Last year, Jaqi Clements started an Instagram account for her twin daughters, Ava Marie and Leah Rose on their seventh birthday.
Jaqi told BuzzFeed the girls' Instagram started growing rapidly right away. "Around six months they already had nearly 150,000 followers. It was at that time that the Daily Mail published an article on them," she said. Ava and Leah's account soon ballooned to 1.1 million followers, and their followers branded them "the most beautiful girls in the world."
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"This past year has been really fun and exciting for Ava and Leah. Whether it be private shopping experiences, gifted merchandise from brands all over the world, or taking pictures with fans, the girls have had an amazing ride so far. Of course, what’s most important to them is the friends they’ve made along the way," said Jaqi.
Jaqi makes sure the twins attend school. "Any jobs that they book through Instagram I schedule on weekends or right after school so that they don’t have to miss any class. If they book a job through their agency, there is a teacher on set to help them with their school work," she said.
On days when the girls do work, they get up early to drive two hours to LA (where most of their jobs are). Jaqi said, "If they only work for a few hours, sometimes I’ll surprise them and plan lunch or dinner or even just a fun little outing with one of their friends up in LA."
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"On days they aren’t working, they go to school and then usually go to swim practice, dance class, or play outside with their friends in the neighborhood," she added.
When the girls first started, Jaqi would take photos with her camera and cell phone. But, now all the shots are taken by professional photographers. Jaqi also decides what pictures get posted to their account.
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"As much as I’d love to make their page more cohesive and add a colored filter for a more unified look, it’s impossible to do so when their pictures are being taken by so many different photographers who all have their own unique way of editing the photos," she said. "I try my best to mix up their pictures when I post so that when someone goes to their page they can see a variety of looks. My goal is to show how versatile Ava and Leah can be so it’s easier for brands that come to their page to picture the girls in their style of clothing."
As of now, the girls don't have access to the Instagram account, so they don't engage with their followers. "Sometimes I will allow them to come up with a question they want to ask their followers under their post for the day and then I’ll let them read the responses from their followers." The girls also do live videos sometimes.
Jaqi's advice for anyone trying to grow their Instagram following is to post pictures regularly – at least once a day, use a lot of hashtags, and have great pictures. "Whether you take them on your own, or get professional ones done, the more unique and eye-catching the photo is, the better chance you have of it getting reposted, which leads to more exposure and more followers."
Jaqi recently started a YouTube channel for the girls so people can get to know their personalities. "We haven’t done that many videos so far, but we are planning to focus more on their channel and post more consistently now that the girls have been asking me to make more videos of them," she said.
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You can also see what the Leah and Ava are up to on their website.
