engagement that can
over a shared experience, event, or personal preference is an span multiple social channels, depending on what you ask.
easy way to drive a conversation thread between like-minded
users in your following.
# 8 : Fil l -I n-The -B l a nk
# 5 : Co nversati on Star te r ____ is my favourite designer? Fill-in-the-blank is similar
to other trivia and survey questions, except the answer is more
restricted. Make sure your fill-in-the-blank is niche-related;
The best conversation starters are ones that are culturally
let your followers do the rest of the work by commenting their
relevant, or tangentially related to your community. A question
answer and tagging their friends to make it a group game. And
that references something of interest to your community can
as always, make sure to include a hashtag for your followers to
jumpstart a threaded conversation that reinforces affinity and
spread the word for you.
builds a sense of community between your followers.
# 9 : S u r p r is e & D e l i gh t
# 6 : Quic k Su r vey Nothing gets people talking faster than a lifestyle hypothetical.
Ask your followers something that gets their imagination
going- think dream vacation ideas, alternate career
Ask your followers to show how they engage with your account.
possibilities, or ten year plans.
In doing this, you are both encouraging UGC creation and
receiving free, unsolicited data on why they love your account in
the first place- double win.
The first impression is everything. They say don’t judge a
book by its cover but for me, the cover of the book needs to
SECTION .5
stand out for me to pick it up.
Your Instagram is no different. Instagram is all about

aesthetics. It’s how you tie your feed together by posting
MAKE beautiful images that captivate your audience.
Aesthetics attracts people. And through that initial
YOUR
attraction, you can then impress your community with
value.
Designing a gorgeous Instagram feed is a way to feed your
FEED
own creativity. Your feed is a way for you to be constantly
challenging yourself and building something that you can
stand over and be proud of.
BEAUTIFUL
To have a consistency in your Instagram feed you need to
look at your Instagram as a whole instead of a bunch of
single images of content.
From now on when you post a new photo, picture what

it looks like with your other photos. There should be
a common theme that unites all your images/ videos
together.
Choo se a theme an d
s t i ck to it
It can be a simple colour palette, a mood or style that you want
to keep.
Themes don’t always jump out of nowhere.
If you have trouble finding a theme, just keep posting and

eventually, you’ll develop your own style that your content
gravitates towards. Don’t overthink it.
The key is to just start.
You’ll quickly find out what works and what doesn’t. Your
community will always give you feedback.
Your theme is your visual personality.
So what do you want your theme to be? Grunge, moody, boho,

tropical, colorful, minimalistic and white?
What are you passionate about? Pick 3 things you absolutely
love.
For example: art, food and fashion. Share photos about these 3
topics. This is your content, your story, your theme.
Pi ck ONE f i lter an d Pic k a g r id l a yo u t
s t i ck with it The first thing you need to know is the layout of your overall
feed. This will make it so much easier to stick to a consistent
A theme is nothing without a filter. Instagram theme.
Using the same filter all the time is the easiest way to start a
theme. It is an easy way to start a theme.
We have made things easy in Preview app with all the Filter
Packs. That way you can keep the same vibe in your feed, Instagram is primarily a mobile app and when your feed is
consistently. viewed on the screen it looks a little something like this on your
phone screen:
I nstag ram gri d
5 t y pes o f Instagram # 1 Ke e p it s im p l e
grid l ayout s. Let’s start easy. The first grid layout is to keep it simple.
Think of Instagram as a magazine. People arrive on your feed Just post your photo, each square at a time.
and see your whole layout.
You don’t have to stress out about your whole layout as such, as
If they are impressed. They will follow you. How to impress? By long as you stick to the same filter and color combination.
sticking to an Instagram grid layout.
I will show you 6 potential types of grid layouts you can

