Sign up for a free 14 day trial today to test it out — you won’t want to go back to doing things manually. Takeaway: Identify the key accounts that are similar to yours and follow them Turn on post notifications for these accounts Leave a comment as soon as they post Follow their real followers Plan your social media posts. Visually plan your posts. Drag and drop everywhere. Step 3: Growing to 5,000 Instagram followers Now that you have a good foundation for growth, it’s time to accelerate even faster. I’m not saying you should stop doing what you have been doing previously. I think those methods are great even if you have passed the 20,000 follower mark. However, adding other methods from this point forward might give the same if not better results with less effort.
Firstly, you should start using engagement groups. If you haven’t heard about them, then you should read the following article, to understand what engagement groups are and how they work: Increase your Organic Reach on Instagram with Engagement Groups. Secondly, consider investing in ads. If you’re building a brand (and not just posting pictures of your cat), Instagram ads will come in quite handy at this point. Thirdly, definitely start scheduling your Instagram posts. Once you’ve reached this stage, every minute you invest into your Instagram counts. Check out this step by step guide to scheduling on Hopper HQ. Plan & schedule social media ahead of time. Video, gallery & image posts Calendar, feed & grid preview Instagram, Facebook & Twitter START PLANNING YOUR POSTS NOW To run ads on Instagram, you need to switch to a business account. If you don’t have it yet (or if you don’t know whether you have it or not), there’s a very easy way to activate it:
Go to your profile and click the settings button next to Edit Profile Scroll down until you see Switch to Business Profile (if you already have a business account, you will find Switch back to Personal Account) Click it and follow the instructions to set up a business profile (FYI – you will need a Facebook page that you are an admin of). Switch to business profile Where to switch to a business profile You can promote your existing posts, or link your account to Facebook and create an ad from the Facebook Ads Manager panel. Try different targeting options, and see which one gets followers on Instagram the quickest or increases engagement (depends on the post and goal). I would suggest making short video ads and choosing Instagram Stories as the ad placement. This is still a relatively underused placement, which probably yields in better bang-for-the-buck ratio than the regular feed posts would. If you need any help with running the ads, hire a freelancer or heck, even shoot me a message on Instagram, and I’ll give you a quick intro! Finally, if you have established relationships with Instagram influencers, don’t forget about them… Influencers are real people too! If you want to approach an influencer about working together, be genuinely interested in what’s going in their lives. If you’re not on the shy side, record a short video of yourself as a conversation starter, and send it to them as a direct message. You’ll definitely stand out from other accounts who they might be having conversations with. If you select multiple accounts as recipients, be sure to not create a group chat, but send it to them separately. Otherwise, it doesn’t seem very personal.
You might be asking, “How does this help me get followers on Instagram”? Well, it’s quite simple, actually. When you view your notifications on Instagram, you’ll notice a Following tab. It’s where people go to spy on what their friends are up to on Instagram — what photos they like, which accounts they’ve started following, what comments they’ve left, etc. If you haven’t ever used it, you should start ASAP. get followers on instagram The ‘Following’ tab I don’t have hard evidence to back this up, but this BuzzFeed article suggests that 67% of Instagram users use it. If these influencer accounts keep liking and commenting on your posts, there’s a good probability that their followers will see. It’s a great way to help you get followers on Instagram because naturally, people want to know what their friends and idols are into, so they’ll go and check it out. If the content is similar to what they already like anyway, it’s likely that they will start following you as well. The world of influencers is a little daunting if you’re still building your brand and trying to get followers on Instagram, so check out this Simple Guide To Instagram Influencer Marketing in 2020 to learn all you need to know.
