Get more Instagram followers with these 10 tips to grow your real audience
Before you set out figuring out how to gain followers on Instagram, one of the most important steps is to have your account fully optimized. Think of your brand’s Instagram bio as the “homepage” to your account. Without a bio, image captions, a proper username or profile image, how will people know the account belongs to your brand? It might seem obvious, but on Instagram your bio and image help form the foundations of your brand identity. The link in your bio is your one spot to drive Instagram traffic to your site, so optimizing your account is essential.
2. Keep a Consistent Content Calendar
The worst thing you can do when trying to get followers on Instagram is to post content at random, haphazard times. If you’re lucky enough to get users following you in the beginning, you don’t want to make them forget they followed you in the first place.To combat this, keep to a regular posting schedule. Typically, brands shouldn’t post more than a few times a day to avoid spam, but whatever your cadence, keep it consistent. Approximately 200 million Instagram users log on daily, so to cast your net even wider, try publishing a few times throughout the entire day.
3. Schedule Instagram Posts In Advance
While the Instagram algorithm has changed to show users more content they like, posting at the right times can still give your posts more visibility by increasing the overall engagement they receive. There’s a lot your brand can do to raise visibility, and now with Sprout Social, scheduling Instagram content is one of them. With our newest tools, we can help your brand schedule content through an easy process. By scheduling content in advance, your entire team can see campaigns and schedules more efficiently. It’s always smart to build out content in advance and with our Instagram scheduling tools, you can reach your audience and maintain a consistent flow of content at the same time.
4. Get Partners and Brand Advocates to Post Your Content
When you’re learning how to get more Instagram followers, it’s important to know the value of your audience. The larger your follower count grows (organically), the more buyers and interested customers you will have.
5. Avoid Fake Instagram Followers
There’s a huge difference between an Instagram account having fake and legitimate followers. It might seem tempting to simply purchase Instagram followers, but the backlash outweighs the perks of organic follower growth.
6. Showcase Your Instagram Everywhere
How are people going to find an account unless you promote your Instagram? Make sure your Instagram account is listed with your website and other social networks. Creating visibility and awareness is one of the best ways to get discovered. If you truly want to get more Instagram followers, let people know where to find you. You could add social media buttons to your website and blog to help promote social shares across all your networks as well as show people where to find you on Instagram.
7. Post Content Followers Want
While this is easier said than done, it’s smart to learn what content your followers want to see. You’ll quickly find on Instagram that some content performs better than others. This is why testing is so important. Whether it’s filters, captions, content types or post times, the smallest detail can make all the difference. Keep your ear to the ground with new Instagram trends so you know you’re posting popular content.
8. Get the Conversation Started
One of the best ways to make users aware of your Instagram is through conversation. According to the 2020 Sprout Social Index, consumers want to engage with visual-first content like photos (68%) and video (50%), followed by 30% who want to engage with text posts. Instagram is the perfect fit for this audience profile, pairing eye-catching visuals with captions that can be just as engaging when you perfect your Instagram caption copywriting skills.
9. Find Hashtags That Convert
One of the most tried-and-true ways to get followers on Instagram is through hashtags. For years hashtags have served as an essential tool for discovery and allowed us to extend our social reach. As a marketer, you want to build your community by gaining followers and hashtags provide just that. For starters, find hashtags that are not too populated. Social Media Examiner points this theory out by explaining how the hashtag #love has more than 184 million photos connected to it. Trying to highlight your Instagram content in a sea of millions of pictures and videos is not an easy thing to do. You have to find hashtags that people in your target audience are more likely to check. If a relevant connection is made, these users will be more likely to follow your account. Unique, branded hashtags are one way to group posts around hyper-relevant content to your brand and campaigns.
10. Make Your Instagram Followers Happy
Last but not least, when you make your Instagram followers happy, you see the payoff in audience growth. We’ve given you plenty of tips for brainstorming and scheduling content, so put them into practice in a way that feels real to your brand voice. In other words, avoid seeming needy, sales-driven or robotic.
For many accounts, this means sprinkling in posts that are legitimately designed to bring a smile to followers’ faces and build customer relationships. Don’t forget to provide content to your followers as if they were friends on your personal feed: this might include posting memes, inspirational content, or just re-sharing interesting photos or artwork (all properly credited, of course) that can give your followers a little mental pick-up during the day.
Credit for this Blog
Sproutsocial.com