Instagram for photographers in 2025: This is how you succeed
Have you struggled to grow on Instagram as a photographer?
I did too. But I managed to breakthrough, and I've just hit 150k followers.
Today I'll tell you what exactly I'd do to grow and get clients on Instagram in 2025.
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But before we dive in, if you'd like to see where should YOU exactly improve to succeed this year, take my free quiz here.
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1) Amount of posts
First of all, I'd focus on posting A LOT.
If you already have 100k+ followers, you don't necessarily need to post daily, depending on your strategy.
But if you don't have lots of followers yet, it's crucial to post daily.
This will get the algorithm behind your account, and make Instagram trust you.
This will also improve your skills.
And skills is the largest factor when it comes to success.
So, post A LOT if you want to succeed this year. Don't neglect that and think end of year why you didn't succeed with 1 post per week.
2) Priority on Reels
Have Reels as your priority.
Carousels are doing better and better...
But for those with no major following, it's better to stick to Reels.
Carousels do better with the followers you have.
Reels do better with non-followers.
And if you want to grow your account and get new people to discover you, Reels are the best thing to have.
Even though many of us photographers would prefer to not do video... your life will be more difficult if you don't do any of them.
Focus on Reels, and don't be afraid to adapt to the video-focused social media time. It's not going away.
3) Carousels - when to use?
As mentioned, I'd use carousels to reach the current audience I have.
But, if I don't have an audience... I'd not do them.
I'd use carousels:
1) When I want to post photos overall - Carousels get better reach.
(This is because people spend longer time watching your post, and because a single carousel might be shown MULTIPLE times in a user's feed - unlike a standalone photo post.)
2) When I want to focus on getting my current audience to see my post.
4) Master short-form content creation
If there's 1 skill that will help you go to the next level, it's this one.
But, it's of course it's easier said than done - there's A LOT to learn.
And the problem is that what worked a few years ago doesn't work as well anymore - such as random "Top 3 tips on X".
The scene is consistently developing. Stay up to date.
What I'm noticing is more and more people want authenticity, and to understand why should they listen to you in the first place.
Of course, learn about hooks, how to deliver the promise and so on... but understand the best practices for these are changing too, so stay up to date on this.
5) Focus on what's easiest for you
What has enabled me to post a lot is post things that are not too difficult for me to make.
I tried out filming outdoors as an example, but it wasn't something I enjoyed.
I found framing without a flip out screen to be a pain in the ass.
I found myself being out of screen...
So I decided to discontinue that.
Focus on what is something you can do for a very long time - because this journey might take you a very long time.
If it's always difficult to make content, you need to change that up.
Content creation should often be close to effortless, even if you're not feeling motivated.
6) Show you're a human
If you pretend to be perfect, nobody will like you.
No human is perfect, so if you try to seem like one... people will be able to tell you're full of scheisse.
So, show you're a human. Tell about your mistakes, failures, moments of embarrassment. Be vulnerable.
Nothing connects us humans better than difficult things.
So share what you're ready to share, and connect.
7) Analyze
The more you analyze, the better you'll know how to improve.
Analyzing has been one of the keys to my Instagram success - without it - I'd be still doing things that didn't work for me.
What's important is to post a lot, get data, and make calculated moves.
Please know that on Instagram, how one post does doesn't affect the reach of another.
This means you can freely experiment, and fail, in public, and gather the data to succeed.
I'd set myself a meeting once a week to analyze content, and see what to do again, and what to remove.
8) Boost engagement with ManyChat + capture emails
Want to get more of your followers to engage?
Grow your email list?
Get more reach?
Using automations can be an incredible tool to do all that.
I'd use ManyChat to do this. It's approved by Meta, so you won't run into troubles using it, unlike some other third party softwares.
The truth is that every day that passes, followers on social media matter less.
Is this bad? In some ways, but in some ways not... as great content will be shown to people, and especially to your followers.
But what this means is that we DEFINITELY should capture people's emails to stay in contact with them in the future.
And, email marketing is the most powerful marketing tool too... so capture people's emails with ManyChat. :)
9) Have different goals for your posts
Do you have different goals for your post?
If not, it's a problem.
There's this saying: "If you try to catch 2 rabbits at once, you'll catch none."
It's the same thing with content - if you try to achieve everything with one post (grow, get clients and so on) you might not succeed on any of them.
Instead separate these goals for individual posts.
I split my content to these 4 buckets:
1) Growth
2) Authority
3) Personal
4) Ads
How to do each is a game of its own - but understand it's crucial to not try to achieve everything with one post. :)
10) Find proven ideas
When I say post a lot, don't just randomly spray posts out to the universe though.
Sure, experiment. But also find ideas that are proven to work.
Have a look at other people's accounts. What is doing well? How could you take that idea and spin it to your own?
Also, use Instagram search to find top performing content to inspire you.
And use sites like answerthepublic.com to find what people are Googling for, which allows you to make content that they already care about.
These are some of the ways I get my content ideas.
Hope that helps.
11) Know who you're talking to
I have crafted 2 dream followers for myself.
They have names, unique interests and challenges.
I have even created pictures of them with AI.
These all combined has allowed me to be clear on who I'm talking to.
If you haven't crafted a person you want to target with your content, you absolutely should do that.
If you don't know who you're targeting exactly, how do you expect your messaging to be something that appeals to them?
12) Make Trial Reels
Trial Reels is the best Instagram feature in a long time in my opinion.
What are Trial Reels?
Trial Reels are Reels only your non-followers can see.
And that's what makes them powerful.
I'm now taking you behind the curtain:
What I'm doing, and what some other big creators are doing in "silence", is that we're posting our best performing content as Trial Reels.
What this means is, our best performing content will be seen by new potential followers all the time WITHOUT our current followers getting bothered by reposting the same stuff all the time.
And whenever you gain a follower through a Trial Reel, that follower will be excluded from seeing your new Trial Reels.
So once you find something to work, repost it as Trial Reels often, if not daily.
Wrapping it up
What I didn't specifically write of here, but have previously mentioned, is developing systems.
Create systems for everything: Content creation, getting clients... all of it.
Don't rely on rely on your emotions or about randomly finding time to create.
Make systems, and rely on them instead.
Now you know what I'd do, in general, to succeed on Instagram this year.
But obviously, where you're in your journey, what advantages you have, and what you want to achieve all shape what you should do.
If you have previously have tried to succeed on Instagram despite consuming lots of free content...
You might not have an information problem (although you probably have some of it too), but more so you might have an implementation problem.
When you're ready to learn how to do all the above, get my proven systems for Instagram success, and get personalized guidance to finally breakthrough on Instagram...
Send me a DM on Instagram @hugoraphy, and let's chat can I allow you to join my 1-1 mentorship program.
Talk soon,
Hugo