Join and use engagement groups Run ads to drive traffic to your profile and posts Build quality relationships with influencers Hitting the 10,000 follower mark on Instagram is magical ✨ That number is so big that it doesn’t fit in the dedicated space, so it’s shortened to 10k. Additionally, you get the huge perk of being able to add links to your Instagram Stories. This opens up an amazing opportunity to start monetizing your Instagram account. Here’s one article on how you can go about doing it with e-mail: How to Monetize Instagram. Keep doing everything you have been doing so far to get followers on Instagram. Of course, if something seems like it’s not giving any returns, then stop doing it and focus on things that have the most impact! You should revisit your Instagram marketing strategy at every stage of this guide to make sure you’re staying on track! Now, since you have a quite nice follower base, you should think of ways to have them help you with promotion: Tag a friend One of the best ways to get people promoting your content is by simply asking them to tag their friends. This can actually be done with any post you make. It works well with emotionally powerful content — quotes, funny and/or inspiring videos, posts about animals etc. In your post caption, you can include something like “Tag a friend”, “Tag someone who inspires you”, “Tag someone who should be doing this” and so on.
The content needs to be really good though. That’s the key here. If it’s not emotionally moving, it’s not likely people will tag others! get followers on instagram Examples of the ‘tag a friend’ caption Host a giveaway Offer a prize that your followers can’t refuse! It can be books, gadgets, hats, shirts, Amazon gift cards, a product you sell, etc. I’m not gonna go into great detail about this, so here’s an article on how to run an Instagram contest, in case you’re interested. get followers on instagram Run a giveaway contest to help get followers on Instagram. Takeaway: Encourage your followers to become brand ambassadors Create posts where they can ‘tag a friend’ Run a giveaway to increase your reach As with previous milestones, everything we covered before can surely be used to grow your account and help you get followers on Instagram.
However, I want to give my final suggestions that I have seen give good return, especially when you have grown your account over 10k followers. Like I said, having your account Instagram follower number over 10k is magical. It builds credibility and you’re definitely not another random account out there anymore. That being said, you should start thinking about creating a voice outside of Instagram. Having more than 10k followers opens up opportunities for monetization, and you should take advantage of them and focus on building your whole online presence rather than just an Instagram account. I mean sure you can do that, but it really comes down to your end game. Start thinking of your Instagram as a business. What problem are you solving? What value are you delivering? What do your followers “get” from your posts? When you have identified these things, search where your potential audience hangs out and start delivering value. Here’s some ideas what to do: Answer relevant YouTube comments Help people in relevant Reddit subreddits Answer relevant Quora questions Talk with people on relevant Facebook groups Post content on relevant forums Write articles for blogs that your audience might follow These are just some examples of how you could be driving traffic to your profile and working to get followers on Instagram. Like Warren Buffet said, “Never depend on a single income stream”. So why should you only depend on the Instagram ranking algorithm to get followers on Instagram?
Now, this might seem like a lot of work at first. But once you’ve got the hang of it, it becomes relatively easy. Alternatively, you can outsource most of these things. Before you get back to watching Taylor Swift’s latest music video, let me just give you one last method – shoutouts. You can agree on different ways to make the shoutouts. For example they can be as regular posts, video post shoutouts, or shoutouts in Stories. Shoutout post example Here’s an example of a shoutout post There’s a reason I haven’t mentioned them yet. In my own experience, getting shoutouts when your account is still small, can be expensive and quite useless. Sure you can do S4S (shoutout for shoutout) with someone who has similar content and is of similar size even when you both have just 100 followers. But in my opinion, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to start promoting other accounts while your own account is still in early stage. I feel that it’s a little off-putting to your followers.
However, if you’ve built a close relationship with someone and their content resonates with you, it will feel more organic for your followers as well. Otherwise, 10k would be a good starting point for getting into shoutouts. You can try to arrange some sort of an agreement, but most of the time, you will have to pay for shoutouts. Talk to different accounts to get an idea how much they are worth. A shoutout from an account with 100k followers might cost you around $50. Also, the amount of new followers you will receive from a shoutout depends on your content, bio, follower count, followers-to-following ratio, etc. (see Step 2). Takeaway: Establish an online presence outside of Instagram to continuously drive traffic to your account. Collaborate with other Instagram accounts for shoutouts. To conclude That is how to get followers on Instagram! According to statista, Instagram now has over 1 billion monthly active users. This is massive social proof that they have managed to establish a platform that people really love.
