Photos by me: instagram.com/hannahsuzanna

HOW TO: Grow Your Instagram Following by Taking Shitty Photos 💥

All the promotion in the world won’t make your site popular if your content sucks. — Fizzle

Do those two ideas seem counterintuitive? They’re not.

First of all, ask yourself if you follow any Instagram accounts that post bad content. Okay, you might follow some because, hey, you have to follow your second cousin twice removed— they’re family. Or maybe your best friend just doesn’t post the best photos, but you love them, so you follow them. I get it. Other than that you probably only follow people who post content you like, right? If an account doesn’t post inspiring images, they’re probably hilarious, or write captions that make you wonder if they’ve been inside your head.

Second of all, ask yourself, “How do my favorite accounts make such awesome content?” The answer is obvious: they’re super geniuses, who are innately talented, and thus completely deserve a huge Instagram following. WRONG! While that may be true for a very small population of people, the vast majority of people who make awesome content do it by making tons and tons of shitty content. This is also known as PRACTICE.

You’ve heard it before— whether from Malcolm Gladwell, telling you that you can master a skill by practicing it for 10,000 hours or Jerry Seinfeld telling you, “Don’t break the chain.” You’ve probably heard the pottery story from the book Art & Fear too, but it’s short so I’ll post it again for your here:

The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality.

His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the “quantity” group: fifty pounds of pots rated an “A,” forty pounds a “B,” and so on. Those being graded on “quality,” however, needed to produce only one pot “albeit a perfect one” to get an “A”.

Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the “quantity” group was busily churning out piles of work “and learning from their mistakes,” the “quality” group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.

Ok, you get it. You have to make a lot of shitty pots to make a perfect pot. But this is about growing your Instagram following right? Shouldn’t I be telling you how to get more exposure? NO. As the Fizzle article Write Epic Shit states, “Only after you create epic shit should you worry about sharing your content with other people.” In other words, you should spend the majority of your time creating amazing content and the minority of your time on promotion.

Let me break it down for you:

1. Make a ton of shitty content.
2. Once you’ve practiced a ton, make amazing content.
3. Promote your content.

Does that seem overwhelming or time-consuming? The good news is that with the Shitty Photo Process (SPP) you can start posting engaging photos quickly. Here’s how:

№1: Commit to Taking Shitty Photos Every Day

If you want people to engage with your Instagram photos you have to COMMIT to doing the SPP every day. An essential part of commitment is accountability.

Here are my suggestions for accountability:

1. WHISPER: Don’t feel comfortable with huge amounts of external pressure? I suggest Jerry Seinfeld’s, Don’t Break the Chain, method. Buy or print a wall calendar that shows each day for the entire year at once. When you’ve taken your shitty photos for that day, and posted the best one (I’ll get to that part in a little bit), then you put a big red “X” on that day of the calendar. Once you’ve done the SPP for a few days you’ll have a chain. Your number one job becomes to not break the chain. (Once you see a chain that’s a few weeks long, you won’t want to break it anyways.)
2. TALK: Don’t think a chain of red Xs can keep you committed? Find a good friend, family member, and/or creative partner to be your accountabilibuddy. This is just someone who’s been filled in on your goals and bugs you to stick with it. This setup works best if you hold them accountable for something they’re trying to do also— reciprocity increases motivation to stick with holding each other accountable.
3. SHOUT: You fine with ignoring a naggy friend? Too easy to set their conversations to, “Do not disturb?” You need LOUD commitment. Tell everyone you know that you’re posting a photo every day. Bring it up in every conversation, post about it on your Facebook, your Twitter, Snapchat, and of course on your Instagram. Make sure everyone you tell knows your handle so they’ll be following along. Bonus: you’ll gain followers by shouting about your commitment to the world.

Side note: Want to know what real commitment looks like? Watch TBOLITNFL, the story of Deuce Lutui committing to be, “the best offensive lineman in the NFL.” (There’s a 40-minute version and a 2-hour version, you can choose depending on how interested you are.)

№2: Actually take the photos

All of the commitment tactics in the world are only helpful if you follow through. Here’s where the shitty photos come in. Take photos all day, every day. See something interesting? Take a photo of it. See something boring? Take a photo anyways. Try to reframe everything you see as an interesting photo.

Need a number to shoot for? Take 50 photos every day. That is a pretty low number. Think about it. If you take 5 photos of 10 things that grab your attention, then you’ve hit your goal.

Remember, the subjects of your photos don’t need to be monumental landscapes or high production fashion shoots. They should be objects and moments that you come across in your everyday life. Think interesting shadows or eye-catching color schemes.

Note: DO NOT POST PHOTOS AS YOU TAKE THEM. (I’ll explain why in step №3.)

Tips for taking a F***ton of photos:

1. STUPID PICTURES: Take the photo even if you think it’s stupid. Did a flower catch your eye, but you feel like the resulting picture will be super boring? WHO CARES. Take the picture anyways. In fact, take a few pictures. Maybe you’ll surprise yourself and take an interesting photo of an uninspired subject. Or maybe the photos really will be shitty. Either way, it’s still practice, and that’s what counts.
2. PHONE CAMERA: Use your phone instead of your camera. I love my DSLR but lugging it around can sometimes be a barrier to actually taking and posting photos. So just take photos with your phone. You already carry your phone everywhere with you. Phone cameras are pretty high quality these days. The end product is an Instagram photo. Just use your phone.

№3: Only post ONE photo every day

What are you supposed to do with all of the photos? Pick THE BEST photo and post it to your Instagram. Limiting yourself to posting one post every day forces you to choose your best picture.

I suggest setting some loose parameters around what qualifies as the best to keep some consistency in your feed. For example, do you want to post photos that are aesthetically pleasing or that are funny? This doesn’t have to be too strict while you’re getting used to the SPP, but it’s usually helpful to have an underlying compass.

Can’t choose? That’s a great problem to have because it means your shitty photos are leading to quality photos. In my experience, you can usually whittle it down to two photos. If you absolutely can’t choose just one at that point: flip a coin. Remember, if you like them both so much, it probably doesn’t matter which one you choose to post— they’re both good. That’s GREAT. Still feel sad that you can’t post both photos? Make a facebook album for all of your deeply loved rejects.

Additional tips for posting the engaging photos:

1. NO BOREDOM PICS: Don’t post because you’re bored. If you’re following the SPP, this shouldn’t be an issue. It’s worth reiterating anyways though. Posting pictures because you’re bored leads to shitty pictures of your cat that no one cares about except you. Trust me, I know. Rule of thumb: no posting on social media to relieve boredom.
2. SAY NO TO FILTERS: Avoid Instagram filters like the plague. If you want to tune up your filters use Instagram’s editing tools. Their tools let you straighten photos, adjust exposure, contrast and more. You really want filters? Download the VSCO app and use their filters. Even though VSCO’s filters are much higher quality, I still suggest decreasing the intensity of the filter unless you intentionally are going for a more extreme look.

There you have it, the Shitty Photos Process. The SPP allowed me to get into photography, hone my photography around a very specific theme, and see more beauty in my everyday life. You can see my photos on Instagram at hannahsuzanna. Remember life is better when it’s fun, so please only do the SPP if it makes you go, “HELL YES.” Let me know how it goes!

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Hannah Suzanna (@hannahsuzanna) * Instagram photos and videos

Read Next:

F@#% Laptops, Make Graphics on Your Phone.

Shoutout to Alison Cebulla, Life Coach and master of motivational resources, for sharing TBOLITNFL and HELL YES with me.