Do you ever think why some Instagram users seem to consistently or quickly accrue a large number of followers? Nowadays, many people are not celebrities or influencers, while some still are.
The article below outlines 17 simple strategies for growing your Instagram following.
You may gradually increase your Instagram following without being famous now. Though it could require a little more effort.
No matter what stage of expanding your Instagram following you are in, there is a way to give your audience an engaging, excellent, and distinctive experience. I’ll assist you in building up Instagram exactly how you want it.
Get More Instagram Followers in 17 Steps
- Determine the mission and vision of your Instagram account
- Choose the right name for your account
- Come up with a Content Strategy
- Ensure that it’s a Business profile
- Publish great Content regularly
- Â Doing Instagram SEO
- Focus on Quality Followers
- Â Write good Captions
- Focus on entertainment
- Cross Promote your Content
- Develop your own Instagram style
- Have an Intriguing or Actionable Branded Hashtag
- Instagram Giveaways
- Encourage user generated content
- Use a Mix of Hashtags
- Run Instagram ads
- Analyze your Competitors
Introducing Instagram
Although I don’t think this platform needs an introduction, some of you might.
So let me share a few simple facts with you.
Instagram is a smartphone app for sharing photos. It was introduced in 2010 as a standard free app. There were many competing photo-sharing applications, but Instagram found its niche and grew rapidly.
They developed so rapidly and naturally that Facebook became interested in them and acquired them for $1 billion in April 2012.
Instagram had more than 2 billion active users as of February 2022!
The Evolution of Instagram
Instagram was once a simple app. You took a photo, applied a filter to it (so that you would look better), and then shared it with your modest Instagram following.
There it was. No chimes. There are none. Nothing special.
That’s not the situation anymore.
Today, Instagram has a tonne of features, including amazing filters and automation tools. Instagram hurried to add these capabilities when Periscope and Snapchat began gaining millions of users and used live video, respectively.
For instance, rather than depending just on Instagram’s built-in filters, you can alter photographs using more sophisticated photo editing tools.
You can publish Stories as well. Your friends’ feeds include stories at the top, where they stay for 24 hours. You can send your Stories just to chosen friends or carefully curated groups if you wish to keep them private.
Similar to Snapchat, you can add text, drawings, and other unique effects to your photos.
Similar to its most recent rival TikTok, Instagram now places a greater emphasis on video. Instagram’s Reels and Live Video capabilities are becoming popular, similar to TikTok. Influencers and the creative economy have received a lot of attention since the year 2020. The platform has advanced thanks to user-generated content and influencer marketing, where live video feeds can also be used for social e-commerce.
Instagram differs from the majority of live video networks in that the footage you stream can be stored for IGTV afterward. You may add to your content by watching live videos as they are being recorded and sharing them with your audience who missed them.
I’m not trying to show you how to use every function in this essay; my purpose is to show you how to obtain followers.
Nevertheless, it’s critical to be aware of these characteristics because you’ll be utilizing them to boost Instagram followers when your following expands by thousands every week.
Determine the Overall Purpose of Your Instagram Account
This is essential.
You can move on to the next level if your only motivation for using Instagram is social interaction.
However, if you want to link your efforts to a commercial or marketing objective, you must ascertain the main objective of your account.
According to research from Instagram, 90% of users follow brands there. On the network, there are more than 200 million business and corporation accounts, therefore your original material needs to stand out from the crowd.
You may keep track of the inspiration behind starting to share your ideas by giving your account a purpose or specialty.
You can then venture outside of your niche with the help of your devoted fans once you establish a solid footing there.
This goal-mapping exercise is intended to:
Make a goal for which you are responsible. You can measure your outcomes, monitor your development, and calculate your ROI with this method.
Enhance the efficiency of every action you conduct going forward. The objectives you’re aiming for will determine your content approach and everything else you do.
What does a goal on Instagram look like? Any one of the numerous uses the platform offers may be it.
The better, the more specific.
The better, the more quantifiable.
Here are a few instances:
- Boost your brand storytelling initiatives.
- Boost audience involvement
- create a reliable income through affiliate marketing
- Boost the sales of your products
- Bring in more visitors to your website
- More people should sign up for your email list.
- Make connections with leaders in your industry
- Promote your corporate culture to draw in top talent for your team
- Create excitement and momentum for a pending product launch.
By giving these particular statistics, you may give them greater substance.
For instance, “start producing 5,000 per month in affiliate marketing income by December 31st.”
Although it’s crucial to be explicit, your objectives don’t have to be unchangeable.
