I’ve worked in Social Media for over eight years as both a Community Manager and an Account Manager for some of the biggest brands in social. No matter who the client is, one of the biggest questions I get today is, “how do I grow my Instagram following?” So I ventured out to show that no matter what the brand or who your client is, there is a proven method for growing your Instagram fan base!Sure, if you’re a fortune 500 brand it makes things a little easier, but what if you’re not? What if you are a dog? That’s right, I’m going to use a dog to illustrate my case for how to successfully grow any Instagram account.Step one in this experiment – almost one year ago - was to reserve the perfect handle for a dog that didn’t even exist yet. Then, on August 21, 2014, I brought home the cutest dog in the world and began Pumpkin The Doxie’s journey on Instagram

In just five months, Pumpkin has amassed over 25,000 followers, averages 2,000+ likes and 100+ comments per post, and has some die-hard fans. How did I do it? I employed the same tactics I have used for dozens of clients and I’m here to share this wisdom with you today.It doesn’t matter what your Instagram account is - it can be about your obsession with skinny margaritas for all I care. I can bet that someone else out there has an obsession with the perfect skinny margarita too.So want to know how it’s done? Read below… and have fun!BE CONSISTENT, BUT NOT ANNOYINGYou know the feeling - you just launched your Insta account and you have some really great photos that the world needs to see. So why not post them all now, more is better, right? Don’t do it. You know what I’m talking about. You think no one will care if I post six photos in a row right now? Well they do. Wait and pace yourself, you can always use those old photos for #ThrowbackThursday.To post or not to post! You better believe that an obsessed pet owner (like myself) takes at least a dozen photos of their pride and joy each day, but taking photos and posting are two different things. Take as many pictures as you’d like, but focus on creating the best post with the right caption, 1 - 2 times a day.

DON’T WAIT FOR THEM TO FIND YOUI could talk all day about using hashtags (do it) or figuring out the right time of day to post for maximum likes (test, test, and test some more). But if you really want to see your numbers start to pile up with the right kind of fans, you have to dedicate time every day for some good old fashion FOLLOWING!On a good day, I invest at least an hour or two following new people, in addition to responding to comments, questions, liking and replying on other popular dog accounts. Even the cutest pet in the world can’t get followers overnight – unless you have Grumpy Cat Part 2, in which case ignore everything I just said.How do you find the right people to follow? It’s simple: Click on the followers of similar accounts like yours and follow them! If they like one skinny margarita, I’m 95% sure they’ll like yours. You can use a free app like Crowd Fire to do this right from your phone.TAP INTO TRENDING TOPICSA great way to gain traction is to play off a trendy meme, popular song or recent pop culture event. Case in point: I took a photo of Pumpkin puffing out his chest ala Nick Jonas, added that lyric that everyone has in their head, and the rest is history. With a little creativity you can fit your brand into almost any situation.FIGURE OUT WHATS WORKINGFinally, you have to look at the numbers. What’s working? What kind of content can we cut? Who are your biggest fans? What kind of photo and caption drives the most engagement?Don’t worry, you don’t have to pay for fancy tools to figure this stuff out. Do yourself a favor and use a free tool called Iconosquare. They offer a wide selection of ways to toggle through your most successful posts, offer insight into hashtags, time of day, and even which filters are working the best for you.

Want more tips and tricks for how to dominate social this year with Data, Creative and Amplification? Download our 2016 Social Media Survival Guide.