Boosting one’s Instagram following requires a strategic approach and a nuanced understanding of the platform’s dynamics.
I am Jane from Influence, the leading marketing agency in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. In this blog, I’ll delve into some tips to elevate your follower count on Instagram.
Types of Instagram followers
Before delving into strategies for increasing Instagram followers, let’s first consider the target audience. Instagram followers generally fall into three types.
Fake followers: Fake followers are often bots or fake accounts that artificially boost your follower count. These followers lack engagement, and as IG’s algorithm values engagement, having fake followers can negatively impact your visibility to new users.
Ghost followers: Ghost followers are typically inactive users who don’t interact with your content. Their lack of engagement can distort your overall engagement metrics.
Organic followers: Organic followers constitute your active audience who discover your profile and actively engage with your content. There are sub-groups within this authentic follower base.
- Customers: These followers have bought your products and typically follow your Instagram account to stay informed about product updates, sales, and discounts.
- Competitors: Certain organic followers are your competitors, engaging in brand comparisons or conducting research to come up with ideas for their brand.
- Influencers: Your Instagram profile can be followed by influencers who can lead to valuable partnerships and increased sales for your business in the future.
I’ve discussed the follower types. Before I get into the details of how to grab followers’ attention, let me confirm that this blog is all about building a genuine following, and it only includes organic followers.
Some brands might want to take shortcuts to quickly gain more Instagram followers, but using pay-for-play services isn’t a good idea in the long run, as the Instagram algorithm is smart and can identify fake accounts and fake engagement from paid bots.
Tips to increase your Instagram followers
Don’t buy too many fake followers
Buying 1,000 Instagram followers at a cheap price might seem like a tempting way to quickly increase your follower count. However, doing this can cause more harm than good:
- Instagram actively discourages and removes accounts involved in fake activities.
- Fake followers are actually bots, not real people. They won’t genuinely interact with your account or become customers.
- You risk damaging your credibility and losing the trust of your audience, leading them to unfollow you.
Additionally, trying to boost engagement by purchasing views, comments, or joining engagement pods is also ineffective in growing your Instagram account. It’s not just about having a large number of followers; the goal is to build a meaningful and authentic community.
Make your account into a business profile
While it’s technically possible to grow using just a personal profile, we strongly recommend converting your account into an Instagram business profile or creating a new one. This provides access to Instagram Insights, enabling you to track the growth of your followers and assess the effectiveness of your strategy.
Even if your goal is to be an independent content creator, consider managing your account as if it were a business.
To transition from a personal to a business account, follow these steps:
- Open the Instagram app and go to your profile.
- Tap the Menu button in the upper right-hand corner.
- Select “Settings” from the pop-up menu.
- Scroll down and tap “Account type and tools.”
- Tap “Switch to a professional account.”
Include keywords into your username and name
The Instagram search system likes to show profiles that have keywords in the name and username.
- Your username should be the same as your company’s name or match your username on other social media. This helps people recognize you right away.
- Your name, which is your company’s name or whatever you prefer, is a chance to make your profile more visible. Put in some relevant keywords here to show up better in searches. Adding a keyword is also a quick way to tell visitors who you are and what you sell when they first look at your profile. It’s the first thing they see.
Optimize your Instagram bio
To create an ideal Instagram bio, focus on getting these things:
- Clearly state what you do or what you sell.
- Infuse it with your brand’s personality.
- Include a straightforward call to action.
- Provide a link.
Even though your Instagram bio is limited to 150 characters, it plays a crucial role in forming the initial impression on potential followers and customers.
The key is to craft a bio that is concise, creative, and comprehensive. Anyone reading it should quickly understand your company’s purpose, how it benefits them, and where they can find more information.
Also, providing a link to your homepage is okay, but it’s not always the best option. To promote more meaningful interactions, having a social landing page that directs to multiple links can be beneficial.
Promote your Instagram profile on different platforms
Guiding potential customers from various platforms to your Instagram profile is a simple strategy to enhance your visibility and rapidly grow your follower count.
If someone is already following you elsewhere, they shouldn’t need to manually search for you on Instagram.
You can include your Instagram account link in:
- Product packaging
- Relevant blogs
- Marketing and transactional emails
- Your website’s footer and or sidebar
- Social media posts
- Your email signatures
- Bios on other social media platforms
- Networking events and webinars
Find your best times to post on Instagram
When is the best time to share content on Instagram? There isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer for the best posting time on Instagram. Instead, focus on finding the most suitable posting time for your specific followers.
Instagram provides this information through its Insights feature. Here’s how to access the Insights:
- Open your Instagram profile on the app and select the three horizontal lines icon in the top right corner of your screen.
- Tap on “Insights.”
- Click on “Total followers.”
- Scroll to the bottom of the page and locate “Most active times.”
Try out different posting times to figure out when you reach and engage with the most people.
Keep a consistent content calendar and schedule your Instagram posts
Consistency is key on Instagram. Simply posting randomly is unlikely to attract followers.
Building your audience comes from creating valuable content consistently. This not only attracts followers but also helps retain them. It’s important not to let your Instagram account become inactive. This is why adhering to a regular posting schedule is vital.
