16 August 2020

How to Get Followers on Instagram Fast


get-followers

With millions of people using Instagram every day, it’s getting harder to stand out from the crowd. If you’re not getting any new followers or any likes on your posts you probably need to change some of your Instagram habits.

In this article, we explain how to get followers on Instagram. With a set of tips to help you get more followers.

1. Promote Your Posts on Other Social Media Accounts

Cross Promote Instagram Posts

If you want to learn how to quickly gain Instagram followers, you can start by promoting your posts on other social media platforms. This means sharing your posts on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, and possibly even your own website.

Cross-promoting your Instagram posts will only attract more people to your page. Not only does it allow your existing audience to check out your Instagram profile, but it also opens the door for users from other platforms to discover your account.

2. Give Your Profile a Unique Style

Instagram Unique Profile Style

Instagram is a visual website—a user’s decision to follow you is based on the quality of the content you post, as well as the way you present it. Posting poorly-shot photos in a completely random order is a surefire way to deter potential followers. You want people to click on your profile and love what they see.

The best way to get more people to hit that Follow button is to establish a style or theme. There are several amazing Instagram themes that you can use as a framework for your own profile, each of which can help you organize your photos. That said, it’s important to consider both the quality of your individual posts, as well as your profile’s overall look.

If you don’t stick with a single style or theme on your profile, you might struggle to amass a steady base of followers. Take @taramilktea (pictured above), for example. She’s gained over 1 million followers by posting aesthetically-pleasing photos arranged according to color. As you scroll through her profile, you’ll notice that she posts small chunks of pictures with one dominant shade. The result is a beautiful profile that you can look at for hours.

3. Use Hashtags Wisely

Hashtags are the key to getting found on Instagram, and failing to include the right ones in your post can seriously limit your exposure.

When you add a hashtag, you’ll not only want to include descriptive hashtags, but you’ll want to throw in some ultra-popular hashtags too. This way, you can get the attention of anyone searching for a specific topic, in addition to those who are just scrolling through the feed of a popular hashtag.

But before you decide on which hashtags to use, make sure you’ve looked at our guide to popular Instagram hashtags that no one understands.

4. Don’t Forget About Geotags

You can catch the eyes of local Instagram users by simply adding a location to your posts. When a user searches for a location in the Places tab in Instagram’s search bar, your post just might show up in the results.

Not to mention that geotags come in handy when you want to find out if any local events are happening near you. Taking advantage of geotags can help you keep up on local trends, as well as help you gain more Instagram followers.

5. Bulk Up Your Posts’ Captions

View this post on Instagram

Photo by @amivitale Happy World Lion Day! A lion cub relaxes at @loisaba_conservancy in Laikipia, in northern Kenya. This cub's mother wears a GPS collar that allows rangers from the @lionlandscapes program to track the movements of lions living among people and livestock. Real-time movement data from these collars teaches us about how lions survive in human-dominated landscapes, and helps us to prevent human-lion conflict by keeping livestock away from known lion locations. And, if a collared lion approaches a livestock enclosure outfitted with an alarm, the alarm will blare, scaring the lion away. With less human-wildlife conflict, all species benefit. To learn more, follow @lionlandscapes, @loisaba_conservancy @nature_africa, @peregrinefund and @tusk_org who are working together to promote coexistence between humans and lions for the benefit of people and nature in northern Kenya. Follow @amivitale for more photos on the conservation gains being made in northern Kenya thanks to partnerships like these. @nature_org @kenyawildlifeservice @houstonzoo @sandiegozoo @thephotosociety #lions #kenya #conservation #africa #WorldLionDay

A post shared by National Geographic (@natgeo) on

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but that doesn’t mean you can always get away with writing single-sentence captions on your Instagram posts. Writing descriptive captions can help your audience learn more about who you are, and even find out something new.

Having a lengthy caption can also make you seem more “human,” and less like someone who just mechanically posts pictures. Plus, it’s a great way to get your followers to interact with your posts.

6. Post Videos and Reels

Although Instagram started out as a photos-only platform, videos have become increasingly popular. How-tos, funny skits, and adorable cat videos are just some examples of video content that garner thousands of views on Instagram.

Whether you want to post a woodworking tutorial or an intriguing video of wildlife, Instagram gives you the voice to do so. A healthy mix of photo and video content can make your account a lot more engaging and attractive to potential followers.

One of Instagram’s newest features, Reels, is another great way to get your account discovered. Instagram Reels are short, 15-second videos that you can add music and special effects to. Other users can find your Reels in their Explore tab, and can even discover your Reel by searching for the song you used.

To learn more about this feature, be sure to read our article explaining what Instagram Reels is.

