Get More Instagram Followers with These 10 Tips

Get more followers on Instagram using these 10 tips. You spend hours planning and creating content for Instagram. For a brief moment after hitting the “Share” button, everything in the world is fine. You’re sure you’ve posted something great.

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Then comes silence. Or a few likes and comments from a handful of your followers. But how do you get more followers on Instagram if not by publishing great content?

There is no step-by-step guide for growth on Instagram. However, there are proven practices that will help you reach a wider audience and gain new followers.

Here are 10 ways to get more followers on Instagram.

Instagram has become a cornerstone of many brands’ social media presence because it drives profitable traffic to landing pages, increases conversions, and builds an engaged audience.

If your Instagram presence isn’t as strong as you hope, it may be time to learn how to refine your strategy for gaining real, organic followers on Instagram. The larger your audience, the more opportunities you have to connect with users and create unique experiences for them.

Important is the organic distinction: sometimes brands, in their effort to get more followers on Instagram, take the easy route. Paid pages with likes and followers are available everywhere, but these shortcuts never pay off because Instagram’s algorithm is regularly updated to eliminate paid, low-quality accounts and interactions.

Not to mention that the number of followers on Instagram ultimately means nothing if it doesn’t represent engaged fans who buy, visit your landing pages, and promote your brands to their friends and followers. Start building your presence the right way using these tips on how to get more followers on Instagram.

10 ways to increase your Instagram followers

1. Optimize your Instagram account

Before you start looking for ways to get followers on Instagram, one of the most important steps is to have your account fully optimized. Think of your brand’s Instagram bio as the “home page” of your account.

How will people know the account belongs to your brand if you don’t have a bio, image captions, the right username, or a profile picture? It may seem obvious, but on Instagram, the bio and image help form the foundation of your brand’s identity. The link in your bio is your only place to drive Instagram visitors to your website, so optimizing your account is essential.

If you’re unsure where to link, try marketing or product pages that relate to specific keywords, hashtags, or campaigns on your Instagram account. Linking to your home page is fine – but why not give users a cohesive experience when transitioning from bio to web? This led to the popularity of link-in-bio landing pages, which feature relevant links to several recent pieces of content mentioned in the brand’s feed, and “link in bio” posts that help direct your audience to these links.

Additionally, keep your username as search-friendly as possible, which usually means staying close to your actual brand name. If your company name is longer, shorten it to something your audience would recognize. Don’t add numbers or special characters to your username, and if possible, keep it consistent with other usernames you already have on social media.

The best way to optimize your account is to create and stick to an Instagram marketing strategy. Download our free guide and get started.

2. Maintain a consistent content calendar

The worst thing you can do when trying to gain followers on Instagram is to post content at random, arbitrary times. If you’re lucky enough to have users following you from the start, you don’t want them to forget they were following you at all.

To fight against this, maintain a regular posting schedule. Typically, brands shouldn’t publish more than a few times a day to avoid spam, but whatever your cadence is, keep it consistent. Approximately 200 million users log into Instagram daily, so if you want to reach your network even further, try posting several times throughout the day.

Our own research on the best times to post on Instagram precisely determines the best posting times for multiple industries, or you can follow our research on the best times across all topic areas.

Sticking to a schedule will help you create a consistent experience for your followers and keep them informed about your brand. However, if you’re struggling to remember to post at different times of day, we have a scheduling feature and optimal times in Sprout – read more details.

3. Plan your Instagram posts in advance.

Although Instagram’s algorithm has changed to show users more content they like, posting at the right time can still increase visibility by boosting overall engagement.

Your brand can do many things to increase visibility, and thanks to Sprout Social, one of them is now scheduling Instagram content. With our latest tools, we can help your brand schedule content through an easy process.

By planning content in advance, your entire team can track campaigns and plans more efficiently. It’s always smart to create content ahead of time, and with our Instagram scheduling tools, you can reach your audience while maintaining a consistent flow of content.

You can also use Sprout’s proprietary ViralPost feature and let us do the work for you. ViralPost analyzes your own account’s engagement history and algorithmically identifies optimal times to publish posts.

4. Get partners and brand advocates to share your content.

When learning how to get more Instagram followers, it’s important to know the value of your audience. The larger your follower count (organically), the more buyers and leads you’ll have.

The best way to get customers to follow you is to get in front of them and be present. It’s essential to be present on your own Instagram and others. Try sponsoring user-generated content to get your brand into customers’ feeds. You can also run Instagram contests to get your brand in front of a larger audience. These types of campaigns create social proof by showing that your fans are invested in your content enough to share or create their own UGC.

Another way is to get your handle in front of a much larger audience. Try collaborating with larger Instagram accounts in your industry, such as notable influencers in your field, and share your content with their audience.

Just make sure you’re providing something valuable. The last thing you want to do is come across as too sales-focused. Find marketing partnerships and co-marketing plans with other businesses to build your Instagram audience.

5. Avoid fake Instagram followers

There’s a huge difference between fake and legitimate followers on an Instagram account. It might seem tempting to simply buy Instagram followers, but the backlash will outweigh the benefits of organic follower growth.

