How to Get More Followers on Instagram in 2021 - Advice From a Beauty Influencer

We interviewed a 22-year-old Scottish self-taught cosmetic artist named Jill Welsh to gain insight on how she organically grew her Instagram page to 105k followers in under three years. We truly believe Jill Welsh is slaying the #MUA trend on Instagram because of how consistent and creative she is.

Jill posts an average of three to four makeup looks a week to her account @jwmua and now being a beauty influencer on Instagram and Youtube is her full-time job! We were interested in getting to know Jill Welsh a bit more and wanted to find out what makes her #unique and #favorable in the makeup world of social media. Below are some questions we asked her and towards the end of the blog post we share our tips and trick on how you can grow your Instagram page in 2021 as well.

1. How did you get started in the beauty industry?

- Back in 2016 when I moved to university, I was going out clubbing a lot with my friends and they constantly asked me to do their makeup or borrow products and always complimented my makeup. They suggested to me that I should start an Instagram account for it but I was always hesitant to do it because I didn’t want people to judge me for it. I finally did it early 2017 and straight away it was the most fun thing I’d ever done, just sitting playing with makeup and creating looks was my new obsession. My Instagram started growing quite quickly and it has become my full-time job now and I couldn’t be more grateful for the people I’ve met and the opportunities I’ve been given and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for me! I’ve just launched my youtube channel now which took a lot of courage but it’s so much fun and I’m so excited for that to grow too!

2. What companies have you collaborated with before and wish to collaborate with in the future? & Why that specific brand, is there something unique about them?

- I have collaborated with quite a few brands now from skincare to makeup and then fashion also. I have done sponsored posts for brands such as Beautybay, Motel Rocks, Wet n Wild, Deck of Scarlet, and Baselift! I am also lucky enough to be on PR lists for some brands such as Anastasia Beverly Hills, #MilkMakeup, Barry M, #WetnWild, Sample Beauty, and Sleek Makeup! In the future, I would love to collaborate with many brands, in particular, #ABH or Makeup Revolution because I’m literally obsessed with their products and they have the nicest people working behind their brands.

3. What are some of your goals? Example: Where do you see yourself in the future?

- I hope that one day I will be a successful positive influence on my audience, and have my own cosmetics brand that caters to every single person who uses makeup, no matter the age, gender, or race. I will always be creating looks of some sort and will be creative in everything I do! Completely unrelated to makeup I hope to own my own dog fostering business where I rehome and give mistreated or abandoned dogs a happy home!

4. Do you have any advice for upcoming influencers that look up to you and how they can grow their Instagram account?

- If you want to get started on social media as an influencer, one of the main things you need to have is patience. Nothing comes quickly and without a lot of hard work and commitment. When I started I was posting every single day. It is extremely time-consuming and sometimes gets hard when you feel like you’re not growing as fast as you wish but everything comes with persistence and passion. Also making friends in the community is a great way to get your name out there and it’s always just nice to have people to talk to about being an influencer because not a lot of people in my normal life understand it, so it’s great having those people online who do!

Never Give Up

5. How did you get to where you are today?

- I got to where I am today by being passionate, consistent, and putting all my time and effort into what I do! There’s a lot more to social media influencing than just posting a photo every day, you have to be a present personality and really get to know your followers and let them know you so that you are having a real presence online and not just hiding behind the screen. It can be daunting to put yourself out there like that but when you do and you see the benefits, it’s all worth it!

6. Why do you think brands should collaborate with you? What makes you different?

- For me, I believe in putting my all into everything I do and I always make sure my work is the best it can be, no matter if my content is sponsored or not. I like to think I’m different because I really do have a huge passion for makeup, at the end of the day it’s what got me to where I am. I didn’t start my account just for “fame” or “money” and I didn’t even know it would get this far and I will always be grateful and put my all into any collaboration with any brand as it would literally mean the world to me to even have these opportunities.

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Our Advice on How to Grow Your Instagram Page in 2021:

- We are thankful Jill Welsh took the time out to answer a few questions from us. Judging from this interview, we can honestly say Jill is very motivated, self-driven, and hardworking. Those are the characteristics you need to be a full-time entrepreneurial beauty influencer in the year 2021.

1. Passion and persistence helped grow her Instagram account to 105k followers over the span of three years. If there is only one thing to take away from this interview, it is how loving what you do and not giving up will get you to where you want to be over time.

2. We agree with Jill on how nothing happens overnight. Being consistent and frequently creating content is not easy. According to INC. magazine, Science Says 92 Percent of People Don't Achieve Their Goals and Dreams, therefore, only 8 percent of individuals actually put in the work and fight through the uncertainty of not being where they want to be. Sacrificing your free time to achieve what they've only dreamt of having is key.

3. Throughout this interview, Jill shares the emotions she faced when she first began her makeup journey back in 2017. She says "it's daunting to put yourself out there like that but when you do and you see the benefits and it’s all worth it!" We recognized the hardest part is getting started. Once you start putting yourself out there and become familiar with your audience and the camera, there will be no turning back! It will get easier over time.

4. You will make friends by networking with your community. Jill mentions "making friends in the community is a great way to get your name out there and it’s always just nice to have people to talk to about being an influencer because not a lot of people in my normal life understand it, so it’s great having those people online who do!" What we've interpretative from this is, by immersing in an online community in your niche is one of the easiest ways to grow your Instagram account.

Jill Welsh on How to Grow Your Instagram

We hope you've enjoyed this blog post! Check out our other blog post: "How to Get More TikTok Followers in 2021 - Advice From a Beauty Influencer on Being TikTok Famous."