Last week, we talked about how Instagram growth is really hard now. So, how does one grow hundreds of followers in one week of 2020? The answer is theme pages.
What Are Theme Pages?
A theme page is a page that isn’t a business or an influencer. It’s a page that shares viral and interesting content in certain niches. For instance, a dog meme theme page shares dog memes and sometimes dog TikTok videos. A cooking page may share food pictures and cooking videos. An entrepreneur page shares motivational quotes, content about using your time wisely, and the stories of inspiring entrepreneurs.
When you use theme pages to grow, the main thing to think about is what theme pages your ideal buyer/ client is following on Instagram. If you sell healthy dog treats to Gen-Z, consider using dog meme pages. If you sell puppy training starter packs, use a page that posts adorable puppy photos and videos. If you sell horseback riding apparel, use an equine theme page.
How to Grow With Theme Pages:
You can usually reach out to theme page owners via Instagram direct message, that is, if they don’t specify an email you should use. The average price for pages with 15K followers or less is around $10-$15 USD. I find that feed posts do the best for shoutouts directing people to your page. “Swipe up” story shoutouts can also be good but are best for directly advertising a product.
The amount of followers you gain from a shoutout depends upon how good your shoutout is, and how high-quality your page actually is. If your page doesn’t deliver on expectations you’ve set in your shoutout, then you’re wasting your time.
It’s important to test out different theme pages on separate days to see how they perform. Decide what you’re willing to spend on each acquisition. If you don’t stay under budget with a particular shoutout, don’t use that theme page again. However, if your shoutout consistently doesn’t perform across five different pages, reconsider the content of your shoutout and why it’s not working. Often times, when a shoutout doesn’t perform, it’s thought that something is wrong with the theme page (i.e., fake followers). Most of the time though, the problem lies with your own content and copywriting.
Types of Content That Perform as Shoutouts:
A shoutout to gain followers is essentially an advertisement for your Instagram page. The best way to do this is to tell a story in a video or image carousel, then leave the reader on a cliff hanger and say “Follow @[your page] to learn how_____.” This directs a lot of people to your page to find out the rest of the story. Some will follow you, while others will just read the rest of the story and leave.
Either way, this is a great method for gaining new followers in 2020. I like to make a clearly labeled highlight that directs people to the rest of the story when they land on your profile. This is especially helpful if your account posts one or two posts per day. It helps the story post to not get lost as it gets farther and farther from the top of your feed.
If you’d like some help researching theme pages, setting up a theme page campaign, or creating compelling shoutouts, don’t hesitate to contact me here where I can help you run a successful shoutout campaign.