Fake Instagram followers tend to:

Deceive new followers: If users come across an inactive Instagram channel with tens of thousands of followers, it reduces the account’s credibility. Don’t fool people into following you. Build trust and long-term relationships for better engagement.
Provide no return on investment: It might seem easier to buy followers, but your acquired bots or inactive new followers won’t buy anything. People follow brands on Instagram for a reason – they like what you post or your company in general. Those who actually spend money bring monetary value to your business.
Create little to no buzz: If you have 10,000 fake followers, how many of them will comment, like, and share your content? It’s more than likely that these bot or fake Instagram accounts will be cleaned up, deleted, and your posts will look like engagement graveyards.
Real people have the ability to share, like, comment, and engage with your Instagram posts. These users are also happy when someone on the other end responds.

For example, Lush Cosmetics takes time to respond to various questions about products, which leads to users returning, following them, or potentially sharing with others. These interactions will always have greater value than a collection of inactive followers.

6. Promote Your Instagram Everywhere

How are people supposed to find your account if you don’t promote your Instagram? Make sure your Instagram account is listed on your website and other social networks.

Creating visibility and awareness is one of the best ways to be discovered. If you truly want to gain more Instagram followers, let people know where to find you. You can add social media buttons to your website and blog that help encourage sharing across all networks and also show people where to find you on Instagram.

Another great idea is cross-promotion across your social media accounts. The Museum of Modern Art regularly spreads awareness of its Instagram through Twitter. You can easily leverage your other social networks to direct users to your Instagram.

However, be careful not to just ask for follows. Instead, you should focus on promoting unique content on your Instagram so users have a reason to follow you there. Fortunately, as Instagram adds lots of new content and video features like Stories, IGTV, and Reels, you have a great opportunity to gain followers through creative content.

7. Post Content Your Followers Want

Although it’s easier said than done, it’s smart to figure out what content your followers want to see. On Instagram, you’ll quickly discover that some content performs better than others. That’s why testing is so important.

Whether it’s filters, captions, content types, or posting times, even the smallest detail can make a significant difference. Keep track of new trends on Instagram so you know you’re posting popular content.

To take analysis one step further, your brand should invest in Instagram analytics tools. This will make it easier for you to track, compare, and analyze Instagram content across accounts.

Be confident in your content strategy by analyzing different filters, captions and more to see what works best with your audience. If you’re unsure where to start, try analyzing your competitors.

You shouldn’t directly copy your competitors, but it’s smart to take notes on what they’re doing or posting that drives engagement. A little competitive research can go a long way. You can use our Instagram Competitors report to get a look at what’s working for other brands in your industry.

8. Start a Conversation

One of the best ways to get users to know about your Instagram is through conversation. According to the Sprout Social Index 2020, consumers want to engage primarily with visual content such as photos (68%) and videos (50%), and 30% want to engage with text posts. Instagram is perfect for this audience profile because it combines engaging visuals with captions that can be just as engaging when you perfect your Instagram caption writing skills.

People continue to use social media as a contact link to brands, whether it’s casual inquiries and chat, serious customer care questions, or praise for their favorite brands and products. And when it comes to your business, you need to be welcoming and communicative on Instagram.

Try to respond to as many questions or comments as possible, because it can mean the difference between gaining a new customer, a follower, or improving your relationship with your audience. Our Index survey also showed that 89% of consumers will purchase from a brand after following it on social media, so it’s important to secure the attention and loyalty needed to turn a profile visitor into a follower.

9. Find Hashtags That Convert

One of the most proven ways to gain Instagram followers is through hashtags. Hashtags have served as a fundamental discovery tool for years and allow us to expand our reach on social networks. As a marketer, you want to build your community by gaining followers and hashtags enable you to do exactly that.

To start, find hashtags that aren’t too crowded. Social Media Examiner points to this theory when explaining that the hashtag #love has more than 184 million photos associated with it. Trying to highlight your Instagram content in a sea of millions of photos and videos isn’t easy.

You need to find hashtags that people in your target audience are more likely to check. If there is a relevant connection, these users will be more likely to follow your account. Unique branded hashtags are one way to group posts around hyperrelevant content for your brand and campaigns.

For example, M&Ms does an excellent job of targeting hashtags to events they participate in. By using hashtags like #mmspotlight, the brand targets its audience directly where the Spotlight concert event is taking place, creating awareness.

Equally important for using hashtags is understanding how your Instagram hashtags are performing. And thanks to hashtag analytics tools from Sprout Social, you have direct access to data on hashtag performance and usage so you can find out what works best.

Don’t enter the world of hashtags blindly, but know what you’re tagging so you can build your following.

10. Delight Your Instagram Followers

Finally, when you delight your Instagram followers, you’ll be rewarded with audience growth. We’ve provided you with plenty of tips for brainstorming and planning content, so put them into practice in a way that matches your brand’s voice. In other words, avoid sounding needy, salesy, or robotic.

For many accounts, this means posting content that genuinely brings a smile to your followers’ faces and builds relationships with customers. Remember to provide your followers with content as if they were friends on your personal channel: this can include posting memes, inspirational content, or just resharing interesting photos or artwork (all properly credited, of course) that might brighten your followers’ day a bit.

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