How to Get Instagram Followers
Guide on How to Get Followers FOR FREE
If you are serious about your Instagram profile and want to maybe earn some money on the side, then you need to arm yourself with a bit of patience and expect that it will take some work. However, it is not impossible and not particularly complicated either. Below you will find several tips and tricks on how to do it.
1. Create and Optimize Your Profile
The logical first step is to create a profile that will be attractive from the start. Your profile should clearly tell potential followers who you are and why they should follow you.
Username
First, make sure your username is clear and easy to search for. Very long names or special characters are not recommended. Also remember to fill in your full name or the name (nickname, alias) under which you perform. Thanks to it, you will be easier to find.
Profile Picture
Always set your profile to public and then select an appropriate profile picture. If you are creating Instagram for your company, for example, the ideal profile picture would be a logo that represents you on other social networks and channels as well.
Basic Profile Information
You don’t need to write too much, but the information should be clear, striking and all-encompassing. It is often the main part of your profile on which followers decide whether to follow you.
Try to stand out and originally describe your personality or page. Use image icons, for example.
Add a Link to Your Website
Add a link to your website in your basic description, if you have one, so people can access it directly from your Instagram. Some also include an email directly to make it easier for brands to reach out to you.
Enable Notifications
To make sure you don’t miss anything on your profile, enable notifications. This way you will have an overview of comments and shares of your posts.
2. Learn How to Edit Photos
Content quality matters. And it really matters a lot. Twitter or Facebook users might forgive a few bad posts, but bad photos on Instagram can cause significant damage. So if you are serious about your Instagram, you should learn at least the basics of how to create a good photograph. Knowledge of various photo editors plays a major role.
Most Instagram users take their photos on mobile phones. So it’s not about technology and quality DSLRs. You need to learn how to work with space, perspective and symmetry. If you think that Instagram filters will be enough for subsequent editing, then you won’t get very far. Take your time and explore special smartphone apps for photo editing.
3. Start Publishing Posts
Once you are convinced that you can create quality content that will be interesting to your followers, start adding posts. Before you start looking for followers, it is ideal to already have something to attract them with.
For starters, around 15 photographs should be sufficient, which can already adequately show your focus.
Planning
Random posting is not ideal for acquiring and maintaining followers. You need to have a system that you need to follow.
Also think about the right time. If you post posts on Friday or Saturday evening when people are out having fun, it won’t be very effective. Of course, it also depends on whether you want to have only Czech or also foreign Instagram followers.
However, if you are interested in how to get Czech followers, then think about local time rituals. If you have a Business account, you can also see in reports the specific hours that are most active among your current followers.
Number of Photos
Followers need to be kept engaged at all times. The ideal number of photos per day is one to three, as adding more photos at once is not very effective.
Stories
Instagram stories are very popular these days and for some users they even outweigh photographs. If you have something to offer and share, definitely create stories including videos. While Instagram photos are something “artificial”, stories show who you really are, what you’re doing right now, where you are and what your current feelings are in real time.
A combination of quality photos and videos in stories is ideal and allows followers to peek behind the curtain of your real life. And that’s what interests them.
4. Use Relevant and Popular Hashtags
If you use the correct hashtags, your content will reach a wider audience. Don’t try to gain followers using “like for like”, “follow me” hashtags and similar. It looks cheap, and besides you will get lost surrounded by low-quality followers. The number of followers can increase, however. From experience, this is temporary and you end up in territories where you don’t really need followers anyway.
Using a large number of hashtags is also not very effective. Less than ten hashtags will suffice if they are quality ones. Try to browse other profiles similar to yours and get inspired by what hashtags are used and how. Don’t forget Czech and English versions.
Choosing the right hashtags is also a great way to get likes. They are very important for attracting new followers.
5. Follow, Comment, Like
This point is one of the most important, if not the most important, in gaining followers. Quality content and well-chosen hashtags are the foundation, but communication with other users will do the best work.
Following
Follow other users who are close to you and your topic. They may reciprocate. Following others is also good for inspiration. What do successful profiles look like? Maybe you’ll learn something from them and gain the necessary experience.
Liking
Everyone you like will see your reaction. There is then a good chance that the user will view your profile and start following you.
Commenting
Probably the best way to attract followers is to comment on their content. Everyone likes because you can do it in a second. Commenting takes a few extra minutes. Try short but nice comments at first that will flatter the person.
With a sentence like “you look great in this photo”, or “that looks amazing” you definitely won’t go wrong, quite the opposite. The person will then be more interested in your profile. If you write more, it will be even better. Be careful with comments that may seem robotic or written with the help of a translator. A word like “Cool” can easily be written by someone who doesn’t know the language. But if you’re targeting a Czech audience, you need to show that you live there and speak Czech well.
Also comment on your own content. Questions work well and keep followers engaged. You can also send personal messages.
6. Collaborate
Helping each other is worth it not only in everyday life but also on social networks. Find someone with similar content or a large number of followers and share their profile on your channel.
You can tell your followers what is interesting about that profile and why they should visit it, thus increasing the follower count for that person. There is then a good chance that they will do the same for you.
Michal Záruba is a digital marketing specialist and a consultant in social media and SEO. For more than 8 years, Michal has been helping brands grow online through strategic content, search engine optimisation and effective communication on platforms such as LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube.
On the blog, Michal shares practical tips on how to combine SEO, social media and brand building into one working strategy, focusing on how companies can use modern tools and algorithms so that their brand gains not only reach but also trust.
Alongside creating content, Michal lectures on digital marketing, trains teams and follows new trends in AI and search.