Thanks for watching! NUMBER 10 on this list- If you’re still using any types of Bots or fake followers.. stop. Everyone can see through it and people are sazy to it now. If you have anything to add to the list let me know in the comments!
It was actually really demotivating when Instagram changed from chronological. Going from 200-300+ likes to being lucky to break 30. It was disheartening. It legit made me feel like my photography had somehow turned into shit. So I gave up on it. And over the last little while I’ve gotten back into it and now my mindset is reset and I just share the photos because I like them. Not because I’m looking for others to like them.
I really enjoy your content man, but hashtags usage is still alive and well on Instagram. I've had over 40k impressions come specifically from hashtags just from my last five posts alone. Results definitely vary person to person based on hashtag popularity, but only using four or five is drastically reducing possible reach even in 2022.
100% agree! And also, I absolutely don't use them as a search tool... instagram has had the ability to follow hashtags for a long time, so those people that follow that hashtag will see popular content posted with those tags - why would you not use them/use them less? I still majority of the time get more engagement from tags than explore/home/followers.
i definitely think hashtags are still useful!! my social media manager suggests using 5-11 hashtags, that way you get plenty of reach without appearing spammy.
@@TeresaAP98 does anyone even think it's spammy anymore? I dont think I notice how many hashtags someone is using, but if I did and they had a lot I would think little of it... We all know the hustle nowadays it's not a secret and we all need to eat. But saying that I use between 20-all 30 in most posts so.... Maybe I'm spammy and don't know it lol x
@@anima6035 i think the number has more to do with the algorithm than public perception. you don’t want too many cuz it could confuse the algorithm if there are a lot of general hashtags. i’d say the key is to use specific hashtags that will boost your content in the algorithm.
Just my two cents but I still get great impressions on my hashtags that I've been using for years, lol! I shoot mostly portraits/lifestyle, sometimes fashion. But it's never consistent so definitely "your mileage may vary."
SO HELPFUL! I've been trying to grow on instagram by posting everyday and all of these tips seem super helpful! Thank you so much, I'm definitely going to implement these! 🔥🔥
Who dafuq said that. Stop watching these youtuber's shit... Reels are mostly dumb and annoying, me and my few thousand followers still use it for photography and photos are still the most liked content at least in my insta...
Interesting advice, will definitely keep all of it in mind. Thanks for the video. I do think there is a bit of a classic "big account with huge existing audience vs tiny account" discrepancy here, but it's still important to acknowledge all this advice and consider that it might very well still have some important relevance to someone small like me too.
Hey, Evan. I wonder if there is a caviat to these advices. Do they all apply to all accounts? I have a measly 1700 followers and still see "good" numbers by using 30 tags, and tagging sharing accounts. So my hypothesis is that all of you advices combined applies to the 10K to 100K+ accounts. Where further growth is hard under the old "structures". But for anyone below 10K there is still "meat on the bone" for tagging and getting featured. Whats your thoughts on that? Also, the image a day. I do that for me, not for Insta. I like that drive to do it. Are they all bangers and portfolio images? No, but it keeps me going. :-)
This is all true, I did 365 photo-a-day project complete with the hashtag list and tagging all the related accounts in 2019. Got dozens if not hundreds of likes on each post and a bunch of reshares. The same strategy tanked in 2021. Meanwhile, I post a 30-second reel of myself working on a film camera and it gets 5000 views. We should all accept that Instagram doesn't care about photography anymore.
16:23 Exactly this. I got invited into one of these groups for free (for a few months) by a friend who wanted his friends to support his new venture and get the group up to a certain size. He would then sell membership to the group as a way to guarantee engagement to newer members. It felt gross, and it was also incredibly irrelevant, because I'm a photographer and I was having to like and comment on posts of random things, everything from a musician who was about 10 years old all the way to a load of actors filming their self-tapes and then girls posting boudoir shots all the time. My feed was a mess, as were my recommendations. I quickly quit the group, but definitely noticed a major drop-off in the organic likes and views I was getting before I joined it. Bad decision on my part.