They could change as your company expands. If your vision changes, it can shift direction entirely. They can broaden or narrow their focus.
You are the one who designed this strategy.
Choose The Right Name For Your Account
Make sure your Instagram handle is as similar as you can get to your company name and other social media identities. This makes it so that it will be simple to remember, locate, and identify your account.
Come Up With a Content Strategy
It’s time to consider content now that you are aware of your goals.
This is a crucial factor in the equation for Instagram’s success, I can assure you of that
Let’s describe the content in a few words: content is everything you convey through writing, images, or any other medium that Instagram accepts.
If you provide random content, you will draw similarly random and uninterested individuals. These people will be onlookers and bystanders. They won’t do anything. They won’t help your company flourish in any way.
On the other hand, you will get the ideal kind of followers if you produce material that is well-planned and focused. They will be very valuable, care about your company, and respond to your calls to action.
It is now your responsibility to align your content strategy with the business objectives you established in step one. By doing this, you’ll make sure your material is the most powerful possible.
But first, let’s discuss something important to the success of your content strategy that is frequently disregarded.
Context.
The majority of individuals either ignore social media context completely or don’t grasp what it implies. In the end, their content is found wanting.
Let me elaborate.
In essence, these two shouldn’t exist separately.
There are simple ways to comprehend how context and content relate:
- You generate the content. The meaning you give your work is its context.
- Providing your audience with reputable information is called content marketing. Delivering the appropriate information to the appropriate person at the appropriate time is context marketing.
I like to think of context as the stories you use to explain the message and content as the informational nugget.
This means that to give your Instagram material the appropriate context, you must use the following story-telling elements:
- What
- Who
- When
- Why
- Where
Another component of the puzzle is the “How” component. It refers to the format through which you’ll distribute the material.
You don’t need to spend much time considering this because Instagram consumers are accustomed to a primarily visual medium. What will captivate your viewers are images, videos, and stories.
As you may expect, context is extremely complicated and gets more challenging as your audience grows. People will relate to various stories even in a narrow market.
Additionally, context changes as soon as fresh information is received.
Engaging with your audience regularly is the only way to obtain these answers and stay on top of things when they change.
Don’t just publish content and then vanish.
Create feedback loops, keep an eye on the dialogues, and participate in the communities that grow up around your company.
You’ll develop your ability to tell effective and appropriate stories.
The best method to remind your audience why they started following you in the first place is through narrative.
several Instagram content types: Understanding context makes your content strategy easy to implement.
You created specific goals for your Instagram account in the first phase. These objectives will dictate the kind of content you produce.
What choices do you have?
Human faces are important in content that is focused on people.
Without humanizing yourself and your brand, you can’t be successful on Instagram. Your audience wants to see content that is true to you and your company.
By freely sharing your life with your Instagram followers, you build a real, deep sense of community.
If your objective is to showcase your corporate culture, this kind of content is very effective. Digital gold is letting people see how your team works, how they communicate, and what goes on behind the scenes.
Follow your passion and see your Instagram following expand. Your readers will feel emotionally moved by these messages and develop a sense of kinship with your company.
Do you need some inspiration for people-centered content?
- Candid pictures of workers at work
- Pictures of the team members away from the office, perhaps at a retreat or team-building trip
- Images of your group working together for a good reason
- visits to production facilities or workstations in the dark
- Pets at work (they’re not humans, but they still make me feel the same way)
- Content is chosen by employees. Permit your staff to take control of your Instagram account on various days so they can post from their point of view. The hashtag #hubspotemployeetakeover used by HubSpot is a prime example.
Content that is product- or service-focused Trying to boost sales? Product-specific content is something you can publish.
Include carefully positioned mockups of your items or testimonials from satisfied customers.
The problem is this.
A sales-oriented objective does not require you to overly promote your products or concentrate on them.
Support your product with an engaging story.
Nike does a fantastic job at visual storytelling. They celebrate outstanding athletes as a way to promote their goods. It strikes the ideal blend between branded content and lifestyle.
Some concepts for content that is brand-, product-, and service-specific:
- A behind-the-scenes look at a product launch or a sneak peek at a new product
- Display the production process for your goods.
- Images of individuals sporting your branded apparel
- If your company provides services, showcase your toolkit. For instance, photographers may highlight their preferred camera or tripod.
