1. Discover the best times to post using Iconosquare.
2. Adjust with the brightness filter before playing with the other filters.
3. Add text to your images with the Over app.
4. Have a consistent theme to what you are posting. It should tell a story about curated group of images and be quickly understood what you are about if you wish to gain followers, like Better Homes & Gardens does beautifully.
5. Start following @Instagram and take part of their #projects. If they add you to their “suggested users list”, get ready for tens of thousands of new followers overnight …