4 Tips on How to Get Followers on Instagram
How to get followers on Instagram – tips on how to get followers on Instagram. How to get followers on Instagram? Instagram has crossed the magical threshold of 1 billion monthly active users. The number of users continues to grow and the space for each of them on this platform is shrinking. How to achieve greater visibility of your Instagram profile and gain new followers faster without paid advertising? Welcome to Instagram SEO! Instagram is essentially a photo and video search engine that, like internet search engines, has an algorithm. Getting your posts displayed to a wider audience is no longer as simple as it once was. (Tip: Read about how the Instagram algorithm works). Just as web pages are optimized for search engines to appear in the highest position in SERPs, you can also optimize your Instagram profile, to make it more discoverable to other users. Will Instagram become a giant similar to Google, for example? Perhaps now is the right time to ask yourself this question. Gaining followers the organic way is hard work and it won’t be completely free. It will probably cost you more effort than running paid advertising. And if not effort, then at least time. Remember, however, that organic followers (those you gain without paid support – we will call them that for the purposes of this article) tend to be much more active and loyal. Before you scroll down to the Instagram SEO practices that will help you increase the visibility of your Instagram profile and gain new organic followers faster, it’s good to know the answer to the following questions.
1. Why do I want to gain new followers?
There can be numerous reasons, for example:
- I am an e-shop and I want to communicate products through Instagram.
- I am a blogger and I want to have more paid collaborations.
- I am an influencer and I want to have greater influence.
- I bet a friend that I will have 500 followers before they do.
2. What followers could find my profile interesting?
Do you know which target audience you want to reach with your Instagram account? It doesn’t matter whether you manage a business or personal account. Everyone has and should know their target audience.
3. Why might these people start following you?
What (ideally unique) do you offer them? Why should they follow you specifically? Again, I’m adding a few examples.
I want to:
- inform potential customers that a new collection has arrived in my e-shop,
- give tips on the best cafes in Prague,
- inspire others with my fitness routine and motivate them to start working on themselves.
4. What benefit will you provide that only you and no one else can?
What is your competitive advantage? What makes your profile different from hundreds of thousands of others?
Your name (Instagram name) can be compared to a highest-level heading (H1) Yes, your (Instagram) name and username are not the same, although they serve a similar function when searching on Instagram. If someone were looking for me by the name of my blog or my full name, my profile would come up. If we go back to the original example, searching for “social media” on Instagram, you can see in the photo below what other profiles would come up for you (notice the dark blue underline). These profiles mention the field or the relevant keyword “social media” in their name. Moreover, if a user enters your name or company name into Google, a link to your Instagram profile may also appear among the search results. It is your Instagram name that gets entered into the search results. Think about what names / phrases / fields people might search for your profile on Instagram. Think of Instagram as another possible search engine. Use separating characters and include more keywords in your name. Instagram @username (username) is like your domain Your Instagram username is your username on Instagram, which appears after the @ symbol. Your username serves as your most important keyword, by which you want people to primarily search for you. It is essentially your domain. Think about good discoverability of your profile and adjust your Instagram @username accordingly. Avoid overgeneralization. For example, companies should maintain their brand names because users will very likely search for them that way on Instagram.
Without good content, it won’t work And on Instagram, definitely not. The shared photo is the first (and often the last) thing users’ eyes fall on. The photo must be captivating enough that users read its caption and subsequently visit your profile. Your profile must be equally engaging so that users decide to follow you. From your feed, it should be clear what kind of content people can expect from you. It could be recipe tips, tourist destinations, clothing stores… That’s up to you. Content (photo) always comes first. Think “globally”. You’ll gain followers if you impress with your feed. Be recognizable. It’s ideal to use the same preset or filter on all photos. Share regularly. But there’s no need to overdo it – less often and with quality is better. Share consistently. You shouldn’t deviate too much from your topic. Your followers expect a certain type of content from you. And if you’ve been sharing motorcycles so far and suddenly your profile was full of puppies, they’d probably be surprised.
