Instagram has become the go-to social media platform for millions of brands, driving huge profitable traffic to the landing pages, having a formidable growth in conversions, and building an engaging audience. Do you think your Instagram presence is not as robust as it should be? Dive into this article on how to buckle up your strategies to get organic and real followers on Instagram.
Why Is Organic Distinction Important?
In the race to be socially present, brands take the easy way to get more Instagram following. Paid likes and followers are rampant but these shortcuts are not worth it. The Instagram algorithm is strong enough to weed out all of the paid, low-quality interactions and accounts. Your Instagram followers ultimately mean nothing if they are not genuinely engaged fans. They need to be visiting your landing pages, making purchases, and advocating your brand to family and friends.
How to Get Followers on Instagram: Tips and Tricks
1. Optimize Your Instagram Account
Before you find out how to get more followers on Instagram, you must fully optimize your account. How should you do that?
- Begin with creating a bio such that it acts as the "homepage" of your account.
- An informative bio, profile image, proper username, and image captions are equally important.
- These two steps will ensure the foundation of your brand's identity is robust.
- Add a link to your bio which will be the one spot to drive huge Instagram traffic to your website.
- If you are uncertain about where to add the link to your website, you can try product pages or marketing pages that relate to specific campaigns, hashtags, or keywords on your Instagram account.
Linking to your homepage is what we just read about but how about creating a cohesive user experience while moving from your Instagram bio to a site?
- This is where IG link landing pages gain popularity.
- These IG link landing pages host relevant links to the last few content pieces on the brand's feed as well as the "link in bio" posts that will lead audiences to those links.
Your Instagram username is yet another way to keep your brand's name memorable and catchy.
- Choose a username that is search-friendly which means stick close to your brand's name as much as possible.
- If you have a long brand name then conjure up something that your audience will easily remember.
- And keep it in line with the other social media handles that you may already have in the name of your brand.
2. Keep a Consistent Calendar
Posting at random and haphazard times is the worst thing you can do when you are trying to increase your following on Instagram. If you are lucky enough to get people to follow you in the beginning, you do not want them to forget why they followed you in the first place. So, remember to keep a regular posting calendar.
- Typically, brands must not post more than a few times a day to avoid spam.
- Whatever be your cadence be, maintain consistency.
- Instagram sees approximately 200 million users log on daily to cast your brand to an even wider audience.
- A strict schedule will help you build a consistent fanbase as they get a consistent experience and will keep them updated with the know-how of your brand.
3. Schedule Your Instagram Posts
The Instagram algorithm is programmed to show users content that they like but with posting at the right time you can access more visibility for your posts and increase the overall engagement with your audience. There are numerous ways to increase your brand's visibility with a lot of online tools making it a super easy process. If you schedule your content in advance, your team can manage schedules and campaigns effectively.
4. Get Your Partners or Brand Advocates To Post Your Content
Getting promotions is yet another step on “how to get followers on Instagram”. While learning about how to get more Instagram followers, it is important to understand the importance of your audience as well. The larger your organic audience, the more will be the buyers as well as interested customers.
- The best way to get more customers is to follow and be present on social media in front of them.
- It is critical to be active on your Instagram account as well as any other accounts that you may have.
- You can try to sponsor user-generated content to make your brand reach the customer's feed.
- You may also hold Instagram contests to project your brand onto a larger audience. These campaigns are proof that your audience has invested enough to create their own UGC or have reposted your content.
- Another way to increase your Instagram followers is to get your brand to be sponsored by larger Instagram accounts that work in your industry like notable influencers to share your content with their audience.
Be sure to provide content with something of value as the last thing you want to do is look too salesy. Keep on the lookout for co-marketing plans or marketing collaborations that will help you to build your Instagram followers.
5. Avoid Fake Instagram Followers
There is a major difference between Instagram accounts with legitimate followers and fake followers. It is tempting to purchase Instagram followers but the backlash is heavier than the perks of an organic following.
Fake Instagram accounts that follow you will lead to,
- Deception of new followers: If new visitors to your account happen to find an inactive account with thousands of followers, it will reduce your account's credibility. Do not trick users into following you instead build trust and lasting relationships with people to better your engagement.