7. Create Engaging Instagram Stories

In addition to posting videos regularly, you’ll also want to consider creating frequent Instagram Stories. Your Story appears at the top of your followers’ feeds, and is also clickable from your profile picture on your Instagram page. Stories provide your followers with short updates, and also give them a glimpse into your day-to-day life.

The Story feature is pretty versatile, as it lets you include photos, live videos, or even pre-recorded videos. You can even add interactive polls for your followers, as well as write messages—don’t forget to add hashtags to your Story to boost your visibility!

While your Story only lasts for 24 hours, you can still use any archived Stories to create Highlights. This allows you to leave your favorite clips at the top of your profile for as long as you want.

8. Post Regularly

In 2018, Instagram explained to TechCrunch how certain posts wind up on your feed. It turns out that its algorithm prioritizes photos based on recency and relevancy. In other words, Instagram is more likely to include your post in someone’s feed if it has been posted recently, and if the user has interacted with similar posts in the past.

You might not be able to control what the user likes, but you can control how often you post. Posting on a daily basis is a quick Instagram trick to help you get more followers.

9. Start an IGTV Series

If you want to take your videos to an even higher level, you should consider creating an IGTV series. IGTV is Instagram’s standalone video-only platform, and unlike the Instagram app, it allows you to upload videos up to 10 minutes long. These videos are integrated with the standard Instagram app, so users don’t need the IGTV app to view them.

Longform videos give you the chance to show more in-depth content. Whether you decide to go down the informative or entertainment route, longer videos can help you captivate viewers even more. Users can find your IGTV videos on their feeds, but you can also help your videos get found by adding related hashtags to the description.

Learn How to Get Followers on Instagram

Once you’ve figured out how to get more followers on Instagram, you might feel a bit overwhelmed. And while it may require some adjustment to your posting routine, it will pay off once you see your follower count increase.

To make your Instagram account even more unique, check out these ways to make your Instagram stand out.

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7 Fixes When Your Android Phone Won’t Connect to Your Computer


android-wont-connect

Can’t get your Android phone to connect to your computer? This can happen for many reasons, including an incorrect connection mode or a lack of proper drivers. The smallest of issues can prevent your computer from detecting your device.

If you have no clue what’s causing this problem, walk through the below methods one by one. Each tip fixes a certain problem , so keep trying them until your computer detects your phone.

1. Check the USB Connection Mode on Your Phone (Windows/Mac)

Your Android device offers several connectivity modes when connecting your phone to your computer. Each mode has different purposes, and some could cause your phone not to show up on your computer.

Changing the connection mode on your phone can get your computer to recognize it. Here’s how to do that:

  1. Connect your phone to your computer using a USB cable.
  2. Pull down the notification bar, and you should see an Android system entry that shows the current connection mode. Tap on the connection mode item to open the USB Preferences page.
  3. Select File Transfer.

Once you do this, your phone should appear as a storage drive in File Explorer or Finder. Now you can start copying files to and from your device.

2. Update the MTP USB Drivers on Your Computer (Windows)

If you’re looking to use your phone as a media device on your computer, you need to enable the MTP mode on your phone. This requires that you have MTP drivers installed and updated on your computer.

Most computers have those drivers installed already. If they’re outdated, you can easily update them using the Device Manager:

  1. Connect your phone to your computer using a USB cable.
  2. Open the Device Manager by right-clicking on the Start button or hitting Win + X.
  3. Find your Android device under Portable Devices, right-click on it, and choose Update driver.update android drivers
  4. Select Browse my computer for driver software.
  5. Click on the Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer option at the bottom.
  6. Select MTP USB Device from the list and click on Next at the bottom.update mtp android drivers

Once the drivers are updated, your phone should work as a media device.

3. Use the Android File Transfer Utility (Mac)

Unlike Windows, you can’t directly transfer files from Android to a Mac. You need to first install a utility on your Mac that acts as a bridge between your Mac and your Android device.

This utility is called Android File Transfer, which you can download from the official Android website:

  1. Grab the Android File Transfer tool from the Android website.
  2. Launch the downloaded file and drag the tool to your Applications folder.
  3. Double-click on the tool in your Applications folder (or search for it using Spotlight with Cmd + Space) to launch it.
  4. Plug your Android phone into your computer using a USB cable.
  5. Your phone should appear in the newly installed tool.android file transfer tool

Once you see your phone, you can start moving your files as you please.

4. Use a Different USB Port and USB Cable (Windows/Mac)

If you’ve run through the above and still have an issue, perhaps the USB port or cable that you’re using is defective or damaged. This will prevent your computer from recognizing your device, of course.

Luckily, most computers have multiple USB ports. Try another port on your machine to see if your phone connects. You should also connect using a different USB cable and see if that makes your computer recognize your device.

5. Update Your Operating System Version (Mac)

On Windows, you can connect your Android phone regardless of your operating system’s version. However, on Macs, older macOS versions can have issues with Android connections.