Don’t underestimate Instagram “Insights” Although Instagram doesn’t provide extensive post or profile analytics, they are completely sufficient for our purposes. You’ll only get analytical data (which you’ll find on Instagram under the name Insights) if you have your profile set up as a business profile. You can find your profile Insights on Instagram according to the instructions in the photo. Each individual Instagram post then offers its own Insights, where you get data related to that particular post (for example, what reach it had, how many people visited your profile through it, how many people subsequently clicked through to your website, etc.). The work of a social media specialist is quite analytical. (I’ve written about this on my blog in the article What Does a Social Media Manager’s Job Entail). You need to constantly evaluate what type of content your followers respond to best and what interests them most. Monitor which shared posts had the greatest reach and impressions (reached the most people), or which ones had the most interactions, and think about what they have in common. Get to know your followers (demographic insights) and serve them content at times when they’re most online.
Alt texts (image optimization) now also on Instagram. If you have any experience with SEO, you’ve definitely encountered the term alt text. Search engines (or rather search engine robots) can’t “browse” images, but they read alt attributes. You need to enter a keyword in the image name and alt tag so the robot can find the image for that keyword. Alt texts, in addition to their SEO function, also serve an informative function. If you have poor internet connection and images can’t load, alt texts will be displayed instead. In addition to the functions mentioned, they also serve people with visual impairments. Special screen readers read not only the article itself but also what is shown in the photos. Alt text should now be of interest to all social media specialists or those who want to stand out on social platforms. On Instagram and Facebook, you can now add alt text to photos. According to the official statement, it serves people with visual impairments. Personally, I believe (and this is confirmed by many foreign sources) that it also serves other important functions. Alt text helps the Instagram algorithm understand what is in the photo. Instagram uses technology to recognize what is in your photograph. Your post will therefore be displayed to more users who have shown interest in this type of content. (That’s also why you’re recommended relevant photos, even if they don’t have hashtags in the caption.) With alt text, your post can be even more powerful and easier for the Instagram algorithm to “decode”. This means your post will reach a larger number of people organically. Alt text will also allow your photo to be displayed on Google. Just as a robot browses alt texts in images on websites, it can also browse alt texts in Instagram posts. So if someone searches on Google for “blueberry cheesecake recipe” and you have it in the alt text of an Instagram post, they might find your Instagram post in Google Images. How do you fill in alt texts on Instagram? If you’re sharing a completely new photo, you fill it in in the so-called advanced settings (displayed in the area where you add location, tags, and other photo attributes) – see the photo on the right. For an older post, you just need to “edit” it – see the photo on the left. Thanks to alt texts, people with visual impairments can learn what is shown in the photos using a special reader. The Instagram algorithm more easily recognizes what is in your photo and recommends it to relevant users. Your Instagram photos containing alt texts will also be found on Google.
Two is better than one Find a partner who focuses on a similar “niche” as you do. For businesses, it’s essentially influencer marketing (the connection between a brand and an influencer who share a common niche). For people, I’d call it “connected partnerships” or maybe friendship? Online creators aren’t afraid to link to other people’s work and support each other. They go together to take pictures, link to their blogs, create videos. Connect with those who focus on the same or similar market niche.
Don’t sit in the corner like a girl, they won’t find you there. If you only share photos and wait for followers to find you on their own, it won’t work. Instagram is a social network, not a gallery of beautiful photos, which requires not only responding to comments under your photos and replying to messages. The ideal way to make your Instagram profile known is to actively “like” and comment on other profiles. Compliment the girl on her nice figure, a beautifully photographed dessert or a photo by the Eiffel Tower. Thank someone for a travel tip, don’t be afraid to follow someone, react to other people’s stories. Always respond to comments and direct messages (of course, the ones that aren’t annoying or spam). Like and comment on other people’s posts. Don’t spare compliments. Don’t be afraid to follow someone.