implement today.
# 2 Til es # 3 Lin e b y l ine
The second Instagram grid layout is to use each square as a tile. This is another creative Instagram grid layout.
The most popular way to use this layout is by sharing a photo, It is very beautiful because it looks like you are reading a book…
then a quote, then a photo, then a quote. It is an easy way to or a magazine.
have a consistent Instagram feed. Super easy.
Again, you can get very creative and tell a story. Line by line.
Plus, your followers will know exactly what you will post next.
If you have just posted a photo. They are expecting an awesome
quote after. Of course, you don’t have to only use quotes. Be
creative.
# 4 Fo llow the li n e
One of my personal favorites. This feed planner is easy to
maintain and it is very pretty to look at.
Basically, the line in the middle of your feed will be white (or
another color). That line in the middle will guide your viewers as
they scroll down your feed.
Again, you can get very creative with what you decide to put on
each side of your middle photo. You can keep it simple and just
post any image. Or you can be more intentional. How does the
text in the middle relate to the images on each side? Just a little
something to think about…
# 5 The Ra in bow Fe e d
This is a pretty cool grid planner too. A rainbow feed is when the
colors in your feed change when you scroll.
It requires a little bit more work and planning than the other
grid layouts.
If you pull it off, your account will definitely stand out. It will
look like a rainbow.
To color by blocks:
Use a different colors in your photos after every 3, 6 or 9 photos
for the best effect
Successful Instagram accounts have one key factor
in common – stunning, mind-blowingly awesome
SECTION .6
photographs.
In order to gain the organic following you need to

succeed, you have to be sharing beautiful images that tell
CREATING remarkable stories on a regular basis. That means it’s time

to learn how to get the most out of your camera phone and
learn a few photography tricks.
THE PERFECT Here are six top tricks to help you take better images. Keep
practicing and you’ll be a pro in no time!
POST # 1 Us e na t u ra l l ig h t
Photography is ALL about light. No amount of filters or post-
production editing will fix a photo with terrible lighting.
Artificial light may look perfectly fine in the moment, but

nothing beats the good old Sun when it comes to creating a
beautiful photograph. If you have to shoot objects indoors, try
positioning them near a window.
#2 Use the gri d f e atu re # 5 G e t id e a s f ro m
The grid lines help you to line up architectural elements and
make sure your photographic composition is balanced.
o t he r s
You should never directly copy another person’s work – that’s
plagiarism, and you won’t win any friends doing it – but you can
# 3 A ll about the mome n t s follow their feeds to get inspiration and see what the trends are
in your niche.
Whether it’s your cat making a funny face, a perfect sunset, or
a perfectly-presented meal, keep your eyes open for beautiful
moments that will engage your readers and give them an
emotional reaction. Keep extraneous information out of your
# 6 Le s s is m o re
images unless it adds to the image – instead, just focus on the Most popular Instagrammers curate their feed, so they’re
one key subject. posting only their absolute best work. One shot a day that’s
remarkable is much better than five mediocre ones.
# 4 Cho ose bold colou rs,

s hapes a nd li n e sL INE S
Instagram photos need to stand out from the crowd. Create
compositions that instantly draw the eye into the picture, and
hold attention with strong central elements. Don’t make too
many different elements competing for attention - focus on
saying one thing, and saying it well.
Words spe ak lou der # 2 A s k a q u e s t io n
t ha n ac tions Encourage followers to leave comments by asking them
questions. You could ask for:
After you’ve perfected your photography skills, you need to
think about what to say in your captions. recommendations of what to do in a particular city?
what they’re reading/watching/listening to right now?
Writing in captions is a great tool to engage your audience and opinions on a particular topic or statement you’ve made?
build your unique Insta-voice. Here are five pro-tips to help you their choice from a range of two/three objects in your
create winning captions. photograph?
#1 C reate se veral draf ts # 3 Wr it e t he im p o r t ant

Usually, the first thing you write isn’t the best thing you s t u f f f ir s t
can come up with. Try writing a few draft captions first to
brainstorm different ideas. Check them for spelling and Although you can have up to 2,000 characters in an Instagram
grammar, and even leave them for a few hours to percolate. post, your text will be cut off in your followers’ feed view after
The important thing is to create an engaging caption that the first 3-4 lines. If they want to read more, they’ll have to click
encourages the user to take some action, whether it’s to like or through.
comment, visit a webpage, or hire you.

Use these first few lines for impactful statements and calls-to-
action.
# 4 Use em oti cons to # 5 I nc l u d e a c a l l - t o -
bre ak up b i g chu n ks of a c t io n
t ex t I’ve spoken about this before, but it’s important enough that it
needs to be called out again. If you want more engagement on
your Instagram, you need to tell your followers what you want
What do you do if you’re writing a story, creating a list,
them to do with a call-to-action. This might be:
or writing out a recipe, and you want it to be easy for your
followers to digest? Instagram doesn’t allow line breaks, so all
Asking them a question.
the text comes out as one long chunk – not great for readability.
Telling them to click on a bio link.
Asking them to tag a friend.
You could use the emoticons to break up the text into smaller
Asking them to re-post an image.
chunks and delineate new lines. This will help make it easier for
Asking them to take some other kind of action.
your followers to find the information they want.
The question I get asked is ‘How did you get so many,
followers?
SECTION .7
The answer to that is why I wrote this ebook but a close
second is ‘what’s the best thing you’ve realized since
developing such a large Instagram community?
LEVERAGING People would assume it would be the ability to leverage my

