I only have 201 followers at this moment, after a little over a year on IG, and I average between 35 - 49 likes per post, whether a WIP or "finished" illustration. I will reiterate what others have said that it boils down to content that is good and relevant to those who follow you. For the majority, that is why they followed you. I don't think I would have as many followers if it was a numbers game. My followers vs people I follow gap was wide when I started, and pretty much still is. If I like a person's art, but their non-art posts out-weigh the art posts, I won't follow them, even if they have followed me. I can barely, if ever, get thru the 375+ people I follow, so I want to know that the majority of posts I see are art-related, and I think most other artists feel the same. Hope that helps!
@tombarrettillo - Yes. Thanks:)
@eric-castleman - What app are you using to see who unfollows? Thanks:)
@pamm I use an app called "follow free" on the ios store.
@eric-castleman - Thanks! I'll check it out. The fake follow stuff happens to me a lot too:)
I've honestly never thought about that part of it. Who I follow is purely based on what I want to see in my feed. More and more I pay more attention to the interaction in an artists posts. Do they respond? Is it a real response, or a quick, short response? Take @Jake-Parker for example. I couldn't tell you how many followers he has but I can tell you he has 70 or so comments in around an hour or so, and the guy is really good about responding, and responding genuinely
Anyone know of a good tool/ app for managing twitter. My account is pretty old and I'd like to narrow down a lot of people I'm following but going through two thousand accounts is a bit much. I'd like to narrow it down to only artists, reps, publishers, and people who follow me.
So much insight! I'd have to agree with the general consensus of never really thinking about it when I find a cool artist I like on instagram. It's more about the content. For my page I end up trying to only follow people who inspire me so my feed can just be a stream of creativity. I've been posting up to 8-9 months and just steadily posting everyday for that long has gotten me a decent amount without needed to really follow anyone back JUST for the follow.
@smceccarelli What kind of conversations do you jump into? Ive been trying to grow on twitter and I'm finding it kinda hard. I'll try to find conversations to jump into but most of it is just people complementing the art posted. Is there a specific way you find engaging conversations?
Currently taking on the monumental task of redesigning the first 151 Pokemon!
https://www.cmetzner.com/pokemon-redesign-project
Other social media:
https://www.instagram.com/cmetznerdotcom/?hl=en
https://twitter.com/cmetznerdotcom
@cmetznerdotcom Sometimes I will ask an artist about his/her technique or process (or answer questions to that effect). Conversations about books are also easy to start and jump into. Positive comments on somebody´s work are good, but then they should be something more than "great!". You can mentione another artist you compare the work to, or mention why or what you particularly like the work. There are all good ways to start meaningful conversations, and I am sure there are many more!
Once, my friend try to follow his profile by making a great conctent. He just take photo of his everyday life, post videos where he is playing the guitar. There is nothing special in what he is doing, but he've got 17k subscribers. I was surprised! Of course, he use advertising on instagram. He led an active life by publishing photos, videos and then his page was hacked because he was not protected enough. Anyway, I try to do the same by using servises, make a few post everyday, but carefully. What can you say about this one servise - https://instafollowfast.com/ , is it worth trying?
I am following more people than follow me, but I think that is because I’m learning. So I’m following people who I can learn something from. I have been weeding out some that are not relevant to art recently because as @tombarrettillo says, it’s difficult to get through all the new posts unless you want to spend hours on the internet.
For two years I had about 35 followers on my business feed, friends and family. I was very discouraged, then someone I followed started a blog called smart artist income using Instagram tactics to increase your following and sales. I started off using the hashtag suggestions and doubled my following the next month. Still, 70ish followers was not a lot, but it gave me insight into what hashtags were working. I also abused tagging for a while, it worked a little bit, but like @smceccarelli, I was thinking it was too rude. So I only tag now when a “multiplier” says its okay in their profiles. Seven months later and I have 120 followers. It’s still not a lot, but it is steadily growing now, so I’m no longer frustrated.
I would love to hear how to find the Art Directors and Editors on Instagram and Twitter, so that I can silently stalk them for a while to learn what I need to do to make them love me. Lol. I’m actually serious, though. How do you find them? Exactly? (0.0)
I think @TessaW nailed it regarding the importance & non-importance of the follower/following ratio.
I wouldn’t worry too much about followers per-say. You need to ask yourself what your ultimate goal is… ultimately get paid for you art. I’d prefer to have 100 followers who regularly buy my art than 10K followers where they just ‘like’ my art.
That being said, just putting out good content isn’t enough. Just like @smceccarelli stated marketing your work is important. Leveraging off influencers and curators is always a good strategy for any marketing platform.
There are plenty of paid and free curators on Instagram that you can leverage off. I would hesitate paying, but with many of them if you tag them you go into a ‘draw’ to be featured. I’ve had one of my portraits featured and I got around 50 new followers.
