Instagram is one of the most business-friendly social media platforms – over 90% of all Instagram followers follow at least one business. It's no surprise that we all want to grow our profiles and get more followers on Instagram black profile.
Are you dreaming of one million or 5,000 active followers on Instagram? You need something like Instagram SEO to get more followers and give yourself an advantage.
Here are 12 tactics to get more followers on Instagram. You can click on any tips on how to grow on Instagram for more details, or read the entire article to improve your promotion strategies or create a new one from scratch.
Create a content strategy for Instagram and maintain it
Without a clear and effective Instagram marketing strategy and without having a ton of unique or specific ideas up your sleeve, you don't have much chance of increasing your followers. Start with the following questions:
Why are you here?
What objectives do you want to achieve?
Who is your target audience?
What type of content do you like?
What makes your audience follow you?
By getting answers to these questions, you will learn how to get more subscribers on Instagram.
To get quick information about your audience, you can use any social listening tool. All you need is to write several keywords that describe your sector, brand, product, service or even a characteristic. You can also add filters that allow you to narrow your search.
Once monitoring is started, you can expect to get a portrait of your potential customers – every person who has mentioned you, or your brand is subject to investigation – based on metrics such as Age, Gender and Countries . Additionally, you can estimate the sentiment of your posts.
Once you've identified your target audience, it's time to create a content plan for Instagram. To figure out your tactics, you need to define:
when to post on Instagram and how often;
what content topics to cover;
what visuals to make;
what hashtags to use and how many.
By clarifying these points, you can specify your visual and text style, discover convenient editing tools, create branded hashtags, prepare and schedule a post on Instagram through specific tools that allow Instagram management. It can encourage you to be consistent when posting on Instagram, which users will appreciate.
For example, the team at this wedding dress store created a branded hashtag on Instagram encouraging customers to replicate it in their photos. As you can see, this tactic works really well.
2. Optimize your Instagram account information
Instagram has updated search options for regular users and business profiles. Now they can use not only hashtags but also keywords to search on the platform.
To deliver relevant results, Instagram's algorithm takes into account the quality and type of an Instagram post, as well as the time it was published. This means you should optimize your brand page to attract more followers.
If you want to see your page in the first results of the Explore tab, you have to optimize your Instagram profile:
Check your Instagram account name . It should be clear and related to your brand. It is advisable to avoid numbers and special characters in the name. Otherwise, it will be difficult for users to remember and recognize;
Fill your Instagram bio with relevant keywords. Describe what the profile is about and why a user should hit the Follow button. This helps your SEO on Instagram, but remember that you have a limit of 150 characters;
Add a link to your website or landing page where users can find more information about your brand or offering. Additionally, the link will direct traffic from Instagram to your website;
encourages people to tag more , which is really an important point, remember to tag those you mention in an Instagram post as well as try to frequently include your brand in collaborations, guest posts so that they tag you in someone's posts more often; Mutual tagging provides greater visibility, long-term collaborations and increases the number of visits to your profile;
Think of hashtags as keywords, keep in mind the words that people may be using to search for your niche, your product, also keep in mind recent news and competitor campaigns that seem to be popular with your target audience;
To ensure your brand's unique aesthetic , Instagram requires specific attention to profile appearance or focus on one feature. Visual content must be strongly associated with your brand. It's up to you how you prefer to implement this aesthetic, but make sure it meets your standards and stick to it (more on that below).
As the owner of a business Instagram account, you can tag your location, share your contacts, and also indicate the type of business.
For example, the bio of this Instagram profile contains two keywords: ceramics and pottery. The first one helped me find the page very quickly. Think about what queries your potential followers use to find your content and add them to your Instagram bio.
When you start with page optimization, don't forget to also add keywords in Instagram captions and hashtags.
3. Dress up your Instagram account with a branded theme
Instagram is synonymous with aesthetic and high-quality content. On this social network, users want to see pretty images similar to those of famous painters, not random blurry photos. Don't forget that you are competing for their attention with professional photographers and videographers. If your Instagram profile looks like a big family album with photos from all eras, formats and colors, you will lose the war.
Moreover, using brilliant content can answer your question how to get more followers on Instagram. There are a plethora of themes for your home page. They differ in composition, style, color, formats, etc. Instagram is based almost entirely on the visual, so creating your own style and knowing how to carry it post by post undoubtedly contributes to the growth of followers.
Imagine your Instagram grid is a storefront. It should be stylishly decorated and attractive to your viewers. You can take your brand's style book as a basis. Use brand colors, drawings and brand all content with your logo. There are no hard and fast rules for you. Just choose your style and stick to it. It will help you get more Instagram followers who will fall in love with your images.
4. Experiment with Instagram content formats
Your Instagram feed can contain different types of content. The platform offers all the functions to connect with your audience and create attractive images, improving them year after year.
Instagram's algorithm positively evaluates your experiments, pushing your posts to the top of the Feed or Suggested Posts, where potential users can see them. So the variety of content also helps Instagram SEO.
What types of Instagram content can you use to attract organic followers:
Reels are 15-30 second entertainment videos similar to those on TikTok that make heavy use of editing. It is one of the current Instagram trends. You can record them to show off your products, present yourself as an expert, or participate in a viral challenge (read this article if you want to know what Instagram Reels are in more detail).