As a result, it’s attracting an increasing number of brands, businesses and freelancers that want to grow their presence and use Instagram as a channel to drive more sales. Despite this making it harder than ever to stand out, I’m confident that with the help of this guide + your own creativity, you’ll be ahead of the game in no time! A lot of marketers will probably disagree with me on this, but I’ve recently noticed that posting more content doesn’t necessarily make your account grow faster. Engaging with other Instagrammers does. In the beginning, I used to post twice a day every day. One week, I posted only 2 times or so, but was very active on the platform, leaving comments and likes all over the place, reaching out to users that I would like to collaborate with in the future, and so on. The result? My engagement stayed more or less the same, but I was gaining more daily followers than ever before. The moral of the story is that if you’re on a tight schedule, don’t stress so much about posting more content. Post a few times a week, but make these posts absolutely awesome. Use high quality images/videos and write longer captions that are engaging and helpful! To make the process of content creation less overwhelming during an already busy week, space out a couple of hours at least once a week to prepare a ton of scheduled Instagram content ahead of time. This little “hack” has helped me stay sane like nothing else, and the quality of my content hasn’t had to suffer because of my hectic schedule either.
You spend hours planning and creating content for Instagram. For a brief moment after you hit “Share,” all is right with the world. You’re confident you published something great. Then, radio silence. Or a few likes and comments from your handful of followers. But how do you get more followers on Instagram if not by publishing great content? There’s no step-by-step guide for Instagram growth. But there are best practices that will help you reach a wider audience and win over new followers.
Some Tips: 1. Optimize your bio Make the most of those 150 characters. Your Instagram bio tells potential followers who you are, what you’re about, and what action you hope people will take after visiting your profile. Your Instagram bio should include: A clear description of what you do Touches of your personality A call to action (shop, read more, contact us, etc.) A link Your in-bio link is your only clickable link on Instagram, so use it wisely. Some businesses include a standard link to their website, while others change it regularly to reflect recent posts. But if you want to make it easier on yourself, take advantage of link-in-bio tools such as Start Page that allow you to turn a single link into a catalog of links. CoolStays includes all the important aspects of a great Instagram bio. Consider including a branded hashtag as well. For example, we encourage our fans to use #BufferLove when they talk about our products. Adding the branded hashtag to our bio tells people which hashtag to include to catch our attention. Plus, when anyone taps on the hashtag, they’ll see posts from fans who have used it.
At Buffer we include our #BufferLove hashtag in our Instagram bio. 2. Find your best time to post on Instagram Notice how we didn’t say find thebest time to post on Instagram? The truth is, there is no universal answer for when to post on Instagram to reach the highest number of people. But there are ways to figure out the ideal times for your followers. First, use Instagram Insights to figure out when your audience is online. Tap the “Insights” button from your Instagram business profile, scroll to “Your Audience,” then tap “See All.” From there, scroll to the bottom to find your audience’s most active times. Instagram Insights will help you find your best time to post. You should also consider when your content will be most relevant. For example, a step-by-step recipe video might perform better outside of work hours because people are more likely to be cooking. A coffee shop post, on the other hand, might do well around 2 p.m. when people go through an afternoon slump. Experiment with different posting times and track engagement. If you're looking for some extra guidance on when to post, Buffer's Answers feature provides you with three posting time suggestions for maximizing your reach on Instagram. Buffer's Answers feature uses data from your previous posts and followers' activity to calculate your best times to post. Find more in-depth guidance in our article, How to Find Your Best Time to Post on Instagram. 3. Post consistently A 2021 study of 14 industries shows that businesses share four Instagram posts per week, on average. But we recommend posting at least once a day. Brands that get into a regular flow with Instagram posts tend to see the best results. According to a Tailwind study, profiles that post daily gain Instagram followers faster than those that post less frequently.
