Three weeks ago, I wrote about how I got an Instagram account that had existing followers and what I learned in that process. Sad to report it’s now down even more followers, but hey, I love learning stuff.

Today I want to talk about an Instagram trick that works! Forming a pod! No, not like dolphins. Well, maybe actually. An Instagram pod is a group of people who are in an chat together and you send a message to the group when you post something new and they like and comment on the post.

Not only do I actually like being friendly with strangers. It feels like what social media is should to be. Social. Artists supporting artists is among my favorite internet related feelings. But I have noticed an metric uptick in likes and otherwise engagement since joining one.

Each group normally has a niche. Fitness people hang with fitness people. Artists with artists. I’m sure there’s an analytical rational there too, but honestly, you just want to join a pod where people post things you wantta see.

I found my pod via reddit, but if you want to skip the looking and just join mine DM me @fyeahasexual.

Everything else I tried to boost your posts seems to reference old versions, or very very inconsistent. The idea to stick with tags that have a Goldilocks effect of not ‘too big not to small’, and tagging related businesses seems like a winner, but Instagram in 2020 favors likes and comments. Making pods, not only useful, but in my opinion just the best way to use Instagram. It helps me casually compliment the art of strangers as well which seems like a net good in the world.

Here’s some other things I learned about Instagram and it’s algorithm. Checking the tags of stuff you like, or the tagged photos from a company (copic, for example) is a great way to find people who post similar things as you. Follow them, instead of the tag.

By having a second account I am now able to follow strangers far more easily because I don’t have to worry about not seeing my personal friends. This is absolutely the problem I had with twitter. No matter how I tried to combat that with lists, no matter how many accounts I had, my “friends” would get lost and random “industry” or “community” tweets would get doubled. Instagram, for the most part, manages this juggle slightly better.

Also my ads tend to be slightly higher quality but I’m not sure why since I don’t see an option to target an account based on followers.

At the time of this posting, I’m close to losing the magical 10k number. But I’ve found a new way to use Instagram that I really challenges me to do things I love. Look at my drafts, I’m so excited to post them because it’s something I’m really proud of.

Whatever lessons you find in my recently Instagram blog posts, I hope you also find the new joy I have. (But so it would be pretty cool if you could help me keep swipe up by following lmao)