Fastest Way To Get Instagram Followers
Increasing your Instagram following can help you raise brand awareness, build relationships, & attract more customers to your business. In this guide, I’ll share free & one paid method to get more quality followers on Instagram.
Instagram is the cornerstone of many brands’ social media presence, as it has demonstrated its ability to drive traffic, support sales, & engage customers. However, if you’re dissatisfied with your Instagram growth & engagement, you’re not the only one. The platform is highly competitive, & deciphering the Instagram algorithm can be challenging. Nevertheless, investing efforts to grow your audience is undoubtedly worthwhile, as a larger audience presents more opportunities to delight your customers. This post will guide you on how to tweak your presence & increase your Instagram followers.
How to Increase Your Instagram Followers: The Fundamentals of Your Bio
To drive more traffic to your Instagram bio & gain more followers, you should treat it as a landing page & optimize it.
Provide people with a compelling reason to follow you
Instead of (or in addition to) simply including your credentials, slogan, or value proposition in your Instagram bio, provide potential followers with a clear understanding of what they can expect if they follow you.
- Check out our dog training tips; get ready for an adorable experience.
- Follow me if you’re into, you know, securing your financial future & binary options.
- Your go-to for quick marketing tips & brilliant, original memes.
- Cooking tips for the cullinarily challenged.
Choose the appropriate handle
First & foremost, ensure your Instagram handle closely matches your business name & other social media handles. This will make your account easily memorable, findable, & recognizable.
Ensure it’s a business profile
An Instagram business profile provides you with analytics that reveal your followers’ demographics, their preferred content, & your follower growth trends. If you haven’t already, access the hamburger menu in the top right of your bio, go to Settings, & select Switch to Professional Account. Choose your category, enter your business details, & you’re set.
Omit the dull bio link
This prime Instagram real estate should not simply link to your homepage. The best Instagram bios frequently update their bio link, directing people to new or popular content, promo codes, landing pages, & more. Consider using an app like Linktree to share multiple links to valuable destinations like website pages, blog posts, & deals.
Concentrate on acquiring high-quality followers
Having a large number of Instagram followers is not the ultimate goal. You want engaged followers who actively interact with your content, appreciate your work, & potentially convert into leads or customers. Building a community of dedicated followers is more valuable than simply amassing a large, disengaged following.
Other Fastest Way To Get Instagram Followers
Strategies to Increase Your Instagram Follower Base through Content
Utilize all the available formats
One thing that sets Instagram apart from other popular social media platforms is its diverse formats. These formats keep users engaged & allow you to showcase different aspects of your brand. So take advantage of:
- Feed posts: high-quality photos & videos.
- Stories: short-lived, more raw & spontaneous content (see tips for Stories here).
- Reels: videos with a focus on entertainment value (find creative Reels ideas here).
- Lives: real-time videos, great for tutorials & Q&As (learn how to run a successful IG Live here).
The more facets of your business a person can experience, the more likely they are to develop a connection & follow you. Need more ideas on what to post on Instagram? Get more suggestions here.
Consistently publish high-quality content
Consistent, high-quality content is crucial for your entire social media marketing strategy, not just on Instagram. Great content alone is not enough – you need to maintain that level of quality to retain your audience. Useful, thoughtful, interactive, & entertaining posts are the key to building an engaged following on Instagram.
Concentrate on amusement
The entertainment value is becoming more crucial. Last summer, when Instagram disclosed its algorithm’s workings, it stated it was shifting its focus to “full-screen, immersive, entertaining, mobile-first video” content. Engaging content doesn’t have to be action-packed or hilarious. It simply needs to be interesting, creative, original, & expressive. You can find tips on creating captivating Instagram videos here.
Optimize your Instagram presence
Optimizing your Instagram presence goes beyond just attracting more Google traffic. Social media platforms like Instagram have their own search capabilities, & utilizing Instagram-specific SEO tactics can be crucial. Key strategies include targeting relevant keywords in your captions & bio, adding your location, & providing alt text for your images.
Promote your account across different platforms
One of the most effective ways to boost your Instagram presence is through cross-promotion. Incorporate links to your social profiles in your website footer, email templates, & signatures. Display your handle name in a visually appealing frame in your office. Inform your Facebook audience about your Instagram account. Additionally, promote your branded hashtag across various platforms, such as receipts, print ads, & relevant events. Don’t rely on people to discover your Instagram account or hashtag on their own – actively direct them to it.
Create your own unique Instagram aesthetic
The beauty of design lies in its endless possibilities for uniqueness. Develop a distinctive style that makes your posts instantly recognizable in the newsfeed. Users are drawn to accounts that offer an engaging experience, not just visual content. Oatly exemplifies this approach.
