I am excited to be sharing more tips for starting a farmhouse décor account on Instagram.  If you haven’t read the first one found here, I recommend you starting with it first.

Having a farmhouse décor account on Instagram is so much fun, and it’s my heart’s desire to help you navigate this community in the most efficient and productive way. I want to help you experience growth, engagement, and ultimately accomplish your goals.

So today I’m sharing these three thoughts to add to the ones I previously shared. 

Here are three more things to consider when starting out a farmhouse decor account on Instagram:

1.  Sincerity:  There are many opportunities to interact with others on Instagram, with the primary ones including commenting on other peoples posts they share and responding to those that comment on your post. This is your opportunity to connect with people in a real and sincere way.  When commenting on another person’s post keep these tips in mind:

• Mention them by name. Most people have their name included in their profile, so you can always check there if you are not sure what their name is by their account.

• State your favorite. Pick out one item in the photo they shared, and compliment it. For example, if you really love the chippy hutch in their living room, let them know instead of just saying something generic (i.e., “I love your room”).

• Encouragement. Wish them a beautiful day, and comment on something they may have said in their caption by following it up so they know you’re interested in what they have to say.

When others comment on your post, always go back to the best of your ability and respond to it. They took the time to reach out to you, and it’s good practice to follow back up. Too, you can apply the above mentioned idea of calling them by name and offering encouragement.  And, it means so much for you to answer whatever question they may have asked you when commenting (i.e., Where did you find your runner?)

2.  Collaborations:

This is one of the most frequently asked questions I get from those who are starting an Instagram account. What is a collaboration? How do they generally work?

A collaboration is when you work with a person/account/company to promote their product(s). Typically, you will receive a product(s) for free (sometimes with cash value as well) with the agreement that you will utilize your Instagram following to introduce your followers and others to the company whose product it is. For example, a company that makes wood signs may send you a sign in exchange for your styling it in your home, sharing a photo on Instagram about it, and tagging them in the caption that talks about it in your home.

I love doing collaborations with companies, and I highly recommend you doing them too! Oftentimes, those who do collaborations will say in their profile “DM (direct message) for collaborations” or “Email to collaborate.” Even if they do not have that in their profile, it doesn’t hurt to reach out through a DM or email if you love their products and see they’d be interested in working with you. The Design Twins (Jodie and Julie) have some wonderful information on navigating Instagram, and one of the tips I learned from them was to not undersell yourself.  You work hard to grow your account and so a typical way I measure a good fit collaboration is for the product value to equal $10/1000 followers you have.  For example, if you have 2000 followers, a fair collaboration would be a product worth $20. Of course, there are times when you want to extend good will to someone who may just be starting their company, so even though it’s not worth what you typically work with, helping others is always fun!

3.  Brand Repping:

Since I have a store, I do enjoy having this as a way to formally promote my products (more than once) with multiple people’s audiences. Brand repping is when a business owner will send one or more of their products to various people who will essentially then represent your store over a certain timeline. 

For example, you may have seen a store advertising for brand reps.  Let’s say they sell pillows, so whoever they choose to brand rep will be sent pillow(s) to style in their home then talk about that company and tag them in their photos where the product is displayed. This is different from a collaboration because brand reps commit to a certain amount of time to place products in their photo more than once, whereas, a collaboration is not as much a representative of the company as it is more like a customer who is talking about how much they enjoy said product. 

Brand repping is great way to grow relationships with companies and add beauty to your home.  I highly recommend trying to brand rep with companies as well!

I am excited to have shared these three additional tips today, and will be sharing three more in the near future so stay tuned!

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