Buy ViewWith Instagram’s algorithmic timeline, consistency is a key element to getting your posts seen. If your posts are shared on a regular basis and picking up good engagement, Instagram’s algorithm will likely show your posts near the top of your followers’ feeds. Of course, quality is always more important than quantity. Posting more often doesn’t necessarily translate to higher engagement rates. Focus on creating content that will resonate with your target audience—more on that in section 9: Engage with your audience. Instagram scheduling tools allow you to post consistently without having to worry about posting directly from the app every day. Take a look at How to Schedule Instagram Posts to Save Time and Boost Engagement to discover our favorite Instagram scheduling tools (free and paid) along with scheduling tips. 4. Learn how the Instagram algorithm works Many Instagram users initially panicked about the switch from a chronological feed to the ranked timeline. However, since the change, the average post is seen by 50% more followers than before. So, forget about learning how to beat the Instagram algorithm. Instead, focus on learning how to use the system to your advantage. There are six factors that determine what shows up in each person’s timeline: interest, timeliness, relationship, frequency, following, and usage. Here’s a quick rundown of what each of those factors refers to: Interest: How much Instagram thinks a person will like the post based on previous activity Timeliness: How recent the post is Relationship: Accounts a person engages with on a regular basis Frequency: How often a person uses the Instagram app Following: Posts from the accounts a person follows
Usage: How much time a person spends on Instagram Instagram’s algorithm aims to surface the best content for each individual user. So, while six separate factors may seem like a lot to worry about, the best thing you can do is create high-quality content consistently. We dig into each ranking factor in more detail in How the Instagram Algorithm Works in 2021: Everything You Need to Know. We also include guidance on how to create content that caters to each factor and share tips on how to use the Instagram algorithm to your advantage. 5. Experiment with different content types Instagram is so much more than photos. Over the years, the app has introduced many ways to share content on the platform. Mixing it up with different content types is one of the best ways to gain more followers on Instagram because it gives you the chance to reach and connect with a wider range of people. Remember: The algorithm looks at interest and strives to show people the content types that they interact with most often. So, if one person likes and comments on Instagram Reels more often than other post types, they’re likely to see more Reels in their Instagram feed. However, if another person interacts more frequently with carousel posts, they’ll see more of that content type in their timeline. Each type of content has advantages. For instance, Instagram Reels have an edge because they’re the newest content type and Instagram always pushes new features. Since launching Instagram Reels in 2020, the app has moved the Reels button to the center position in the menu bar and made Reels appear larger than photo posts on the Explore page. Considering 200 million people check the Explore page every day, that additional visual real estate can make a big difference in how many people you reach. Instagram TV (IGTV) videos also appear 4x larger than photos on the Explore page. And, since IGTV videos can be as long as 60 minutes, this type of content is ideal for long-form video.
Instagram Reels and IGTV take up more real estate on the Instagram Explore page. Instagram Stories disappear after 24 hours, but they have their benefits as well. Fifty-seven percent of brands believe thatStories have been “somewhat effective” or “very effective”as a part of their social media strategy. Plus, if you have a verified account or at least 10,000 followers, you can add Instagram Swipe Up links to Stories to drive traffic to specific pages. Meanwhile, carousel posts—a series of up to 10 images/videos in a single post—boast the highest engagement rates of all post types. Think of carousels as a mini-story or teaser to a longer-form piece of content, such as a blog. You can use text images, photos, video, or a mix of everything all in one thematic post. DLC Anxiety uses a carousel post to explain how to reframe anxious thoughts. Confused by all the arguments for different post types? People like what they like. So, while studies can tell you what the average engagement rate is for each content type or argue for one over the other, the best strategy is to use a variety. Mixing up your Instagram content allows you to reach people with different preferences, and that extended reach helps you boost your Instagram followers.
Find your brand voice and create unique content People don’t follow your business on social media so they can see sales pitches. They follow your brand because they enjoy your personality and the content you create. What works for one business might not suit your branding—even when you’re in similar industries. For example, Juggling Daisies Hobby Farm and Such and Such Farm both consider themselves to be unique farms. Juggling Daises is all about fun stories, cute photos, and wholesome content. Meanwhile, Such and Such Farm has a more rough-around-the-edges style that includes curse words and humor. Ask yourself what you want your tone to be. Funny? Informative? Playful? Cynical? Your personality should also reflect what you’re passionate about. Such and Such Farm believes in sustainably grown produce, so many of their Instagram posts talk about their farming practices. What topics do you address with your Instagram content? Everything you share on your business account should show off your brand’s personality and beliefs. Juggling Daisies shows off its unique personality in its bio and in Instagram posts. Think of your business account as a person. Design a personality for the account and create branding guidelines so you can stay consistent. Branding guidelines should include notes on tone, style, and values along with your brand’s colors and fonts.