community for financial gains, fame or acknowledgment
from my peers.
YOUR When I look back at the beginning I would be lying if I

said these benefits didn’t cross my mind but as time went
by I found that the best thing that has come out of my
COMMUNITY
community is the relationships and friendships that I have
built. The ability to help my community grow as I grow also
gives me a great sense of pleasure.
If you want to improve and succeed in your life, you

need to surround yourself with people who have higher
standards than you do. As Tony Robbins has said, your life
is a reflection of your standards, or what you’re willing
to tolerate. Most people are willing to tolerate unhealthy
relationships, poor finances, and jobs they hate. If not so,
those things wouldn’t be in their lives.
I see my community as a group of remarkable creators.

Every day my community inspires me.
They help me get up each day. My community keeps me And that one thing is: to simply ask them.
grinding on the tough days when all I want to do is give u.
What do you love about your Instagram community and There’s no humiliation in seeking help.
why?
And here’s the thing. You’ve got a community – an entire
What do you love about your Instagram community and group of people with unique skills and their own network.
why?
Sometimes the best way to grow is to scrap doing it alone
Understand that it costs nothing to be nice. and enlist the help of others.
An Instagram like, a message of praise or a big message of
thanks. These things take very little effort on your behalf. And when it comes to Instagram community building, it’s
But can make a world of difference for someone. easy. All you need to do is ask others to repost an image of
yours or talk to their followers about you.
Find ways to celebrate and build friendships with your
community. You can either ask:
1. An individual or an influencer on Instagram that you
Trust me your community can smell inauthenticity a mile have built up a rapport with.
away. But when you genuinely care about them, the roles 2. Your community.
start reversing.
Your community wants to give back to you.
If you’re wondering why your community isn’t backing you

up, that’s because you need to do one thing.
Shoutouts 3 Simple Tips to Get a
Here’s how it works: Two Instagram users will often agree to
Shoutout on Instagram
give each other a shoutout post on their accounts by posting a
Want to know how top Instagram users are getting thousands
photo or a video and instructing their own followers to go ahead
of followers? Then you’ll want to know all about how shoutouts
and follow the other account. Shoutout posts often use photos or
work.
videos from the account they’re shouting out.
Unfortunately, getting a great shoutout is not as easy as it

This is one of the fastest and most effective ways to build
sounds. It requires networking with others and a sometimes a
followers on Instagram.
willingness to feature other users’ content on your own account
as part of the shoutout agreement.
If you want to get a shoutout that gets the best results (a.k.a. lots
more followers), there are a few things you should know first.
Use the following five tips to guide you in your first quest to
getting a great Instagram shoutout.
#1 Like, com men t or # 3 Lo o k f o r u s e r s
f ollow user s ask i n g w it h c o n t e n t s im il ar
Manners still matter on social media. It’s only polite to engage If you post a lot of photos of food and healthy recipes on
with the users who you want to ask for a shoutout, and it shows Instagram, chances are you won’t have much luck if you target
that you’re interested in their content. Try giving their photos a user who mainly posts about sports. Even if that user did agree
or videos a few likes, comment on them and even follow them to to a shoutout, you probably wouldn’t get many followers out of
let them know you’re serious. it, because that user’s followers want to see sports content—not
food content.
Remember, social media—including Instagram—is all about
engagement. A little social media interaction can go a long way, Your best bet is to find other users who share similar interests
and it’s the simplest way to network with others online. with you based on their content. because their followers are the
ones who will notice your stuff and decide to follow you.
#2 Avo id spammi n g
us ers with ‘ s4s ’
Some users get a little too eager about finding people to ask R e m ind e r :
for a shoutout, so they end up spamming tons of photos with
Who you know can be very powerful. I’ve seen huge accounts on
comments that say “s4s?” or something similar, without even
Instagram with hundreds of thousands of followers promote each
looking at the account’s full Instagram profile or engaging with
other with shoutouts several times a week, continuously.
them first. That’s not the way to do it.
And remember that even though big numbers look great, real
Don’t spam users for shoutouts. You should always find targeted
engagement from active followers is what really matters. Be mindful
users with similar content and followers, and then start out by
of providing excellent content to your Instagram community, and
engaging a little with them first.
you’ll have no problem with keeping them interested in following
you.
In this section, we’re going to look at how to growth hack
your way to building an Instagram following.
SECTION .8 I’m going to be brutal here – most of this info isn’t being
shared around. I’ve seen too many guides that are recycling
last year’s Instagram tips. They’re still telling you to
BUILDING furiously hashtag and that the only way to grow organically
is by manually commenting and engaging with influencers
in your niche.
YOUR While these tactics have their place, there are definitely
some other tools in the toolbox you can use to skyrocket
your way to Instagram fame. These are the strategies key
FOLLOWERS
influencers with multi-million follower networks are using
to rapidly grow accounts.
I N S TAG R A M ’S S E C RE T
ACC O U N T H E A LTH
R ATI N G
Unknown to the public eye, Instagram has a health score for every
single account on its database. When a new account is made, its
health is at its fullest. From then onwards, there are several ways
your account’s health can be compromised.
Why is your account’s What decreases your account’s health rating?
health important? 1. People reporting your account/content as spam or