I just came off of a 3 year hiatus. Serious decisions needed to be made in my life. When I came back (small account) went from 150-400 likes to getting 20-70 and thinking “it’s me coming back don’t be too hard on yourself” using the old tactics however. Thank you for this video
I am a collector of tips, so I appreciate this. I spend very little time on IG right now. I pay very little attention to growing since I reactivated my account recently. I did search it (and TikTok, Twitter, RUclips) to help me plan my vacation. Heading to Charlotte tomorrow to check out the rail trail lights before heading on to Atlanta and Savannah (which may become Nashville)
I have a question, I don’t know what happened my engagement be really down, I got few likes and comments even my content is well, I don’t use a fake followers or likes, please how to resolve it?
I would agree with most of your advice but I think it's good to show a bit of who you are outside of what you do in your niche in your stories. Friends, food, etc should be sprinkled in amongst the more relevant stuff.. at least I find that works for me and I get engagement just as much on my lunch as I do on my photos.. maybe it's my specific audience though
Yeah all the stuff unrelated to my work usually does better than my actual work (and I know my work is quality) post a picture of my cats and errbody looses their damn minds (I don’t blame em tho)
The thing with hashtag is true, I have removed all content to archive, and uploadet 6 new various photo with under 5 hashtag's its the same if there is under 5 or 30. Thank You for this video Evan.
Where do I find these engagement groups? Or any tips to start one? I'm guessing it could take up a lot of your time making all those comments and likes...
I just stumbled on you and this video for the information and am surprised how much I learned! Thank you, and I'm following you❣️ ...I need all the help I can get. ☺️🤪
Yeah Instagram is not the platform is used to be. You can't really grow with Instagram except if you pay for ads. Reels help a bit and I have also noticed that carousels performing a bit better these days. But growth on Instagram is a hard thing to achieve. Maybe Tik Tok is a better platform for photographers these days. Cheers for the video!
I love that ig pages look more like shxtshows now. I hateeee looking at perfect pages cause it’s like ok dude how do you post new content if you have this perfect set up. I’m guessing only stories but that strictly only entertains your own following. I guess they can get found by comments and ads…
Hey, thank you for sharing your wealth of knowledge. New subscriber🖐🏾. I'm still a little confused with the follow/unfollow. So are you saying, don't bother with following back a random page? But if they unfollow us, it will affect us negatively. If I'm thinking correctly, either way seems negative. Right??
I was more saying don’t be the person following a lot of people simply to get a follow back and the unfollow them. If someone does this to you do what you want but also be aware of people doing this 👍
Sry my friend, im not a hater or someone that likes to spread negativity. But you are no photographer. You are a youtuber or a instagrammer I have looked into your pictures, and damn, those are very very simple. But you are a god damn good youtuber.
#10. If you're a content creator and love what you do either as a hobby or a profession. Just do it without thinking about the no. of likes you will get.
Or just quit Instagram and go back to just being a photographer with a good portfolio website without learning how to hack third-party algorithms. Did that, would recommend.
Great video. I only post B+W photos. I have been getting many random followers ( 30+) all similar- Photo of pretty girl; name with numbers; 0 posts,0 followers ; 75 following. I Block them all but different variations still keep coming. I guess they want to engage with my followers. I only have 1300 so it is hard to see the point. Cheers and regards.
Disagree with most of what you said. I speaking from the viewpoint of how I use Instagram as a user/viewer, not as a creator. This probably explain why you don't show up in my instagram feed although I follow you.
Do people still look at websites? I do have one with Squarespace, but people seem to go more on social media. Not sure how much is worth putting a lot of effort in a website. This photo - videographer Sam Youkilis has been very popular, now he just recently got a website to sell prints. Instagram is a bit unreliable, now it seems to promote mostly slightly vertical videos. Not sure how without hashtags anyway, how people can find you otherwise.
most disappointing in IG is seeing somebody take photos that are more likely snapshots and people are loving at. While I try to do high quality shots and edits but struggeling to get 500 followers. IG is not the platform anymore if you want to share your photos. Im just waiting for the next banger app for photography...
Thanks for watching! NUMBER 10 on this list- If you’re still using any types of Bots or fake followers.. stop. Everyone can see through it and people are sazy to it now. If you have anything to add to the list let me know in the comments!