How frequently should you share on Instagram? We suggest posting at least once a day. Increasing your posting frequency is a surprisingly effective way to grow your Instagram following. However, this can sometimes lead to burnout.
A potential solution is to repurpose your content. This doesn’t just mean reusing content from your other channels but also within the same platform. Don’t hesitate to tweak content that performed well and share it again.
We often assume that all our followers have seen every piece of content we create, but in reality, only a small portion of our audience will see a particular post.
While content batching helps when planning a content calendar and posting schedule, jumping on trends for visibility often requires posting on Instagram on the fly. The ideal situation is to have a mix of scheduled and spontaneous posts.
Just make a plan to share new Instagram posts regularly. This not only helps you build a community that anticipates your posts at specific times but also requires a high level of organization.
To consistently plan, write, and publish Instagram posts, it’s a good idea to use a social media content calendar. This tool helps you plan your posting schedule in advance.
Build an Instagram marketing strategy
Step 1: Set clear goals
Determine if you aim to increase brand awareness, enhance direct conversions, drive website traffic, or achieve another objective. Clearly defining your goal influences the content you share, your calls-to-action, and maintains consistency on your Instagram profile.
Step 2: Know your target audience inside out
Basic demographics are essential, but delve deeper. Understand your audience’s challenges and figure out how your Instagram content can assist them. This insight shapes your Instagram content strategy.
Step 3: Establish your brand voice and look
Even if you’re an individual creator, it’s beneficial to create a unique social media marketing voice so that Instagram users can recognize your posts without seeing your username. Crafting a memorable brand voice is crucial, and on Instagram, you can define your aesthetic too. Use consistent brand colors, adhere to a particular content theme, and showcase personality.
Step 4: Focus on content pillar themes
Choose a niche for your Instagram account and decide on overarching topics to post about. Stick to these themes consistently for various benefits:
- You avoid the need to constantly brainstorm new content ideas.
- Your Instagram community begins to recognize you for your content style.
- You avoid getting distracted by new trends and continuously revising your Instagram strategy.
Write engaging, shareable captions
It might be tempting to skip writing much for your Instagram captions, especially after putting in the effort to create a great carousel or video.
However, these captions are more important than you might think. They can either encourage someone to follow you or make them scroll past without really looking.
But don’t think that longer is always better: Instagram captions work when they are either very short or very long. The key to writing the perfect Instagram caption is understanding your audience and the context of your post, rather than just trying to stick to a specific character count.
For example, if you’re sharing an educational post, having a longer caption makes sense. But if it’s a nice picture of a product, keeping it short and sweet is better.
Take advantage of relevant hashtags
Choosing the right hashtags can expose your Instagram posts to a large and specific audience.
How many hashtags should you use? While the limit is up to 30, Instagram suggests using only three to five hashtags. However, the focus isn’t on quantity—your aim is to rank your Instagram hashtags to get the most out of them.
Many people follow hashtags to discover posts about a particular topic or search for something specific. Your objective is to be easily seen on the Explore page when someone uses a hashtag related to your niche.
The effective strategy is to use a combination of popular and niche hashtags. This way, you avoid getting lost in a flood of spam or remaining unnoticed in your own Instagram corner.
Understand your analytics
Keep an eye on your Instagram analytics regularly to figure out what’s effective and what’s not. You might notice that your audience enjoys fun Reels the most, or informative posts perform better as carousels. Understanding these trends helps you create content that gets the most out of Instagram.
The most crucial metric to watch depends on your goals and strategy. For instance, if you’re trying out a new hashtag, it’s more important to know how many new followers you’re getting rather than tracking likes from your current followers. But if you’re testing different posting times, it’s more important to pay attention to impressions.
Cross-promote with influencers and brands
Teaming up with other creators through influencer marketing or collaborations with small businesses is a mutually beneficial strategy. It introduces both parties to a new audience.
The key is to ensure that you collaborate with a company or creator whose values align with yours and whose followers’ demographics and interests match your target audience. These collaborative posts are displayed on both accounts, meaning that all followers of your partner will see the shared post, extending visibility to your Instagram profile.
If influencers with more than 100,000 followers are beyond your budget, consider running a micro-influencer campaign. Smaller creators often have a close-knit community that trusts their recommendations.
After identifying potential influencers, decide how you want to work with them. Here are a few ways to do it:
- Paid sponsorships: The most direct partnership where you pay the influencer to promote your product or service. Agree on details like the number of posts, content type, and any specific messages or hashtags.
- Product exchanges: Instead of money, some influencers may accept free products in exchange for a review or featuring your product on their Instagram.
- Affiliate & brand ambassador programs: Create a program for smaller influencers who genuinely love your brand and are willing to promote it over time. Reward them with points, discounts, commissions, and other perks for a long-term relationship.
- Collaborative content: Work together to create content. This could include joint Instagram Lives, giveaways, or co-created posts and stories. Collaborations offer new perspectives and help you reach a broader audience.
Don’t limit yourself to partnering only with individual creators; you can also establish partnerships with other small businesses.
