The question on most people’s minds is ‘how to get more followers on Instagram?’ Brands and businesses are constantly trying to grow their brand awareness online. One of the main ways to do this in the social media age is to expand your following on Instagram.
IG is an essential platform for brand digital presence. It can also play a key role in increasing website traffic, boosting sales and conversions, and more. But the key to reaping the benefits of a brilliant IG account is authenticity.
It can be tempting to just pay for followers, but we guarantee that is not the way to go!
Insta’s algorithm works hard at spotting dodgy, paid followings and limiting their visibility. Plus, paid followers won’t necessarily engage with your content or products.
To build a genuine and interested following, follow these 13 tips for how to get more followers on Instagram.
13 Tips For Getting More Instagram Followers
Here are our top tips to help you hike up your follower count organically:
1. Optimize Your Instagram Profile
This should be the first thing you should work on to increase your following since it is the first thing you create for your account.
Your profile tells other users everything they need to know about your account. It is also a snapshot of your brand, much like your website home or about page.
First, you need to carefully craft your bio. You don’t want it too long but you also want it to be informative and interesting. This, together with your Instagram profile picture, should communicate who your brand is.
You can also add a link to your bio. While a lot of accounts use the link to direct users to websites, you can use this link to design better social media experiences. For example, create an IG landing page with links to current campaigns and discounts. This gives users a tailored and relevant experience, especially if your recent posts say “link in bio”.
Lastly, the username and handle. These are elements that a lot of people often pick haphazardly. Don’t. If your brand name is already well-known, go with that for both. If not, play around with keywords for your username to make it more searchable.
2. Make Your Feed Look Good
Another aspect of your Instagram that other users see as soon as they visit your account is your feed. And, boy, does what people see matter on IG. The social media platform is all about the visual so other users will judge your vibe by your feed.
Make sure that the first nine posts on your feed speak to your brand. Overall, try to keep your feed cohesive and constant. It should give viewers a taste of your content. To manage this first impression, you can pin the posts you would like new visitors to see onto your feed. Pinned posts stay at the top of your feed so use the feature wisely.
Highlights are another feature you can play with to customize your IG home. You can curate your Instagram Stories into folders called Highlights. These folders will appear above your feed and you can give them a unified look by creating some awesome Highlight covers. Use Highlights to share the best of your stories and give a sneak peek into your content.
3. Know Your Target Audience
Our third tip for how to get more followers on Instagram is to get to know your audience. You need to understand your ideal user, their preferences, popular accounts they like, etc.
Having insight into your audience will help turn your Insta into something they want to keep an eye on.
4. Maintain Clear Branding
It’s easy to get your branding confused online. There are so many trends and challenges coming in and out that your brand message could get lost in the mix.
Establish your branding from the get-go. This includes defining your brand personality, goals, aesthetics, visual language, and more. Your brand personality and goals will influence your content, how you engage, etc.
Create a branding style guide that documents all the important decisions around your Instagram branding. That way, you always have a guide that reminds everyone on your team what you stand for.
When you have clear and consistent branding, users feel like they can trust your account. It gives them a distinct sense of who you are and they can decide if that’s someone they want to stick with.
5. Work With Brand Ambassadors & Partners
Part of developing an online brand that users can trust is collaboration. Your target audience has favorite accounts and brands that they support and believe in. You can leverage this connection by collaborating with those accounts.
Brand ambassadors, partners, and influencers have become key to Instagram marketing. Not only does working with established accounts lend credibility to yours, but it also exposes you to new audiences. So, by working with others, you gain access to their followers and grow your reach.
6. Tag Others & Ask Them To Tag You
Whether it’s a collaboration or just a captured moment, make sure to use tagging. When you tag another account, they may share your post and bring their followers’ attention to your page. This is another form of collaboration.
You should also encourage others to tag you as another way of drawing new users to your page.
7. Engage With Other Accounts
Tagging is one form of engagement on Instagram. There are many others and you want to use them all. Comment, like, repost, share to your Story, etc. Recently, Instagram has even added a feature that allows you to like IG Stories.
Remember that IG isn’t just a marketing platform. It is a social media app. That means that to succeed you have to socialize.
Engaging with others shows that you have an active account worth following. It also increases visibility as more people see you in comments, likes, etc.
8. Develop Consistent Content
You’ve probably heard it time and time again…Consistency is key!
When you know your brand personality, vision, and other aspects, you can create content that echoes that. This doesn’t mean that all your content needs to be the same. That can get boring, duh!
Consistency in content creation just means that you understand your value proposition. That is, you know what value you add to users’ experience and you reflect this in all your content.
Through consistency, your followers learn what to expect from you and will follow you if they enjoy the type of content you create.
To keep everything consistent, consider scheduling your posts and posting at the best times using our automated tool.
9. Choose Engaging Content Types
There are so many content creation options on Instagram. The platform has mastered variety. You can share pictures, videos, GIFs, stories, etc. Choosing what content type to use is important.
Try to choose and create content that requires interaction and engagement. This includes:
- User-Generated Content
- Q&A or Ask-Me-Anything sessions
- Polls
- Giveaways and contests
- Story games
Video content also does very well on IG so you can share more videos via Reels, IGTV, Stories, and your feed.
The goal is to create shareable content too. By creating content that is fun or relatable, and that tells a story, people will want to share it with their friends and followers and your posts can snowball from there. This is a great way to reach new eyes and gain some more followers on Instagram.
10. Keep Your Ear On The Ground
Staying relevant is key to keeping your IG popping. The only way to do this is to stay inspired and informed.
Keep an eye on competitor accounts and other popular brands loved by your followers. Tune into social media listening. Constantly research trending keywords. These are some of the ways you can make sure that you create content that users want to consume.
11. Use Hashtags & Location Tags
Hashtags and location tags make your content discoverable. Users can search for content under both tagging forms on the Explore Page.
Using both increases the chances of users discovering your page on Explore. You become more searchable and, so, more visible.
12. Cross-Promote Your Insta
Include links to your Instagram everywhere! Your digital presence should be like an interconnected network that directs all users where to go. Cross-promotion brings people who know you on other platforms to your Instagram.
You can cross-promote by sharing your Instagram posts on other social media platforms. Embed posts on your website. Include links to your page on bios like your Twitter bio. Add your Instagram to landing pages and newsletters and so on!
13. Reflect On Instagram Insights
Finally, always go back to the data! Instagram analytics tell you what works and what doesn’t. You can learn which content does best, where new followers come from, and more. This will help you improve your strategy and do more of the work that gets you more followers on Instagram.
Remember… It’s A Steady Journey!
We wish there were quick-fast shortcuts to getting a K or M into your follower count. What brand wouldn’t want thousands or hundreds of fans overnight? Unfortunately, unless you go viral, it just doesn’t work like that!
To increase your following on the ‘Gram (or any social media platform, for that matter), you have to take a steady climb. Stay consistent. Using these tips for your IG strategy will help you. You just need to be patient and take your time. After all, good things come to those who wait.
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