How to Get Featured on Instagram

Interacting with Featured Accounts

Keep your theme and personal Instagram accounts separate. Posting off-topic content on your theme account just makes it harder for feature accounts to find you. It can also prompt some of your followers to unfollow you.

Follow a feature Instagram account that you want to be featured on. Following their account shows them that you’re interested in their content. This is important because accounts want to feature people that support their account and are not just looking for publicity. Focus on smaller accounts first. You’re more likely to be featured because there will be fewer people to compete with for recognition. After you get featured on smaller accounts, it’ll be easier to get featured on larger accounts. Avoid feature accounts that make you pay to get featured. These are driven by sales, rather than content.

Like and comment on their posts. Liking and commenting are crucial ways to show the account that you're actively interacting with their content and invested in them. Leaving comments and responding to people shows engagement, which is also important. Not only can it get you more exposure and followers, but it’ll attract the attention of the feature account. Only leave positive and helpful comments. Avoid inappropriate language, mean comments, and asking for shoutouts, features, and followers. If you miss some of their posts, just go back and like them.

Learn about the account’s submission guidelines. Sometimes accounts will explicitly outline their featuring guidelines. For the many that don’t, look for common trends in featured posts. Keep an eye out for the kind of content that is posted, common editing techniques, popular hashtags and tags. Some require you to email them, others make you Direct Message them, while many prefer that you just tag them. Their Instagram bio will typically tell you which method you should go about. Not following a page’s submission guidelines will only work against you, especially considering that the accounts look through hundreds of images a day to pick which ones to feature.

Taking and Editing Quality Images

Take photos that are on theme. All the photos you want featured need to follow the same theme or niche interest. This theme should align with the photos that are featured on the feature account. Remember, the accounts only want to feature photos that fit with their feed. If it’s a brand, try taking a photo of you using a product of theirs. For a photography account, post photos that fit their feed and aesthetic.

Take high-quality, crisp, and visually appealing photos. If you don’t have a nice camera, you can use your phone! Just make sure that the photos are focused and the composition is good. Remember to focus on the quality of your photos rather than the quantity. Use the rule of thirds to help guide your photography. Turn on the “grid” setting on your phone and align the focal point of your image with one of the squares.

Use good lighting. Try to take photos using natural light. The best times of day to take photos with natural light are dawn, dusk, and the golden hour (the period of time shortly after sunrise or before sunset). Also, foggy and gray days are great for photos because the clouds help distribute light evenly.

Use a consistent style to edit your photos. Try to edit your photos in the same way that the feature accounts edit their photos. Also, you should maintain the same editing style throughout your entire feed to make your account cohesive. For instance, if the feature account only posts photos that are bright and highly saturated, you should try to edit your photos to enhance their saturation. The same goes for high contrast editing, fade, black and white, etc. You can edit your photos on the Instagram app or on a more advanced photo editing app, like VSCO. Try increasing the contrast and brightness or using a pre-made filter.

Remove watermarks from your photos. This is only necessary if you put watermarks on your photos. This is important because watermarked photos get featured less frequently. Feature pages would rather pick a non-watermarked photo than have to go out of their way to contact you for the non-watermarked photo.

Gaining Exposure

Tag the feature account in your photos. Tagging the account will direct account head’s attention to your photo, indicating to them that you want a feature. The more traffic you direct to a feature page, the more likely they’ll be to reward you. Don’t tag every photo you post. If you have a ton of these with barely any features, it can make you seem irrelevant.

Use relevant hashtags in your captions. Use the same hashtags in your posts that the feature account uses in their posts. The feature account will look through posts with their hashtags, so if you use their hashtags, they're likely to come upon your photos and account. Only use hashtags if they directly relate to your content. For instance, if you are posting a photo of you in a brand’s outfit, you may want to add a hashtag with the brand name, #outfitoftheday, and #fashion.

Include a fun caption. A good caption should draw a viewer in and get them to comment. You can do this by giving the photo context, adding emojis, using quotes, jokes, questions, etc. For example, you could caption a beach photo, “Where would you go on a weekend get-away?”

Post your photo on Instagram. Pick a time to post when most of your followers will be looking at their phones. Consider posting at night and avoid typical work hours, like 8 am to 5 pm. If the feature account you want to be featured on is located in a different time zone, take that into consideration when deciding what time to post. Learn when to post based on when your followers are most active by downloading an Instagram Followers app.

Partner up with other accounts to do shoutouts. This is a great technique to get you more exposure and followers, which can help you get featured. Reach out to a similar account and offer to give each other shoutouts. If they agree and give you a shoutout, you’ll get more traffic on your page and probably more followers. Doing too many shoutout agreements can frustrate your followers, so limit your shoutouts to only the important accounts. Try to get a shoutout deal with an account that has more followers than you. Direct Message (DM) the account on Instagram to discuss doing a shoutout deal. Make sure to follow the account, comment, and like their pictures before you ask them to give you a shoutout. This will make you seem genuinely interested in their content.

Get more followers. If people aren’t following you organically, try using a get-followers app or website. The more followers you have, the more relevant you’ll seem, which will make it more likely that you’ll get featured. Some of the apps and websites will make you pay for followers, while others will have you complete certain tasks, like liking all their photos, and give you followers in return.