Use different types of Instagram posts
Instagram is more than just a place for photos now. It has different types of posts like Reels, pinned posts, Story Highlights, and carousel posts.
To boost your Instagram engagement, it’s not as simple as choosing one post type. Just try different types of posts. It’s usually a good idea to use a mix of all these options.
Also, use the provided tools such as stickers, cuts, filters, music, voice-overs, and transitions to create stylish and attention-grabbing posts.
Make meaningful conversations with your audience
Connect with your Instagram followers to understand their problems, answer their questions, and gather ideas for content.
How do you communicate with your audience on Instagram? If you’re a pro at managing social media, you’ll know that responding to comments and messages is crucial, especially if a potential customer asks a question.
Besides comments and direct messages, become active on Instagram Stories. There are many features, like asking questions, using interactive stickers, polls, countdowns, and adding links, that can spark fantastic content ideas.
The best thing about Stories? You can group them and create Instagram Highlights, which stay on your profile permanently instead of disappearing in 24 hours. Use Highlights to build a go-to section that answers common customer questions and makes it easier to sell your products on Instagram.
Post user-generated content
Brands can share user-generated content to thank current customers and build social proof.
When I see a regular person recommending a product on Instagram, I’m more likely to trust that they genuinely like it. Most people feel the same way. In the end, using content from users is a great strategy to boost awareness of your brand and build trust in what you offer.
Get verified on Instagram
Having the special blue checkmark next to your Instagram account is like getting an instant credibility badge. It makes you more noticeable in search results, prevents people from pretending to be you, and can even boost how much people engage with your posts.
If you want your Instagram account to grow faster, getting that verification badge will definitely make a difference. But how do you do it? It’s quite straightforward: You can buy a subscription right from your Instagram profile. However, there are certain conditions you need to meet, which you can learn more about on Instagram’s Help Center.
Use geo-tagging to attract local followers
Now, Instagram users can locate them on a map. This function assists them in searching for popular posts and stories in specific locations, like a coffee shop or a shopping mall.
To have your content appear on the map, all you need to do is tag the location. Geo-tagging your posts and stories ensures that your content is visible to people nearby or those exploring the location where your photo or video was captured.
Use the Instagram Live feature
Organize Instagram Live sessions to connect directly with your audience. This promotes instant engagement and creates a feeling of community.
For instance, you can conduct virtual events such as product launches, provide brief tutorials, or engage in casual conversations and Q&A sessions. If you run an online store, users can even make real-time purchases of your products.
Additionally, you can transform these Live streams into stories, keeping them available for 24 hours. This way, followers who couldn’t join in can catch up later on.
Broaden your audience
As your followers increase, it can be challenging to figure out what kinds of content will connect with them. In light of this, break down your audience into smaller groups and tailor your content to different demographics.
For example, if you have 200K followers, they likely come from various regions, have different interests and hobbies, and probably work in different fields. Instead of creating content that tries to appeal to all of your followers at once, use analytics to divide them into smaller sub-groups.
You don’t always have to post content that pleases everyone. Instead, demonstrate your company’s ability to connect with and engage different sub-groups, and share content that aligns with your brand’s values.
Tag relevant users
A different method to get more followers on Instagram is by mentioning or tagging relevant users. When you tag someone, your posts will appear in that person’s tagged section, and anyone browsing through it may discover your page and, hopefully, decide to follow you.
This approach is also effective for showcasing creators or vendors your business works with. Just tag only those people who are either in the photo or have relevance to it.
Get on the Instagram Explore page
When you aim to create posts to land on the Explore page, you’re essentially producing content that is highly shareable and aligns with current trends. Consider popular trends that are going viral and craft a video that your audience is likely to interact with. Make use of hashtags and tag other users and brands in your posts.
Instagram’s Explore Page algorithm appears to favor content with higher engagement, particularly if that engagement occurs in the first hours after posting. In the context of Instagram, prioritizing quality over quantity is crucial, and garnering interaction from influential users stands out as one of the most effective methods to achieve this.
Create your own filters and badges
When you’re ready to introduce a new product or feature, designing your own filters, stickers, or badges can be beneficial in reaching a fresh audience.
Apply these elements to highly shareable posts, encouraging followers to include them in their own Stories. By doing this, you’ll expand your reach to their audiences, and your users will essentially help promote your page for you.
Final notes
As I wrap up our discussion on effective ways to grow your Instagram followers, it’s evident that building a sizable and engaged audience requires a careful and strategic approach.
By using the tips and insights I’ve shared in this blog, you’ll have the tools not only to increase your follower count but also to nurture a community that connects with your content.
At Influence, we understand the challenges of navigating social media’s ever-changing landscape. If you’re facing obstacles or seeking personalized guidance to boost your Instagram presence, our experienced team is ready to help.
Influence specializes in customized strategies, including Instagram marketing services, to elevate your brand or personal profile, fostering meaningful growth and engagement.
Head office: 1st Floor. KVBC Business Center, Keo Chenda St Phum 3, Sangkat Chroy Changvar, Khan Chroy Changvar, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Hotline: (+855) 67 74 00 00
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://theinfluence.ai