Therefore, you should update your macOS version when you run into connection issues between your phone and computer. You can do this as follows:

  1. Click on the Apple logo at the top-left corner and choose About This Mac.
  2. Click the Software Update button to update your Mac’s software.update macos version
  3. If a macOS update is available, download and install it on your machine, then try the connection again.

6. Uninstall Other Android Connectivity Tools (Windows/Mac)

Some phone manufacturers offer their own connectivity solutions, such as Samsung SideSync. These tools sometimes interfere with the standard Android connection methods; such conflicts can cause your computer not to recognize your phone at all.

If you have any of these tools installed, try removing them from your computer to avoid conflicts. Once that’s done, reconnect your phone to your computer and see if it works as normal.

7. Run Windows Device Troubleshooter (Windows)

Windows 10 comes with several troubleshooters to help you find and fix issues with various facets. Thankfully, one of these is to troubleshoot external devices like your Android phone.

You can enlist the help of this tool to fix connection issues and get your phone to show up on your machine. While it’s not always perfect, it’s worth a try.

Microsoft removed the Hardware and Devices troubleshooter from the list in the latest versions of Windows 10, but it’s still accessible via the command line:

  1. Press Win + X and choose Windows PowerShell (Admin) or Command Prompt (Admin) from the list.
  2. Enter the following command: msdt.exe -id DeviceDiagnostic
  3. You’ll see the Hardware and Devices troubleshooter. Click Next to let the tool detect issues with your devices. When it’s done, it will offer methods to fix the detected issues.hardware and devices troubleshooter

If you’re on an older version of Windows 10, you can find the tool using the following method:

  1. Launch Settings on your PC, click Update & Security, and choose Troubleshoot from the left sidebar.
  2. From the list, click the item that says Hardware and Devices to launch the devices troubleshooter.

Bonus Tip. Use an Alternate File Transfer Method

If your phone won’t connect no matter what you do, you might want to use some alternate methods to transfer files from Android to your computer. This way, you can at least get your files moving until your connection issue is sorted.

Keep Your Android and Computer Connected

At first, it might seem like your computer is never going to recognize your device. However, with the methods above, you should successfully get your computer to mount your phone and let you move files between them.

Meanwhile, if you urgently need to move something from your computer to your phone, you can use some of the computer to Android file transfer methods to get your file transfers going.

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Bring Back the Magic With Minecraft Modpacks: 7 to Try


minecraft-modpacks

If you’re an old-school Minecraft player who hasn’t touched the game in a few years, now is a great time to come back to it. The development team keeps adding more awesome content to the experience.

But even with that, if you got tired of the game before, it will probably get old for you quickly again. If this describes you, or you’re a current player who finds the game stale, it’s time to explore Minecraft mods.

Why Use Minecraft Mods?

If you haven’t gotten into Minecraft mods yet, you’re only just getting started with what’s possible in the game. For almost as long as Minecraft has been around, people have made the game even better by modifying it.

If you’re into fantasy and wish there were more involved systems in place that let you do real magic, there are mods for that. Botania and Thaumcraft are a couple of great fantasy mods that alter the whole world and bring new ways to play.

Maybe sci-fi and industry are more your speed; there are a ton of great mods for that as well. There are mods like Immersive Engineering that can turn your Minecraft world into something closer to Factorio. You can even travel to other worlds and die from a lack of oxygen if you want.

One of the biggest arguments against Minecraft is that it’s more of a toy than an actual game. Sure enough, there are mods that can turn Minecraft into a full-blown RPG with skill progression and equipment leveling.

There’s a great mod called Pam’s Harvestcraft that adds new food items and recipes. There’s Open Gliders, which lets you build hang gliders. Meanwhile, Journey Map gives you an excellent full-featured in-game map.

With all these, plus the ability to make your own Minecraft mods, the only problem is that there are just too many options. It’s hard to know what’s available and which ones work well together. That’s where modpacks come in.

Introducing Minecraft Modpacks

Modpacks are collections of mods that turn Minecraft into a whole new game. Really, they are almost entire games by themselves. The best part is that modpacks are completely free.

Imagine if the green fields and soaring mountains with grazing sheep and cows were all gone. What if the entire Minecraft world had been devastated in a long-forgotten apocalypse, and it was your job to fix it? There are a lot of modpacks that offer this scenario.

regrowth minecraft modpack screenshot

What if you woke up on a 3×3 platform of dirt blocks with a tree in the middle and had to find a way to build a base? There are no caves, chickens, water, or minerals. You have to use the mods in the pack to create everything from scratch.

Maybe you just want to get lost in a fantasy world with dragons and warlocks. Or perhaps you want to explore deep underground dungeons loaded with epic loot. What if you could open doors to other dimensions where all the rules have changed? There are packs that provide all of this and more.

