I don't know much about this from experience but I can tell you what I think.
I've seen people doing this IG thing thinking they'll end up like @satan and getting paid to put an advertisement in their bio. The problem is that this is bound to fail. How many people do you know that want to be @satan? How many people do you know that are even close to being @satan? I wouldn't ask someone with no money for tips on investing. I wouldn't ask someone who eats microwave dinners every night for great recipes to cook. If you want good tips and information on social media growth and monetisation, ask people who have been successful with it.
I believe that extreme success comes to those who don't expect it. Do you think Mark Zuckerberg EVER expected to be in the position he is in? What about Bill Gates? Athletes? The reason for this I believe is that these people do it for the love of the craft, not the money. The goal was not money for them, that came as an extra later on. Those who specifically do it for the money have their mind in the wrong place, to succeed they need to focus on the craft. I don't know if anyone here is old enough but the Dot-com bubble is a great example. Once people saw others being successful on the Internet and seeing these kids in their garage and basement becoming millionaires almost overnight, they flocked to the Computer Science departments as if a degree was a golden ticket to wealth. Those who came only for the money soon found out that they weren't cut out for it and left. The kids in their garage that made some money originally didn't have money on their mind, they were doing it for the enjoyment of just doing it. The best athletes do it for the love of the game, not for the paycheck. This can be argued by saying many of them waste their money instantly but that's cultural and a different argument.
My point is, if monetisation is the ultimate goal, don't expect success.
So yes, you can follow people and unfollow them the next day, you'll probably get some doing that. You can use hashtags, you can buy followers, you can buy bots to follow you, you can buy a shoutout, you can advertise on other popular photographers content, etc. But all that time you spent doing that is time you didn't spend getting the perfect shot of that scene. Ultimately, you'll only be successful if others like and enjoy your content. Just like in business, if the product just isn't selling no matter what, the market is telling you that it disagrees with you.
Please don't say this, everyone says it. EVERYONE thinks they're the smartest/best at everything. That's human nature. Feel free to look up research on that, plenty has been done. However, I do appreciate your humble "I believe."
Do it for the love of photography, not the love of money, and I guarantee you'll be happy. I hope this helps.
Edit: grammer