Also, spend time to consider who you are targeting. @smceccarelli mentions they try to get their work infront of childrens writers, editors and art directors – people that will directly contribute to the bottom line. Consider the audience different curators and influencers have. Are their followers your target audience?
The same goes for hashtags. Consider what type of hashtags your target audience will follow.
Regarding @Alexis-Janis question regarding buying instagram followers. I would avoid this. Why? Firstly, many of these services can use bots, and if they don't many of the followers are usually low low quality. I wouldn’t bother. I’ve never had any long term succeed using these shortcuts with client accounts.
Also consider how you can direct traffic outside of Instagram to your Instagram.
Hope that gives you some ideas.
For me, I just try to be the kind of follower that I want to have. So all that means is, I follow only people who are posting things I'm truly interested in, and if I'm not into what I see someone posting, I un-follow them. When I see something I really like or have a thought about, I make a comment. I keep my posts focused on my art with an occasional personal post now and again so they know who I am. I have slightly more followers than accounts I'm following, but a lot of that has to do with me being followed by friends/family who I don't follow back--I prefer to keep my IG feed about art and my Facebook feed about friends/family.
However, I'm not really focused on building a following right now, for where I am I'm mostly interested in networking with other artists. That means I'm following hashtags like #kidlitart and #childrensillustrator and connecting with people using those.
Speaking of, I don't think I've seen many SVS people in the #KidLitArt chat on twitter on Thursday nights, but you all should join in! Truth be told its all I really do on twitter.... someday I'll have a full social media strategy, but for now I just do what I feel good about and let the rest go. (Mothering takes all my focus, guys. 
)
I am getting my doctorate in Instructional technology and this is just about the most interesting thread right now. I literally just finished writing a discussion post on using Twitter to develop oneself professionally and then this post shows up on the forum. I am learning a ton from you and am following many of you on IG now after reading your comments. This is WAY better than textbooks. Keep it up!
@smceccarelli
As always you did your homework! Fantastic and real-life information!
The concept of multipliers fascinates me. Is, in reality, the same as always but translated to the digital world. A boxer friend of mine is patenting a new training punching bag and is next step is to give for free the first prototypes to famous boxers so they film themselves training with it and post it in Instagram.
Multipliers are what in the real world we call "connectors" which are one of the three types of persons that are key to epidemics (when an unknown product becomes successful in a short period of time, the equivalent to digital world term "go viral") There are "connectors", "Mabens" or connoisseurs, and "salesmen" or persuaders.
Malcolm Gladwell explains these concepts in his book "The tipping point", which I recommend.
I wonder if we can learn more from this, I mean, how Mavens and Salesmen translates into Digital world, etc.
Thanks for your contribution!
@chrisaakins Well you can bring some information too 
@pamm I think that that is a consequence that naturally happens when you start to have big numbers of followers. Then, naturally, you can't keep up with the number, can't follow 10k people, unless that you dedicate your whole life to Instagram.
Successful instagramers have big numbers of followers= for instance they have a lot more followers than people you follow= then some clever guy/girl make the connexion and conclude "well if all successful instagramers have more followers than "follow" people, that has to be an important requisite".
Only that is not. Is only a natural and organic consequence that happens when you grow up too much. Is simply a good sign of your follower healthiness.
I don't think to not follow people only for the sake of the rate is important or even a good thing. If I'm interested in someone I follow then no matter the rate he/her has. Don't you?
Great discussion! Myself I am an emerging artist, who has been trying to change their finance career for illustration for the past two years. One year ago, I have joined facebook and instagram and I found it harsh to be not liked much;-) Some time ago i have decided to stop worrying about followers on facebook or instagram and just focus on getting good. In the end thats the only satisfying way. Playing game of following and unfollowing is time consuming and doesn't add value. Also can be discouraging. At this moment i have only 148 followers but whats cool is that this year I got two jobs from instagram 
So maybe focusing on getting better instead of spending hours on fishing for followers wasn't such a bad idea
@aska sounds like we are in similar situation. I am in the process of aiming to switch my career in revenue management to design and illustration. I have 146 followers on instagram so you're ahead of me!
I was getting frustrated with instagram, I have decided for now not to worry about it and just try to post 1-2 things a week, even if it is just little character illustrations. Between work, college courses, and my kids I don't have much free time for the next year or so. I'm just looking to get better and have fun along the way.
So much insight! I'd have to agree with the general consensus of never really thinking about it when I find a cool artist I like on instagram. It's more about the content. For my page I end up trying to only follow people who inspire me so my feed can just be a stream of creativity. I've been posting up to 8-9 months and just steadily posting everyday for that long has gotten me a decent amount without needed to really follow anyone back JUST for the follow.