GOOD stuff man!! THANK YOU!!!
It was actually really demotivating when Instagram changed from chronological. Going from 200-300+ likes to being lucky to break 30. It was disheartening. It legit made me feel like my photography had somehow turned into shit. So I gave up on it. And over the last little while I’ve gotten back into it and now my mindset is reset and I just share the photos because I like them. Not because I’m looking for others to like them.
Felt the same for a while, as I felt better/worse depending on the likes. Now I'm just proud of my work and post whenever I feel like.
That's a common theme - the Instagram has disappointed us because this or that..
I also changed my mindset 💯
I went from 750 down to 130 likes. 🤧
IG has photographers crying and dancing in front of a ring light saying "IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT?!"
lmfao
Lmao 😭😭
😂 FML I don't use a ring light but basically yeah. Help.
I really enjoy your content man, but hashtags usage is still alive and well on Instagram. I've had over 40k impressions come specifically from hashtags just from my last five posts alone. Results definitely vary person to person based on hashtag popularity, but only using four or five is drastically reducing possible reach even in 2022.
100% agree! And also, I absolutely don't use them as a search tool... instagram has had the ability to follow hashtags for a long time, so those people that follow that hashtag will see popular content posted with those tags - why would you not use them/use them less? I still majority of the time get more engagement from tags than explore/home/followers.
i definitely think hashtags are still useful!! my social media manager suggests using 5-11 hashtags, that way you get plenty of reach without appearing spammy.
@@TeresaAP98 does anyone even think it's spammy anymore? I dont think I notice how many hashtags someone is using, but if I did and they had a lot I would think little of it... We all know the hustle nowadays it's not a secret and we all need to eat.
But saying that I use between 20-all 30 in most posts so.... Maybe I'm spammy and don't know it lol x
@@anima6035 i think the number has more to do with the algorithm than public perception. you don’t want too many cuz it could confuse the algorithm if there are a lot of general hashtags. i’d say the key is to use specific hashtags that will boost your content in the algorithm.
Dude is a clown and talks like he invented Instagram 😂😂😂 With his skinny inked arm. Come on!
What has help me the most was just being nice to people and being real online
Just my two cents but I still get great impressions on my hashtags that I've been using for years, lol! I shoot mostly portraits/lifestyle, sometimes fashion. But it's never consistent so definitely "your mileage may vary."
SO HELPFUL! I've been trying to grow on instagram by posting everyday and all of these tips seem super helpful! Thank you so much, I'm definitely going to implement these! 🔥🔥
My reels do 100s of times better than even my most popular photos 📸
@@joshuagharis9017 yeah same here. kinda wish instagram was how it used to be where you could grow from just posting photos tho. :(
The curated feed looks so good though lol great video! Shame IG isn't a photography platform anymore. I really stopped taking it seriously after that.
Who dafuq said that. Stop watching these youtuber's shit... Reels are mostly dumb and annoying, me and my few thousand followers still use it for photography and photos are still the most liked content at least in my insta...
Interesting advice, will definitely keep all of it in mind. Thanks for the video. I do think there is a bit of a classic "big account with huge existing audience vs tiny account" discrepancy here, but it's still important to acknowledge all this advice and consider that it might very well still have some important relevance to someone small like me too.
DUDE I LOVE THE background and foreground lighting! It just look fucking gorgeous !
Hey, Evan. I wonder if there is a caviat to these advices. Do they all apply to all accounts? I have a measly 1700 followers and still see "good" numbers by using 30 tags, and tagging sharing accounts. So my hypothesis is that all of you advices combined applies to the 10K to 100K+ accounts. Where further growth is hard under the old "structures". But for anyone below 10K there is still "meat on the bone" for tagging and getting featured. Whats your thoughts on that? Also, the image a day. I do that for me, not for Insta. I like that drive to do it. Are they all bangers and portfolio images? No, but it keeps me going. :-)
I thought the same thing. He was like "only got 25, maybe 30 new followers". I wish I got that in a year :D
I have around that same number and want to start growing. I’ll let you know if I find anything that helps. I’m real slow to grow right now :/
This is all true, I did 365 photo-a-day project complete with the hashtag list and tagging all the related accounts in 2019. Got dozens if not hundreds of likes on each post and a bunch of reshares.