Sharing is caring. Did you like someone’s article? Are you inspired by someone’s Instagram profile? Share and link to other people’s content and profiles – especially in your Instagram Stories. The new feature allows you to repost other people’s stories if someone tags you in them. So there’s a high probability that the person you tag in yours will share it in their Instastory. Your profile can thus be discovered by someone new. You can of course also link to other people’s content and profiles in the description of posts or in articles on your website. Take advantage of that opportunity! Don’t be afraid to stroke someone’s ego! Link to other accounts in Instastories, in posts on social networks or on your website. Don’t forget to tag the person.
Hashtag is the king There are those hashtags again – a buzzword that half of people can’t stand. Unfortunately, they are important for gaining new organic followers. You can compare them to keywords that are mainly used in SEO. People can search by hashtag on Instagram. Instagram also tracks which hashtags you use on your posts. Photos are then displayed to people who follow and use similar ones. You can also think of hashtags as filtering helpers that organize all shared content on Instagram into thematically relevant groups. Hashtags are of different types and serve different purposes: Industry Tags – the broadest hashtags that will categorize your photo into the appropriate category by which users can discover photos or profiles (#Restaurant, #Blogger, #Digitalmarketing, #SEOagency). Niche Tags – these hashtags will place your photo in a narrower selection. People searching under these hashtags usually already know what they want to find (#fitnessblogger #brownie #italianfood #travelinspiration). Branded Tags – brand hashtags serve to identify your company, person or your products on Instagram. It can be the name of your company, your blog, campaign, etc. At eVisions, for example, we use the following: #Copypes (an important member of our team who participates in all copy training), #SEObakers (we don’t just bake in online marketing, but also in the kitchen), #guysfromVisions (so the girls can filter out how nice and skilled the guys in our team are). Community Tags – thanks to them, you become part of a narrower community of people. Community profiles then usually share the best photos on their account (#travelawesome #dnescestujem #bloggersre). Location Tags – think global, act local! Don’t forget to add hashtags of the location of your post (#praguerestaurant #liberec #vyhlidkamaj). Event Tags – are you hosting an event? A conference, party, workshop, festival? Create a special tag for it where people can share posts and at the same time find others. If you are a participant of the event, you have a chance that your photo will attract new followers (#mktfest #KVIFF #Socialrestart). Don’t forget to evaluate again. In the insights of a specific Instagram post, you can see how many people the photo was displayed to thanks to hashtags. Hashtags are key to gaining organic followers. Hashtags are not evil, thanks to them social networks are “organized”. Combine different types of hashtags for optimal results. Analyze which hashtags reached the most people.
Don’t waste any field! Don’t forget to fill in all the fields you can before sharing your photo. In particular: location, tags (tag profiles of people, places, businesses, communities, etc. – they can reshare photos), descriptions, hashtags. Always fill in the location of the given photo. People often search for posts at given locations to inspire themselves to create photos. Tag other profiles in your photos (of course, the relevant ones!). That is, profiles of places, events, communities, etc.
If the devil can’t do it, Instagram will If you have a website, don’t forget to add your Instagram profile to your pages and encourage people to follow you. Tell people what you want them to do! When writing an article, take advantage of the ability to embed an Instagram post. This increases the chance that readers will click through to your profile. If they’re interested, you’ve won. Of course, don’t forget about multichannel. Link to your profile in your email marketing and on your other social media profiles. Don’t neglect offline channels either (especially if you have a physical store, conduct training sessions, give presentations, etc.) Link to your Instagram profile on other social media platforms and on your website. Use multichannel.
Michal Záruba je specialista na digitální marketing a konzultant v oblasti sociálních médií a SEO. Více než 8 let pomáhá značkám růst online prostřednictvím strategického obsahu, optimalizace pro vyhledávače a efektivní komunikace na platformách jako LinkedIn, Instagram a YouTube.
Na svém blogu sdílí praktické tipy o tom, jak propojit SEO, sociální sítě a brand building do jedné funkční strategie. Zaměřuje se na to, jak firmy mohou využít moderní nástroje a algoritmy k tomu, aby jejich značka nezískala jen dosah, ale i důvěru.
Když zrovna netvoří obsah, přednáší o digitálním marketingu, školí týmy a sleduje nové trendy v AI a vyhledávání.