Growing Your Audience

In the summer of 2015, I had about 4,000 followers on Instagram, holding steady. Chris Loves Julia was mostly a personal account where I shared what I wanted with no thought of who was seeing it. The photos were ho-hum, the content wasn’t particularly unique or inspiring — it was a very normal Instagram account, where I sometimes posted about a wedding I went to or a daughter who emptied a drawer or a photo of renovations we were doing. This is all fine if you just want to be an Instagram user. But I was also a full-time blogger and had been for six years. I could sense that Instagram was going to be a platform where people digested information — one that was going to be for more than just pretty pictures. I decided right then I was going to make a focused effort to grow my Instagram account and audience. I knew a lot of creatives who were buying followers and buying likes and participating in round-robin giveaways, where 20 of them would get together and pitch in money so that they could giveaway $500 to someone who followed all of them (more on that later, but tsk tsk tsk…). I didn’t want to do that. I wanted people to follow me because they loved my content. I wanted to create a community of engaged, loyal followers whose eyes wouldn't glaze over once a giveaway was done. So I made a plan. 

Within a few months, I hit 10,000 followers, and I celebrated with all of them. Then two months later, I doubled that. Now, over five years later, we’ve blown past 500,000 followers on Instagram and are one of the top DIY/Home Design accounts. Chris Loves Julia is consistently gaining another 30-45K organic followers every month. 

When I wrote my own plan of action those years ago, it required a lot of testing and pivoting, and I persevered through algorithms and updates (hello, Instagram stories! You’re important!). But growth is more simple than you think; not easy, but simple. 

You’re here because you feel like I did in 2015. You want to grow. You want to do it right. And I’m applauding you because that’s the only way to do it! And you can grow and turn your Instagram into a legitimate, monetize-able brand that followers and advertisers alike will flock to. We’re eager to have more good influencers proving their value and being a positive force, and we know you have it in you. So get ready, because it starts now.