To cultivate your unique style, ensure your overarching brand is well-established. Your positioning, tone, brand colors, target audience, & products or services will all contribute to your Instagram visual identity.
Craft compelling captions
The image may be the focal point, but the Instagram caption can make or break its impact on potential followers. A good caption is original, showcasing wit, humor, inspiration, meaningful stories, self-deprecation, relatability, storytelling, & intrigue. For example, National Geographic uses storytelling alongside photos to generate engagement & sharing. Consistency in your caption style helps retain followers.
Host Instagram giveaways
Giveaways & contests are effective ways to attract Instagram followers. They appeal to people’s desire for free items or recognition. Requiring participants to follow your account or tag friends can increase your follower count. However, ensure the prize is relevant & valuable to your target audience to attract quality followers.
Obtain local
Your Instagram marketing strategy should aim to gain followers by creating content that resonates not only with your target customers but also with your local community. People are naturally drawn to familiar things & like to see aspects of their identity represented online. Some ways to achieve this include posting pictures & videos featuring local landmarks & staples, sharing news & niche recommendations, & getting involved in local events.
Strategies to Increase Instagram Followers Using Hashtags
Hashtags on Instagram serve various functions, such as conveying information, adding humor, categorizing posts, & connecting users to a network of related content. Leveraging these hashtags can help direct users to your Instagram bio and encourage them to follow you.
Utilize a combination of hashtag formats
They can be broad or specific, high or low-volume, location-based or universal, & can vary in intent. Examples include #dogsofig (broad), #dogtraining101 (long-tail), #dogsofsouthie (local), #smartdogs (low intent), #dogtrainerboston (high intent), #clickertraining (evergreen), #valentinedogs (trending), & #chewydogs (branded). Specific hashtags have more intent & help find the right people, while broad ones can reach more people in general. A mix of both is needed to grow a following on a platform as large as Instagram.
Don’t be overly concerned about them
Hashtags serve a purpose, but using too many can make your followers feel overwhelmed. Be selective, vary the number you use, & have fun with them. Some hashtags are purely aesthetic or added for humor, even if they don’t directly relate to your brand.
Use a captivating or actionable branded hashtag
Develop a follower-friendly branded hashtag that your audience can use in their posts, as this can increase exposure & followers, similar to UPS’s successful #upsdogs hashtag.
Ways to Increase Instagram Followers by Engaging with Other Users
There are three categories of Instagram users that can assist you in gaining more followers: influencers, your existing customers & followers, & your competitors.
Fully embrace influencer marketing
Securing influencer endorsements can rapidly expand your audience, but it requires strategic planning. Start by researching relevant influencers, targeting smaller accounts first, & genuinely engaging with them over time to build a meaningful relationship before making your pitch. This approach increases the likelihood of an ongoing collaboration.
Promote user-generated content
A business’s own promotional content is never as impactful as the content generated by its customers. User-generated content, such as posts that tag the business’s handle or location or mention its name, is more powerful.
User-generated content (UGC) on your account can boost your credibility & increase your chances of gaining followers. To encourage more UGC, use a fun branded hashtag, create Instagram-friendly photo opportunities, engage with & repost UGC, & run contests where entrants post using your product or service.
Study your competitors
Analyze your competitor’s social media presence to understand their posting strategies, such as content, frequency, timing, & formats. Closely observe their activities for a week to identify any subtle tactics they use. This can provide insights to improve your own Instagram posting to gain more followers.
Strategies to Increase Your Instagram Audience
To grow your Instagram following, understand your audience, interact with them, & produce engaging content. However, as you manage multiple social media accounts for your business & gain more followers, scaling your strategy becomes more challenging.
Tools for managing social media
Automation can complement genuine engagement. Social media management tools help streamline personalized strategies, enabling you to stay on top of conversations, post consistently through scheduling, monitor competitors, & sometimes gain deeper insights than the native platform provides.
Image creation and manipulation software
Instagram provides its own set of filters, stickers, stamps, & special effects to enhance your visuals, but external design & editing tools can help you achieve a distinctive look. Additionally, you can create templates to maintain consistency & produce more high-quality content efficiently. Canva is my top recommendation, but there are other free options like Afterlight & Facetune.
Advertising on Instagram
Organic reach on Instagram is relatively low, with posts typically reaching only 9% of a user’s full following. This means that a paid strategy may be necessary to effectively reach a larger audience.
Advertising allows you to reach a large number of relevant users. Your ad’s call-to-action button & bio can be viewed by viewers. While growing your following shouldn’t be the sole purpose, advertising can be a beneficial addition if the platform aligns with your needs.
Conclusion
Equipped with these tips, you’re better positioned to expand your Instagram following. However, it’s an ongoing process. Sustaining Instagram growth necessitates consistently sharing high-caliber content & staying proactive with your social media strategy.