inappropriate
2. People unfollowing you
As you look around instagram, you’ll start to notice that some
3. Soft bans (occurs when you’ve done too many actions too
huge accounts (over 100k+) have a comparatively poor amount
quickly)
of likes/comments per post. They might not even break 1000
4. Posting inconsistently
likes/10 comments. With that many followers, this is crazy,
5. Changing your display picture constantly.
right?
6. Changing your username constantly.
7. Using any kind of automation software/third party tool/
No. It’s because that account has a poor health rating. It’s been
scheduling tool.
red flagged by Instagram’s algorithm enough in the past for it to
be penalized to the point where its content is barely reaching its
Compromising your account’s engagement simply for
huge audience.
changing a display picture seems a little extreme, but know that
Instagram penalizes you with your followers’ best interest in
Every action that decreases your Instagram account’s health
mind. They don’t want you to perform a bait-and-switch on
lowers your engagement and the amount of followers/potential
your followers.
for new followers that Instagram pushes the posts out to.
It’s vital to understand this from the onset so you don’t start
All of the above are inconsistent behaviors, and inconsistency
accidentally impacting your health rating.
confuses followers. Do your best to avoid doing anything on this
list.
Consistency is key Post once a day at least
If it punishes inconsistency with lower health ratings, then Instagram’s algorithms do most of their work during the first
Instagram also rewards consistently with additional exposure. ten minutes of a post going live
Their algorithms favour accounts that post on a regular
schedule and see a high level of engagement across those posts. Posts are only seen by a small section of your followers at first,
and the more engagement a post receives within this time, the
That’s why it’s important to set yourself a regular posting more it will be pushed out to the rest of your followers.
schedule, and stick to it as much as possible. You don’t want to
be spamming people with several images a day, but posting one The more likes and comments a post receives, the higher the
high-quality image every day will help you create a habit. likelihood Instagram will promote it to their Explore page –
which is where people go to actively look for new accounts to
It’s not uncommon for big accounts (over 100k+) to post up to follow.
three times a day to maximize growth.
The timing of your posts is just as important. Almost
If you don’t post for a few days, you’re compromising your universally, people are most active on Instagram at 9am, 12pm
account’s potential for organic growth. Sometimes not posting and 3pm EST, so try to time your daily post/s accordingly.
for a few days can even stop organic growth permanently, so
if there’s anything to ensure you do to guarantee success with
Instagram, it’s to be as consistent as possible.
Use hashtags Authentically engaging
Hashtags are words preceded by the # symbol. If you add a with others
hashtag to your instagram caption or comment, it becomes a
clickable link that brings up a list of all other images using that Instagram’s community is incredible – there are so many
same hashtag. awesome people creating beautiful content. It’s a great place to
hang out and meet others who share your love for certain topics.
People use hashtags to:
• Organise photos under particular headings. Take the time to become part of the community. Find and follow
• Create buzz around a particular campaign. other accounts that share the same interests. Like and post
• Get their photos in front of people searching hashtags for i comments and engage with influencers. This is important if you
images they’re interested in. want them to share your content later on, but also, it helps you
become part of the conversation.
Instagram gives you hashtag options to help you get started, but
you should also look at the tags others in your niche are using. On your own feed, ensure you’re always being yourself and
Try to choose hashtags that have between 500,000 - 1 million posting captions and content that truly reflects your values,
posts so your posts have some time to circulate within them messages and lifestyle. Followers can smell false sentiment a
before getting drowned out by sheer volume. mile away! They don’t want to read a boring carbon copy of a
famous influencer – they want to see your unique take on the
Try to only use the hashtags that have a healthy amount world.
of posts in them (not under 100,000 and not over 900,000
preferably). Find influencers of similar sizes to you in your niche and make
friends! This really isn’t a growth strategy as much as it just fun
You get a max of 30 hashtags under each post, so - this is the true beauty of Instagram, and what keeps it thriving
as the biggest and most engaged social media platform. Be nice
use them effectively.
and helpful and kind, and don’t get sucked into unnecessary
drama.
Quality trumps quantity,
every time
Creating high quality, consistent, on-brand images should
always be your first priority.
All other growth strategies come second to posting incredible