- Having no ROI: It does sound super easy to buy followers but will these unmanned or bot followers buy anything from your brand? People follow brands on Instagram pertaining to a reason: they love what your posts are about and what the company seems to offer. These actual spenders bring monetary value to your business.
- No development of your brand: The fake 10k + followers will not comment, share, or like your stories or posts which means zero user engagement which means no projection of your brand. It is more likely that these bots will be wiped out by Instagram eventually making your posts seem like an engagement graveyard.
Real users will share, comment, or like your posts, if they seem to relate with its content making real-time engagement. Additionally, these users will enjoy having someone respond from the other side.
6. How to Get Followers On Instagram: Link Your Instagram Everywhere
How will your potential customers find you out if you don't promote your brand at every chance possible? So be sure to link your Instagram account on your website and all other social networks along with other social media handles.
- Creating awareness and visibility is the first step towards getting discovered. If you truly want to earn a dedicated list of followers, let people know where to find you.
- You can add social media buttons to your website and write blogs to promote your brand and increase social shares across all your networks.
- Remember that you don't ask these partners just to follow you but also to promote your unique content to their audience so that they have a reason to follow your account.
- Instagram, fortunately, has a ton of video and content features such as reels, IGTV, and stories giving you a great opportunity to build followers.
7. How To Get Even More Followers On Instagram: Post Follower-Relatable Content
Posting content that your followers want to see is easier said than done. However, through analysis, you'll find out that some content has better reach than others which is why texting is very crucial.
- Whether it is post times, content types, captions, or filters, the smallest detail can make a huge impact of change.
- Keep your lookout for new Instagram trends so you know your content is also popular. So your brand better invest in an Instagram analytical tool to get the best out of tracking, benchmarking, and analyzing Instagram content across all accounts.
- Create a confident content strategy by analyzing all kinds of filters and captions as well as what works best with your audience. If you are not sure where to begin, try analyzing your competitors' accounts.
You can’t copy your competitors but it's smart to note down what they are posting and are driving engagement.
8. Be The Conversation Starter
- One of the best ways to make your product or brand stand out is through conversation on social media.
- Consumers want engaging content like videos and photos as well as text posts which is why Instagram is the perfect tool to communicate with eye-catching visuals and captions.
- Social media can be used as your contact reference for your brands whether it be chat or off-the-cuff questions, praise for their favorite product, or customer care queries.
- You must try to respond to as many comments or questions as possible because it might pave the way for a new customer or follower and even improve the relationship you have with your audience.
9. Find Hashtags That Convert
One of the most tried and tested answers to how to get more followers on Instagram is hashtags which have, for years, served as an essential tool for instant discovery and engagement. As a marketer, you need to build your social following and hashtags help with just that.
- To begin with, avoid hashtags that are too populated. For example, #love has around 184 million photos connected to it which means finding your post out in these millions of posts will be a task.
- Find hashtags that resonate with the people in your target audience. If the relevance prevails, these users will be more likely to follow your brand's account.
- Unique hashtags are the one-way ticket to group posts around the hyper-relevant content to your campaigns and brands.
For instance, the brand M&Ms focuses on hashtags to an event they are participating in. By using hashtags like #mmspotlight, the company focuses its target on people at the concert event and thereby creates awareness. A deep understanding of how hashtags work is as important as choosing which ones to go for your post.
10. Keep Your Instagram Followers Happy
The last step on "how to get followers on Instagram" is to make your followers happy to get the payoff in audience growth. By following the tips given above on scheduling content and brainstorming, you can get the right tone for your brand's voice. In other words, try not to seem robotic, sales-driven, or needy. This means posting content that genuinely brings a smile to your followers' faces and engages in legitimate conversation. Treat your followers as your friends on your social media feed by posting memes, re-sharing interesting artwork or photos, or posting any inspirational content that is sure to give your followers a little mental boost during the day.
The Bottom Line
Knowing how to get followers on Instagram and maintaining a loyal fanbase is a multifaceted process. You need to be well aware of all the ins and outs of the best Instagram practices to make your marketing strategies more efficient. Hope our tips on how to get more followers on Instagram give you the fanbase you dreamt of!
