Tips to grow your account
So how exactly did I manage to break the 2000 follower mark in just 4 months of entering the game, a feat that takes a lot of the watch fam 1-2 years to achieve? Well, keep reading!
I’ve had many smaller accounts ask me how I’ve achieved such a trajectory, so thought I’d share some learnings and thoughts for those interested.
I warn you, this is a long read!
Whilst @WatchCalvin isn’t big by any means, I’d say it’s out of the small account territory and into the mid-tier. This accelerated timeframe includes day 1 of me taking a watch photo for the first time in my life (15 Aug 2021), to where I am now, being able to work and collaborate with brands.
The first thing I’ll note is that whilst a follower count isn’t, and shouldn’t be, the only success metric of an account, it does help provide an indicator that you’re on the right track and that people are interested in your content. There’s also no denying the little dopamine hit of seeing the numbers go up.
So how did I do it? What tips do I have for you to help grow?
I’ll break it down into 4 categories.
The photography
Having consistency and purpose
Shoot consistently and with the purpose of improvement. Having goals in mind will help you accelerate the learning and mastery process.
You’re not aimlessly taking photos. You’re putting in the hours, learning how to improve that flat lay or that pocket shot that you’re weak at. You’re being realistic, analysing what you need to work on to take it up a notch, whether it’s your lighting, editing style, composition, or even gear choice. Use the engagement as feedback.
You’re slowly adding more to your repertoire as the days go by. You’re able to see someone else’s shot and perfectly understand how they did it, and perhaps even have ideas on how to improve it. Better photos attract more followers, plain and simple.
Trial and error / taking risks
Don’t be afraid to try new things. Play along to themes/challenges that get posted as you’ll be keeping up with the trends. Pay tribute to other photographer styles. Try new props and perspectives.
Something that might not initially seem like a great post to you, could end up resonating with a lot of other viewers. In a world of “been there, done that”, originality and creativity will take you further than a technically sound, yet boring photo. Give people a reason to stop scrolling, and to check out your profile!
Creating visual interest
Add multiple elements to your image. Create a scene. Tell a story. Add complementary objects or colours around your subject. Add movement. Add depth. Bring that image alive! You’re more likely to have your post liked, shared, saved and clicked on from Explore.
Being technically sound
Master your camera and your lighting to maximise your gear’s potential. Use the right fstop, shutter speed, and ISO to ensure that your images are crisp. People are always amazed at a crisp photo. A blurry or noisy image isn’t going to attract as much attention.
Understand your editing software and it’s limitations. Know how to make your watch subject POP.
The watch collection
A solid collection can help you gain followers, especially if people either lust after or resonate with your pieces. I’ve seen multiple accounts gain a massive following without any photography, just purely on variety of watches. I break the collections into 2 categories -
Hype watches
These are the Patek’s, Rolex’s, VC’s and AP’s of the world. The highly lusted after luxury pieces that 99.9% of the world will likely never own, and thus would follow your content to appreciate them. An exception being Tudor/Omega as a relatively obtainable luxury.
The Submariner, Speedy, BB58, Explorer 1 & 2 (polar) are examples of some of the biggest luxury hype watches at the moment with countless posts on them. Just scroll through your next 10 watch posts and tell me how many of these you hit. Good content generated with these watches tends to be shared and circulated widely in the watch community, helping you get your name out there, increasing likelihood of new followers.
The peoples’ watches
These are the more affordable, everyday watches that people can just relate to. The Seiko, Hamilton, Orient’s of the world. A watch collection doesn’t necessarily need to be expensive, especially in watch photography. A timeless Seiko darling is the SKX007, with the SPB143 the current poster child of many feeds. Even the Turtles and Willards do well. The followers you gain likely have the watch and resonate with you, or are looking to get the watch soon.
The community aspect
Liking, commenting, and following
People can’t follow you if they don’t know you exist. Having a consistent presence of liking and commenting on other people’s posts will increase the likelihood of them getting to know you and following you. This helps you build your “base” of followers, and as they engage and like your content, your content then gets promoted to other people similar to them. Always keep in mind that there’s a recommendation engine behind all of this. It’s an algorithm. If you’re posting a ton of watch content, and the algorithm picks up that “Hey! This guy must be a watch guy! We can see a lot of watch people are following him!” It’ll then promote you to other watch people’s Explore.
Sponsors and giveaways
Another good way of gaining followers is through giveaways at milestones. People like winning free things. Giveaways tend to generate a lot of likes, comments, shares, and saves which again help perpetuate the promotion of the post to new people.
E.g. Bob sees your giveaway and shares your post, and all of a sudden you gain access to Bob’s entire network. Then one of Bob’s followers jumps on the train, sharing the post, which again branches out to their followers. Each time this happens, you’re bound to gain a new follower or two.
It’s also a great way to give back to the community that supports you!
Q&A’s
This goes two ways.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions to any of the bigger accounts and creators. You’d be surprised at how many of them will take the time to answer and help out. I wasn’t shy in approaching mentors and they’ve helped me tremendously.
Pay the favour forward and help smaller accounts that eventually ask you questions along the way. People talk. You’d be surprised at what kind of reputation you might hold within the community! Never hurts to be known as the helpful one! You’re all welcome to shoot me a DM and I’ll respond soon as I can.
The Business Aspect
Networking with brands
If you strive to have awesome giveaways, or to do cool collaborations, you’re going to need to have relationships with brands. Behind each brand account will be sitting a marketing/brand/social media manager. Their job is to engage with the community, repost good content, answer product questions, and of course to scout for upcoming talent that could help them generate more revenue.
I’ve been fortunate to let my photography do the speaking, with brands reaching out to me directly to collaborate. This is one way to do it. The other is to reach out to them (once you’re confident in your content creation). Introduce yourself. Be polite. They need to see that you’re a genuine advocate for the brand and that you have potential to increase their sales (if not now, maybe later).
One of my collaborations started off with me looking to actually purchase the product, where I shot some questions to the brand. We got a good conversation going, and I said something along the lines of “Hey, I love your brand. I’d love to be able to collaborate if you’re open to the idea”. This is where they check out your account and content and assess if your photography is right for them.
Another thing to keep in mind is that follower counts don’t matter. I had 3 brands reach out directly to me to collaborate well before I even hit 1k followers. Brands recognise talent and see potential. We still have good relationships to this day.
Frequency and timing of posts
My recommendation when starting out is to post frequently. I posted twice a day, with different content. Twice a day meant being able to hit 2 different timezones (one focusing on North America, and the other on Europe). Twice a day meant being able to post 2 different watches and setups, thus different hashtags. In the early stages, every follower counts! I have a suspicion that the speed at which you gain followers is an attribute of the algorithm to determine how interesting your content must be if everyone is flocking to it.
Professional / Business account for analytics
Highly, highly recommend taking the option of swapping to a Professional/Business account. This gives you the ability to see your post analytics. I can’t stress how much of a game changer it was for me to be able to see what type of content resonated most with people and had the highest reach.
Knowing which photos grab the most attention
Play to your strengths! If there’s a particular shot that you’re evidently very good at, milk it for what it’s worth! Grab as many followers as you can! In the early days of the account, you want to grab as many as possible. In the later stages of the account, the focus then shifts more to QUALITY of the posts. It’ll be useless posting frequent mediocre photos, vs posting one incredible photo in which your now fairly substantial follower base all like and share, increasing the likelihood of it being promoted further.
If you’ve read this far, thank you! You must be constipated! Maybe I’ll turn this into a YouTube video later.