content.
If you apply all these strategies we discuss to sub-par content no

one is interested in, you’ll receive less than favourable results.
Set yourself up for success by researching what constitutes
high-quality content in your niche – no matter the theme of
your account, beautiful and vibrant photography will win you
new followers and grow your Instagram fame.
Your first goal for your instagram account should be to get
a decent amount of followers. This shows brands and other
SECTION .9
influencers that you’re someone worth paying attention to.
These are also the hardest followers to get.
We recommend 10k followers is a good goal to aim for.
GAINING That number suggests an audience that’s credible, self-

sustainable and grows on its own organically.
YOUR
There are three methods to reach this number:
Keep posting great content and wait for the followers to

find you. (Takes the longest, could even take years).
FIRST
Use automation tactics to find people who are interested in
your niche, and encourage them to follow you. (Quicker to
grow, but will cost money and could compromise account
health).
10,000
Use powerlikes to obtain a huge amount of likes with the
goal of hitting the Explore page (Quickest to grow, but is
the most expensive option, and may not lead to an engaged
audience).
FOLLOWERS You can combine all three of these methods if you wish.
Organic growth will happen naturally as you build your
account. In this section, we take a look at automation and
power likes.
GROWING FOLLOWERS BY Some will unfollow you in return, but many will be interested in
your content and will stick around.
AUTOMATION To do this, find large influencers or brands who already occupy

your niche, go into their followers list and follow all the recent
There are two main ways Instagramers use automation to grow
followers. You want to follow no more than 100 at a time to
their followers:
avoid being picked up as spammy behavior by Instagram.
Targetted F/UF
Auto liking/commenting
You can repeat this process up to five to seven times a day.
Instagram allows you to follow up to 7500 people. Once you’ve
hit this number, do a mass unfollow and repeat the process if
Targetted F/UF you wish.
F/UF (Follow/Unfollow) is a controversial growth strategy, but

still one that’s employed by many influencers.
What you’re doing here is trying to actively find followers who

would be interested in your niche, following them in the hopes
they follow you back.
A follow is a way of saying “Hey! Look at me, I exist,” and it will

usually prompt a large amount of traffic back into your page.
The idea is that if they’ve already followed large influencer A
(who has similar content to you) they’ll be interested in yours
too, and follow you back.
Auto liking/commenting The powerliking method.
You can use services like Instagress.com to auto-like and Powerliking is the third method you can use to reach your first
leave auto-comments to accounts that are within your niche. 10k followers.
Commenting on other’s accounts shows them you’re interested
in what they’re doing, and will often prompt a return follow and Your goal with powerlikes is simple: hit the Explore page, where
engagement on your page. millions of new eyeballs and potential followers await your
content. Hitting Explore as frequently as possible is how huge
This method, like F/UF, serves as a “Hey! Come look at my influencers and networks grow hundreds; up to thousands of
account!” and will bring traffic over to your account. followers a day.
Be wary with these services as Instagram doesn’t like them In this section we look at the pros and cons of this method.
and if your account is new (fresh) you run the risk of a ban.
Always test a service first, and err on the side of caution with
automation services.
What are powerlikes and
why does it work?
Powerlikes are likes/comments from a network of large
accounts (100k+ accounts are considered large) as soon as your
post goes live. The intent is to play into Instagram’s algorithm
where a post’s first ten minutes are most crucial for gaining
traction and determining how it’ll do in reaching beyond your
current following.
Powerliking works in two key ways: It floods traffic from the