The same strategy tanked in 2021. Meanwhile, I post a 30-second reel of myself working on a film camera and it gets 5000 views. We should all accept that Instagram doesn't care about photography anymore.
Always give the best information in the most simple way !
I needed this
Amazing video !
16:23 Exactly this. I got invited into one of these groups for free (for a few months) by a friend who wanted his friends to support his new venture and get the group up to a certain size. He would then sell membership to the group as a way to guarantee engagement to newer members. It felt gross, and it was also incredibly irrelevant, because I'm a photographer and I was having to like and comment on posts of random things, everything from a musician who was about 10 years old all the way to a load of actors filming their self-tapes and then girls posting boudoir shots all the time. My feed was a mess, as were my recommendations. I quickly quit the group, but definitely noticed a major drop-off in the organic likes and views I was getting before I joined it. Bad decision on my part.
I just came off of a 3 year hiatus. Serious decisions needed to be made in my life. When I came back (small account) went from 150-400 likes to getting 20-70 and thinking “it’s me coming back don’t be too hard on yourself” using the old tactics however. Thank you for this video
I love keeping my feed nice tho 😅 even tho I might spice things up excellent video as always Evan 🙏🏻
I am a collector of tips, so I appreciate this. I spend very little time on IG right now. I pay very little attention to growing since I reactivated my account recently. I did search it (and TikTok, Twitter, RUclips) to help me plan my vacation. Heading to Charlotte tomorrow to check out the rail trail lights before heading on to Atlanta and Savannah (which may become Nashville)
Love the lighting in the background
I have a question, I don’t know what happened my engagement be really down, I got few likes and comments even my content is well, I don’t use a fake followers or likes, please how to resolve it?
Do you have the pro mist filter on filming this? Looks great🤙🏼
I would agree with most of your advice but I think it's good to show a bit of who you are outside of what you do in your niche in your stories. Friends, food, etc should be sprinkled in amongst the more relevant stuff.. at least I find that works for me and I get engagement just as much on my lunch as I do on my photos.. maybe it's my specific audience though
I second your comment. It makes us all more relatable.
Yeah all the stuff unrelated to my work usually does better than my actual work (and I know my work is quality) post a picture of my cats and errbody looses their damn minds (I don’t blame em tho)
The thing with hashtag is true, I have removed all content to archive, and uploadet 6 new various photo with under 5 hashtag's its the same if there is under 5 or 30.
Thank You for this video Evan.
Hey man! You are doing an amazing work! I love that you know what to say, with clear examples. Gonna try them out! keep doing what you know best
3:46 mostly Indian People who tag many celebrities in their pictures and spam the hashtags that have nothing to do with the image...
Where do I find these engagement groups? Or any tips to start one? I'm guessing it could take up a lot of your time making all those comments and likes...
I just stumbled on you and this video for the information and am surprised how much I learned! Thank you, and I'm following you❣️ ...I need all the help I can get. ☺️🤪
@ima sinner.. ive sinned Texas
Hey Evan! Quick question. Is it possible that the 2M account that have your photo posted faked its followers with bots?
Yeah Instagram is not the platform is used to be. You can't really grow with Instagram except if you pay for ads. Reels help a bit and I have also noticed that carousels performing a bit better these days. But growth on Instagram is a hard thing to achieve. Maybe Tik Tok is a better platform for photographers these days. Cheers for the video!
no, I have a 50k account on TikTok. Back in the days it was great, now photography on that social media is dead
Such a fan of the content! Keep killing it
Chronological order is coming back pretty soon, I wonder how that will change things? Maybe a photo a day will be relevant again
Noted, thanks! 👌
Less hastags are good only for accounts that have high following.. use as much as hastags just make sure they are working as unit..
Really good tips man!
Great Video and very good information
I've read a couple blogs that say the ideal number of hashtags is between 3-5 specific hashtags. so this is reaffirming for that.