For example, this baking company recorded a short report about their business and got tons of likes and comments.
IGTV series are ideal for guides, answers to FAQs, tutorials, or other educational content. The maximum video duration is 60 minutes.
Instagram Live session. It is a good real-time video format for online events, presentations or industry gatherings. You can invite influencers as hosts to increase engagement, reach, and followers. It's a great opportunity to draw the immediate attention of many followers to a local influencer, a curious local event, or a can't-miss event that needs to be streamed as it happens.
Longreads in the captions. You are limited to 2,200 characters to tell a fascinating story peppered with relevant keywords for quick search. Post caption lengths of between 1,000 and 2,000 characters are optimal. According to this study, they are the ones that receive the most engagement.
Additionally, you can run a contest, post a meme or infographics, anything that users want to share with their friends via DM, tagging their accounts in the comments or when they post to their Instagram Stories.
Sponsoring user-generated content (or UGC) around your brand through a viral challenge is another way to attract new followers to your page.
Use Instagram analysis tools to measure your results and define the best formats for your business objectives.
5. Create custom stickers for Instagram Stories
Nearly 500 million users create and view at least one Instagram story every day around the world. Using this format is an answer to the question "How to get new followers?" because many Instagram users prefer to follow Stories updates instead of Feed updates. You can observe this even among the members of your group of followers.
Add stickers to your Instagram Stories, many people like this feature and will share stickers on their Instagram accounts. Companies try to keep up with them and provide trending Stories and relevant additions, too.
And don't do it once a week, remember that it is better to publish the story every day. You can not only use already embedded stickers, but also create your own images and GIFs. For example, you can digitize your printed stickers for Instagram.
How to make your personalized stickers? First, select an image you want to use and save it to your smartphone as a .PNG file with a transparent background. It can be your brand logo, mascot or a cool letter just to give a touch to your brand profile or the personality of someone who represents it. Then, you can upload it to your Instagram Stories. Read the full instructions here.
GIF stickers work even better because the Instagram Sticker search library can include them. Other users can find them and add them to their Stories, helping you get more reach and increase your brand awareness.
6. Work with influencers to increase your brand awareness
The best bloggers can also help you increase your followers on Instagram. Surely on Instagram there is a group of influencers in each business niche and category. Partnering with brands that are not your direct competitors can also be fruitful.
Of course, you can run a paid celebrity campaign if your marketing budget allows. However, collaborations with micro-influencers with an average of 10-30,000 followers help to get more subscribers just as well or better.
To find influencers on social media, you can turn to social listening tools. Typically, they select the right accounts by estimating their audience and the number of mentions. Awario also shows the sentiment of its messages - positive, negative or neutral - around your keywords.
The number of followers on Instagram and the engagement rate are important criteria. However, when searching for influencers, pay attention to the feel, tone, and what they value in their posts. You need to find a voice that complements your brand. The best one can reach your target audience and build trust.
Additionally, Awario's Topic Cloud tab helps you discover popular topics around your topic or product. By clicking on them you can see who is talking about them, thus finding new influencers who could be useful in your strategy.
Awario offers reports dedicated to Influencers found in the Reports tab. Here you can see the list of influencers classified by the application according to your settings for each of your alerts within a chosen time period. Accounts will be sorted by audience size, number of mentions, and sentiment, giving you an overview to choose who you can collaborate with.
7. Design your hashtag strategy
On Instagram, hashtags design the navigation system. Your task as a marketer is to integrate your Instagram posts into it and make them optimized for Instagram SEO. This way, Instagram users will easily find your content by clicking on relevant hashtags in other posts or searching for hashtags that interest them.
Instagram allows you to add up to 30 hashtags to a post, but don't abuse them. Finding hashtags is now always easy. You can use a social listening tool, a specialized Instagram tool, or do it manually.
Try to avoid generic words like #spring, #city, #company, and similar hashtags. It is better to choose the trending ones along with relevant hashtags. When searching for hashtags, focus on your topic, brand, and industry.
For example, this computer science museum describes its niche with thematic hashtags. Potential followers can find this post by searching for them.
Here are some tips: Tricks like #followforfollowback and #tagforlikes can also work on Instagram. However, you cannot be sure in advance that the Instagram followers attracted to them are your target audience.
Remember to always check if the hashtags you intend to use are not prohibited, choose the appropriate and popular ones, update this list all the time.
Awario can help you find suitable hashtags for your Instagram posts. Write some keywords related to your niche or brand. After a while, go to Mention Statistics to analyze the Topic Cloud , an illustrative report of hashtags. By the way, you can add new keywords to your already created alert and keep the results you have previously received.
The topic cloud shows the most used hashtags and keywords on social networks and the web. In Dashboard, you can click on any word in the cloud to see all the posts, tweets, and articles in which it has been mentioned.
8. Be active
If you want to be successful with your Instagram account, you have to be sociable and participate on the platform. People are always interested in the personal and human side of brands. Your task as a marketer is to find a unique brand voice, define its tone and the emotions it gives off. And incorporate it into all your Instagram tactics.
