Our Instagram Journey

Hey guys!

First off, I want to say thank you to everyone who has taken the time to check out our new website and read my first blog post. The outpour of love and support we’ve been receiving has been overwhelming. This was a new challenge for me and I was pretty nervous to share it with the world, but I am so glad I did! I thought it would be interesting to share our Instagram journey with you—from how we got started to where we are today. It’s so crazy to see accounts these days rapidly grow from zero to 20K or even 30K followers in a year or less. Please tell me your secrets because that did not happen to us, and that’s what makes our story unique.

I started @archerthefrenchie.to just over three years ago. As I mentioned in my first blog post, I did it because I didn’t want to bombard my friends and family with dog photos. I didn’t have any plans of what I was going to do with but it was really exciting to get likes and watch the following grow. A lot of people may think it’s easy since everyone is doing it, but truth is, it’s a lot of work. I spend hours each day brainstorming, creating content and engaging with our followers. Basically, this is my second job.

Archer’s Instagram account took about a year to reach 10K followers. It was a video of ours that got reposted and kind of went “viral” as you would say, that really helped us get there. I remember waking up and feeling so proud of myself. I think this was the exact moment when I realized Archer's account had great potential and I should find a way to grow it and potentially create a brand one day. It was my goal, and it still is!

When I started out, I tagged big accounts and used hashtags like most people do (I still do this!). This was the only thing I really knew how to do in order to get likes, and if I was lucky, get reposted. I will admit, in the beginning, I wasn’t great at being creative when it came to captions, and our picture quality was never the best. Not a lot of thought was being put into what I was posting whereas today, I plan out content days ahead.

In our second year of Instagram, our account only grew by 5K followers; it was a tough year. I was still trying to figure out Instagram and different strategies to attract likes and followers but I guess it didn’t really work. It wasn’t until Spring 2018, when our account really took off. Brands started noticing Archer and our account, and we began collaborating. We grew from 15K to 30K in about 7 months; it was crazy! I’ll be honest, I could not pinpoint what I did differently that may have caused our account to grow. However, I do think I put more thought into which accounts to tag, used popular hashtags and we even invested in a camera to help us capture pictures when my Iphone 8 Plus would disappoint. It’s crazy to see how far we’ve come. Thank you to those who have supported us along the way; it’s been a sweet ride so far!

I am so excited for what’s to come in 2019! We have some awesome collaborations planned, some new treat recipes to share, perhaps some travel plans and wherever this crazy adventure decides to takes us! I hope our Instagram story gives those who are starting out some insight and inspiration. Be patient. Be consistent. And keep doing what you’re doing!

In our next post, I’ll share some awesome apps we use for stories, pictures and videos, so be on the look out! Remember, if you have any questions, please ask away in the comments!

Happy Tuesday!