How to Be Successful on Instagram in 2021

Though Instagram has changed quite a lot in the last few years (and not particularly for the better), it still remains an important place for displaying your work and attracting potential clients. This excellent video discusses how to rethink how you use the app and approach it in a way that will generate growth in the coming year.

Coming to you from Evan Ranft, this helpful video discusses how to approach Instagram as a photographer in 2021. No doubt, Instagram has gotten a lot worse in the last few years, with issues like the infamous algorithm that destroyed chronological feeds and increasingly dense ads detracting from what used to be a very pure experience of images, but on the other hand, it is still a massive hub of potential clients and often the first place people looking for photography services will look. As such, depending on what you shoot, it can be very worthwhile to put in the time to post to Instagram on at least a semi-regular basis and to engage with local pages and the like. I still get the occasional client inquiry from the app even though I'm not great about keeping mine updated. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Ranft.

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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7 Comments

Horrible, I despise the greed for followers. This ingratiation, this enthusiastic posturing, that later you will find shameful. To anybody who thinks he will be successful on platforms as Instagram: Do you really want to compete with the whole world just to find out that you will be washed away as soon as there is a new hype or you do no longer invest so much time in it?

Edit: And of course he is using a Leica. Jeez, what a waste. A Leica to put images on Instagram with? All you hipsters, get lost!

Edit2: Yeah, Alex, just vote it down. But please be aware, the more of this stuff here on FS, the less this site is interesting. Do you really think, readers(! not watchers) of this site are fond of videos like this?

I use a Leica. However I use the Leica for work and I post some of the shots to my @johnohlephoto instagram account.

Hm ... […] still a massive hub of potential clients and often the first place people looking for photography services will look […] is this somehow documented through polls/surveys? I know, this is one of the most used arguments. But Í´ve never met so much people that made relevant business through insta. Of course, it´s a good plattform to show your work. But making business ... maybe not for me. ;)

"still a massive hub of potential clients and often the first place people looking for photography services will look."

That's why I feel important to...at the very least have a presence there (If that is a goal that you want for yourself.)

Nice ad for gopro, poor content video.

Find-success-on-Instagram guides seem to be for "influencers". What ways are there for photographers not using Instagram as a primary web presence to grow on the platform?