how to get featured on Instagram

Getting your IG profile featured on a large Instagram account can be a great tool for growing your own followers. People who are clicking through to you from another account are more likely to be genuinely interested in your content. They tend to remain loyal to your Instagram following list, and as a result, will often to be more engaged with you than a bot following.

Each week, I support one of the larger Instagram travel accounts; choosing images for features, captioning images, interacting with followers, searching for new accounts to follow, and responding to queries. They get hundreds of people tagging them for a feature each week, with only one or two photos going live each day. Here are my tips for getting a feature to increase your following on Instagram:

Make sure you are following the account

How frustrated would you be if someone kept asking you to feature them on your Insta page, but they didn’t even follow you or take an interest in what was on it? I’m always surprised by how many people do this.

Interact with the page

Comments/likes and tagging will get you noticed. As an admin, I try to respond to every single comment that comes through for an image I re-posted. If it’s a short 2 word comment, I’d give it a like. If it’s a longer personalised comment, I’m way more likely to click through to that users account and check them out.

Read the info!

Most large accounts will leave instructions in their bio on how to get featured. If the bio tells you to follow, tag and hashtag for a feature, then do that. Don’t private DM the admin team. It may be tempting to do this (I assume that people think that if you promote your Instagram account privately that it might draw more attention to them), however, it suggests that you haven’t bothered to read the instructions and (ultimately) wastes their time.

Make sure your photos stand out

With so many feature requests coming through, as an admin, I am looking for something that pops out straight away. For me, images with people always jump out more – a human figure tends to add depth. However, ensuring the location is still evident is imperative – I go through hundreds of pictures of pretty girls standing in front of sunsets/waterfalls/bridges/etc. We want to see something unique.

If your image doesn’t contain a person, colour and multiple layers tend to jump out at me too. Take a good look at the images on already on the account you’d like to be featured on. Does it have a style? For ideas on how to take better travel photographs, take a look at my travel photography tips post.

Don’t be rude

I understand that it can get frustrating when it feels like you’ve tagged and added the correct photo hashtags a million times and still not had a featured from an account you adore. To this day, there are a good number of accounts that I utterly LOVE who haven’t been wowed by all the times I’ve tagged them. However, I’m astounded by the number of people who directly DM admin teams complaining that they’ve followed the instructions and not had one.

Despite the frosty start, as an admin, I’d always try to get back to these messages. I always send a personal message explaining how many photos per day they’re up against, and to keep trying. Responding in a rude and/or grumpy manner will not help your sell. Would you want to promote someone that was rude to you on your own page?

Don’t have a private account

If our followers can’t go visit your page, I’d be less likely to send them to you.

If it’s not working , try something new

Knowing how to get noticed on Instagram is all about knowing what the audience is looking for. Tagged your selfies with no re-posts? Stop tagging selfies and try something else. The top Instagram accounts tend to run with their own styles. Pay attention to what is being posted, and try incorporating this into your own unique style.