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Posting at the right time and with the right filters, Lily Jay has built a big community of followers that interact and keep up with her daily life. At 23 and with 300k followers on Instagram, Lily Jay is an Instagram model that you should follow if you haven’t already. The brunette beauty earns up to $2000 per post due to her following. Born in Australia, she has shared her best tips on this exclusive interview with Future Sharks on how to grow your own social media presence.
City where you’re from:
Gold Coast, Australia
Hobbies:
Singing | dancing | modeling – social media – instagram
Social accounts:
What is your approach on Instagram?
Lily Jay: In the beginning I never set out to gain a following, but I have always had a passion for taking photos. It’s important to invest in a good digital camera that has Wi-Fi capability, so you can send the photos straight to your phone to upload.
Posting at ‘prime-time’ is also crucial in gaining a following on Instagram, so that means aiming for between 6.30pm and 9pm or in the morning.
Interacting with your followers is another way of making sure you stay real, so ask questions in captions such as ‘where are you from?’. Its very important to make your blog personalised otherwise people will think you’re “just another model”.
Here are more tips on how to get thousands of followers on Instagram.
What’s your dream?
Lily Jay: To influence the younger generation and my followers in a positive way. The instagram world is very materialistic, even though this is what my success has been grown from, I’d like to evenetually make a change in how teeneagers, especially teeenage women see “perfection”. There is a lot of envy, and “goals” that people look up to on instagram, and it’s a very dangerous way to look at life. Because it’s such a bluff.
If you look at my instagram, I go from driving ferraris, to private jets, to partying on expensive yachts. But I only show you the “good” parts, a lot of my following believe this is everything, I want to eventually be able to express and teach woman to love themselves for the way they are, and money and fame is not what makes a happy life.
How do you creatively advertise?
Lily Jay: #goals is a phrase very commonly used on Instagram. If you can take a picture of something that your followers will emotionally and physically wish for and think they “need” then you’ve created a successful advertisement.
What were your biggest failure and biggest success?
Lily Jay: The biggest problem with instagram is you can get caught up in the “lifestyle” of it all and start becoming obsessed with taking the perfect picture. you start looking at other bloggers photos and think “my photos aren’t good enough”.
I am a strong believer in the motto “it’s the journey not the destination”.
I’ve found the more natural and spontaneous photos you take the more your followers react and respond positively. Because they feel like they’re actually getting to know you, not just posing for a picture and advertising for the latest clothing brand.
A lot of effort goes into my photos, and it consumes a lot of my time I have to really prioritise and realise I have a life outside of instagram. If you forget this, it’s very very dangerous and you can let Instagram consume you. I’ve seen this happen with many girls around me. They become very nasty and egotistic!
Give the readers the best entrepreneurship advice you have.
Lily Jay: When your posting photos, don’t post just to get likes and comments and attention. Post original content that you like! You want to look back on your blog and be happy and proud of what you’ve created! If you like it, I’m sure your followers will like it too!
Teach us how to make money on Instagram
Lily Jay: If you want to turn your instagram into a business, Just start messaging companies! Don’t be shy to reach out to brands you like, the worst thing they can do is say no!
What’s something cool you do on your profile?
Lily Jay: A trick is to use the same filter on all your pictures so they all look uniformed and complete on your blog. It’s almost like a trademark of your work.
Teach us something about IG that we might not know
Lily Jay: Your instagram needs to be a balance of advertisements and posts about your actual life. If you only post lifestyle posts you won’t make money, but if you only posts adverts, your followers will get bored and unfollow you. You need to stay interesting and post new and exciting content all the time.
Any other gold tips?
Lily Jay: Listen to your followers. If you’re getting negative comments, take the criticism and make it into a positive. And remember all publicity is good publicity 😉
What should an IG entrepreneur focus on?
Lily Jay: Focus on creating your brand. If you want people to see you as a sex object, you post booty and boob pictures. If you want to look like a strong independent woman you need to post accordingly. Yes booty pictures will get more likes and comments but you need to be smart and focus on your long term goals.
Any exciting news outside of Instagram?
Lily Jay: I’m starting to get back into the music industry by releasing my new single spring 2017.
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