It should be noted that you have access to a variety of content categories. But now that you know your alternatives, here is a straightforward three-step process for deciding what to publish:
1. Decide on a theme (product sales, company culture, engagement, etc.).
2. Consider the following questions regarding your theme: Who, What, Why, When, Where, and How.
3. Produce a variety of content depending on your ideas and publish it.
Ensure That It’s A Business Profile
You may access metrics through an Instagram business profile that reveal the demographics of your followers, the types of material they prefer, and whether or not you’re gaining or losing them. Go to the hamburger menu in the top right corner of your bio, select Settings, and then select Switch to Professional Account if you haven’t already. You can proceed after choosing your category and entering your company’s information.
Publish Great Content Regularly
Not just for Instagram, but for your entire social media marketing plan as a whole, this is crucial. The importance of having excellent content is obvious, yet consistency is frequently neglected. You could get a follow after one outstanding post, but you’re now in the spotlight. They routinely view your content, therefore if you stop providing the value that initially drew them in, they will unfollow you. What therefore constitutes excellent Instagram content?
- Useful:Â appropriate to your sector and the requirements of your audience. Advice, information, and ideas.
- Thoughtful:Â speaks to their personalities, ideals, and way of life.
- Interactive:Â it’s enjoyable to follow you! Lives, contests, polls, and shareable material.
- Entertaining:Â attracts and maintains interest. Design with movement, feeling, humor, and aggressiveness.
Do Your Instagram SEO
SEO is significantly more than just driving traffic to your website from Google searches. The search function on Instagram now offers standard keyword searches in addition to account and hashtag searches. Social media platforms also search engines. Due to this, Instagram SEO is now even more crucial, so make sure to:
- Use specific keywords in your bio and captions.
- Image alt text should be used
- Instagram location sharing
Focus On Quality Followers
One billion people use Instagram (literally). But do you want indifferent bystanders who give your account no life? followers who are fickle and unfollow just as quickly? Did not believe so. You desire supporters who:
- Share, like, and leave comments on your posts.
- Acknowledge your work and give you a feeling of direction.
- Convert prospects and clients.
- Help you attract more admiring fans.
If Instagram followers were candies, you wouldn’t be rushing to pounce on a pinata after cracking it open. You want to build a community while curating a box of premium chocolates.
Make Use Of All The Formats
Instagram differs from other well-known social media sites in part due to its various formats. These hold the user’s interest and let you display several facets of your business. So, benefit from:
- Feed posts:Â High-quality images and videos are postedÂ
- Stories:Â Transient content that is more unfiltered and spontaneousÂ
- Reels:Â Videos that place a little more emphasis on the entertainment value.
- Lives:Â videos that are excellent for AMAs and tutorials.
The more aspects of your company a person may become acquainted with, the more probable it is that they will grow to like you and follow you.
Write Good Captions
Although the image may be the main focus of a post, the influence it has on potential followers can sometimes be determined by the Instagram description. Why is a caption good? Originality. What is originality?
- Wit
- Humor
- Interesting
- Stories with a purpose
- Relatable
- Inspiring
As an illustration, National Geographic excels at incorporating storytelling with its Instagram photographs to increase engagement and sharing. Try to maintain your chosen style so that your supporters continue to support you.
There is unlimited potential for uniqueness. Avoid using basic wallpaper captions and instead create something eye-catching.
Focus On Entertainment
The importance of entertainment is rising. Instagram said it was shifting its emphasis to “full screen, immersive, entertaining, mobile-first video” content when it unveiled how its algorithm works last summer. Not all entertaining material needs to be funny or action-packed. Simply said, it must be captivating. Original, expressive, and creative. Here are some hints on how to create interesting Instagram videos.
Cross-Promote Your Account
Cross-promotion is one of the best strategies to advertise your Instagram account. Include links to your social media accounts in your email signature, email templates, and website footer. Put a lovely frame at your office with a print of your handle name on it. Tell people who visit your Facebook page where they can find you on Instagram. Promote your branded hashtag cross-promotionally on your receipts, in print advertisements, and at pertinent events.
Make no assumptions about how popular your Instagram account or hashtag will be. Send them there.
Develop Your Own Instagram Style
The beauty of the design is that there are countless possible ways to stand out from the crowd. To ensure that your posts stand out in the newsfeed, pick a style that is uniquely yours. Users subscribe to accounts whose content they can engage with.
Make sure your overall brand is developed before you start to develop your style. Your Instagram aesthetic will be influenced by your audience, offerings, positioning, voice, and brand colors.
 Have An Intriguing Or Actionable Branded Hashtag
Create a brand-friendly hashtag that is follower-friendly while still being enjoyable. In other words, create a hashtag that your fans may use in their posts rather than merely utilizing your company name or a behind-the-scenes hashtag.
