We want to help you increase your Instagram followers. There’s no reason with hard work and these tools, why you can’t stand out amidst the 500 million active users on Instagram. Yes, that’s quite the challenge, but we believe in you and have 10 easy ways to get there.
[Tweet “How To Get Way More Instagram Followers With 10 Easy Tactics”]
10 Tactics To Grow Your Instagram Following
Alright, now let’s get down to business.
1. Complete Your Instagram Profile
First impressions are everything. According to Forbes, you have just seven seconds before making an impression.
The very first thing you can do to make a good impression with your Instagram account for new followers is to complete your profile information.
There are four key areas to complete:
- Your profile image
- Name
- Bio
- URL
First, make sure your image represents you or your business well and clearly.
This thumbnail can be very small, so utilize your space well so that followers can instantly identify with your image. Next, make sure your name and bio are straight forward. The bio can often be changed to sometimes include a call-to-action or something you want to highlight for a time being, but otherwise it should be nice and descriptive.
Lastly, make sure to include a link to your website. This is the only area an Instagram user can directly click to find out more about your business or product so use it wisely!
TIP: Change up the link area when you want to highlight different new or announcements.
2. Follow Suggested Users
Suggested users are chosen by Instagram that are based on people you follow, your contact list, or based off previous posts you’ve liked. This can be a great way to get new followers because you often already have something in common, helping you easier find your specific audience and niche. There are two ways to find suggested users:
- Discover People:Click on the icon in the top right of your app with the person with a plus sign. This will take you to “Discover People” where a list of suggested users lives.
- Profiles:Go to a profile that you enjoy. Right next to the “Following” button you’ll find a carrot icon. Click on the carrot and a list of suggested users will appear below for you to scroll through. This seems to give more of a variety of users, and can be fun to explore.
Both of these ways will open up your following to a whole new world of accounts, and thus will let you connect with others that are looking to follow content just like yours.
3. Create Awesome Visual Content
Instagram is arguably the most visual of all popular social platforms, which means there’s absolutely no way around creating and sharing good visual content. The primary focus of your imagery should be telling a story that’s focused around your brand, and then use creation tools to ensure it looks good visually.
TIP: Develop your Instagram strategy first, and then create content from there so you meet your goals from the start.
4. Post At The Best Time
Where should you start? Well, we analyzed the top 16 studies and found that 2am, 8-9am, and 5pm are the best times to post to Instagram. Whether people are going to bed, just getting to work, or checking out to return home for the day, they’re checking their Instagram waiting for awesome posts.
[Tweet “What are the best times to post on Instagram to build followers?”]
That’s where you come in. What days you ask? Monday and Thursdays have shown to be the most popular; however, some recommend sharing on Sundays as there’s a less volume of posts that day. Plan ahead to post at these times to be more seen, and watch your following grow.
5. Know How To Use Hashtags Effectively
Hashtags are a great tool for finding and connecting with new audience members. Hashtags serve as a categorizing feature so you can find others, and more importantly, they can find you. Hashtags often include the topic, location, and words related to that specific post or benefits of your product.
How many hashtags should I use? That’s a great question. Instagram allows you to use up to 30 hashtags for each post, but its best practice to use 5-10 hashtags. While more hashtags often is better, is always important to remember to avoid being spammy.
[Tweet “Avoid being spammy with Instagram hashtags.”]
You can find the perfect amount of hashtags to use by doing two things:
- Look at what other hashtags the influencers in your industry are using and how many.
- Test your own Instagram posts with a variety of hashtag amounts, and see what works best.
Where can you find popular hashtags? An easy way to find what hashtags are currently trending is to use Top-Hashtags.com. They provide a nice, clear list with the highest rated hashtags and how many posts currently have that hashtag. It also lets you click on the hashtag to see examples of how others are using it!
6. Stick To A Consistent Posting Schedule
Nobody likes change (well most of the time), and everyone finds a natural comfort in consistency. Let your audience find home in your consistent visuals, message, posting schedule, and overall tone of voice. Of course you may need to experiment when you’re just starting out to find what your audience enjoys most, but once you find that magic spot, stick with it. Suddenly your audience will keep coming back, growing new followers organically.
7. Make Your Account Visible Everywhere
Now, its time to think outside of Instagram.
To grow your following, make sure your Instagram social icon is on all of your digital presences such as your website, blog, email, you name it. Depending on the platform, you can even embed your Instagram account within so your outside audiences see your account before even entering the app itself. For example, we’ve embedded some of our Instagram posts directly into this blog, giving you a firsthand look at our account!
8. Promote Your Instagram Profile To Your Email Subscribers
Why not utilize all of your hard work of collecting email addresses? Add your Instagram account information in your email newsletters, email reminders, or maybe even an independent campaign to announce that you’re not only on Instagram, but that you’re excited to have them join you. Your biggest fans are those that subscribe to your content, so share the invite and watch them follow.
[Tweet “Put your Instagram account handle on your physical marketing materials.”]
9. Use Instagram Advertising To Reach New People
Instagram ads offer 2.8x higher brand recall than other forms of online advertising. Instagram ads are integrated with Facebook ads and can be in the form of image, video, or carousel style, where multiple images are in a scroll for your audience to tap through. Using what you already know, you can simply promote your posts to go just a bit further, making a big difference with your following.
10. Measure Your Results
Whether you’re starting out or revamping your current Instagram, it’s never too early to start recording your data! If you can’t track your efforts, you’ll never be able to see if your strategy is working. Take out a notebook, create a Google Doc, Evernote, or your favorite tool, like Iconosquare, to track your results. Once you have your data, you can see trends and post content proves to grow your following. No more guessing, just growing.
There You Have It, 10 Ways To Grow Your Following
Instagram might seem intimidating at first, but if you start with just one of these tactics and continue to do more as you can, you’ll notice a huge difference. After all, Instagram engagement is 10x higher than Facebook and 54x higher than Pinterest, so what do you have to lose? Think about the story you have to tell, develop a habit of posting consistently, and then make your account as visible as possible. You’ve got this!
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