The appreciation for the content we create is always a great payoff for our hard work, receiving feedback on how sick a slide was or how beautiful that picture is of you standing in front of some picturesque scene.
The following tips aren’t guaranteed to result in more followers but will allow your content to reach a broader audience.
Community Instagram pages
Certain community Instagram pages are there to share your content such as your very own “@longboardmagazine.eu“.
You submit your photos to these pages and most of the time they’ll be stoked to repost your photo, tag your sponsors or supporters and include your desired hashtags. I’ve found this is the best way to increase your reach of audience.
Let’s say your photo gets reposted by a page that hasn’t reposted your content before and even if it doesn’t get many likes, you’re reaching a whole new audience that hasn’t seen your content before, increasing your reach.
I’ll leave some other community Instagram pages at the end of this article for you to get in touch with.
Mentions and hashtags
Mentions and hashtags are one of the more important aspects of reaching an audience.
What hashtags you implement into your posts determines what sort of people you reach, popping up in their “explore” tab as a suggested profile to visit.
It should be noted that you can only put 5 mentions and 30 hashtags within one post/comment. If you attempt to put more than allowed your caption won’t be posted with your photo.
Longboard companies typically have unique hashtags that they use, which I’d suggest that you’d prioritize to show your support to those companies that support you.
I’ve also provided following hashtags which are the most recently popular “skate” and “action sport” hashtags on Instagram’s SEO which will benefit your posts as well.
#skate #skateboarding #skatelife #sk8 #longboard #skater #skatepark #skateeverydamnday #skating #longboarding #extreme #gopro #photooftheday #actionsports
Engagement
How you engage with your followers is extremely important. Rather than just posting once about the event that you went to over the weekend, post on your Instagram story.
When taking a break from a run or a session, film one of your friends and @mention them in your story. Creating that vibe that you’re more than just a skater and that you’re engaging with your community.
This is also a very easy way to consistently stay in touch with your followers who will see you as more of a friend than just another longboard profile.
What catches a viewers eye?
What I’ve found that people like to see are photos that are very fun and lighthearted, this comes especially easy with event photos that includes you and a bunch of people.
Lots and smiles and good vibes makes a very engaging photo, as well as bright colours with contrasting tones to make the subject of the photo pop just that much more.
Consistency
Following with the theme of consistency, you should always be developing and creating your own style. People appreciate those who let them feel involved and allow their feedback to be heard by you.
I try my best to post at least twice a week so that followers will hear from me periodically and consistently throughout the week. There’s apps such as “OnlyPult” that allow you to schedule posts and allow you to stay consistent with your posting which your audience will appreciate.
Voice and tone
How you project yourself to your audience is what I believe to be one of the most important aspects of your online image. Giving your posts a certain voice is what can set you apart from others, whether that’s outgoing and excited or humorous and witty.
Whatever it may be, I’d say to stay true to yourself. You never want somebody at an event to say “you’re a lot funnier online”, don’t put on a show online, your audience will appreciate you being yourself more than anything.
Niche
What sets you apart and makes you, you is what I believe to be the most important piece to your style. A wise man once told me that “there’s already a James Kelly and a Matt K, there’s no need to have another”.
Copying somebody’s style won’t get you anywhere if there’s already somebody much more popular doing it. Finding that niche to what sets you apart from the others will be your driving force to be different from the rest.
Most of the time it’ll happen organically like Birkenstocks, Martinelli’s and quirky socks without you realising that it’s an actual “thing”.
Some words to leave you with are to just always be true to yourself, there’s no need to create a fake online persona that isn’t really who you are. Always use social media as a tool to engage with others in order to build the community that you support and love.
I’d love if you guys would give me a follow on Instagram “@parker_schmidt”. Leave your thoughts about this article by commenting below, go out and #ridehard.
Instagram community pages to check out:
@longboardmagazine.eu
@primelinesmagazine
@_longboardstyle
@native_boarders
@world_longboard
Great post, Parker! Thank you.
And not a single word regarding giving credit to the photographer…the picture is not only about you and your sponsors. The actual content creator should be praised too, and not at the end of the hashtag list !
That’s a good point, Max, but that would be another topic and we will cover it as well in August. Stay tuned and thank you for pointing this out.