Completely lost motivation to keep editing and posting my photos. All IG cares about now is basically being TikTok.
You have mentioned 'algorithm' a couple of times here, but really, what is the algorithm now anw? I don't think anyone really knows definitively.
I love that ig pages look more like shxtshows now. I hateeee looking at perfect pages cause it’s like ok dude how do you post new content if you have this perfect set up. I’m guessing only stories but that strictly only entertains your own following. I guess they can get found by comments and ads…
sad how much time and energy people put into social media
Hey, thank you for sharing your wealth of knowledge. New subscriber🖐🏾. I'm still a little confused with the follow/unfollow. So are you saying, don't bother with following back a random page? But if they unfollow us, it will affect us negatively. If I'm thinking correctly, either way seems negative. Right??
I was more saying don’t be the person following a lot of people simply to get a follow back and the unfollow them. If someone does this to you do what you want but also be aware of people doing this 👍
@@RanftEvan Got it! thanks!
Another great and useful content. Thank you evan!
Hey evan, what software do you use to record with the rode NT usb?
This is priceless advice!
Instagram is flooded with stupidity when reels became big, so end of Instagram for me.
Sry my friend, im not a hater or someone that likes to spread negativity.
But you are no photographer.
You are a youtuber or a instagrammer
I have looked into your pictures, and damn, those are very very simple.
But you are a god damn good youtuber.
Very interesting. Thank you
I recently made a video speaking on the same subject, I’m glad I hear you reiterating some of the things I said👍🏾
I love your youtube channel and have enjoyed many of your videos. But Instagram seriously sucks.
it felt like you're rapping in the first 30 secs man, but it was fire😅🤙
Good video.
Amazing content 👍🏿
now i need a START doing this on instagram video cause apparently i was still living in 2016....
NEW SUB!
Does paying Instagram to promote a post work at all?
#10. If you're a content creator and love what you do either as a hobby or a profession. Just do it without thinking about the no. of likes you will get.
Thank you
Early squad!!!!
Notification gang
I’m thankful this doesn’t work anymore. Especially these engagement groups…
Didn't realize a lot of algorithmic patterns stopped working since 2016 😬
Nice. Basically be more organic and user friendly and less like a slimy MLM hustler. I can get behind that.
Or just quit Instagram and go back to just being a photographer with a good portfolio website without learning how to hack third-party algorithms. Did that, would recommend.
Great video. I only post B+W photos. I have been getting many random followers ( 30+) all similar- Photo of pretty girl; name with numbers; 0 posts,0 followers ; 75 following. I Block them all but different variations still keep coming. I guess they want to engage with my followers. I only have 1300 so it is hard to see the point. Cheers and regards.
People that put their new posts in their stories get their stories muted lmao
Disagree with most of what you said. I speaking from the viewpoint of how I use Instagram as a user/viewer, not as a creator. This probably explain why you don't show up in my instagram feed although I follow you.
Unrelated - You’re looking trim bro!
These "hacks" have always been dumb. There is hope if you all finally understood that. Quality content creates the following, not "hacks"...
Ive grown 20k in two weeks after i postet quality content for 1 week. Knowing my audience and what they want helps too
I'm stuck in like 2016 😭
🤗
VUH
Man’s sleeve looking outdated as well
I've found reels get literally 100s more interactions and views then images
Which is ridiculous. Not everyone wants to/is going to/has the creativity to post Reels all the time. This new Era of Instagram is such BS
Not a single thing is worth trying... Sorry not good recommendations
Hashtags still work for me, it's the biggest impression tool for all of my posts
Do people still look at websites? I do have one with Squarespace, but people seem to go more on social media. Not sure how much is worth putting a lot of effort in a website. This photo - videographer Sam Youkilis has been very popular, now he just recently got a website to sell prints.
Instagram is a bit unreliable, now it seems to promote mostly slightly vertical videos.
Not sure how without hashtags anyway, how people can find you otherwise.
most disappointing in IG is seeing somebody take photos that are more likely snapshots and people are loving at. While I try to do high quality shots and edits but struggeling to get 500 followers. IG is not the platform anymore if you want to share your photos. Im just waiting for the next banger app for photography...