large accounts over to yours from the ‘Following’ tab, as well
as triggering the algorithm to recognise that large accounts are
enjoying that piece of content. This means Instagram is more
likely to share your content to a wider audience (especially
if you hit the Explore page), increasing your ability to grow
organically.
Having hundreds of thousands – or even millions – of
followers is pretty epic, but you didn’t start your Instagram
SECTION .10
account just to become famous or maybe you did. It’s time
to start thinking about how to make some serious income
from your account.
EARN There are various ways to monetize your Instagram

account, and each has pros and cons depending on your
community and the type of content you produce. Here are
MONEY
a some of the ways Instagramers earn serious cash from
their platforms:
ON
INSTAGRAM
SELL YOUR OWN AFFILIATE MARKETING
PRODUCTS OR SERVICES Affiliate products can be an excellent way to start earning
money from your Instagram account.
Multiple Instagrammers are using the platform to promote their
business. By posting behind-the-scenes images, new products, When you become an affiliate of a company, you promote their
or inspirational or aspirational images, they build awareness products in your posts. For example, as a fitness Instagrammer,
about their brand, as well as create a community of loyal you might style a company’s particular protein powder. You
customers. then post a link to that protein powder on the company’s
website with a special affiliate code attached. When your
It’s all about finding an angle to showcase what you do. If your followers click through to the company’s website, you’ll receive
business offers products like clothing or decor, the direction is a percentage of the purchase price of anything they buy. It’s
easy. But when you sell a service, you often need to think outside really that easy.
the box.
There are affiliate programs for numerous different industries,
For example, @stefankunz uses his Instagram spreads to including fitness, fashion, travel, beauty, book, music, and
showcase his absolute stunning hand-drawn typography pieces. many more.
He then sells his typography courses and other services to his
thousands of loyal followers.
CREATE SPONSORED SELL YOUR PHOTOS
CONTENT If people are following you because of the stunning photography
that you take, then maybe you could make some extra income
Sponsored content is probably the most common way by selling prints of your most liked images? There are many
Instagramers earn income. Some of the big Instagram accounts platforms that you can sell your photos, such as Etsy.com,
(1 million +) can earn up to $5,000 per sponsored post. If you’re Society6 or Redbubble. All you have to do is set up a shop and
posting regularly and have a decent amount of followers, you’ll start uploading your photos.
probably already have been approached by brands.
Instagram can also be a great tool to help you land extra
What usually happens is a brand will ask you to take images photography work. Create a post announcing your availability
with some of their products, and perhaps post a review or use for shoots, and get your followers to share it with relevant
particular hashtags. They’ll pay you for the content you create. people. You never know what interesting jobs might come your
Many brands also send you the products for free or will sponsor way because of your community.
competition prizes for your followers.
Sponsored content is a great way to grow your own following

while also getting paid in the process.
Stop waiting for the perfect time. There isn’t one!
SECTION .11
“Do not wait: the time will never be ‘just right’. Start where
you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have
at your command and better tools will be found as you go
along.” - Napoleon Hill
LIGHTS Please stop waiting for perfection. Stop pondering over

these ideas and concepts I’ve put together. Stop thinking
CAMERA
that you need a website. Or a blog. Or a product. The biggest
hurdle for many of us is simply getting started.
Take actionable steps to double your Instagram following.
ACTION Because by itself, these words are just thoughts. And

thoughts alone won’t grow your Instagram following.
“The only thing standing between you and your goal is the
bullshit story you keep telling yourself as to why you can’t
achieve it.” - Jordan Belfort
Next steps: #Step4
Each time you upload a new image, use the First and Third rule
and match it to your latest and third latest image. Follow a theme
#S t ep 1 to maintain a consistent and beautiful feed.
Discover where your community is on Instagram. Who are

