I think as someone who’s writing a blog, trying to get out a message on Instagram or setting up a business, connecting with your followers or potential customers is so so important. I’ve recently been reading and listening to a lot of podcasts about the subject, as it’s something I’m trying to achieve myself and thought what I’ve learnt so far might be helpful to some of you. After all, it takes nothing away from you to share your knowledge!

Have an opinion.

This one sounds risky, I know. But having an opinion about things is so so important. It makes you seem like a human being and many people may be able to relate to you more, even if they don’t agree with what your opinion is about.

Yes, you may end up losing some followers but wouldn’t you prefer a base of people that are like minded and support your opinions too? I find that when I post things about veganism or a subject about the black lives matter movement, I lose followers. This is no skin off my back though, as if someone doesn’t respect my beliefs why would I want them following me anyway? Don’t look at losing followers as a bad thing, it’s actually making sure your following is more suited to you!

Ask questions and engage.

Something that I’ve found super great for my followers is engaging with them and asking questions, especially on my stories. This isn’t something that you need to spend hours and hours on a day, simply take 10 minutes and look through your feed or maybe a certain tag on Instagram and leave some comments. These need to be real though, don’t go leaving a heart on 20 posts. Take the time to find posts you actually like and leave a meaningful comment.

I like to go through illustration tags and if I see one I like, I might say ‘I love the colours you’ve used’ or ‘this concept is so amazing’. If I find someone I really like, I’ll follow them too! It’s not about gaining followers for you, it’s about finding others and showing support to!

To engage with the people that do already follow me, I like to put lots of polls and questions on my stories. I find for me this is the best way to get people interacting with me and in a way I get to know them better.

Another way you can ask questions is in your captions on Instagram posts or on your blog. I find I don’t tend to get as much communication back to this but I still go ahead and do it, as I think it’s nice to try and get people involved.

Just be you!

I think the most important thing for any small business owner, Instagrammer, influencer or blogger is simply making sure to be yourself.

If you’re a person that likes to be very simple with your words, don’t start using ones you’re not quite sure of yourself as it’s not you. Take pictures you like, show your parts of your life you’re comfortable with sharing on your stories or your feed to show people you’re a human and this is who you are. It doesn’t take much to be you, in fact it should be quite natural.

I find that I’m getting much better at just ‘being me’ on my Instagram stories especially and I hope that my followers like that side of me!

Come and follow me on my Instagram to see more about who I am and who knows, maybe we’ll become each others next follower? Try putting all of this into action and let me know how it makes you feel!

Love, always – B
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