Are you ready to get more Instagram followers?
The strategies you use to gain followers today might not be the ones you relied on at first.
Here’s our blueprint with 7 strategies to grow your Instagram audience.
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Why You Need These Strategies to Gain Instagram Followers
Since it launched in 2010, Instagram has earned much positive attention. The app is a destination for more than a billion users, with fans all over the world.
Instagram appeals to people from all backgrounds, and 98% of marketers say that it’s the most influential platform around. Around 90% of people follow a business on Instagram already.
Of course, like many social media platforms, Instagram has evolved over the years. The strategies you use to gain followers today might not be the ones you relied on at first.
So whether you are an Instagram veteran or newbie, we’re offering some quick strategies for growing Instagram followers organically.
Challenges to Growing an Instagram Presence Organically
The biggest challenges that most companies face when using Instagram are:
- A lack of strategic direction
- Inability to manage the Instagram account consistently and post every day
- Problems gaining authentic followers
The more followers you get on Instagram, the more positive engagement you’ll earn. However, that’s only true if you’re collecting the right followers. Your Instagram growth needs to be organic so you can appeal to real people who care about your brand. Ghost or fake followers will damage your reputation, deliver no interaction, and may even earn you a ban.
The Fix: Appeal to the Instagram Algorithm with 7 Strategies
So, how do you appeal to the Instagram algorithm the right way? Here’s our blueprint with 7 quick tips.
1. Use An Instagram Growth Service
Usually, developing a dedicated community of Instagram followers takes commitment, time, and plenty of great content. However, companies can’t always sit around and wait for results to appear on their own. An Instagram growth service is a great way to give your profile a boost.
The right service won’t just fill your account with fake fans and bot accounts that harm your reputation. Leading growth services can help you to find the right Instagram followers by tracking down people who will genuinely be interested in what you share.
An effective Instagram growth service gives you a head start on building a loyal community, so you can attract new followers faster.
2. Create A Content Calendar
The most important thing you can have when you’re developing a strong Instagram presence is plenty of regularly posted content. Your followers need to see that you can deliver a stream of entertaining and informative posts if they’re going to keep coming back for more.
A carefully crafted content calendar will attract more attention to your news feed. You can populate your calendar with different kinds of posts too, from video Reels to Instagram Stories, and standard image posts. The key to success with your content calendar is consistency.
Start by finding out when your customers are most likely to be online.
You can find information on Instagram Insights and from third-party tools to help with this. Posting when your customers are already active will ensure that you’re more likely to reach the right people.
3. Improve The Quality Of Your Content
The best way to consistently earn new Instagram followers is to produce the kind of content your followers want to see. That means doing your research.
To start boosting the quality of your content, gather information on the kind of people you’re trying to attract. How old is your target audience (on average), where are they from, and what are they interested in? You should be able to find some of this information on the Instagram Insights page if you have a business account.
When you know your audience, it’s easier to keep them engaged. You can even use social media analytics tools to check which posts your followers interact with most.
You can also look at your competitors to see which of their posts are getting the most engagement. Though you shouldn’t just copy what competitors do, they can give you an insight into what works.
For instance, @BuzzFeedTasty discovered that younger customers were attracted to TikTok style content on Instagram Reels, so they started posting new videos:
4. Engage Your Audience
It’s easy to forget about the social side of social media at times. Companies and marketers get so caught up planning the next great post, that they forget their followers want to interact with them. Engaging your audience increases your chances of building a strong emotional connection with the people who follow you.
A great way to start engaging is to respond to questions that customers ask in your comments with @Mentions. Remember, you’ll see better results if you deliver real responses, like @WorldWanderLust does here, rather than just posting an emoji or a single word.
You can engage your followers by asking them to share pictures using your products with a branded hashtag or ask them questions about relevant trending topics. Polls on Instagram Stories are a popular way to get insights from your followers without coming across as too corporate.
If you have some extra time, you could also schedule a live Q&A session over video where you answer follower questions. This is a great way to demonstrate your human side, just make sure that you advertise the session with plenty of time to spare.
5. Collaborate With Influencers And Other Brands
69% of marketers are planning to spend more money on Instagram influencer marketing moving forward. For younger customers in particular, influencer marketing often feels a lot more authentic and appealing than a traditional ad. There are plenty of ways to collaborate with other market leaders and brands. Such as:
- Running competitions and giveaways: People love any opportunity to get something for free. Get your influencer involved in a fun giveaway with a branded hashtag to generate engagement, and user-created content.
- Takeovers: Allow another thought leader or influencer to take over your Instagram account for a day and post their own selection of relevant, curated content.
- Partnerships: Work with complementary brands to give your customers a chance to win something big, or to provide a useful how-to tutorial.
Remember, your influencers don’t have to be huge to make a difference, smaller Instagram influencers can also improve your reputation. The most important things to look for are relevancy and engagement levels.
6. Host Incredible Contests
There are few things that can get your customers more excited about your brand and products than a competition. Contests appeal to our competitive side, and they’re a great way to get people buzzing about your company.
There are various great ways to host a contest. You can ask your Instagram followers to @mention one of their friends for a chance to win, which improves your brand exposure. You could also request for fans to post a picture with a branded hashtag, which helps you to create more user-generated content. You could even hold a caption contest, like @thecreativetraveller did.
Remember, when running a competition:
- Explain the rules: Make sure everyone understands what they need to do for a chance to win. Don’t make it complicated and start promoting the contest a couple of weeks in advance.
- Use branded hashtags: branded hashtags make it easier to track competition entries for when you want to pick a winner. They’re also a good way to improve brand reach.
- Offer the right prizes: Make sure that you’re offering something your customers want as a prize, even if this means collaborating with another brand.
7. Use Cross Promotions
Finally, Instagram is an excellent place to begin building a name for your brand and expanding your reach. However, if you really want to maximize your Instagram followers, you need to think outside of the box. Cross promoting your brand through other channels is an excellent way to capture the attention of customers who might not find you otherwise.
Successful cross promotion starts with figuring out where else your customers might be outside of Instagram. Are they likely to see you on Google’s PPC ads? Or maybe you could start building an email subscriber list with links to your Instagram account in the footer.
One excellent option is to cross-promote your best posts from Instagram on Facebook. Since the two apps are already connected, cross promotion is easy. Just go into your Account on Instagram and select “Facebook” to log in. You can then automatically share your pictures to Facebook every time you post on Instagram, like @FoxtailCoffee does here.
Wrapping Up
Remastering Marketing With Instagram:
In 2021, Instagram is still one of the most powerful tools for social media marketing around. However, it’s important to ensure that you know how to take full advantage of the platform. With the tips above, you can refine and rework your Instagram strategy to generate better results. Why not make this year the best one you’ve had on Instagram yet?
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