If checking off boxes and getting achievements is something you enjoy, there are a lot of great quest-based packs. These packs give you a ton of challenges that increase in difficulty as you play. The best ones even teach you how to use the mods without feeling like a tutorial.

Finding Minecraft Modpacks

The three best places to get modpacks are Feed The Beast, Technic Pack, and CurseForge. All three of them have their own installers, which makes it easy to get started.

For newcomers, the best one is CurseForge. It has the largest selection of modpacks and makes it easy to find them through search, sort, and filter options. The site has most or all of the Feed the Beast packs, as well as some of the Technic packs.

Installing Modpacks

It’s possible to run into issues with the individual loaders working on different platforms. You also might not want to install three loaders in addition to your Minecraft launcher. Thankfully, there’s a better way.

Multi MC is a tool that works great on macOS, Windows, and Linux. It will let you play any version of vanilla Minecraft—all the way back to pre-alpha if you’re feeling nostalgic. And it makes installing mods and modpacks super easy.

To start, download MultiMC. Once you have it installed, the next step is to pick a modpack. You can download a modpack from Curse Forge by clicking it and then selecting which file to install from the list of options on the right menu.

You’ll want to pick a file that has a green R (release version). Also, make sure you get the regular install file, not one for a server. Following the download link will take you to a page with a download button. Use it to grab the pack.

curseforge download links

Next, open MultiMC and click Add Instance.

MultiMC add instance button

Then select Import from zip and click Browse. Select the modpack you downloaded, click OK, and wait.

MultiMC new instance window

Installing and running modpacks takes a lot longer than with vanilla Minecraft. It also requires more memory. If your system is kind of sluggish, it’s best to stick with modpacks from Minecraft 1.7.

The Best Minecraft Modpacks to Try

Looking to try some modpacks, but don’t know where to begin? Have a look at these great choices.

1. MC Eternal

mc eternal modpack logo

Minecraft Version: 1.12

This is a great kitchen-sink style modpack with over 750 quests that can help you learn more about some of the best mods available. You can find sci-fi, fantasy, and automation mods in this epic pack. It’s a beast though, and may not work on older, slower systems.

Download: MC Eternal

2. Questing Mayhem

questing mayhem modpack logo

Minecraft Version: 1.07

If your system isn’t beefy enough to handle 1.12 modpacks, this is another awesome all-around pack. It’ll introduce you to the world of mods and give you quests to learn the ins and outs of each one. With over 1,400 quests, this one should keep you busy for a while.

Download: Questing Mayhem

3. SevTech: Ages

sevtech ages modpack logo

Minecraft Version: 1.12

This beautifully crafted evolution pack makes Minecraft a whole new experience. It takes you from being a stone-age caveman that can’t do much more than bang rocks together (literally) and evolves your game all the way up to space travel.

Many elements like mapping, object identification, and even ores are hidden until you unlock the appropriate tier.

Download: SevTech: Ages

4. Sky Factory 4

sky factory 4 modpack logo

Minecraft Version: 1.12

This is the fourth installment of a classic “sky island” pack. You’re given nothing but dirt and a tree and have to build an empire. This pack involves magic and automation, plus has multiple options and biomes to keep it fresh and interesting.

Download: Sky Factory 4

5. Compact Claustrophobia

compact claustrophobia modpack logo

Minecraft Version: 1.12

This is a crazy-fun pack where you start out locked in a 3x3x3 miniature cube and need to escape. But the only way out is to create more miniature cubes and dig yourself in deeper and deeper. This is a high-tech modpack that involves a lot of automation, machinery, and large functional structures.

Download: Compact Claustrophobia

6. Roguelike Adventures and Dungeons

rad modpack logo

Minecraft Version: 1.12

This is a true RPG-style modpack with dungeons, dragons, and progressive difficulty. But it’s still Minecraft, so how you play it is up to you. There are blueprints for instant structures like a hobbit house to get you started. It also has recipes for yurts and backpacks that let you become a nomadic dungeon-crawling adventurer.

Download: Roguelike Adventures and Dungeons

7. Regrowth

regrowth modpack logo

Minecraft Version: 1.12

This is the modpack with all the brown and gray blocks shown above—as you might expect, it’s extremely challenging! You start in a dead world with no resources and have to bring the world back to health through farming.

Almost every material and resource you’d normally find in Minecraft can be grown through farming mods. It makes progression quite slow in the beginning, but provides amazing opportunities for automation later on.

Download: Regrowth

Minecraft Is a Rich Challenge for Everyone

A lot of people think Minecraft is a simple kid’s game. There’s so much more to it than that, though. Modpacks turn the game into a deeply challenging obsession that will keep adults playing for hundreds or thousands of hours longer.

And for kids, it doesn’t need to stop at building castles. Minecraft’s Hour of Code can spark a passion for programming and STEM in children as well.

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