Write great captions Nice photos catch people’s attention—great Instagram captions keep it. Captions give you a chance to provide more context or details about the photo or video you’re sharing. Plus, using keywords in captions can help you appear in search results on the app. Instagram captions can be up to 2,200 characters. Of course, not every caption needs to read like a blog post. Play around with different lengths. Some photos pair nicely with a short, quippy caption with a couple of emojis, while others might benefit from something longer and more reflective. The average length of Instagram captions is on the rise, but most brands still don’t go anywhere near that 2,200 character limit. In 2020, the average was projected to be 405 characters, up from 142 in 2016. OnlineDrea uses both short- and long-form captions on Instagram. So, when do you go long, and when do you keep it simple? There’s no hard-and-fast rule. Just like with content types, it’s best to mix it up. Take a look at these two posts from Andréa Jones of OnlineDrea. One post has a short caption, while the other specifically directs you to the caption for a longer explanation. 8. Research and use hashtags We’ve explored hashtags a lot on the blog, but it seems that nowhere on social media are they quite as important as on Instagram. The right hashtags can expose your image to a large and targeted audience, and Instagram users don’t seem to get hashtag fatigue in the same way they might on other networks. Start by finding hashtags that would appeal to your target audience. Free Instagram tools like Display Purposes and AutoHash help you find relevant hashtags for your Instagram posts. For instance, with Display Purposes, you simply type in a few words about your image, and it will recommend the top hashtags to use.
If you want to gain more Instagram followers, hashtags are essential. Using hashtags makes your content discoverable via search or filtering when people tap on the same hashtag from another post. People can even follow their favorite hashtags so that top content with that hashtag will show up in their Instagram timeline. Instagram allows up to 30 hashtags per post, but don’t tack on extras just to hit 30. TrackMaven recommends nine hashtags for maximum engagement. Just make sure you don’t use the same nine hashtags over and over again. Instead, group your go-to hashtags by category so you can quickly add a few relevant hashtags to each post. With Buffer Hashtag Manager, you can create and save groups of hashtags. Then, you can select from your pre-saved groups and add hashtags to your scheduled Instagram posts. Hashtag Manager helps you build a library of hashtag groups so you can get more reach for every Instagram post. 9. Engage with your audience Engagement is crucial for growth on Instagram. Many brands make the mistake of focusing on likes and comments without considering the people behind those metrics. If you really want to get more Instagram followers, you need to engage your fans in a conversation. Keep in mind that just because someone sees your content, that doesn’t mean they currently follow you. If you have a chance to interact with a potential follower, you should take it. Every comment is an opportunity to gain a new follower (or keep a current one), so make sure you respond to each comment you receive. If your hands are already cramping at the thought of tapping away on your phone, don’t worry. With the Buffer Engage tool, you can reply to comments from your desktop.
But don’t just wait for your followers to start the conversation. Create engagement opportunities. Use Instagram stickers such as open-ended questions and polls in Instagram Stories. Ask questions in your photo captions. Encourage people to tag friends in the comments with prompts such as “Tag your BFF who you’d invite on this cruise!” or “Tag your wine-loving friend who you’d do this wine tasting with.” Need more ideas? Take a look at our Instagram engagement tips to learn how to get more followers on Instagram by increasing engagement. 10. Collaborate with others Another great way to gain Instagram followers is to collaborate with others through partnerships or influencer campaigns. Our brand spotlight with Blume is a great example. Blume gets access to Buffer’s followers through the original Instagram Story and the accompanying Highlights. Meanwhile, Blume will share the spotlight with their fans, which brings their audience to Buffer. It’s a win-win.
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