Don't hesitate to interact with your followers on Instagram, answering their questions and answers. Take a look at how Nestlé does it.
Additionally, you can follow other accounts - pages of your competitors or clients - and interact with them, leave comments, like posts, and share user-generated content related to your brand with Instagram Stories. Tag people, such as an Instagram influencer you want to collaborate with, or interesting Instagram profiles in your posts. Mentions always attract attention!
People will appreciate your activity if you show that your brand has a human face. However, this Instagram strategy doesn't work when you have an overly promotional account cluttered with monotonous content. Finding a personal angle gives you the opportunity to make your profile more attractive to people.
To avoid this, try to use user-generated content created by your followers as often as possible. That's what social media is made for! Talk to people and share your content to encourage them to take new initiatives, as it creates opportunities for more activities. Campaigns that include user-generated content are undeniably successful, as they make customers part of your brand not only in a commercial way, but also with their soul.
Remember to activate notifications so that your followers receive your immediate response when they need it.
Responding to user comments is all well and good, but putting some effort into visiting their pages and liking their posts or giving them a few shout-outs is invaluable and is sure to be appreciated by your followers.
9. Try Instagram Ads
In 2020, Instagram's potential advertising reach was 1.16 billion users, as Hootsuite said . One of the best formats to showcase your product or service is Instagram Stories with a strong call to action. They perform better 89% of the time.
When scheduling Instagram ad campaigns, you can also choose Photos, Videos, Carousel, Collection, Explore, IGTV, or Shopping ads beyond Instagram Stories. Each ad type has plenty of CTA buttons and helps achieve several marketing goals, including increasing the reach of your Instagram posts among potential followers. As a result, any business can successfully promote Instagram accounts through advertising tools.
However, there is no point in investing in Instagram ads if you don't have quality content that will give you followers on Instagram. What you advertise shouldn't be the only way to get more followers. So focus on content first and then use ads to reach new audiences.
10. Improve content distribution on Instagram
When thinking about how to increase your Instagram followers, you not only need to consider good (and engaging) content, but also choose a distribution tactic. Your content should be self-selling, informative, or fun enough that followers who find it interesting will naturally want to share it. It is not an easy task but it is possible, let your imagination fly and animate the concept of your content.
First of all, try to promote your posts within the social platform. There are many free ways to capture attention beyond ads. For example, scheduling posts on Instagram, don't forget to take advantage of an opportunity and announce a new one on Instagram Stories or Instagram Reels. Additionally, you can collaborate with popular accounts and experts for mutual promotion.
Secondly, having other social channels will be of great help. Syncing your Instagram account with a Facebook page is one of the ways to gain more Instagram followers. You can share Instagram Stories or posts across linked pages in seconds. Adding a link in your account bio on Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, Twitch , and other social networks also works well.
Additionally, you can use your blog to embed your Instagram posts in articles as an example. Sharing a link to your account through your website or your email signature is also a good idea. Additionally, you can announce new posts to your followers in your email newsletter and mention how to find your page through the Instagram app during online events.
Offline marketing materials are also useful for this task. Put your Instagram sticker or QR code on your PDF presentations, printed brochures, flyers, business cards, and even branded packaging. In the end, you can print it and hang it in your store!
11. Be honest
Some strategic meeting management “specialists” may advise you to buy fake Instagram followers. They justify this by saying that a potential follower will not take a look at a page with few subscribers. This is not the best of advice, however, it is one of the most prominent among bad advice.
Yes, you can get many Instagram followers effortlessly in several days. However, instead of consistently achieving success, this dangerous Instagram strategy leads to poor results in the future and reminds us that having a close friend who you can count on is better than having a number of whom you simply don't care:
You lose the credibility of new followers
There are tons of pages full of bots and fake followers on Instagram. People have learned to spot cheaters. Bragging about having a lot of followers on Instagram is not social proof for them if your posts have a low engagement rate.
For example, this sofa store has more than 3,800 followers, but its posts only receive 5 likes and no comments on average. This is not the result you want to get, right? Real followers would provoke a much more receptive reaction, and everyone would notice right away.
You put your money on the table without any guarantee
Your Instagram posts should work for your brand: drive traffic to your website, generate leads, increase brand awareness, etc. Bots and paid Instagram followers won't help you achieve these marketing goals. Additionally, they are extremely untrustworthy, so they can click unfollow at any time.
Additionally, the platform cleans bots regularly. So, by buying followers on Instagram, you can waste money.
Striving to build real relationships with your followers is the key to continuing to develop, not buying followers. Friendly and sincere interaction is attractive to new users. Followers know that here they will be listened to, helped and even receive advice, offers, commercial information and discounts, while becoming another follower of a fake profile or an account with little engagement will not provide any benefit to either the new follower or the rest. of followers on the list.
12. Extra tip
If you still haven't found a suitable approach on how to increase your Instagram followers, listen to the story shared by business coach Gary Vaynerchuk. Many of us heeded his advice early in our careers, and it's still relevant today!
Maybe his original $1.80 strategy will help you get more followers on Instagram. Spoiler: this method requires a lot of your time each day!
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