Run Instagram Giveaways
These are possibly the ultimate Instagram follower attractor. Who doesn’t enjoy free goods or accolades, to start? Knowing your run them frequently will gain you a follower. Second, you might have to follow you or tag a friend to enter the contest itself. Make sure the award, however, specifically appeals to your ideal clients. Keep in mind that you want to draw in quality followers.
Encourage User-Generated Content
No matter how great a company is, its own marketing materials will never have the same impact as those of its clients. User-generated content (UGC) is posts made by other users that include your handle, location, or the name of your company in the captions or hashtags.
Whether a person sees UGC on your account or someone else’s, it boosts your credibility and increases your chances of winning their support. How to promote more of it is as follows:
- Create an engaging brand hashtag, as discussed above.
- Give your location a great photo opportunity to make it Instagram-friendly.
- Participate in and share user-generated content (seven different ways to repost on Instagram here).
- Run competitions where participants upload photos of themselves utilising your goods or services.
Use A Mix Of Hashtag types
Instagram hashtags function similarly to Google keywords. They can have different intents and be broad or long-tail, high or low volume, location-based or global. I’ll demonstrate for you:
- Broad: #dogsofig
- Long-tail: #dogtraining101
- Always relevant: #clickertraining
- High intent: #dogtrainerboston
- Trending: #valentinedogs
- Local: #dogsofsouthie
- Branded: #chewydogs
- Low intent: #smartdogs
Although the wide hashtags can help you reach a larger audience overall, the extremely targeted ones are like long-tail keywords that have more intent and help you identify the proper people. To increase your following on an enormous network like Instagram, you need a blend of both.
Instagram Advertising
The only compensated strategy in this piece is this one. Instagram has long been regarded as having a strong organic reach. But be cautious because the percentage is only 9%. 9% of your entire following will see your posts, hence.
On the other side, advertising gives you the ability to reach thousands of relevant users. Additionally, readers have the option of viewing your bio from your advertisement in addition to the CTA button. Although you shouldn’t promote yourself solely to gain more followers, if the platform is appropriate for you, it’s an added benefit.
Analyze Your Competitors
Do you have a rival that you find it difficult to overtake? Find out what they post, how frequently, when, and in what forms by performing a little competitive analysis on social media. For a week, keep a careful eye on them so you can spot any subtle tactics they may use. You might pick up some tips on when what, and how to post on Instagram to get more followers.
FAQs
What is the trick to increasing followers on Instagram?
If you want to use my formula, start by figuring out why you have an Instagram account. Create a content plan that will maximize engagement and draw in your niche’s audience. Be strategic with your captions, hashtags, and content as well. When you go after them, your audience and specialty reach may expand.
You may grow your audience by hosting challenges and competitions in addition to running Instagram advertising. Keep in mind that you can expand your reach through product packaging or events. Just be sure to optimize your performance by paying attention to the analytics since the information is provided by your audience.
How do I spot fake Instagram followers?
Analyze Instagram. When the amount of followers on your account is strange, fluctuates, and doesn’t correspond to your participation, it is a hint that they are phony. A fake follower or bot detection tool can be used to check accounts that make spam comments or have few details on their page. Real people can share, like, comment, and interact with your Instagram posts. When someone on the other end responds, people are grateful.
How often should I post on Instagram?
The Instagram post cadence I suggest is as follows:
Every day, add 5–30 Instagram stories
Each day, upload a maximum of 1-2 images or videos (including reels)
Simultaneously time every day, publish one live video.
Conclusion
In general, social media might occasionally seem like a losing endeavor.
You strive to provide content that will be engaging, inspiring a large audience to take action and keep them interested in you over the long term.
The outcomes are not always positive.
But things are different this time.
Why?
I firmly believe that nothing has ever been as successful as Instagram. It is a fantastic location for sales and personal branding. Any regular person can win large on this platform if they use the appropriate mix of work and strategy.
Yes, it can be difficult to gain followers.
Yes, there is a great deal of noise.
But is there a way to create a strong tribe of focused supporters? Absolutely
The fact that these Instagram followers are not automated bots is one of its best features. They will continue to visit and interact with my work as long as I continue to produce worthwhile stuff and consistently participate in the community.
Additionally, they’ll spread the word, which will increase my fan base.
You’ll get to a similar point eventually. You won’t need to pursue other users as passionately. People will start swarming to you in its place.
Your efforts would have paid off by then, and you would be well on your way to becoming a successful Instagram influencer.