they following? What do they get up to on Instagram? What
communities are they already a part of? What unique hashtags
#Step5
Find ways to give to your community and the influencer
do they use? When you get a get a greater understanding then
community on Instagram. Then don’t be afraid to ask them to
start engaging with new people – like, comment and follow.
share your Instagram with their followers through shoutouts.
#S t ep 2
Use the next images or videos that you want to upload as a way
to offer value to your community. Think about a problem that
your community may have and how your content can help them
overcome it.
#S t ep 3
Drive engagement by using captivating, engagement-based
captions. You can even go as far as developing a movement
hashtag that extends beyond your brand. Think big.
SET YOURS E L F SO ME think about what kind of content will be genuinely compelling to
your audience. If you’re starting from scratch, look at what others
B IG , B OLD GOAL S are doing and brainstorm the kinds of content you could share.
What is the account’s ultimate end-goal? Is it to sell a product/
service and have Instagram be a source of income? Or is it to
As with any attempt, you need to stay passionate if you want
increase personal impact and reach, so you have companies
to keep posting images and building your community. Setting
clamoring to work with you as an ambassador or speaker?
goals helps you to focus your efforts and stay motivated.
Think of your ultimate goal – traveling the world and living off
your Instagram (trust me you can achieve this) – and break it Write your goals and plans down,
down into small, manageable chunks. How will you achieve each
step in the journey? What do you need in terms of income in
and place them somewhere
order to live? How many followers will you need to produce that you can refer back to. Keep that
income?
motivation high but also make
Ask yourself:
yourself accountable.
Do I want to sell a product/service? If so, in what niche and
at what price-point? A $7USD trendy fiddle-gadget or $12
holographic lip gloss will require a different strategy to a $497
Now Go make it happen.
e-course or $3000 website branding packages.
Am I growing a page for an already established business, or am I
growing a new business? If your business is already established,
If you want to say hello then make sure you follow my personal
Instagram account @delahuntagram. Please send me a personal
message at anytime if you have any questions.
Also if you want to take your Instagram game to the next level
HELLO
then please visit www.growyourclicks.com where I teach online
courses on how to grow Instagram plus all the other social
networks.
IS IT ME
If you think a friend of yours would love this book then please
let them know about it. You can also give them 10% off with the
discount code: INSTAFAM10
YOU’RE
LOOKING
FOR?

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READ THIS

I started an amazing community. And to this day, even though

Because UIdesignpatterns was never about me to start with. It

© 2017 Instagram Marketing Manual • www.growyourclicks.com

In 6 months I grew to 60k followers

Heres the thing..

What took me 6 months to get to 60K followers now took

The thing is, what I did with UIdesignpatterns was

© 2017 Instagram Marketing Manual • www.growyourclicks.com

At its core, Instagram is a photo-taking and photo-

You can follow other people’s “feeds” to see the images

Most people just use Instagram to share their everyday

Don’t ever leave it to luck.

But David I don’t know who the people in my community

So many people lose time trying to craft the perfect idea of

You already have a community.

Think about it. Really think about it.

Have a look around you.

When I started Uidesignpatterns, I was working as UI

After all, you are your community.

S T E P 2 Interact and engage with the people who follow these

S T E P 2 Now start planting the seeds. Interact and engage with

NICHES ARE: travel adventures.

Food: Posting beautifully-style food images, whether

What I leanred along the way is make it about the numbers.

Would I engage with this content?

COMMUNITY What one person perceives to be valuable and useful, can

The best business ideas solve a problem. They make our

Before you post on Instagram, ask yourself this one

How can I help my question:

community? Am I helping my community grow their own following and

And this is where it all clicked. My community uses Instagram to

S T E P 2 What is one way you can help your community, even

DRIVING Everything we’ve discussed on Instagram is still very much

When you can get your community engaging back with

They feel part of a community.

Here’s the greatest difference between a community and a

For a following, you will always be driving the pack. It is you

engagement with your Instagram posts. informational content around.

Your Instagram is no different. Instagram is all about

MAKE beautiful images that captivate your audience.

Aesthetics attracts people. And through that initial

Designing a gorgeous Instagram feed is a way to feed your

From now on when you post a new photo, picture what

Themes don’t always jump out of nowhere.

If you have trouble finding a theme, just keep posting and

The key is to just start.

Your theme is your visual personality.

So what do you want your theme to be? Grunge, moody, boho,

I nstag ram gri d

I will show you 6 potential types of grid layouts you can

In order to gain the organic following you need to

CREATING remarkable stories on a regular basis. That means it’s time

Artificial light may look perfectly fine in the moment, but

# 4 Cho ose bold colou rs,

#1 C reate se veral draf ts # 3 Wr it e t he im p o r t ant

comment, visit a webpage, or hire you.

LEVERAGING People would assume it would be the ability to leverage my

YOUR When I look back at the beginning I would be lying if I

If you want to improve and succeed in your life, you

I see my community as a group of remarkable creators.

Your community wants to give back to you.

If you’re wondering why your community isn’t backing you