Social Media Expert Nina L. Kovner on Increasing Instagram Followers

May 13th, 2019

Nina L. Kovner has made it her mission to help small business owners and stylists reach their potential by sharing her decades of industry experience through PassionSquared–a space created to empower and spread ideas. Here, she answers your queries about increasing followers, instagram myths and scheduling platforms.

How can I increase my number of followers?

Ask yourself how you can deepen your connections and build meaningful relationships through your platform. How can you deliver more value to your community? Social media isn’t about follower count; rather, it’s about adding value, solving problems and forging relationships. Addressing these factors will help you to reach your objectives and goals. Post consistently, have conversations, create relevant content, and optimize your location tags and hashtags in both your posts and in Stories. If you’re an influencer, I understand the “need” for increased followers—but brands are getting smarter and are noticing the difference between follower counts and real impact and influence. And that’s a good thing.

Why is no one engaging with my page?

There are many reasons you aren’t seeing interest in your page. Aspects to look at are consistency, time spent engaging with others in your target audience, tagging your location properly, using hashtags correctly, and the quality and relevancy of the content in the stories you’re telling.

I feel like my page is going nowhere. What should I do?

Take a big step back. Get clear on your brand purpose (why you created your account), promise (how you’re sharing your knowledge) and the people (who you’re targeting). Identify the problems you’re solving and how you can resolve them through the stories you share.

Is it true that only 8 percent of your followers see your posts on Instagram?

This is one of the Instagram myths running around the internet. Engagement, reach, impressions, and so on vary by the specific industry, the page and the post. But this specific percentage is simply not true.

How often should I post?

There isn’t one answer for this, no matter how many experts say that there is. The keys are consistency and quality. I recommend showing up daily to engage, respond and reply to comments. That does not necessarily mean you need to post daily.

Do you think using scheduling platforms is a good idea?

For some people, planning and scheduling platforms work; however—and this is a big however—social media isn’t a “set it and forget it” vehicle. Pushing out content and making noise is not why social media exists; it exists for building relationships and connections.

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This story first appeared in the May issue of Beauty Launchpad magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.

[Images: Courtesy of Nina L. Kovner]